AJAD Volume 1 Issue No. 2 December 2004

The views of many scientists about water are evolving towards a systems approach that accommodates both the multi-faceted dimensions of water resources and the accelerating pace of globalization and human development. The water system includes the water cycle and three major interacting elements: the physical, biological and biogeochemical, and the human components. Major drivers of change that affect the system are climate change, population growth, land cover change, the development of water diversions, economic development, and governance. Changes in any component of the system will cascade throughout the whole system.

Research is needed to clarify the magnitude and mechanisms of change, and how society can best adapt to the system state changes. We need to develop condition indicators such as water availability per person, the water poverty index, pollution concentrations and source water quality. Also on the research agenda are new concepts, namely: blue and green water and environmental flows; virtual water in agricultural trade and associated nutrient flows; and the water systems discourse to integrate natural science and social science approaches. Water governance is a central issue to these concepts. There is a clear need to analyze the impacts of different types of governance of national and regional water resources in a global context.

The twin issues of food security and environmental protection for the remainder of the century will be defined by expectations that the population will continue to grow to 11 billion, mainly in less developed countries (LDCs), as well as by human behavior. This paper considers conventional analyses of food demand and compares these with wider philosophical perspectives that may modify approaches to agricultural science. The conventional approach is indicated in IFPRI research which models scenarios to 2020 and predicts an increased demand for cereal of 40% to be met by increased production mainly in LDCs, with more developed country (MDC) exports possibly falling with prices. While production seems adequate for the higher population, continued distributional and nutritional inequities are foreseen.

Food production is likely to maintain priority over environmental protection in LDCs although environmental remediation should benefit from technology, particularly in MDCs. The agricultural environment represents human's widest spread of terrestrial environmental manipulation, and its monitoring is more economic than ecological in orientation. Rising understanding of the mutual causality between the impoverishment of people and the environment may well focus more on nontechnological factors through this century than the last.

Outside agricultural circles, philosophical thought has advanced beyond the anthropocentric approaches of sustainable agriculture to consider the rights of nature, including humans. Increased societal awareness of such matters may influence the overall development paradigm within which rests most of our agricultural research. A reduction in total food requirements is implied in this paradigm as agricultural self-sufficiency is accepted as socially beneficial and as food security is conceived as a universal right of access to nutritious food. Such security implies increased protection of environments in LDCs. Whether such changes occur, there is value in widening the ethical perspective of all of us associated with the manipulation of nature and the planning of human development through the 21st century.

This paper looks into the relative merits of two approaches—participation in preferential trading agreements (PTAS) and multilateralism, as exemplified by membership in the World Trade Organization—both of which lead to the path of integration with the world economy. Four ASEAN transition countries with relatively large agricultural sectors are examined. Given the growing empirical evidence that trade openness is associated with higher economic growth and improved standards of living, as well as the upsurge in demand for agricultural products, these transition economies face potential benefits from increased exports.

The literature reviewed by the paper suggests that PTAs and the multilateral system complement each other, with the trade agreements forming part of the process in which PTAs create incentives for non-members to eventually join the WTO. PTAs, therefore, serve as the next-best path towards expanding world trade while negotiations for multilateral trade liberalization are still going on. On the other hand, findings also point out that regional trading agreements tend to divert trade toward its members, incur unnecessarily high administrative costs, and create opportunities for unproductive rent-seeking activities.

Policy makers are thus enjoined to innovate on their respective preferential trade arrangements, using these to help solve regional spillover problems and promote more trade among members.

Special problems arise when analyzing supply chains because of the complexity of the relationships in the system. In addressing this concern for a research project on a vegetable supply chain in Mindanao, the authors of this paper use a pluralistic methodology. A soft-systems framework was used to structure and analyze the problem and identify relevant systems. Issues addressed are the extent of efficiency along the supply chain (including input supply (issues), output marketing, quality control and transport) and the relationships between the various participants in the supply chain. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods have been used.

The paper proceeds from the widely held assessment that Myanmar's economy is handicapped by structural imbalance, instability, inefficient and imperfect markets, and distorted prices. The paper delineates how this general state of affairs is clearly evident in the agricultural sector. It then identifies the constraints retarding the development of agricultural growth. Among the factors blamed for blunting the sector's competitiveness are policies on: land, production, procurement and price, foreign exchange, and subsidy. The excessive controls inherent in these policies, coupled with their erratic implementation, are seen to create a general atmosphere of uncertainty and unpredictability in the economy and an erosion of the government's credibility.

Based on the negative impact of the existing policies and on the need to strengthen the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and thus help it contribute to the sustainable development of the country's economy, the paper recommends alternative policy options. Foremost among these alternatives suggested are the contracting out of land use rights; the shift of focus towards maximizing farmers' incomes and profits, rather than merely output; the liberalization of trade; unification of the exchange rates; reduction of subsidy to, or privatization of state-operated enterprises (SOEs), and allowing the entry of private enterprises to compete freely with SOEs.

This paper addresses the conceptual and practical difficulties in interdisciplinary cooperation between the natural sciences and the social sciences. The perspective taken is that of Rural Development Sociology of the Social Sciences group of Wageningen University and Research Center. It is proposed to use the term transdisciplinarity in order to better express the fact that the outcomes of integrated projects definitely move beyond any of the disciplines involved. But they can also be sub-optimal from a mono-sectoral or mono-disciplinary point of view. Coastal area development and watershed management are used as examples. In Wageningen, international education is directly related to transdisciplinary research, especially within the social sciences.