Trade Programme Research Articles

Participation, public policy-making, and legitimacy in the EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement process: The Cameroon case

This paper discusses how participatory policy-making processes such as the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) negotiations are and should be organised to foster political legitimacy and support. The VPAs are bilateral agreements between the European Union (EU) and timber producing countries. VPAs constitute a cornerstone in EU's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) programme, the most important tool for the EU to address illegal logging problems. The EU requires that national VPA negotiations include participation by the relevant stakeholders. Based on primary data, we compare the VPA negotiations in Cameroon (2006–2009) with three different ‘ideal’ models of participatory policy-making: the rationalist, the communicative incremental and the mixed model, which we expect have different implications for legitimacy. We conclude that the Cameroonian process is closest to a rationalist model with elements of the mixed model, and that this has increased legitimacy and support only to a limited extent. For future processes in other countries, we recommend stronger elements of the mixed model, and more careful considerations about stakeholder identification processes; how to adapt policy-process to specific contexts; and how to strengthen communication and information flows. Considerations about these elements could also strengthen the applicability of the ideal models.

Nitrogen Trading in Lake Taupo: An Analysis and Evaluation of an Innovative Water Management Policy

This paper provides an overview and early evaluation of the Lake Taupo nitrogen cap and trade programme, established as part of Waikato Regional Council’s 2011 Regional Plan Variation Five. The policy establishes a catchment-wide cap on nitrogen losses by allocating farmers individual nitrogen discharge allowances and allowing those farmers flexibility to trade allowances amongst themselves and to sell allowances to a public fund while remaining within the overall catchment cap. The Taupo trading scheme is the world’s first agricultural non-point-source water-quality cap and trade scheme. This paper explains the structure and evolution of the nitrogen trading market, and analyses its impact thus far. Research drawn from written material and descriptive quantitative data provides the basis for analysing the policy, while interviews with relevant stakeholders provide insight into the successful, surprising and contentious issues that arose throughout its development and implementation.

China's Regional Carbon Trading Experiments and the Development of a National Market: Lessons from China's So2 Trading Programme

Seven regions in China are currently conducting trial greenhouse gas emission trading pilot programmes in preparation for the development by 2015 of a nationwide cap and trade programme mandated by the 12th Five-Year Plan. Whilst China's carbon emission trading pilots are relatively recent, China possesses over fifteen years of experience in sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions trading. Like the current carbon emission pilots, various SO2 pilots were conducted covering nine cities and four provinces before adoption of a national SO2 emissions trading programme. This paper considers how China's nascent greenhouse gas cap and trade programme may evolve and what policymakers can learn from China's own extensive domestic experience with SO2 emissions trading, which remains largely unexplored in the literature on China's carbon markets.

Survival or escaping poverty: the perspectives of poverty and well-being among Ghanaian women in cross-border trading

Trading is one of the strategies that Ghanaian women have adopted to overcome poverty and improve their well-being. Using in-depth interviews, this study examines the specific commercial activities that are undertaken by women in cross-border trading, the coping strategies that they use to address the difficulties that confront them, the impact of women's trading activities on their lives, and how these are linked to their subjective understanding of poverty and well-being. The analysis shows that women can lift themselves out of poverty through informal cross-border trading activities in spite of the challenges and risks they face. Such trading activities have enabled them to support themselves and to meet the needs of their households, and this has created a sense of life satisfaction, happiness, and self-fulfilment. The study recommends that trade and trade-related programmes developed at a national level must include the needs and concerns of female cross-border traders. This should include educational and sensitization programmes on trade laws and women's rights issues.

Role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Rural Development: A Study of the Six Listed NGOs in Rivers State, Nigeria

Role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in rural development was analyzed through a study conducted on six NGOs in Rivers State. Major rural development programmes of the NGOs are agricultural programmes, health programmes, human resource development programmes, community development and industrial and trade programmes. Majority of the beneficiaries, non-beneficiaries, workers of NGOs and workers of other development agencies considered rural development works of the NGOs as effective for rural development. The objectives of the study are firstly, to analyze the role of NGOs in promoting sustainable agriculture. Secondly, to find on what extent NGOs are promoting awareness programmes and upgrading development facilities. For the present study, a few NGOs have been selected randomly for detailed investigation and relevant information was collected by personal visits. Some NGOs had involved successfully with organic farming system. But in this study, 6 NGOs were selected from Rivers State, Nigeria. The overall analysis of the study reveals that NGOs are very prominent in effective implementation of government programmes towards sustainable rural development through the third party activities in education, health, agriculture, community development, energy, environment, and waste, moral up bringing, youth empowerment and poverty alleviation.

RadioShack tunes into M2Sys kit

RadioShack has deployed the M2SYS Bio-Plugin image capture software solution for a secondhand merchandise buy-back programme at certain stores to capture the fingerprints of customers engaging in the sale of secondhand merchandise through RadioShack's Trade & Save programme. The biometric software deployment is meant to help stop fraud and establish an audit trail of transactions.

Renewable Energy Certificate and Perform, Achieve, Trade mechanisms to enhance the energy security for India

The Renewable Energy Certificate and Perform Achieve Trade mechanisms in India are designed to target energy generation and saving, respectively, in line with Clean Development Mechanism implemented by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Renewable Energy Certificate System is a voluntary regulation in India for renewable energy generators and is designed for effective implementation of inter-state transactions by introducing the Renewable Purchase Obligation regulation for consumers and a flexible trading platform for transactions across the country. Another initiative, the Perform Achieve Trade scheme, is an enhanced energy efficiency trading mechanism based on consumption targets that require large energy user sectors to improve efficiency by 1–2% per year. The Perform Achieve Trade programme has introduced mechanisms for the identification of industry sector, designated customer, specific energy consumption and target setting. The Perform Achieve Trade design issues are in test phase in the first cycle of the scheme which will run from 2012 to 2015. This paper discusses key design issues about boundary and target setting for Renewable Energy Certificate and Perform Achieve Trade energy saving certificate (ESCert) A data sharing and trading mechanism for Perform Achieve Trade is also proposed for review and coordination among regulator, designated consumers and traders in the market.

Opinions on legality principles considered in the FLEGT/VPA policy in Ghana and Indonesia

The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade programme (FLEGT) of the European Union aims at stimulating both legal timber production and good forest governance. The EU establishes Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) with individual tropical timber exporting countries; these VPAs should be developed through a stakeholder-inclusive governance process and define national standards for timber legality. The national policy level serves as an interface between the EU policy and the local realities of forest exploitation. This article assesses whether new assemblages of timber legality standards were developed at this interface. It presents the opinions of people actively engaged in the FLEGT/VPA process in Ghana (n=38) and Indonesia (n=40) about which principles regarding timber legality, law enforcement and social safeguards were considered during the VPA negotiations in each country. Almost half of the respondents (44%) were positive about the integrative focus of VPA discussions focusing on both forestry and livelihood issues, 40% considered it had mostly a limited focus or traditional timber sector focus, and 16% indicated a high degree of attention to social responsibility issues. There were differences in the characteristics of respondents and their opinions between Ghana and Indonesia; these reflect differences in organisation of the FLEGT/VPA process. The findings demonstrate how depending on country-specific policy processes principles from an international forest policy are adapted at national level; this may involve new assemblages of the original policy principles.

Aid for development of international trade

The development of international trade was very impressive in the second half of 20th century. But even with these great development opportunities that growth of international trade can bring the small number of developed economies had succeeded to ripe benefits from it in order to develop their economies and reduce poverty. Even with the establishment of the World Trade Organization it was apparent that developing countries need assistance in order to integrate fully in international trade system. The Aid for Trade, which is a part of Official Development Assistance focusing on trade, has an aim to help developing countries build their trade capacity and the transport infrastructure so they can use trade as a powerful engine for economic growth. This paper set out to describe this new programme of trade aid developed under the auspices of WTO, as a multilateral project, to point out the readiness of donor countries and aims of beneficiary countries. But we will explore the linkages of Aid for Trade programme with bilateral and regional aid initiatives in the area of trade.

Effective, efficient or equitable: using allowance allocations to mitigate emissions leakage

The European Union (EU), the US and Australia have each adopted, or are considering, free allocations to emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industries (EITEIs) in order to minimize emissions leakage and industrial offshoring resulting from climate policy. Differences in the design of these schemes, including how a country defines eligible EITEIs, the scale of allocation and the method of distribution, all have the potential to affect the outcomes of the programmes. In crafting their EITEI allocation formulas, policymakers in each country must balance three important priorities – the economic efficiency of the cap and trade programme, an equitable distribution of the programme's allowances and the effectiveness of the allocations in addressing leakage and competitiveness concerns. These three priorities provide a useful framework for considering the tradeoffs inherent in designing allocation schemes for EITEIs. Through this lens, policy approaches taken by the EU, US and Australia are evaluated with respect to four important questions of allocation policy design: the definition of EITEIs, the costs to be covered, the methodology for distributing allowances and the duration of free allocation.

A load-based CO2 cap in the power sector

Oregon's governor has proposed a load-based cap and trade programme that limits carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. A load-based programme is different from the source-based European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), as it regulates emissions sources, located outside the state, that serve Oregon's electricity load. This article describes the stakeholder process that developed the legislative proposal for the load-based cap. The Oregon Clean Energy Planning Model©, a modified capacity expansion model of annual load resource balances, is used to estimate programme costs. The net present value of the climate policy to Oregon ranges from a $518 million benefit to a $414 million cost under various load growth scenarios. Programme benefits are possible under low and medium load growth because the societal returns of energy efficiency exceed its cost over the life of the programme. CO2 allowance prices in 2017–2020 are estimated in the medium case at approximately $21 per tonne. Low energy efficiency deployment could raise allowance costs to $36, while an aggressive efficiency programme could reduce them to $13.50. Competition for Northwest renewable resources could increase allowance prices in final phase to $37, indicating the interdependence in programme design among state climate policies.

A neutron noise-based experiment in a TRIGA reactor

A neutron noise-based experiment performed in the TRIGA reactor of the ENEA-Casaccia centre in Italy is presented. This experiment is part of the first phase of the international TRADE programme that seeks a global demonstration of an accelerator-driven system at power. The main objective of that first experimental phase is the measurement at zero-power of fundamental neutronic parameters. The present experiment performed in the reference critical core configuration has first of all aimed at the inference of the prompt neutron decay constant at critical, which is equal to the ratio of the delayed neutron fraction to the neutron generation time. The neutron-noise technique that has been applied is the power spectral density technique, based on the use of fission chambers operated in fluctuation mode. Two fission chambers, each with a sensitivity of 10-1 cps/nv, have been placed within the core region close to the reflector. The prompt neutron decay constant at delayed critical has been estimated at 132 ± 2 s-1 with 68% confidence level.

The relationship between some chemical parameters and sensory evaluations for plain black tea ( Camellia sinensis) produced in Kenya and comparison with similar teas from Malawi and South Africa

Reliable and accurately measurable chemical parameters that can be used to estimate black tea quality are desirable in trade, research and breeding programmes. Using plain Kenyan black tea from 11 cultivars, which gave some significant differences in their plain black tea quality parameters, the individual theaflavins composition, total theaflavins, thearubigins, theaflavin digallate equivalent, total colour and brightness were determined. The parameters were regressed against sensory evaluation scores of two tasters A and B. The theaflavin digallate equivalent (TDE) showed the strongest relationship ( r = 0.71 ( P ⩽ 0.01) and r = 0.80 ( P ⩽ 0.001)) for A and B′, respectively. The simple (non gallated) theaflavin and thearubigins did not show significant relationships with sensory evaluation. Of the liquor characteristics, there were significant relationships between liquor brightness and sensory evaluation by A and B ( r = 0.58 ( P ⩽ 0.06) and r = 0.59 ( P ⩽ 0.05)), respectively. In consequence, TDE and brightness can be used in tea breeding programmes as quality indicators or to estimate plain black tea quality potential in the tea trade. Optimising their levels can also help to produce good quality Kenyan black teas during processing. Comparison of these results with work published earlier indicates that, of the individual theaflavins, theaflavin-3,3′-digallate correlates best with tea taster scores for the 11 Kenyan cultivars, whereas the simple theaflavin correlates best with tea tasters’ scores for 40 Malawian cultivars. However, the derived parameter, TDE correlates very well with tea tasters’ scores for all of the above cultivars.

Evaluating fair trade as a development project: methodological considerations

This article identifies the need for an appropriate methodology for evaluating Fair Trade, given that most evaluations to date have been in-house or commissioned reviews and hence have not followed a consistent approach. Focusing on the development aspects of Fair Trade, the article reviews a range of impact evaluation methods and presents a detailed methodology for analysing Fair Trade. This methodology incorporates standard project evaluation criteria and is based on a wide range of proven methods for collecting and analysing data, principally qualitative but also quantitative. This framework is a modular package from which practitioners may select according to their needs and means, while still retaining an overarching logic. The article illustrates its use by reference to evaluations undertaken in Costa Rica, Ghana, Nicaragua, and Tanzania. The approach allows for a comprehensive understanding of Fair Trade programmes and enables these to be compared with conventional development projects.

Coalbed methane extraction and utilization

Coalbed methane (CBM) is the generic name for all methane of coal seam origin. It is a natural gas formed by geological, or biological, processes in coal seams and generally consists predominantly of methane, but may also contain some higher alkanes and non-combustible gases. Methane is released whenever coal is de-stressed or fractured by mining. Methane is one of the main greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, therefore releasing it to atmosphere is an environmental hazard. However, it is also an important energy resource and can be recovered from operational coal mines, abandoned coal mines, and virgin (unmined) coal seams. Significant volumes of CBM are exploited worldwide for space heating, industrial processes, and power generation. This paper critically reviews the current UK and worldwide status of CBM extraction and utilization technologies building on a previous study funded through the Department of Trade and Industry's Cleaner Coal Technology Programme [1].

How Fair is Fair Trade

This paper investigates to what extent fair trade programmes, are indeed ‘fair.’ This is accomplished by comparing fair trade with free trade and protectionist trade regimes on their compliance of the criteria set by the fair trade movement itself. This comparison is made using comparative cost based models and economies of scale models. It is found that whether or not fair trade is superior to free trade or protectionism is highly dependent on a number of characteristics of the products to which fair trade is applied as well as on the context within which international trade takes place.

Sharp edge cutting technology - a review of hand held and machine knives/blades and their sharp edge retention

The cutlery & Trades Research Association (CATRA) has recently concluded a two year research project, funded by the Department of Trade and Industry Focus Technology Programme, to review the sharp edge retention of hand held and machine knives and blades. Results for sharpness and wear performance of cutting edges, ranging from small thin razor blades to large paper shear blades, are reported and compared with those having undergone a variety of hard, wear resistant surface treatments, i.e. physical vapour deposition, plasma nitriding, case hardening, and electrodeposition processes.

Ethical sourcing: a contribution to sustainability or a diversion?

There is a plethora of codes of practice emerging to help business manage and communicate social and environmental performance, particularly the relationship with suppliers in developing countries. These codes lie at the heart of ethical trading or ethical sourcing, and often tackle issues central to sustainable business. However, there are often separate codes addressing social and environmental criteria, and no real coherence in either their development or implementation. Consequently, the contribution of ethical sourcing to the sustainable business agenda is open to question. This paper, drawing on the work in developing countries of the Natural Resources and Ethical Trade programme as well as others in the field, examines the reasons behind the divergence in social and environmental codes of practice (see note). It explores the contribution ethical sourcing has made to increasing business responsibility, but argues that greater cohesion between social and environmental standards is necessary if this approach to value chain management is to help achieve sustainable business goals. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

THE EMERGENCE OF CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGIES.

Keywords ETSU, DEPARTMENT OF TRADE & INDUSTRY, DTI, MERZ & MCLELLAN, PB POWER, AEA TECHNOLOGY COAL, CLEAN, TECHNOLOGY, USE, EFFICIENCY, ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMICS, RESEARCH, ELECTRICITY, GENERATION, PREPARATION, HANDLING, APPLICATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, COMBUSTION, STEEL, MANUFACTURE, LIQUEFACTION, POWER STATIONS, POWER, FOSSILS, FUEL, ENERGY, PLANT, GASIFICATION... Show All

An overview of the UK Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI's) programme in solar energy

The UK Government has been supporting research, development and promotion of solar energy since 1977. In the early years most of the work was directed towards passive solar design (PSD) and solar thermal systems for water and central heating, referred to simply as active solar systems. In 1984 work on active solar systems was curtailed but the passive solar programme continued through the 1980s. It has now culminated in the Energy Design Advice Scheme (EDAS) to promote and encourage the application of low energy design techniques studied within the DTI programme. Between 1991 and 1993 all the solar technologies were reviewed and some specific projects were carried out on the application of PV systems in buildings. These looked at the overall potential in the UK as well as the problems of integrating PV into building cladding components, and the connection of such systems to the electricity distribution grid. As a result of the reviews, in 1994 the programme gained a broader remit and now includes four distinct sectors; passive solar design, photovoltaics, active solar, and photoconversion. Research work and promotion of the results is now being carried out in all these areas. This article summarises the history of the DTI's solar programme within the context of the wider New and Renewable Energy Market Enablement programme. It goes on to describe the aims and objectives of the current programme as well as describing some recently completed and ongoing projects.