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Anthropology and the Environment
October 1998
Ed Liebow, Contributing Editor
Election Results
J. Peter Brosius (Georgia, pbrosius@uga.cc.uga.edu) has been voted President-elect. New Board members include Thomas Sheridan (Arizona, tes@u.arizona.edu) and Ann Forbes (Harvard, aaforbes@husc.harvard.edu). Each will serve two-year terms. Congratulations to the new officers, and thanks to all the candidates who generously agreed to stand for office.
1998 Annual Meeting
The 1998 Annual Meeting Program will feature 104 papers reviewed by A&E, distributed among 16 sessions according to A&E Program Chair Bob Rhoades. A&E is sponsoring two invited sessions: Malthus with a New Twist: The Challenge of Population, Diversity Loss, and Future Adaptability, organized by Leslie Sponsel and Pamela Puntenney; and Population, Production, and Environmental Change in North Atlantic Islands, organized by Jon Ingimundarson and Daniel Vasey. Also, make your plans now to attend the A&E Business Meeting on Friday evening, December 4.
Regional Seminar Series
The Environmental Anthropology Project - funded through a cooperative agreement between the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Society for Applied Anthropology - recently received funding to host a series of half-day seminars focusing on the role of anthropology in community-based environmental problem-solving projects. Seminars will be held at EPA regional offices (tentatively scheduled for Fall 1998 and Spring, 1999 in New York, Dallas, Seattle, Atlanta, Denver and San Francisco). Target audiences include state, local, tribal and federal government staff; local anthropology faculty and students, and anthropology practitioners. Each seminar will include a presentation on environmental anthropology and case study presentations by three or four locally based anthropologists who work on environmental problems in university and applied settings. Local anthropologists will speak about their work on projects dealing with public health and environmental risk, environmental justice, watershed management, sustainable agriculture, fisheries management, or other human/environmental issues. Seminar goals include broader awareness of the role of anthropology in environmental planning and problem solving processes, enhancing connections between the academic and applied environmental anthropology community, and providing EPA and local environmental practitioner access to the anthropologists living in their community. For additional information, contact Environmental Anthropology Project Director Barbara Johnston at bjohnston@igc.org or visit the Project's web site http//www.telepath.com/sfaa/eap/abouteap.html.
Student Environmental Fellowships
The National Network for Environmental Management Studies (NNEMS) provides training in environmental research to undergraduate and graduate students through a fellowship program managed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Research fellowships are for environmental policy, regulations, and law; environmental management and administration; environmental science; public relations and communications; computer programming and development. Projects are designed by EPA scientists and managers, based on EPA's environmental and health protection priorities. In 1999 the program will also encourage projects related to the human dimension of environmental protection. Stipend is based on the recipient's level of education and the length of the project period. The stipend is provided in the form of a grant directly to the recipient. Fellowships can be completed working full-time during the summer, or part time during the school year. Full-time Fellowships can go up to one year. Part-time Fellowships can go up to three years. Students typically perform their projects at the sponsoring facility. Application materials and procedures are available at EPA's web site: http://www.epa.gov/enviroed. The annual application deadline is in December.
Indigenous Peoples Policy at the World Bank
The World Bank has begun consultations on a draft "Indigenous Peoples Approach Paper." When finalized, the Approach Paper will then be followed by rewriting the Bank's Indigenous Peoples Policy OD 4.20. The Approach Paper was drafted by a Working Group made up of 15 different departments within the Bank. The Approach Paper discusses areas of policy agreement and areas that require further consideration, including: the role of social assessment in identifying indigenous groups in Bank projects; the links between protection of cultural heritage of indigenous people and the Bank's program and policy in this area; and recommended processes for dealing with controversial Operational Directive aspects (such as identifying and defining people; ways of distinguishing between 'do no harm' and 'do good', and a process for external and internal consultation).
Issues of contention within the World Bank include the lack of agreement on what to call Indigenous Peoples and how to identify Indigenous Peoples; whether the policy should focus mainly on protecting Indigenous Peoples from projects that will have adverse impacts or promoting and empowering Indigenous Peoples in a positive development plan; and how to address a predicted escalation of problems associated with land tenure and resource rights, given increased funding for hydrocarbon and mineral development on Indigenous Peoples' lands. One of the main reasons for delay in revising the Indigenous Peoples Policy has been the debate over creating a participation and social assessment policy. No policies are currently in force for either practice. Lastly, the private sector is having a big impact on Indigenous Peoples and the current policy does not reflect this. The private sector is not in a position to make the structural governance changes often needed to protect or improve the lives of Indigenous Peoples.
The Bank is currently developing a consultation process, including meetings with Indigenous Peoples Organizations and NGOs working with Indigenous Peoples. Field consultations are planned with Indigenous Peoples in India, Brazil, Philippines and a number of locations in Africa. The Approach Paper will be posted on external and independent web sites. Comments on the Approach Paper will be collated and used in the first draft of a policy, which will be released for comments on the Bank's web site (in the next several weeks). If you are interested in reviewing the Approach Paper or commenting on the Draft Policy, please write to Shelton Davis at the World Bank, Social Development Department, 1818 H Street NW, Washington D.C. 20433, Fax: 202-522-3247.
UNESCO Encyclopedia Project
UNESCO is compiling an Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems to provide guidance for the achievement of global security through sustainable development. The Encyclopedia aims to develop a comprehensive and integrated coverage of six areas: Global Sustainable Development, Water, Energy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, and Knowledge Foundations. Further information on the Encyclopedia project, the network of cooperating research institutions, and sponsored conferences is available by contacting Tomoko Hamada (College of William and Mary, and Chair of the IUAES Commission on Anthropological Dimensions of Global Change thamad@facstaff.wm.edu) or through the web site: http://www.eolss.co.uk.
Membership Survey
Finally, here is a reminder that you recently should have received a membership survey via e-mail. Unlike other member surveys you may fill out, this information will not be squirreled away. It will be made available to all section members from our web site http://travel.to/anthenv as well as to others outside our organization. So if you have not done so already, please take a moment to contribute some information about yourself and your work. If you are not on the mailing list, you can fill out the survey on-line at our web site.
Send your news items to Ed Liebow (liebow@seanet.com, 206/675-1002; fax: 206/675-1005). And check the Anthropology/Environment web site regularly: http://travel.to/anthenv.