ELDIS DEVELOPMENT REPORTER August 2004

Here is our selection from the latest additions to Eldis: your gateway to development information. All documents are available free on the Internet via the links provided. If you only have email access to the Internet, we can send you a copy of a document as an email attachment: please contact our editor at the email address given below.

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CONTENT:

1. Biotechnology and governance key issue guides

2. Eldis Country Profiles upgrade

3. Abstinence versus broad-based sexual health programmes

4. Doing the sums on Africa: the MDGs

5. Biodiversity access and benefit-sharing policies for protected areas

6. Resisting World Bank infrastructure financing

7. Coffee, co-operatives and competition: the impact of Fair Trade in Mexico

8. Eldis human resources for health dossier

9. Network logic: who governs in an interconnected world?

10. Financing free-access to research publications

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1. Biotechnology and governance key issue guides This new series of guides, developed in collaboration with the Environment Team at the Institute of Development Studies, examines the current scientific, legal and governance processes surrounding genetically modified organisms and agriculture. Eldis guides you through the key issues involved in making biotechnology policy and regulatory processes more responsive and accountable to marginalised farmers and consumers www.eldis.org/agriculture/biotech_governance.htm

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2. Eldis Country Profiles A new look to our country-focused service, with updated content and now including regional newsfeeds www.eldis.org/country

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3. Abstinence versus broad-based sexual health programmes Which approach is more effective in preventing HIV infection among young people and reducing teenage pregnancy? This guide is part of our revised HIV/AIDS Resource Guide www.eldis.org/hivaids/abstinence.htm

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4. Doing the sums on Africa: Jeffrey Sachs argues that even a relatively small increase in aid financing to Africa could save billions in future aid, and will be fundamental to achieving the millennium development goals and stemming the potential for the continent to foster terrorism. (This feature is part of our newly restructured Aid and Debt resource guide. The new guide combines our previously separate coverage of current aid and debt issues, and includes: a new range of subjects, more in-depth coverage of key aid and debt issues and new country-specific aid and debt profiles). www.eldis.org/aid/mdgs.htm

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5. Biodiversity access and benefit-sharing policies for protected areas Aimed at protected area managers and policy makers this report provides and introduction to the complex and rapidly evolving issues of access and benefit sharing (ABS) in biodiversity conservation and considers the role and value of bioprospecting more generally www.eldis.org/biodiversity

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6. Resisting World Bank infrastructure financing Criticism of World Bank and IMF approaches to support of private sector financing of infrastructure, plus the Bank's own review of its infrastructure operations www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm

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7. Coffee, co-operatives and competition: the impact of Fair Trade in Mexico This study from CMI shows the importance of the Fair Trade premium on coffee prices for Mexican farmers. The scheme is implemented through established cooperatives: does this cause problems for small scale producers? www.eldis.org/norway

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8.Eldis human resources for health dossier A tool for advocacy for the importance of human resources in making improvements in health service delivery for poor people. It offers practical up to date information about how to address human resource problems and issues, drawing upon evidence about what works, and identifying innovations in approaches, policy and practice. www.eldis.org/healthsystems/dossiers/hr

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9.Network logic: who governs in an interconnected world? This collection of essays tries to understand the patterns and impacts of networks, their potential for organisation and decision-making, and how they make possible new forms of coordination and collective action www.eldis.org/policy

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10. Financing free access to research publications As the US and UK governments produce reports on free access to all thier funded research, Eldis follows development as part of our new ICT for Development Weblog. www.eldis.org/ict

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ELDIS currently includes descriptions and links to over 4,500 organisations and over 13,000 full-text online documents covering development and environmental issues. It can be searched or browsed free over the Internet.

See our "What's New" section for a complete list of new additions on the Eldis Web site at: www.eldis.org/wnew

Eldis also includes job adverts and event announcements at: www.eldis.org/news/announce.htm

Contact details: Peter Ferguson, ELDIS Programme at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, Brighton BN1, 9RE, UK, Email: p.ferguson@ids.ac.uk