Dutch Culture: To International Women's Day

Today’s post is an ode to International Women’s Day last week. Although this post may seem a bit late and almost as if an afterthought, this time that is not true. I feel very happy that this year I was able to really get involved with IWD, I went to Amsterdam on the 11^th, to march for equality for everyone. It felt like fictional pathetic fallacy at work on the day, the sun was shining so brightly as if to say that something good was happening, and it was. It was so nice to feel solidarity with such a large number of people, marching peacefully for something that we all felt so strongly about. All of the marching and talk of international women’s day really got me thinking about women who are important to me, and women around the world who have done courageous and important things, that should be celebrated and talked about.

            It seems appropriate, being that I am studying in the Netherlands, and studying geography, that I pay a little tribute to a Dutch female who has done something inspiring in the general field of geography. After some research, I came across the intrepid and fascinating story of Alexandrine Tinné – a Dutch explorer from the 1800’s. Alexandrine was born into a wealthy Dutch family who lived in The Hague. Throughout her childhood, Alexandrine travelled extensively with her family, visiting many countries in Europe. It was this initial exposure to travel that provided Alexandrine with a longing for more and a passion for exploration and the unknown (Alexandra Tinne, 1870). As a young adult, Alexandrine set out on several expeditions with her mother and aunt discovering the joys of Egypt and the river Nile, her aim was primarily to map the White Nile (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2001). During one particular expedition, her mother and later her aunt sadly passed away after suffering bouts of tropical fevers. Despite this devastating turn of events, Alexandrine managed to maintain spirit and continue travelling through Cairo, Algeria, Tunisia and the Mediterranean, gathering important knowledge about the local climate, geology, flora and fauna. Sadly, Alexandrine met her untimely death whilst embarking on a fearless exploration of the Saharan desert.

            Alexandra Tinné was a courageous woman, and few of her kind from the 19^th century have been documented and celebrated. She was fearless, intrepid, and had a passion for exploration. She dedicated her life to gathering knowledge and information at a time where it would have been considered most unbecoming and peculiar for a woman to have the capacity and desire to live her life this way. Hopefully this small post will help cement this tremendous woman’s mark in exploration history, especially as it appears to be so deeply buried and hidden beneath a plethora of exploration triumphs and tales by men.

References:

Alexandrine Tinne. (1870). Temple Bar : A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers, Dec.1860-Dec.1881, 28, 304-309.

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2001). Alexandrine-Pieternella-Francoise Tinne | Dutch explorer. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexandrine-Pieternella-Francoise-Tinne [Accessed 20 Mar. 2017].

Human Geog: What are the potential challenges that developing countries face when introducing EIA?

The policy tool, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), was first introduced in the USA in 1969 with the deployment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (Wood, 2003; Lee & George, 2013). Since the original employment of environmental assessments in the USA and much of the Western world, the policy tool for negating environmental effects from large projects has found its way into developing regions too (Appiah-Opoku, 2001). Although EIA is being adopted more widely across a variety of nations at different levels of development, a key issue still remains. The proposal and development of EIA began in a Western context and was mainly adopted by Western nations. The result of this evolution is that EIA, in many cases, has been directly carried over to countries struggling with development, where Western concepts and policy tools are not necessarily the most effective when it comes to protecting the somewhat different environment.

The model of EIA was developed and initially employed in the West. Since this initial deployment, the knowledge and process of EIA has been increasingly transferred over to more African countries. However, the key issue of the direct transference of EIA to developing nations has been noted and researched by several academics in this area (Appiah-Opoku, 2001; Wood, 2003; Marara et al., 2011). Through developing EIA in the West, the socio-cultural context in which it was created is very specific. Namely, the expected outcome of an EIA and what kind of information it should contain is directly related to a Western setting. For example, the report is required to be available to the public, however, as Marara et al. (2011) have found following research in East Africa, it is often the case that there are not the administrative resources available to translate reports into native languages, as EIA reports are very often written in English. This example serves to demonstrate the fact that context is extremely important when developing some sort of environmental assessment regulation and policy.

            Tied in with the issue of context, is another serious difficulty prominent when implementing EIA in developing countries – the problem of a lack of legislation and judicial powers in place that can support the running of EIA’s. Many developing countries in Africa are either recently employing democratic governmental systems or are still struggling with dictatorships resulting in ‘a limited degree of openness, access to information and public participation in their environmental regulatory systems’ (Lee, 2013, p.22-23). The result of less robust governments often leads to an absence of resources and expertise being put into environmental issues due to the fact that administrative departments are often newly developed and lack experience and support from the main governmental body (Ebisemiju, 1993). A case study looking into the deployment of EIA’s in Ghana concluded that the political system and policy-making body are one of the most important influences on successful EIA’s, furthermore the level of democracy can have a huge effect on how well run and supported environmental departments are when trying to encourage and implement EIA in policy frameworks (Kolhoff et al., 2013). Surrounding the issue of limited political resources, often the absence of a well-educated and informed public to encourage and lobby for the government to act in the name of the environment can create a compounding effect, which further weakens the chance of successful implementation of EIA (Marara et al., 2011).

            The issue of implementing EIA legislation becomes fractious among developing nations, especially when many of their exports and trade are based on agricultural activities. The reliance on agriculture, especially at a sustenance level is often detrimental to the environment. It has been noted in several papers that in some cases, there exists a belief in developing countries that the implementation of EIA would conflict with the economic interests of a country, perhaps blocking trade and agricultural activity to the detriment of a nation (Horberry, 1985; Lim, 1985; Wood, 2003). Research undertaken by Lim (1985, p.136) corroborates the above suggestion, pointing out that ‘environmental consequences of public and private actions are not likely to be an important concern for policy makers. In extreme cases, policy makers might oppose attempts at environmental protection out of the fear that such attempts might slow economic growth.’ Following the above discussion, it is apparent that in some cases, protecting the environment is viewed as a blockage for development, rather than something that is inherently part of development.

            Through the growth of awareness that protecting the environment is a key part of the development process, there is a positive outlook for the future of EIA in developing contexts. Abaza (2013), has noted that among developing countries there is increasing recognition that environmental issues are associated with and should be integrated with development goals. Through recognising the important issue that EIA is context-based, the positive trajectory that EIA is following in developing countries should continue far into the future. Amendments to current practice are being made and the concept of the environment is becoming more and more synonymous with the concept of development to the benefit of EIA implementation in developing nations.

References:

Abaza, H. (2013). Strengthening Future Environmental Assessment Practice: An International Perspective. In: N. Lee and C. George, ed., Environmental Assessment in Developing and Transitional Countries, 1st ed. Hoboken: Wiley.

Appiah-Opoku, S. (2001). Environmental impact assessment in developing countries: the case of Ghana. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 21(1), pp.59-71.

Ebisemiju, F.S. Environmental impact assessment: making it work in developing countries. J Environ Manage 1993:247–73.

Horberry, J. (1985). International organization and EIA in developing countries. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 5(3), pp.207-222.

Kolhoff, A., Driessen, P. and Runhaar, H. (2013). An analysis framework for characterizing and explaining development of EIA legislation in developing countries—Illustrated for Georgia, Ghana and Yemen. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 38, pp.1-15.

Module Review: Geographies of Health

This module had me exploring a part of geography I’ve never studied before, a totally relevant topic to everyday life, the geographies of health. This module was academically stimulating and required the reading of articles and papers surrounding health and geography. However, I mostly enjoyed it due to the fact that it made me reflect on my own situation and how my environment, coupled with the way I was raised and who I am, determines how healthy (or not) the decisions I make are.

            

One lecture in particular sparked my interest, ‘the geographies of food consumption’; the idea that our choices surrounding food consumption are formed by motivation, abilities, and opportunities (Brug et al., 2008; Swinburn et al., 2011). I felt particularly engaged with this topic, when considering my own health here in Utrecht compared to how it is when I am studying back in London and living in Camden, I genuinely feel that the environment is making a difference. To demonstrate what I mean, I’ll employ the idea that was set out in the lecture. The chance that individuals will engage in healthy behaviours depends on a number of interrelated factors. A person is most likely to positively engage when they are motivated to act healthily, they have the abilities to engage in that healthy behaviour, and their social and physical environment is offering the right opportunities for them to act accordingly healthily.

            

First let me take Camden – specifically where my second year house was situated, Camden Road. The environment: mainly fast-food outlets, huge Sainsbury’s 10 seconds away from the house, bus stop and tube stop 30 seconds away from the house, limited green space, lots of concrete. Although I had the ability to engage in healthy behaviour, the motivation simply wasn’t there, especially considering how convenient and easy it was for me to access transport (limiting my physical activity) and outlets offering poor food choices. Compare this now to where I am living in Utrecht, on a campus with only one small supermarket, the most convenient way to access the larger more affordable supermarket is via bike (20 minute cycle). The bus takes longer to get to the town centre than taking a bike, and located directly behind my accommodation are several hectares of farming land, woodland and running and cycling paths. As well as having the ability, to engage in healthy behaviour, the environment is offering the right opportunities, and I feel compelled to make healthier decisions due to just how easy and convenient it is to do so.

            

This ‘Geographies of Health’ module was not just interesting due to the fact that it was all completely new to me, but it felt relevant. I can see evidence of what I was learning in action everyday, it has made me think harder and actually consider the daily choices I make and how these can have an affect on my health. Now that I have developed this new ‘ability’ to be more mindful about my health choices, I hope to continue practicing a healthier and more active lifestyle when I’m back in London – less tube, no more Woody’s, and more taking advantage of beautiful Regent’s park!

References:

Brug, J., Kremers, S., Lenthe, F., Ball, K. and Crawford, D. (2008). Environmental determinants of healthy eating: in need of theory and evidence. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 67(03), pp.307-316.

Swinburn, B., Sacks, G., Hall, K., McPherson, K., Finegood, D., Moodie, M. and Gortmaker, S. (2011). The global obesity pandemic: shaped by global drivers and local environments. The Lancet, 378(9793), pp.804-814.