developing countries14
-
Tangail and the Start of the Field School
Feb. 21 is Language Day in Bangladesh. It is a holiday, now adopted by the UN as International Mother Language Day. It commemorates a day in 1952 when a crowd of Bengali students protesting Pakistan’s adoption of “Urdu and only Urdu as the official language of Pakistan” were fired upon by the police. It marks…
-
GPS in Khulna and the Hidden Temple
Rushing around SW Bangladesh by boat and car, we managed to install or repair four GPS sites in record time. We caught up our lost day and managed to get to the ruins of the Shakher Temple in the Sundarban mangrove forest.
-
Back to Bangladesh, changing plans as we go
Back to Bangladesh for some fieldwork and then a two-week Field School. However, this time we had problems starting before we even left NY. Working in Bangladesh you have to be flexible. Nothing goes as planned, but usually everything works out in the end.
-
Why Conservation is Not Condescension: A Case Against Eco-imperialism
Western ecologists and conservationists have been portrayed at times as modern imperialists, forcefully imposing a radical ideology of environmentalism on the developing world. These so-called “eco-imperialists” are depicted as arrogant and uncaring elites, concerned with the protection of pristine nature, but indifferent to human welfare. But the future of wild places is entwined with human…
-
New Predictions of Climate Change’s Impact on Agriculture
Developing countries are more likely to see a drop in agricultural productivity and increased food prices due to climate change, particularly in tropical regions, according to a set of new studies out this week.
-
Myanmar: a New Frontier for Sustainable Development
The Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development is building a sustainable development program to provide policy support for the government of Myanmar, local NGOs and the donor community, accelerating growth that is both socially inclusive, sustainable and mindful of climate risks and opportunities. This video explains the project.
-
From Laughter to Linear Regressions
What was obvious to a Malaysian studying in Singapore was slightly less clear to a California-born New Yorker, but as my knowledge on the subject grew, I quickly understood my colleague’s enthusiasm for studying oil palm.
-
Roads: An Essential Element of Development
Roads data are critical to planning and development of rural transportation in developing countries, where better transportation systems can help improve livelihoods.
-
Of Cow Dung, Cook Stoves and Sustainability in Practice
When the Environmental Defense Fund asked me to measure how biogas cook stoves were changing the lives of farmers in rural India, there wasn’t a word in that question with which I was comfortable. Having just graduated from the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development, I had never done fieldwork; and the concept of a biogas…