The role of non-timber forest products in poverty reduction in India: prospects and problems

The vast natural resources of India's forests, including non-timber forest products (NTFPs), such as medicinal and aromatic plants, leaves, fruits, seeds, resins, gums, bamboos, and canes, offer employment that provides up to half the income of about 25 per cent of the country's rural labour force. However, poor harvesting practices and over-exploitation in the face of increasing market demand are threatening the sustainability of these resources, and thus the livelihoods of forest-dependent tribal communities. This article analyses the role of NTFPs in livelihoods-improvement initiatives and considers recent initiatives intended to enhance their conservation and sustainable management. It recommends policies to optimise the potential of NTFPs, both to support rural livelihoods and to contribute to India's social, economic, and environmental well-being.     

对黑龙江省与韩国经贸合作的分析与思考

加世纪80年代,黑龙江省与韩国开始了间接贸易合作。90年代初,随着中韩两国正式建交,黑龙江省与韩国进入了直接贸易合作阶段。十多年来,黑龙江省以其固有的地缘、资源和亲缘的优势,稳步推进与韩国的经贸合作,已成为顺应国际经济发展的必然趋势。截止2003年8月底,黑龙江省与韩国的进出口贸易额累计已达到34.1亿美元,实际利用韩资金额为6.2亿美元。双方发展经贸合作关系的良好势头,对黑龙江省加快改革开放步伐、实施对韩国的全方位合作、增强经济实力、尽快进入国际市场意义重大。同时,也为韩国调整产业结构、实现经济高速发展提供了广阔的国际市场。     

柳子明先生在福建的活动

柳子明先生是近代韩国的抗日志士、著名的园艺学家、农学家和教育家,是中国人民的亲密朋友。他的大半生都生活在中国,在华北、华东、华南和西南各省都留下他的足迹和辛勤的汗水。其中,他在福建的活动前人了解不多,但十分值得注意,从中体现了他强烈的事业心、高尚的人道主义和国际主义思想,以及鲜明的民族观、浓厚的爱国情怀、探索性的科学观。     

中国西藏与南亚边贸问题探讨

本文分析了中国西藏与南亚边贸发展的状况,探讨了影响中国西藏与南亚边贸攀升的主要因素,在此基础上针对性的提出了进一步扩大中国西藏与南亚边境贸易的若干措施。     

中、日、韩农产品贸易争端分析及中国的对策

中国加入世界贸易组织 (WTO)后 ,中、日、韩 3国之间的农产品贸易领域进一步扩大 ,同时其贸易争端也与日俱增。尤其是蔬菜、水果等农产品的双边贸易摩擦日益加剧。面对中、日、韩 3国农产品贸易形势的新变化 ,中国应当审时度势 ,加快农业技术引进 ,增加农产品的科技含量 ,从而提高农产品质量和国际竞争力 ,并采取各种灵活的措施应对可能出现的贸易摩擦 ,更好地维护自己的利益。     

The North Korean abduction issue: emotions,securitisation and the reconstruction of Japanese identity from ‘aggressor’ to ‘victim’ and from ‘pacifist’ to ‘normal’

Abstract

After Kim Jong-il's confession in 2002 that North Korean agents had abducted thirteen Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, North Korea has become the most detested country in Japan, and the normalisation of bilateral relations has been put on the back burner. The abduction issue has taken precedence in Japan even over North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. It has also grossly overshadowed the atrocities for which Imperial Japan was responsible in the 20th century. Why has there been such strong emphasis on an issue that could be disregarded as comparatively ‘less important’? This article understands the ascendency of the abduction issue as the epitome of an identity shift under way in Japan – from the identity of a curiously ‘peaceful’ and inherently ‘abnormal’ state, to that of a more ‘normal’ one. The differentiation of North Korea as ‘abnormal’ emphasises Japan's own (claim to) ‘normality’. Indeed, by incarnating the perils of Japan's own ‘pacifist’ ‘abnormality’, which has been so central to the collective sense of Japanese ‘Self’ in the post-war period, the abduction issue has become a very emotional argument for Japan's ‘normalisation’ in security and defence terms. The transformation from ‘abnormal’ to ‘normal’ is further enabled by Japan trading places with North Korea in the discourse, so that Japan is defined as ‘victim’ (rather than former aggressor) and North Korea as ‘aggressor’ (rather than former victim). What is at stake here is the question whether Japan is ‘normalising’ or ‘remilitarising’, and the role of the abduction issue discourse in enabling such foreign and security policy change.     

Livelihood recovery after disaster

A lack of monitoring and evaluation on the outcomes of livelihood recovery programming has typified many post-disaster recovery initiatives. This article uses a case study of the 2006 Yogyakarta, Indonesia earthquake to analyse longer-term impacts of livelihood programming after disaster. The article includes an overview of the programming implemented in five case study villages and the perspectives of impacted populations on the livelihood interventions. Results indicate the importance of longer-term programming, early interventions, local leadership, and an integrative strategy focusing on replacing assets, providing capital and credit to jumpstart entrepreneurial activities, capacity and skills building, and developing markets and networks.     

Fiji’s Foreign Relations: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

Of all the island states of the Southwest Pacific, Fiji’s foreign relations have been the most fraught since the advent of independence in the region, due largely to a succession of coups d'état. These have invariably precipitated adverse responses from major partners and aid donors, notably Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the European Union. The last coup in 2006 also unsettled relations in Fiji’s more immediate region, especially among some of its smaller Polynesian neighbours, contributing to Fiji’s unprecedented suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum. This article reviews Fiji’s foreign relations from the time of independence in 1970 through the period of successive coups to the 2014 elections. It also examines Bainimarama’s strategies in extending foreign relations in the broader international sphere as well as issues surrounding the ‘normalisation’ of relations with its traditional partners.     

The European Union in Sudan: A Missed Opportunity?

Abstract

International organisations active in Africa are often criticised for their ineffectiveness. So too is the European Union (EU), which is also accused of failing to assume a more prominent conflict management role in war-torn countries. This article examines the EU’s capacity and readiness to take on such a role in one such country, the former Republic of Sudan, home to Africa’s longest-running civil wars and the first ‘genocide’ of the 21st century. It begins by outlining the EU’s record in Darfur and the North–South Peace Process. Drawing upon 25 interviews and Hill’s ‘capabilities–expectations model’, it then questions whether the EU’s ‘capabilities’ (resources, instruments, unity) were ‘fit for purpose’ in Sudan’s hostile target setting. It concludes by identifying settings that have been more propitious for a conflict-related management function and by suggesting that the EU should better manage expectations about future security roles.     

South Africa as an emerging power: from label to ‘status consistency’?

South Africa proudly wears the label ‘emerging power’, with its membership of the BRICS and G20 probably the most visible signs of this conferred status. This paper explores the concept of the emerging powers within the context of current global power shifts and locates South Africa within this group. It discusses the criteria for and characteristics of emerging powers, and then turns to some of the constraints and challenges faced by these states. Specific attention is paid to the ‘how’ of these states' recognition and inclusion in global institutions and the impact of domestic conditions and regional politics on their positions, focusing particularly on South Africa. It concludes that these factors will continue to challenge South Africa's ability to rise above the semblance of importance conferred by its inclusion in the category of emerging powers to a position in which it exercises this status to its own advantage, including its idealistic objectives of promoting greater global equality and recognition for Africa and the global South. Although other emerging powers face similar challenges, South Africa's domestic constraints and related lack of regional and global reach, politically and economically, threaten its ‘status consistency’ as an emerging power.