Energy efficiency in freight transport by road

This issue of the FAL Bulletin addresses energy efficiency and its challenges in terms of freight transport by road. To this end, different national plans for energy efficiency in transport were reviewed, for both developed countries and for Latin America.

Social protection systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: Ecuador

Includes bibliography.

Types of discrepancy in Millennium Development Goal indicator values and measures for statistical reconciliation: Overall framework and implementation in selected thematic areas and indicators

Includes bibliography.

Strategies to overcome barriers to the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy in the Caribbean

Includes bibliography.

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Crisis, stabilization and reactivation: performance of the labour market in 2009

Following a five-year period during which economic and social performance in Latin America and the Caribbean surpassed anything seen in recent decades, the global economic and financial crisis not only hurt macroeconomic variables but also impacted heavily on labour markets in the region’s countries. Between 2003 and 2008 employment rates had risen considerably, especially in the formal sector, but the crisis spelled a reversal of this trend. Nevertheless, the region was better prepared than it had been in previous crises, since it had achieved a sound fiscal footing, a good level of international reserves and low rates of inflation. This meant that the authorities had the space to implement countercyclical policies on both fiscal and monetary levels. Be this as it may, faced with the worst global crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, these measures could only attenuate the impact on the region’s economies —they could not prevent it altogether. Furthermore, the crisis struck with notable differences among subregions and countries depending on the nature of their trade integration, and not all the countries had the fiscal space to implement vigorous countercyclical policies. As discussed in this third ECLAC/ILO bulletin, the crisis did less damage to the region’s labour markets than had been feared at the beginning of last year, thanks to the implementation of public policies geared towards employment, as reviewed in the two previous bulletins. This bulletin offers an additional analysis from the perspective of gender equality. Moreover, some countries in the region, notably Brazil, managed to rapidly stabilize and revive economic growth, with positive effects on labour variables. The fact remains, however, that millions in Latin America and the Caribbean lost their jobs or were obliged to accept more poorly paid employment in more precarious conditions. The macroeconomic data indicate that recovery is under way and is stronger and occurring more rapidly than foreseen one year ago. In fact, regional growth in 2010 may well exceed the 4.1% forecast at the end of 2009. Consequently, although the unemployment rate may be expected to record a modest drop, it may not return to pre-crisis levels. The upturn is taking many different forms in the countries of the region. In some, especially in South America, recovery has benefited from the buoyancy of the Asian economies, whose demand for natural resources has driven large increases in exports, in terms of both volume and price. Countries whose economies are closely tied to the United States economy are benefiting from the recovery there, albeit more slowly and with a certain lag. Conversely, some countries are still suffering from major disequilibria, which are hampering their economic reactivation. Lastly, Chile and Haiti were both victims of devastating earthquakes early in the year and are therefore facing additional challenges associated with reconstruction, on top of their efforts to sustain an economic upturn. Despite the relatively favourable outlook for regional growth in 2010, great uncertainty still surrounds the global economy’s recovery, which affects the region’s economic prospects over the longer term. The weakness of the recovery in some regions and the doubts about its sustainability in others, as well as shocks that have occurred in international financial markets, are warning signs which authorities need to monitor continuously because of the region’s close integration with the global economy. In addition, a return to growth does not directly or automatically mean higher employment rates —still less decent working conditions. Although some labour indicators have performed reasonably favourably since the end of last year, the countries still face daunting challenges in improving the labour market integration of millions in Latin America and the Caribbean who are not seeing the fruits of renewed growth. This is why it is important to learn the lessons arising from the policies implemented during the crisis to offset its impact on labour markets. With this third joint bulletin, ECLAC and ILO continue to pursue their objective of affording the region the information and analyses needed to face these challenges, as regards both trends in the region’s labour markets and the corresponding policy options.

Latin America and the Caribbean and China: towards a new era in economic cooperation

Foreword by Alicia Bárcena

Network for Cooperation in Integrated Water Resource Management for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean No. 42

Editorial remarks.-- Open discussion: Conceptual change in regulation in a model of public service provision ; Policies and institutional frameworks for drinking water supply and sanitation ; Strategies for low-carbon development in megacities in Latin America ; Adapting to climate change in water management in the irrigation sector.-- Meetings: Towards a vision on natural resource governance for equality ; Water resources faced with uncertainty and the risk of climate change ; Regulation challenges in the water sector.-- News of the Network: Lessons to be drawn from the interprovincial Colorado River flow distribution agreement ; Rural drinking water programme in Chile ; Ecuador’s Act on Water Resources and Water Use and Exploitation.-- Internet and WWW News

A study on energy issues in the Caribbean: potential for mitigating climate change

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is seeking to provide support to the Governments of Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados in researching the potential for employing renewable energy technologies to mitigate climate change. This exercise involves the study of different types of renewable technologies and mitigative strategies, with the aim of making recommendations to the governments on the development of their renewable energy sector. The recommendations may also assist in achieving their long-term objectives of reducing poverty and promoting healthy economies and sustainable livelihoods in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals. Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados each face common and specific challenges in their efforts to adequately define and implement their energy and climate policies, in a way that allows them to contribute to the mitigation effort against climate change, while promoting sustainable development within their countries. Each country has demonstrated an understanding of the global and national challenges pertaining to climate change. They have attempted to address these challenges through policies and various programmes implemented by local and international agencies. Documented and undocumented policies have sought to outline the directions to be taken by each territory as they seek to deploy new technologies to address issues related to energy and the environment. While all territories have sought to deploy multiple alternate and renewable technologies simultaneously, it is clear that, given their sizes and resource limitations, no one territory can achieve excellence in all these areas. Guyana has demonstrated the greatest potential for hydro energy and should pursue it as their main area of expertise. The country also has an additional major strategy that includes forest credits and the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) programme. This approach will be brought to the negotiation table in the upcoming climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009. Of the three countries, Jamaica has the only active significant wind farm deployment, while Barbados has a long tradition in solar energy. Each country might then supplement their energy and fuel mix with other energy and fuel sources and draw from the experience of other countries. Given the synergies that might accrue from adopting a regional approach, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) might be well positioned to play a coordinating role. This focus on renewable energy and biofuels should yield good, long-term results as it relates to mitigation against climate change, and good, short- and medium-term results as it relates to the development of sustainable economies. Each country might also achieve energy security, reduced oil dependence, significant reduction in harmful emissions and better foreign exchange management if they pursue good policies and implementation practices. Human and financial resources are critical to the success of planned interventions, and it will be necessary to successfully mobilize these resources in order to be effective in executing key plans.

Network for Cooperation in Integrated Water Resource Management for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean No. 40

Editorial remarks.-- Open discussion: Regulation under the public model of service provision ; Regulatory progress and challenges in Argentina ; Twenty years of SUNASS: development, experience, lessons learned and challenges ; Possible conflict between efficiency and sustainability ; Best practices in regulating State-owned and municipal water utilities.-- News of the Network: Water use charge in the Province of Buenos Aires ; National Drinking Water and Sanitation Sector Policy of Guatemala ; Sanitation Services Modernization Law of Peru ; Internet and WWW News

Inclusive social development: The next generation of policies for overcoming poverty and reducing inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean

Foreword by Alicia Bárcena

Workshop on public participation in international negotiations on environmental matters: Panel on environmental justice and access rights for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean

This publication was prepared with financial support from the United Nations Development Account and the project “Addressing critical socio-environmental challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean ”

Potential of adjuvants to reduce drift in agricultural spraying

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

MODEL-BASED COMPENSATION FOR BURST MESSAGE LOSS IN WIRELESS NETWORKED CONTROL SYSTEMS: EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

A recent trend in networked control systems (NCSs) is the use of wireless networks enabling interoperability between existing wired and wireless systems. One of the major challenges in these wireless NCSs (WNCSs) is to overcome the impact of the message loss that degrades the performance and stability of these systems. Moreover, this impact is greater when dealing with burst or successive message losses. This paper discusses and presents the experimental results of a compensation strategy to deal with this burst message loss problem in which a NCS mathematical model runs in parallel with the physical process, providing sensor virtual data in case of packet losses. Running in real-time inside the controller, the mathematical model is updated online with real control signals sent to the actuator, which provides better reliability for the estimated sensor feedback (virtual data) transmitted to the controller each time a message loss occurs. In order to verify the advantages of applying this model-based compensation strategy for burst message losses in WNCSs, the control performance of a motor control system using CAN and ZigBee networks is analyzed. Experimental results led to the conclusion that the developed compensation strategy provided robustness and could maintain the control performance of the WNCS against different message loss scenarios.

Photoperiod modulation of aggressive behavior is independent of androgens in a tropical cichlid fish

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Luminescent solar concentrators: challenges for lanthanide-based organic-inorganic hybrid materials

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)