The Sustainability Learning Forum

China's Workforce in 2015: Better Trained, Better Paid, Better Protected?

The Conference Board

According to a new report from The Conference Board, China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan (FYP), encompassing 2011–2015, signals a new focus in the country’s development on “human factors” — from improving education to boosting consumer spending and reducing inequality. Reading the Tea Leaves: The Impact of China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan on Human Capital Challenges investigates the latest FYP, finding strategic planning and program implementation lessons for multinational corporations preparing for the Chinese economy and Chinese workforce of the future. more[...]

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In India, a community works to change sanitation and hygiene practices

Eleven-year-old Sharda and half a dozen friends beat drums and chant slogans as they walk through the narrow lanes of Lalapur. Their message is: make the remote village in Uttar Pradesh free from open defecation. more[...]

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Dodd–Frank Section 1502 and the SEC’s final rule

Ernst & Young

In recent years, there has been an increasing international focus on conflict minerals emanating from mining operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries. Armed groups engaged in mining operations in this region are believed to subject workers and indigenous people to serious human rights abuses and are using proceeds from the sale of conflict minerals to finance regional conflicts. more[...] login_required

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When Job Earnings are Behind Poverty Reduction

World Bank

Improvement in labor market conditions has been the main explanation behind many of the poverty success stories observed in the last decade – that is the primary conclusion of an analysis of changes in poverty by income source. Changes in labor earnings were the largest contributor to poverty reduction for a sample of 16 countries where poverty increased substantially. more[...]

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Can China get old and rich at the same time?

In 2013, there will be more than 200 million people aged 60 or over in China. This is more than the total population of countries like Indonesia, Japan, Brazil or Russia, which are some of the world’s most populous nations. By 2050, the number of elderly people in China is expected to reach 487 million or about one third of the entire population. more[...]

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Viennese Sustainable HRM

Elaine Cohen, Beyond Business Ltd

more[...]

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Conflict minerals: What you need to know about the new disclosure and reporting requirements and how Ernst & Young can help

Ernst & Young

This Studie discusses Section 1502 of the Dodd–Frank Act requiring disclosures about "conflict minerals" emanating from select countries. Section 1502 of the Dodd–Frank Act is intended to make transparent the financial interests that support armed groups in the DRC area. By requiring companies using conflict minerals in their products to disclose the source of such minerals, the law is aimed at dissuading companies from continuing to engage in trade that supports regional conflicts. more[...] login_required

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Conflict minerals: What you need to know about the new disclosure and reporting requirements and how Ernst & Young can help

Ernst & Young

This Studie discusses Section 1502 of the Dodd–Frank Act requiring disclosures about "conflict minerals" emanating from select countries. Section 1502 of the Dodd–Frank Act is intended to make transparent the financial interests that support armed groups in the DRC area. By requiring companies using conflict minerals in their products to disclose the source of such minerals, the law is aimed at dissuading companies from continuing to engage in trade that supports regional conflicts. more[...] login_required

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Fisheries and the Right to Food

Dr. Olivier De Schutter, UN

In the present report, the Special Rapporteur identifies the challenges facing global fisheries and examines how the individuals most vulnerable to negative impacts (the residents of developing coastal and island countries, (specially lowincome food-deficit countries) can be supported to ensure the progressive realization of the right to food, noting that pursuing a human rights approach is critical to achieving sustainable development in the fisheries sector. more[...] login_required

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Flammable Societies. Studies on the Socio-economics of Oil and Gas

Dr John-Andrew McNeish, CMI
Owen Logan, University of Aberdeen

The impact of the oil and gas industry – paradoxically seen both as a blessing and a curse on socio-economic development – is a question at the heart of the comparative studies in this volume stretching from Northern Europe to the Caucasus, the Gulf of Guinea to Latin America. more[...]

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Rethinking Resource Conflict

Dr John-Andrew McNeish, CMI

Resource conflict is one of several destabilizing phenomena commonly cited as defining many of the extractive economies of the global south. In the post-Cold War in which stability has become a key concern of international governance and investment it has also been an issue that has encouraged a proliferation of scholarly and policy interest. In these studies and policy discussions a large number of terms are now in use in an attempt to account for the complicated state of affairs faced by resource-rich countries in the global south: intractable conflicts, new wars, resource wars, complex political emergencies, conflict trap, resource securitization, petro-violence, blood diamonds. more[...]

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African leaders urged to invest in jobs, infrastructure and protecting development gains

African Development Bank (AfDB)

n unprecedented gathering of experts in Kigali, present and former African Heads of State urged business, community and political leaders to help turn the continent’s impressive growth into economic opportunities for ordinary citizens. more[...]

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Taking Conflict Out of Consumer Gadgets: Company Rankings on Conflict Minerals 2012

Sasha Lezhnev, Enough Project

Leading electronics companies are making progress in eliminating conflict minerals from their supply chains, but still cannot label their products as being conflict free. Since Enough’s last corporate rankings report on conflict minerals in December 2010, a majority of leading consumer electronics companies have moved ahead in addressing conflict minerals in their supply chains—spurred by the conflict minerals provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and growing consumer activism, particularly on college campuses. Most firms have improved their scores from the 2010 rankings, but some laggards still remain. more[...] login_required

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Taking Conflict Out of Consumer Gadgets - Company Rankings on Conflict Minerals 2012

Enough Project

Leading electronics companies are making progress in eliminating conflict minerals from their supply chains, but still cannot label their products as being conflict free. Since Enough’s last corporate rankings report on conflict Minerals in December 2010, a majority of leading consumer electronics companies have moved ahead in addressing conflict minerals in their supply chains—spurred by the conflict minerals provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and growing consumer activism, particularly on college Campuses. Most firms have improved their scores from the 2010 rankings, but some laggards still remain. more[...] login_required

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Mining and Human Rights Violations in Argentina

Many communities have mobilized in opposition to prevailing mining models in Argentina this year. The use of road blocks to obstruct exportation of goods has been one popular tactic. However, these demonstrations have often been suppressed by police force. On several occasions the residents and activists have been beaten, abused and detained by the police with the approval (tacit or not) of provincial and national authorities. The development of these mining projects has already interfered with people's fundamental right to water and their constitutional right to a healthy environment. There are growing concerns that individual political freedoms are also in danger. more[...] login_required

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