Useful Resources
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http://www.context.org/
Context Institute is a content-rich website, focusing on "sustainable culture."
Great resource for planetary thinking and access to more than 1,000 articles.
Email: webmaster@context.org
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http://www.epa.gov/ecocommunity
Community-based Environmental Protection is a new
resource from the United States's Environmental Protection Agency. While this is not
LatAm specific, there are a number of useful resources. Due to site design, it's difficult to give URLs
specific documents. But under news, for example, you'll find profiles of upcoming
conferences on environmental decisionmaking and communities and wetlands.
Email: Solloway.Chris@epamail.epa.gov
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http://www.comminit.com/
Communications Initiative is a partnership between The Rockefeller
Foundation, UNICEF, USAID, WHO, BBC World Service, CIDA, Johns Hopkins
University's Center for Communication Programming, UNFPA, Soul City and Panos. This is a
recommended resource, though it should be noted that the "Initiative" tends to focus
on institutional endeavors rather than grassroots programs. One complaint -- there is little on this website to show how the initiative began
or for how long it will run. Among the best features on this site are Drum Beat
http://www.comminit.com/drum_beat.html
and the News features (http://www.comminit.com/news.html).
Information is a little outdated, but useful for anyone interested in
communications and development issues. For more information, contact Warren Feek
- email: wfeek@coastnet.com
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http://www.gaia.org/
Eco-Village Information Service: Check out the communities around the world
which have a holistic connection to the environment. The site includes the
Global Eco-village Network (GEN), as well as a list of other resources and
a calendar of events.
Email: heidi@gaia.org
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http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/etour.html
Exploring Ecotourism on the Planeta.com website
(http://www.planeta.com) reviews the concepts behind environmental tourism
and points to resources and analysis throughout the world. (This is a modest plug for another page on this site.)
Email: ron@planeta.com
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http://sdgateway.net/sp_default.htm
SD Gateway based in Canada, where I guess "SD" is known by everyone as
shorthand for "Sustainable Development." That bit of jargon aside, this is a
highly-recommended trilingual site with a primer on sustainable development and
directories. A "network of some of the world's leading sustainable development
institutes," these organisations have formed the Sustainable Development
Communications Network in order to improve their online products and services.
Email Contact: SDGateway@iisd.ca
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http://www.gatewest.net/~green/
Green and Growing: From the Ground Up began as a teachers' lesson guide on food, agriculture, and sustainable development. This on-line version is divided into
five lessons; The History of Agriculture and a Description of Sustainable Development; Soil; Agriculture and Chemicals; The Real Cost of
Food; and Everything's Connected. This highly recommended website is
prepared by Bryan Johnson and Keith Turner.
Email Contact: green@gatewest.net
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http://www.sage-rsa.org.uk/
Sustainability Action Group (UK): Excellent collection of articles, lectures and case studies from the Royal Society of Arts at Bristol.
Email Contact: info@sage-rsa.org.uk
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http://www.greenbuilder.com
Sustainable Sources is Sustainable Sources includes the Sustainable Building Sourcebook -
-- http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook --
one of the best practical archives of information on green building.
Email: billc@greenbuilder.com
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http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/SUSTDEV/Welcome_.HTM
Sustainable Development Dimensions is an excellent new site hosted by the UN's Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Information is divided into four areas:
People, Institutions, Knowledge and Environment. The site is updated monthly.
Includes information in
Spanish.
Email: Graeme.Thomas@fao.org
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http://www-personal.umich.edu/~fiatlux/td/
Talking about Development: Highly recommended collection of real stories.
This site - created by Vera Britto - is better than ever. Highly innovative and exceptionally interesting!
Email: fiatlux@umich.edu
Institutional Websites
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http://www.americasnet.net/
AmericasNet: A disappointment. Florida International University's Summit of the Americas
Center has a site that's that frequently has high-tech video or audio conferences, but few
documents or archives. It also tends toward an institutional focus - regardless
of whether progress is actually being made. Email: summit@americas.fiu.edu
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http://www.sistema.itesm.mx/misc/bcsd-la/
The Business Council for Sustainable Development - Latin America offers general pages on the history and mission of the BSCD. New
online pages include information on the first interamerican conference on joint
implementation and sustainabledevelopment, held in San Salvador and the BCSD-LA
document "Sustainable Development in Latin America. Private Enterprise & Common
Sense."
Email: bcsdla@campus.mty.itesm.mx
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http://www.ecouncil.ac.cr
Earth Council - This organization was created at the 1992 Earth Summit, and though it's had a
website for some time, only recently has Earth Council developed into a content-rich
archive. For example, in 1998 it launched a directory of the National
Councils for Sustainable Development and similar entities (NCSD) at
http://www.ncsdnetwork.org in case you'd like
to know who are the official promoters of sustainable development in your country.
On the minus side is the fact that the side is infrequently updated. In the Summer 1999, the
last new items were added nine months previously. See What's New.
Email: eci@terra.council.ac.cr
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http://www.erin.gov.au/
Environment Australia does not focus on Latin America but it does provide a good example
of what a useful government site can offer. Documents available include summaries
of Australia's National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development (NSESD), the
InterGovernmental Agreement on the Environment (IGAE) and National Reports to the UN
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). Information on environmental economics
and links to other sites with sustainable development information are also included.
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http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT): This center is based in Cali,
Colombia. Projects include Crop Improvement, Agrobiodiversity and Land
Management. Kudos to CIAT for producing regular updates for the Ecoregional
Network for Latin America/Red Ecorregional para America Latina. To receive
the updates, contact Isabel Gutierrez.
Email: i.gutierrez@cgiar.org
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http://www.oneworld.org/iied/index.html
International Institute for Environment and Development has vastly improved.
In the spring of 1996 there wasn't much information at this site, despite the organization's
impressive history. Now a great deal is online. Check out the site map.
Contact the IIED at
3 Endsleigh Street, London WC1H 0DD; Phone: +44-(0)171 388 2117; Fax +44-(0)171 388 2826;
Email:mailbox@iied.org
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http://www.iadb.org/sds
The Inter-American Development Bank's Social Programs and Sustainable Development Department (SDS)
has made major improvements to its website. Among the useful
resources are a site map a site map
(http://www.iadb.org/sds/sitemap.cfm), an enhanced search engine
(http://www.iadb.org/sds/search.cfm/0/ENGLISH), and a publications
database (http://www.iadb.org/sds/publications.cfm/507/ENGLISH).
Email Contact - Luis Fierro: LUISF@iadb.org
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http://www.iclei.org/
The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) is the international environmental agency for local governments. More than 200
municipalities from 43 countries participated in the founding of the International
Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) at the World Congress of Local
Governments for a Sustainable Future held in September, 1990 at the United Nations in
New York. Email: 75361.3043@compuserve.com
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http://www.idrc.ca/
International Development Research Centre (Ottawa, Canada) is pledged to building a sustainable and equitable world. To meet this challenge,
the Centre has focused its efforts on five multi-disciplinary themes: Biodiversity,
Poverty and environmental damage, Food systems under stress, Information and
communication and Technology and the environment.
Email: pub@idrc.ca
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http://iisd1.iisd.ca/
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is a non-profit
organization established and supported by the Governments of Canada and Manitoba. IISD's mandate is to promote sustainable development in decision making within
government, business and the daily lives of individuals in Canada and the world.
Looking for indicators of Sustainable Development. Look at the compendium online
http://iisd.ca/measure/compendium.htm.
This is a beautiful site! Email: hcreech@iisdpost.iisd.ca
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http://www.sustain.org/bulletins/
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) publishes or distributes a series of bulletins in both English and Spanish, including BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest, Connection to the Americas,
Intellectual Property & Biodiversity News, NAFTA & Inter-American Trade Monitor,
El Monitor de NAFTA y Comercio Interamericano, IATP Propiedad Intelectual y Biodiversidad Noticias.
The Minnesota-based center has a long history of promoting responsible trade and its publications are a model of advocacy journalism.
Email: iatp-info@iatp.org
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http://www.lead.org/
Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) is a disappointment and it's
unclear if its presence in the real world is much better. The online description reads:
"In each LEAD member country or regions, approximately 15
promising mid-career are recruited from a broad range of disciplines and
professional sectors to become Associates in the two-year program." Empty virtual
conference halls and out-of-date contact lists hampers this resource. What does
LEAD actually do in Latin America? Email: lead@lnsc.lead.org
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http://www.oas.org/
Organization of the American States: "The OAS' Department of Regional Development and Environment conducts technical
cooperation and training programs to assist the member States in their efforts to
preserve their natural resources. It works with the countries on planning sustainable
development, managing the environment and preparing investment programs and projects."
The site has some country-specific reports, though none online and the website offers few contacts. Pages include a Proposal to Create a Sustainable Development Unit and the
Bolivia Summit.
Email:Info@OAS.ORG
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http://prometeo.cool.co.cr/usr/pleds/
PLEDS: "The Resource Directory was developed by the Fundacion Acceso at the
request of the Business Leadership for Sustainable Development Program
(PLEDS) an initiative of INCAE (the Central American Business Institute).
This Network of 50 members from 18 countries of Latin America seeks to
motivate the region's young business leaders to undertake specific projects
in support of the sustainable development of their companies, sectors, and
countries by providing them with access to practical business information,
personal references, management training, and opportunities for dialogue
both within the network as well as with professionals in other sectors.
Part of the Acceso project at http://www.acceso.org.
Email: facceso@sol.racsa.co.cr
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http://www.semarnap.gob.mx/proders/
PRODERS: Mexico's regional program for sustainable development run by the Environmental
Secretariat (SEMARNAP) is an exemplary web site. Mexico demonstrates great leadership in
distributing information on this topic.
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http://www.rafiusa.org
RAFI: This is a wonderful, content-rich site! RAFI is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in Ottawa,
Ontario (Canada) and with affiliate offices in Pittsboro, North Carolina (USA). "RAFI is concerned about the loss of genetic diversity - especially
in agriculture - and about the impact of intellectual property rights on agriculture
and world food security."
Email: rafican@web.apc.org
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http://www.rds.org.mx/
Red de Desarrollo Sostenible - Mexico: This is a network of "groups committed
to sustainable development and member of the UNDP-SDNP (United Nations
Development Programme-Sustainable Development Network Programme." The site boasts a
good collection of online publications. It's unclear, though, who's in charge, how
the network is financed or what the direction of this group will be.
Be sure to check out the daily Informacion Ambiental synthesis of Mexican environmental
and economic news - http://www.rds.org.mx/noti/
- an UTNE Reader for Mexican environmental news stories in
Spanish. I'll cross my fingers this isn't a short-lived experiment.
Email: info@rds.org.mx
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http://www.rds.org.gt/
Red de Desarrollo Sostenible: Guatemala No doubt part of the United Nation's labrynth, this website has some good info online and
the requisite links to other official organizations. There should be more information
about what is happening in Guatemala, but this archive is rather dry. Stay tuned... Email: info@rds.org.gt
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http://www.unep.ch/
United Nations Environment Programme remains a disappointment. They say: "Geneva is a leading center for international treaties and major
programmes dealing with the environment and sustainable development.
Most of these activities are sponsored by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) or
by the UN Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable
Development (DPCSD)." I would ask that there be more specific information here -
perhaps there will be developments later this year. Email:Webmaster@unep.ch
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http://unep.frw.uva.nl
United Nations Environment Program, Work Group on Sustainable Product Development: Includes information about the working group, its database, links to other environmental
web pages, the newsfax archive and information on joining the program. There is also a
Economic and Social Development section -- http://www.un.org/esa/ -- online.
Emails:unep@unep.frw.uva.nl and
esa@un.org
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http://www.sustainable.doe.gov
The U.S. Department of Energy's Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development
"will offer information and technical advice to help communities become more energy
efficient and environmentally sound." Contact Jeff Birkby via email:
jbirkby@ncat.org
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http://www-esd.worldbank.org/html/esd/esdvp/esdvp.htm
World Bank - Environmentally Sustainable Development: Content-bereft - this site has a list of tempting publications, none
of which are available via the website and a calendar of events that is
available only to World Bank staff: "The ESD Calendar of Events and Outputs is available only to World Bank staff that are accessing the
Internet through the Bank's connection. People not in the Bank can not access this page."
This is an embarrassment! For such an important division, it's
a shame there is no documentation available to the public here. No email and don't even
try to connect to the calendar section.
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http://www.wbcsd.ch
World Business Council for Sustainable Development: What a good good idea - entrepreneurs working to protect the environment, talking about
eco-efficiency and corporate social responsibility. But it's unclear what the group really does.
Publications are available, in PDF format unfortunately.
The WBCSD produces the quarterly Trade and Environment Bulletin (http://www.wbcsd.ch/mediaonly.htm#trade), which
offers a good review of current news in this field.
Email: info@wbcsd.ch
Dated Resources
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http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/watershed/wacademy/acad2000.html
Academy 2000: Distance Learning in the Watershed Approach is an innovative project from the Environmental
Protection Agency in the United States. The content is not directly related to Latin America, but give this site
kudos for providing an assortment of interesting documents online. Choice quote from the site:
"Our economic choices should not be based on the principle of maximizing
utility, but rather on minimizing regret."
Email: norton.douglas@epamail.epa.gov
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http://www.abanet.org/publicserv/airlie/airlie25.html
The American Bar Association held a meeting on
"Sustainable Development in the Americas: The Emerging Role of the
Private Sector" with several sessions focusing on the upcoming Bolivia Summit as well as an
ABA follow-up conference held in Buenos Aires in 1997. They do not seem eager to put
conclusions or presentations online.
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http://mite.cs.cowan.edu.au/ipc6/toc.html
Designing the Future - Proceedings from a 1996 Permaculture Conference is an
excellent resource about sustainable agriculture. I wish more conferences put the full-text of terrific presentations online.
While the conference was global in scope, there are several Latin America-specific articles,
including one that details permaculture in
Nicaragua
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http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/cumbre/
Official Summit of the Americas Website: A hemispheric disappointment,
the December 1996 Summit attracted just a dozen leaders from the Americas, and
little substantial proress was made. The lack of public awareness of the summit
was matched by institutional arrogance and lack of resolve. This website is actually no
longer on the web. It had been produced by the Secretariat of the Summit of the Americas in
collaboration with the Sustainable Development Network of Bolivia and Virtual
Production Services, with funding from the Government of the Netherlands. This was not
money well spent.
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http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/sdrp/
Sustainable Development Reporting Project is an archive of articles
written by John Burnett, an Austin, Texas-based reporter, who also prepared audio
versions of this series for National Public Radio. This is an excellent snapshot
of sustainable development in Mexico and Central America from the 1990s.
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http://www.utexas.edu/courses/sustdevt/
Sustainable Development: Implications for World Peace was a 1996 conference
held in Austin, Texas. Some of the papers are online as well as conference photos.
Unfortunately, some of the links aren't working and the host does not respond to
emails... Many of the papers, such
as Sustaining Peace in Central America:
The Challenges of the Central American Alliance for Sustainable Development tend to relay too heavily on what the institutions say they are doing
instead of reviewing actual progress. Another paper, Philip Howard's
Unsustainable Development and Conflict in Chiapas
is listed but never has been accessible online.
Asociación Méxicana de Turismo de Aventura y Ecoturismo
(Mexican Association of Adventure Travel and Ecotourism - Amtave)
http://www.amtave.com
Email: info@amtave.com
- AMTAVE is a group of about 80+ travel providers who work in the fields of ecotourism
and adventure tourism. The association produces an annual catalogue and boasts a useful website.
Currently, the organization is run by 8 co-presidents who are in charge of various regions
in Mexico.
Departamento de Recursos Naturales/ICT (Costa Rican Tourism Institute)
http://www.turismo-sostenible.co cr
San Jose, Costa Rica; Phone: (506) 223-1733, ext. 328; Email: info@turismo-sostenible.co.cr
- A Costa Rican government office which is developing certification standards for
green hotels. Contacts: Rodolfo Lizano and Alberto Sanchez
Kiskeya
http://kiskeya-alternative.org/cangonet/
P.O. Box 109-Z, Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo, Rep. Dominicana;
Tel.: 1-809-537 89 77;
Email: kad@kiskeya-alternative.org
- Enterprising organization focusing on ecotourism as well as indigenous dance. Works mostly in the Caribbean.
Organization of American States - Tourism Unit
http://www.oas.org/EN/PROG/TOURISM/tr_othe.htm
- Multinational group charged with promoting both tourism and development in the
region, the OAS shows much promise, but again, it is difficult to get up-to-date
information online their website. Wildlife
Venezuela (The Venezuela´s Eco Portal)
http://wildlife.venezuela.com
- Online publishing Eco Portal with 105 sections,house and dialogue center focusing on ecotourism in
Venezuela. Directed by Ing
Xabier I. Amezaga
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