OIKO LOGICA has been awarded a new Climate Change Project. The GCCA will conduct the formulation of a support program to Climate Change Adaptation in Mauritius. Strategic objectives of the climate change adaptation policy framework are to:

• Foster the development of strategies, plans and processes to: (i) Avoid, minimize or adapt to the negative impacts of climate change on key sectors and assets of Mauritius, namely agriculture, water, fisheries and ecosystems; (ii) Avoid or reduce damage to human settlements and infrastructure, and also possible loss of lives caused by climate change. (iii) To build capacity to understand, analyse and pre-empt in a timely manner in the wake of future climate change impacts within the Republic of Mauritius.
• Integrate and mainstream climate change adaptation into core development policies, strategies and plans of the Republic of Mauritius.

There are around 51 small islands in the world under severe threat. Maia is one of them. Despite of the amazing beauty, geographical situation and cultural diversity, this small island shares similar economic and sustainable development challenges with sister islands in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. They have very poor availability of resources such as drinking water or energy, a small but rapidly growing population, especially due to traffic of tourist, insularity, vulnerability and remoteness, susceptibility to natural disasters, excessive dependence on international trade for agricultural imports and vulnerability to globalization.

OIKO LOGICAs has been invited by MWH and The Global Climate Change Alliance to identify and formulate a Support Program to the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change in Seychelles.

OIKO LOGICA is opening a new office in Palma de Mallorca. The sun, the beauty of the island, the food and the people have convinced our team to open a headquarters in the old Town of Palma de Mallorca. Come and visit us when you are around.

OIKO LOGICA has been selected by German GIZ – CEPAL consortia to be part of a team together with GFA Consulting Group GmbH to conduct the Evaluation of the impact of a major multidisciplinary UN Program: “Sustainability and inclusive growth through Globalization in Latin America”. In January, February and March we will be traveling to Uruguay, Brasil, Chile and Panama, among other countries, to conduct interviews with Government officials and program beneficiaries and collect evidence of program impacts. Too bad we missed the Carnaval in Rio this time!

We are inspired by Jarred Diamond’s writing: humanity’s increasing dissonance with the natural world. He describes how small groups of humans – ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred hunter-gatherers – survived several ice ages, kept close to nature, and still managed to conquer the world.

I believe the few remaining tribes and nomad groups left on the planet have a great deal to teach us,” he says, and it is this belief that inspired The World Until Yesterday.

Jarrred Diamond´s is not shy about pointing out the lessons from traditional societies

Some tribal customs, such as widow-strangling, will not be missed, of course. “We should not romanticize traditional societies,” he says.

There are horrible things that we want to avoid, but there are wonderful things that we should emulate.

Panama faces today the need to provide better security and protection to its citizens. Crime and violence have increased in recent years, and they represent an important challenge for Panamanian authorities and public institutions. The government is determined to reduce levels of insecurity. On that ground, the government directed its effort in 2011 to designing, consulting and coordinating the national strategy on public security and civil conviviality. OIKO LOGICA is sending a budget support expert to assist the government of Panama in the formulation of a sector support programme in the field of citizens´ security, in close coordination with the relevant national institutions, particularly with the Ministry of Public Security. OIKO LOGICA will be working with SAFEGE in this European Union Assignment.

A team from OIKO LOGICA is flying today to Namibia. We will be working with AETS, providing Technical assistance to the Government of Namibia in the formulation of the ‘Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Project, including energy’.

OIKO LOGICA has recently completed another assignment in Bhutan. Under the FWC COM 2011 – LOT 1, and in partnership with ABb consultants, we have been part of an international team to represent the EU in the Joint Annual Review Mission of the Local Governance Support Programme in Bhutan and have also conducted an Assessment of sector progress of the Support to Local Governance Support Programme (SLGSP) in BHUTAN.

We recognize that poverty eradication, changing unsustainable and promoting sustainable patterns of consumption and production, and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development are the overarching objectives of and essential requirements for sustainable development.

We also reaffirm the need to achieve sustainable development by: promoting sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth, creating greater opportunities for all, reducing inequalities, raising basic standards of living; fostering equitable social development and inclusion; and promoting integrated and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems that supports inter alia economic, social and human development while facilitating ecosystem conservation, regeneration and restoration and resilience in the face of new and emerging challenges.

Although blessed, both Cabo Verde and saint Vincent and the Grenadines are alarmingly vulnerable today. Small island nations face similar disadvantages because of their size: a narrow range of resources, excessive dependence on international trade, food imports to respond to poverty, lack of economies of scale for transport investment. Vulnerability to external shocks, isolation and fragility of island ecosystems, high cost of technology imports. In addition, natural disasters and climate change are of special concern to small islands because of their dependence on agriculture and tourism which are particularly vulnerable to natural and environmental disasters.

Thousands of family livelihoods depend on the effects of climate change in the near future in Cabo Verde, like these salt evaporation ponds in Pedra de Lume. Something to remember the next time you’re shaking it over your chips…