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Erle Frayne Argonza
Gracious day to everyone!
From China comes a news item highlighting the gap between technology innovations and the business community. The observation is that the gap is a yawning one. This gap has been observed among other Asians that proceeded with the industrialization development track couples of decades back.
The new is contained below.
[Writ 07 October 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]
Chinese innovation ‘too isolated’
Jia Hepeng
23 September 2008 | EN | 中文
Flickr/Pere Tubert Juhe
[ZHENGZHOU AND BEIJING] For China to become a world leader in innovation, it should address regional differences and promote corporate input, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The report, released this month (11 September), acknowledges that with spending on research and development (R&D) matching that of Germany, China is already a global player in science and technology.
But the country lags in innovation capability and performance compared to OECD countries with a similar level of R&D investment, although China ranked second in global publications levels in 2006.
According to the report, China’s innovation system is not fully developed and inadequately integrated. It describes the system as an “archipelago”, a large number of “innovative islands” with insufficient links between them.
Current regional patterns of R&D and innovation create too great a physical separation between knowledge producers and potential users, the authors say.
In addition, although foreign investment in China has increasingly contributed to innovation, the domestic business sector has been slow to make productive use of accumulated R&D investment, human resources for science and technology, and related infrastructure, the report indicates.
The Chinese government is looking to address this. For example, a recent study found that of 22 Chinese biotechnology firms investigated, all had received government funding (see Regulations ‘hinder’ China biotech investment).
But besides funding companies directly, “it is important for China to improve the framework conditions for innovation, which will contribute to building an innovation culture and provide the conditions and incentives for firms to shift their attention to innovation,” Gang Zhang of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry and one of the report’s authors, told SciDev.Net.
And Feng Jun, president of Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology, a leading Chinese technology company, says the government has distributed its funding too evenly among companies, instead of focusing on a few to gain key breakthroughs.
Link to the executive summary of OECD report
Erle Frayne Argonza
Good morning from Manila!
It seems the excitement in Iraq’s S&T is moving to higher pitches, despite the noise and flames of the ensuing war there. The policy environment is getting to be more definitive, and a new state institution is being installed to address S&T research and development needs of the country.
See the exciting news below.
[Writ 06 October 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]
New authority and law to push Iraqi research
Wagdy Sawahel
26 September 2008 | EN | 中文
Flickr/rxwarren
Iraq is to establish a scientific research authority (SRA) to promote science and technology research and improve science policy, and will consider a new law offering scientists significant financial benefits.
The SRA was announced by Abd Dhiab al-Ajili, the Iraqi minister for higher education and scientific research last week (15 September).
It will function independently from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR) and have a separate, as yet undisclosed, budget. Its exact start date has yet to be decided.
The authority will oversee all of the science and technology centres associated with universities and have the capacity to fund research directly. It will also prepare science policy reports reviewing subjects including best practice for funding research, measuring the quality of scientific research, and methods for knowledge dissemination.
The SRA will suggest educational programmes and provide analysis for the MHESR on Iraq’s needs to build its scientific and technological capacity. It will also provide advice to the MHESR and university science centres on topics such as ethics, socioeconomic impact, health and environmental concerns and intellectual property rights.
The Iraqi government is also set to consider a new law aiming to persuade scientists, innovators and engineers abroad to return to the country.
Samir Ibrahim Abbas, deputy director-general at the Iraq Ministry of Science and Technology and a member of the ministerial committee preparing the law, says a draft will be ready within six weeks and submitted to the government.
The proposed law also offers incentives to top scientists and innovators working in Iraq.
These include increased salaries — currently on average less than US$1,000 a month — of 300–350 per cent making it equivalent to the Iraqi deputy ministerial salary level. Other benefits include exemption from the mandatory retirement age of 63 years and preferential treatment and reduced prices when buying land for housing.
Abbas says the law will reward different levels of scientists and innovators depending on their scientific achievements.
Scientists would be expected to apply for the benefits, overseen by a central body comprising representatives from scientific committees in different scientific and technological fields who would be responsible for the evaluation and assessment of candidates.
Erle Frayne Argonza
If there is anything I wish from the Dominican Republic, it is that the leaders of this esteemed nation will tell the world powers and all other countries to “shut up you bellicose lunatics and take down your armies!” Should the DomRepublicans say that, I will re-echo the message here in ASEAN and say “shut up you blabbermouth warmongers and close down your armies!”
That’s a mere wish thing though. More realistically, a news from our esteemed DomRepublican friends pronounced the increasing usage of ICT in their home country. Latin Americans better pay attention to this news, such as Mexico which seems bent on fattening its oligarchs’ purses from non-sensical if not criminal rent-seeking engagements at the expense of high-tech progress.
The great news is contained below.
[28 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]
Crece uso de las TIC en República Dominicana
Fuente: 7 Días
13 agosto 2008 | ES
73,4% de los dominicanos tiene celular
El 67,1 por ciento de los hogares dominicanos tiene acceso al teléfono celular; el 24,5 por ciento al teléfono fijo y el 5,1 por ciento a Internet.
Además, el 34,3 por ciento de las personas mayores de 12 años usa la computadora y el 25,4 por ciento Internet. En este mismo rango de edad, el 73,4 por ciento de los dominicanos tiene acceso al teléfono celular.
Así lo revelan datos preliminares de la Encuesta Nacional de Hogares de Propósitos Múltiples (ENHOGAR), en su versión de 2007, difundidos el pasado 7 de agosto, según consigna el diario 7 Días.
De acuerdo con el diario, para el director de la Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas, Pablo Tactuk, estos datos muestran que los esfuerzos por insertar al país en la sociedad de la información han dado sus frutos.
Sin embargo, agrega 7 Días, al referirse a la penetración de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) en el país, Tactuk “reconoció que existen diferencias ‘notables’ atendiendo a las características socioeconómicas, geográficas y de escolaridad en el acceso a estas tecnologías por lo que llamó a redoblar los esfuerzos para incluir a los sectores que están rezagados”.
Erle Frayne Argonza
On a case to case basis, each country has taken certain forms of action regarding climate change. India had recently formulated its action plan for climate change, a plan that served well as input to its cooperative efforts with South Asian countries.
The report is shown below.
Happy reading!
[12 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]
India launches climate change action plan
T. V. Padma
4 July 2008 | EN
India’s solar mission aims to make its solar energy industry as competitive as its fossil fuel industry
Flickr/z1zzy
[NEW DELHI] India released its national action plan on climate change this week (30 June) with a focus on harnessing renewable energy rather than stringent emissions targets.
India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh released the plan ahead of his attendance at next week’s (7–9 July) G8 summit in Japan where climate change is expected to be discussed.
The action plan spells out eight priority missions that will promote India’s development objectives, with the “co-benefit” of tackling climate change.
The eight missions are: solar energy, enhanced energy efficiency, sustainable habitats, water conservation, sustaining the Himalayan ecosystem, developing a ‘green’ India, sustainable agriculture and building a strategic knowledge platform on climate change.
“Over a period of time, we must pioneer a graduated shift from economic activity based on fossil fuels to one based on non-fossil fuels, and from reliance on non-renewable and depleting sources of energy to renewable sources of energy,” Singh said.
The missions will be managed by the appropriate ministries, and specific programmes within the missions will be finalised by December.
Of these, solar energy will receive a big thrust. India receives the equivalent of about 5,000 trillion kilowatt hours of energy from the sun each year — 5.5 kilowatt hours per square metre each year — with most areas experiencing clear, sunny weather for 250 to 300 days.
The solar mission aims to tap this natural resource and make the country’s solar energy industry as competitive as the fossil fuel industry by setting up a new research centre, entering into research collaborations and encouraging technology transfer.
The plan does not spell out greenhouse gas emission targets, but states that per capita emissions in India will not exceed levels in industrialised countries. India is the world’s fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in absolute terms, but lies behind the US and Europe in terms of annual per capita emissions it (1.2 tonnes compared to 20 and 9.4 tonnes respectively).
The international environmental organisation Greenpeace, said in a statement that the plan is a “welcome first step” but has some weak areas that need to be addressed.
“The plan lacks clear policy prescriptions and targets for improving energy efficiency and reducing transportation emissions,” Srinivas Krishnaswamy, policy advisor for Greenpeace, India, told SciDev.Net.
“They should have placed more emphasis on mandatory emission standards,” he added.
Erle Frayne Argonza
Good morning from Manila!
Climate change is among the world’s hottest environmental and developmental issues. Climate change alone has so many facets to it, and some issues are so contentious they border hoax.
Below is a news item from South Asia, concerning concerted efforts by stakeholders to address climate change.
Happy reading!
[13 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]
South Asian nations join forces to tackle climate change
Source: IRIN
9 July 2008 | EN | 中文
The countries have pledged to improve monitoring and exchange of information on impacts such as rising sea levels
Flickr/Sumaiya Ahmed
South Asian nations have adopted a three-year environmental action plan to reduce the impact of climate change in the region.
Environmental ministers from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — adopted the declaration in Dhaka, Bangladesh, last week (3 July) following a three-day summit.
The action plan covers 2009–2011, with countries pledging to improve monitoring and exchange of information on disaster preparedness and extreme events, meteorological data, information on climate change impacts such as increased sea levels, glacial melting and biodiversity, and capacity for clean development mechanism projects.
The ministers called for more technology to fight climate change and better technology and knowledge transfer between SAARC member states.
They also called for a South Asia fund on climate change, with further discussions scheduled for the next SAARC summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in July.
Erle Frayne Argonza
England has launched an award system recently to innovators around the world who can revolutionize stove technology. The purpose of stove innovation is to increase access of people and market end-users to energy by utilizing fuel resources available in the locality, such as coconut and wood wastes.
Below is a heartwarming news about a stove innovation from South Asia that won the award. As reported, it surely has made energy available to many people in India which lacks sufficient energy due to the rapidly rising demand for fuel.
Enjoy your read!
[29 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]
Stove projects stir up energy award success
Katherine Nightingale
A TIDE cooking stove in use
Ashden Awards/TIDE
Innovators bringing sustainable energy to communities in developing countries were recognised last night (19 June) at an awards ceremony held in London, United Kingdom.
Projects from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Tanzania and Uganda were all awarded prizes of £20,000 (around US$40,000) at the annual Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.
The Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE) project, which designs safer and more efficient wood-burning stoves, was crowned the overall Energy Champion, winning a £40,000 prize.
These TIDE stoves are a boon for an estimated eight million people working in small industries in southern India — for example, in textile dying, spice drying and street food vendors.
Svati Bhogle, chief executive of TIDE, said the award “gives us the motivation to venture into uncharted terrain, to first break new ground and then develop it into a beaten track”.
The stoves can use waste material such as coconut shells as well as wood. Improved heat transfer, insulation and combustion creates less heat and smoke, resulting in improved working conditions. They were designed with each industry specifically in mind, with users contributing to the development.
Bhogle said 10,500 stoves are now in use in 12 industry sectors, saving 140,000 tonnes of fuel and 200,000 tonnes of emitted carbon dioxide.
“There is a serious energy crisis in rural India, but access to energy and its efficient use, accompanied by well-conceived and well-implemented enabling mechanisms, has the potential to transform rural areas.”
Other stoves were prominent among this year’s winners. The Kisangani Smith Group in Tanzania designed a stove that uses compressed waste sawdust or rice husks, rather than expensive charcoal.
The GAIA association has opted to use ethanol fuel produced from the waste molasses of the sugar industry in their stoves, which they have distributed to Somalian refugees living in a large camp in eastern Ethiopia.
Elsewhere, both the Aryavart Gramin Bank in India and Grameen Shakti in Bangladesh — a 2006 winner and recipient of this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award — provide affordable loans for people without access to the electricity grid to install solar power in their homes.
The Ugandan project, Fruits of the Nile, harnesses the power of the sun to dry fruit. Simple solar dryers, constructed from a wooden frame covered with plastic, let the light in, keep insects out and use natural convection.
Ashden also published a report, commissioned by the UK Department for International Development, analysing ten previous winners. More ways must be found to provide financial and human resources for innovative research and development, it concluded, with clear national energy policies to guide projects.
Erle Frayne Argonza
Colombia has been wracked in internecine conflicts and drug wars for many decades now. This republic has to struggle hard to keep itself afloat, as the conflicts and the war against drug cartels has rendered it into a ‘failed state’ of the south.
The recent good news is that the war against drug cartels had seemed to turn around towards victory in the long run. Added to this good news is the recent move of relevant stakeholders to provide thousands of computers for children, thus boosting basic education in this country.
Happy reading!
[28 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]
Colombia: 65 mil escolares tendrán su propio computador
Lisbeth Fog
11 junio 2008 | ES
Colombia entregará 65 mil computadoras portátiles a escolares
Fundación OLPC
[BOGOTÁ] Como producto de la gestión del gobernador del departamento de Caldas, en Colombia, este año 15 mil estudiantes de primaria de las escuelas públicas recibirán computadores portátiles, como parte del programa educativo Una portátil por niño.
Mediante un convenio suscrito en Boston (Estados Unidos) entre el gobernador Mario Aristizábal Muñoz y la Fundación One Laptop Per Child (OLPC, en su sigla en inglés), en total los niños caldenses beneficiados llegarán a ser 65 mil en un período de tres años.
“De esta forma se garantiza una cobertura con el programa del 100 por ciento de los niños de básica primaria en el departamento de Caldas”, dijo el gobernador a SciDev.Net. “Este es un ejemplo del compromiso social y educativo del Plan de Gobierno de Caldas”.
De acuerdo con Aristizábal Muñoz, el fundador y presidente de OLPC Nicolás Negroponte visitará próximamente Caldas, departamento de aproximadamente 1.170.000 habitantes, para conocer de cerca el programa de TIC en educación primaria.
Además de entregar los computadores, se llevará a cabo un proceso de socialización de la propuesta con docentes, alumnos y padres de familia.
Según el portal de la Gobernación de Caldas, Aristizábal Muñoz explicó que Una portátil por niño es definitivamente la revolución de la educación en Caldas, que les brindará a los niños grandes posibilidades para expandir sus conocimientos.
El propio gobernador mostró el equipo a la prensa el pasado 27 de mayo. Se trata de un computador blanco con verde, y muy liviano.
“En este computador”, afirmó Aristizábal, “están las bibliotecas necesarias a nivel mundial, cultural y académico. Aquí está el Skype, a través del cual los niños se pueden comunicar entre ellos a nivel nacional e internacional”.
Nicolás Bueno, asesor del proyecto OLPC, anunció que ya existe la infraestructura necesaria para ponerlos a funcionar, en tanto la cobertura conseguida hasta el momento es del 95 por ciento de las escuelas.
Las pruebas piloto se realizarán con 400 computadores. Con éste, y otros proyectos de TIC en el departamento, se busca aumentar la calidad en la formación de maestros y estudiantes, aseguró el gobernador Aristizábal, a través del uso pedagógico de las TIC.
Eso significa usarlos en ambientes de aprendizaje apropiados, que estimulen la creatividad, el autoaprendizaje y el desarrollo de competencias para fortalecer propuestas de desarrollo cultural, competencias laborales y el rescate de saberes tradicionales. Estaremos formando “mejores hombres para el mañana”, remató el gobernador.
Erle Frayne Argonza
Magandang umaga! Good morning!
Playing it big in science is a surefire formula for making it big economically. Conversely, downplaying scientific research & development is a hell-fire formula for bringing down the productive sectors of nation’s economy, and bring it back later to a 3rd world status.
Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, the three (3) mightiest economies of Latin America, had learned the developmental lessons well across their history. The said economies are today the leading ones in science, which partly explains their relatively robust economies, as observed in the news below.
Happy reading!
[28 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]
Tres países concentran ciencia de América Latina
Fuente: Clarín
10 junio 2008 | ES
Alberto Ricardo Dibern, secretario de Políticas Universitarias de Argentina, en la reunión de Cartagena
Galería Pública de CRES
Argentina, Brasil y México concentran más de la mitad de los universitarios de la región en carreras de grado y de posgrado y producen el 82 por ciento de la producción científica, de acuerdo con texto de Juan Pablo Casas, publicado en Clarín, la semana pasada (6 de junio).
Los datos fueron presentados durante la Conferencia Regional de Educación Superior (CRES) que congregó a casi 3.500 delegados, funcionarios y representantes de 37 países de América latina y el Caribe, del 4 al 6 de junio, en Cartagena, Colombia.
De acuerdo con Clarín, los sistemas de educación superior de estos tres países son los más avanzados y complejos de la región, al concentrar, juntos, el 55 por ciento de los estudiantes de grado y posgrado.
Asimismo, los tres países concentran el 82 por ciento de la producción científica y el 78 por ciento de la solicitud de patentes.
Erle Frayne Argonza
Building cable systems of a trans-continental extent is surely a tall order for the countries of Africa. While certain opportunities are there to proceed with the project, certain ‘barriers to entry’ are also present such as geological constraints, wars and disruptive human activities, and lack of financing.
Finally, as far as the financing is concerned, at least two (2) of the constraints will finally be addressed: circumventing geological-natural constraints, and solving financial limitations. As per latest update, the aggregates of finances are now being organized to address the constraints.
Enjoy your read.
[25 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Finances ‘almost there’ for west African super-cable
Source: Engineering News
3 June 2008 | EN
The new cable should cut prices for broadband access
SciDev.Net/Tonks
The financial mechanisms for a new ’super-cable’ — likely to be the world’s longest undersea cable — are almost in place.
The African West Coast Cable project — costing US$510 million — is headed up by South Africa’s Broadband Infraco, and will run from South Africa to the United Kingdom, with branching connections to at least ten countries along Africa’s west coast.
The launch is scheduled for sometime in the first half of 2010. The capacity of the cable will be brought on in stages, as the demand for broadband Internet infrastructure increases. At the time of launch, around 320 gigabytes a second will be available, growing to 3,840 gigabytes a second at peak performance.
This is much larger than the existing SAT-3/West Coast Submarine Cable System which currently connects South Africa to Europe at 120 gigabytes per second.
A key feature of the project is that the cable will be set-up on an open-access basis, allowing for a number of shareholders on the same system. “The idea is to foster an environment where all participants operate as though they had built and own the cable.”
Dave Smith, Infraco CEO, says such a basis “is necessary to fundamentally alter the way infrastructure is operated and priced in Africa”.
Erle Frayne Argonza
Magandang umaga! Good morning!
We all know how powerful and devastating are the cyclones in the Bengal region of India. As much as millions instantly become homeless whenever a powerful cyclone sweeps the area, bringing along flood waters that seem to stay forever in the affected zones.
It seems that an intervention area that could somehow alleviate problems regarding the cyclone would be better forecasting. Predicting cyclones will henceforth get a boost as state-of-the-art aircraft will be added to the list of precision equipment that will be utilized for the purpose.
Enjoy your read.
[25 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
India to employ aircraft in cyclone forecasting
T. V. Padma
2 June 2008 | EN
Meteorologists will fly aircraft into the centre of cyclones
National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration
[NEW DELHI] India is planning to fly aircraft into the centre of cyclones to gather data to predict where the storm will hit.
This is one of a series of measures to be undertaken by India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences to improve cyclone forecasting. These include increasing and enhancing space-based, land-based and ocean-based observation systems, as well as developing new forecast models.
The aircraft studies start this autumn in the Bay of Bengal as a cyclone-forecasting demonstration project, followed by a pilot phase in 2009–10 and an operational phase by 2011.
The project follows a workshop with the United States on tropical-storm forecasting, held in Delhi at the end of March 2008, where the two countries agreed to work together.
Scientists from the Indian Meteorological Department and other key institutes engaged in weather research will use aircraft reconnaissance to gather information at the cyclone’s ‘eye’ — a calm, cloudless area of 15–40 kilometres radius in the centre, where the pressure is lowest.
Data will also be collected from the surrounding ‘eyewall’, the most destructive part of the cyclone, a 16-kilometre-high belt of the strongest winds, typically exceeding 50 kilometre per hour.
These winds are driven by rapid pressure changes near the eye that dictate the movement of the storm.
In the United States, small helicopters release balloons fitted with sensors to measure wind speed, pressure and direction, and humidity in the eye and the eyewall. These data are fed into forecast models to predict the track, direction and speed of hurricanes — the Atlantic equivalent of cyclones.
But US aircraft may not be available for the Bay of Bengal project in October–November as that is the season for US hurricanes. In this case, Indian Air Force aircraft will be used.
“India currently uses data on winds outside the eye region to estimate the conditions inside and run forecast models,” says Dev Raj Sikka, chairman of the scientific advisory committee for the project.
But 48-hour forecasts can only indicate a 250–300-kilometre belt of land where the cyclone is likely to hit. “It is difficult to evacuate such a big area in 48 hours. We need to narrow down to 100 kilometres at least,” he says.
Aircraft reconnaissance in the United States over the past 20 years has narrowed prediction of a hurricane’s path from to within 300 kilometres to within 150 kilometres.
Erle Frayne Argonza
Magandang umaga! Good morning!
We’ve known Costa Rica all along as a peace-advocating country. As an exemplar of peace-keeping, it abolished its national army and confines peace & order functions to its domestic police.
Here is a welcome news about innovations being boosted in the peace-keeping nation. Our developing countries should better look up to Costa Rica for this combination of peace-sustenance with innovations and should study following the ‘Costa Rica way’.
Happy reading.
[23 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to the SciDev database/news.]
Costa Rica: ¿cómo subirse al tren de la innovación?
Alejandra Vargas
25 may 2008 | ES
Oscar Arias, presidente de Costa Rica, durante la presentación del documento
Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología
[SAN JOSE] A pesar de que en Costa Rica hay dinero, personal capacitado y recursos tecnológicos suficientes para innovar, su índice en este campo es de los más bajos de América Latina.
Teniendo en cuenta este escenario, ocho expertos del país prepararan el llamado Atlas para la Innovación en Costa Rica, para hacer un diagnóstico de la situación. El reporte –lanzado este mes (6 de mayo) y sometido durante todo este mes a consulta popular– reveló errores y retos que le esperan a Costa Rica, si quiere subirse al tren del desarrollo.
El reporte señala que los recursos existentes para la innovación en Costa Rica son dispersos, intermitentes, rígidos e insuficientes.
Según el documento, el país carece de una cuantificación adecuada del gasto y la inversión que requiere para implementar la innovación. Esta indefinición impide diseñar y aplicar efectivamente los incentivos financieros, fiscales, legales y ambientales para promover el proceso.
Para erradicar estas faltas, el Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Micit) propuso, en la ceremonia de lanzamiento del reporte,la creación de una Comisión para la Innovación, que justamente pueda evaluar aún mejor qué es lo sucede en el país y el mundo y cuya misión sea proponer ideas claras para que los políticos tomen decisiones ágilmente.
Esa comisión decidirá cómo y dónde se encaminan los esfuerzos y el dinero y creará un marco regulado de incentivos que fomentará la creación de empresas financiadas por capital de riesgo.
El Atlas para la innovación también apuesta por la creación de más incubadoras de empresas y sugiere la formación de asesores y gestores para la agilización de los procesos de innovación en pequeñas y medianas entidades.
Esto tiene como objetivo que exista un acompañamiento real de las PYMES hasta ver resultados en el mercado mundial.
“Costa Rica es aún un país con un bajo esfuerzo en innovación tecnológica, lo que nos obliga a impulsar un cambio profundo. Es preciso reorganizar un sistema de ciencia y tecnología que debe evolucionar en el tiempo, que debe ser ágil, flexible y ajustable a los cambios de entorno”, dijo Eugenia Flores, jerarca del Micit, durante la presentación del documento.
“En los últimos 25 años, del aumento total de la producción mundial, el 88 por ciento proviene de mejoras en las tecnologías y solo el 12 por ciento proviene de la expansión de los sistemas de producción vigentes. Esto encierra una advertencia que no podemos ignorar: o nos involucramos, todos, en el proceso de potenciar la innovación en Costa Rica, o nuestro país será cada vez menos competitivo”, sentenció Oscar Arias, presidente de Costa Rica, en la ceremonia.
Para Gabriel Macaya, director de la Academia Nacional de Ciencia, “la innovación es un tema que nos encontramos en muchas propuestas y análisis que ya se han hecho en el país. Espero que se den los medios para que los sectores involucrados comiencen a trabajar y avancemos.”
Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago
[Writ 05 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Perhaps the readers may recall that a couple of years back, Sec. Angelo Reyes of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) initiated massive tree planting and the constitution of ecology volunteers’ groups for the purpose. The trees were visibly planted along the pan-Philippine highway and strategic areas, for greater impact generation.
That project was very appreciable, but it was not the original thing. In the years 1979-81, the new Ministry of Human Settlements or MHS constituted village brigades comprising of volunteers, one such brigade being the ‘ecology balance brigade’. With ‘ecology balance’ identified among the ’11 Basic Needs of Man’, it was but proper to organize brigades and enact ecology balance via massive tree planting, biodiversity where appropriate, recycling or ‘waste utilization’ projects, and new laws declaring as mandatory in all new residential villages the allotment of 30% of land for parks & open spaces alone.
I joined the MHS in early 1981, then fresh from college, as a community services assistant at the Regional Liaison Office – Regioin II. I recall well that one of the first tasks I had to do was to monitor the brigades and town-level organizers (Human Settlements’ Officers). The ‘ecology brigades’, to my amazement, were at par in organizational development with the others (water, power, education, S&T, mobility…), its members actively engaged in localized projects.
But the most focal impactful project of that time was the massive tree planting, with the giant Ipil-Ipil serving as lead crop. The small native ipil was also massively disseminated, more so that it served as good input for livestock feeds. The miraculous thing about the giant ipil-ipil was that it grew so fast, its branches extending outward at rapid rates, and so it took no time at all to harvest them.
Unlike the Reyes-initiated project that concentrated cultivation in main arterial roads, the Maharlika tree planting (as the MHS dubbed the project then) cultivated in both the arterial and peripheral roads. And, in pioneer ipil tree farms inland, many of which took off and benefitted the small planters with great fulfillment.
It was during my monitoring sortees to the different towns of Cagayan Valley that I conducted the extra task of morale-boosting the ecology brigades and briefing the HSOs accordingly about the massive tree planting program. By the start of the 2nd quarter of 1981, we staff devoted succeeding days for immersing ourselves in the tree planting efforts, documentation and consultations with tree planters, and networking with state agencies that supported the project. We did the same thing again in 1982, and another session in 1983 (my last year in the MHS/Region II).
Seeing the success of the 1981 wave of ipil cultivation, the newly constituted livelihood program quickly caught the ecology fever and designed ‘tree farming’ and ‘dendrothermal’ projects, utilitizing ipil trees. They were circumscribed within the ‘agroforestry’ and the ‘waste utilization’ project modules (there were 7 such modules then). Seeing my acumen for project development, the new management pulled out pronto from community services and was directed to be among the pioneer staff for livelihood, which I so gladly accepted. I had many wonderful moments brainstorming and conceptualizing enterprise projects, from micro- to SME levels, including this wave of ‘tree farming’ and ‘dendrothermal’.
The seedling banks for ipil trees, both giant and small, were simply too many that they dotted the entire archipelago, including Manila. Likewise was the market for ipil so huge and well established, including the feed mills. It need not belabored that the giant trees contributed in no small measure to the oxygenation of the surrounds, and protective canopies for travelers and pasture breeds.
We volunteer and small planters than considered ourselves true ecologists. And, thanks heavens, there were no ‘environmentalist’ groups then, whose ceaseless sloganeering is so annoying they could have slowed down the projects altogether. I really have the great wish that these ‘environmentalists’ will immerse their hands in production and re-green the mountains, so they can join the true ecologists and exercise Oneness in spirit and action. It may not be too late for them to do just that.
erleargonza
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