Jan Hesselberg

China in a globalizing world

This special issue of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift–Norwegian Journal of Geography is based on sessions at the biennial Conference of the Society of Norwegian Geographers in 2004 which dealt with various topics on China’s recent development. The interest in development in China among human geographers in Norway has been at a low ebb for a long time, at least when it comes to research. In the 1970s the writings of Aadel Brun Tschudi, a Reader at the Department of Geography, University of Oslo, who was born in China and lived there for the first 14 years of her life, created enthusiasm for the Chinese break with the Soviet heavy industry development model. The focus on rural small-scale production became a fascinating alternative model. It was then seen as important to investigate what could be learnt from Chinese experiences and transferred to other parts of the developing world. Tschudi wrote about several aspect of Chinese society. Her best known work is on the People’s Communes (Tschudi 1973). A select bibliography and review of her life is included in Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift Vol. 36, No. 1 (1982). The issue also includes articles about China by other Norwegian geographers who accompanied Tschudi on a study tour to the country in 1979. Currently, only a handful of master’s students in human geography are doing fieldwork in China. Students from the University of Oslo have been mainly studying joint ventures between Norwegian and Chinese large-scale manufacturing. In addition, there is also a research fellow (Elin Sæther) in Oslo who is involved in discourse analyses of political issues. At the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Haakon Lein and Yuling Shen have taken an interest in Chinese environmental issues, especially water use. The renewed interest in China is based to a large extent on the fact that in the last few years the country has had astounding economic growth and international trade expansion, affecting Norway as well as most of the rest of the world. Again, the question arises whether the Chinese model of development should and could be exported to other poor countries.

Food security in Botswana

Food security is discussed, primarily in the sense of the access of households to adequate resources and income. An assessment of government programmes during the drought in the 1980s is made, and data from a survey in Francistown in 1989 are included to show urban-rural links. The food security problem is increasingly becoming an urban issue affecting poor female-headed households in particular. It is suggested, contrary to prevalent government policy, that the drought relief programme should be made permanent for the poor.

Issues in shelter delivery for the urban poor: experiences from India, Indonesia and Mexico

Key issues in shelter delivery for the urban poor are presented and discussed in this article. Experiences of the complexity of housing in big cities are drawn from India, Indonesia and Mexico. The discussion ends with some thoughts on an integrated shelter strategy for the poor.

Shelter Strategies and the Urban Poor

Summary Jan Hesselberg, ‘Shelter Strategies and the Urban Poor’, Forum for Development Studies, 1996:2, pp. 405–415. The objective of the article is to classify strategies of shelter provision for the urban poor. This is undertaken in the light of changing ideas and ideologies in the period after the Second World War. The discussion is based on data showing the extensive poverty and shelter needs in the South.

Theme issue of the Norwegian Journal of Geography

The debate on whether industries will relocate to the South (Third World) when environmental regulations become stricter in the North, reaches back to the mid-1970s. It is not a widespread debate with many participants. Almost all the studies are either mainly empirical, showing cases of relocation of pollution-intensive industries, or hypothetical, refuting the likelihood of an ‘xodus’ of manufacturing from rich to poor countries (Walter 1975, Castleman 1979, Knodgen 1982, Ives 1985, Pearson 1987, Leonard 1988, UN 1988, UN 1990, UNIDO 1990, Knutsen 1991).

The international division of labour and the newly industrializing countries

There is no new international division of labour. Most developing countries and the Third World as a whole are still mainly exporting raw materials and goods with a low level of value added, and importing more advanced manufactured products. This is the main argument in this article, where the NICs are seen to be exceptions to the above general pattern. The NICs arc now under attack from rich Western countries, which may put their achieved level of economic activity in jeopardy.

A method of level of living analysis in the Third World

A method of level of living analysis in the Third World is presented. Included are also empirical cases showing its usefulness.

Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability in Rural West Africa

The status of knowledge on observed and projected climate change is regularly summarized in the assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The latest IPCC report (2013) concludes that Africa as a whole is one of the most vulnerable continents due to its high exposure and low adaptive capacity. Here, the major conclusions of the report for Western Africa are summarized. Although there are still large gaps in the available data, evidence of warming over land regions across Africa, consistent with anthropogenic climate change, has increased. Temperature projections over West Africa for the end of the 21st century from global climate simulation range between 3 and 6 °C above the late 20th century baseline depending on the emission scenario. A similar range is produced with regional climate models that are used to downscale global climate simulations. For some regions, unprecedented climates are projected to occur at around 2040. Important progress has been made in the understanding of West African weather systems during the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA; phase 1: 2002–2010, phase 2: 2010–2020) project. For many processes in ecology, agriculture or hydrology, precipitation is one of the most important parameters. In addition to the total precipitation, the onset of the rainy season is of special interest for agriculture. In the past a shift of the rainy season was discussed, but currently a shift cannot be observed for West Africa. However, the length of the Sahelian rainy season reveals an increasing trend of 2–3 days per decade, with a drier phase within. Since the 1950s annual precipitation has tended to decrease in western and eastern parts of the Sahel region, with a very dry period in the 70s and 80s and a slight increase of precipitation afterwards, until today. However, climate projections show a slight increase of total precipitation and a longer rainy season with a drier phase within. J.O. Riede (&) R. Posada F. Kaspar Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Climate Monitoring, 63067 Offenbach, Germany e-mail: Jens-Olaf.Riede@dwd.de A.H. Fink Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany

A regional approach to development studies exemplified by some data from Botswana

Dale, R. & Hesselberg, J. 1978. A regional approach to development studies exemplified by some data from Botswana. Norsk geogr. Tidsskr. Vol. 32, pp. 15–26. Oslo. ISSN 0029-1951. Methodological and conceptual aspects of development research are discussed and some results of field work presented. The main concern is how to arrive at an approach whereby one may obtain data useful for development endeavours, both in the rural communities where field work is conducted and more generally in the country in question. The article mainly deals with methodological and conceptual aspects, supplemented with some data from two communities studied in Botswana – Letlhakeng and Tutume.

Introduction to Book

This book provides conceptual and empirical discussions of adaptation to climate change/variability in rural West Africa. It brings on-board country experiences in adaptation by different socio-economic groups and efforts at building adaptive capacity. It presents a holistic understanding of adaptation and shows contextual and generic sources of adaptive capacity. Focusing on adaptation to climate change/variability is critical because the development challenges of rural West Africa have been historically intertwined with its climate. Moreover, emerging patterns of climate change are inextricably linked to developmental issues today for West Africa’s agrarian communities with high numbers of the population earning a living directly and indirectly from the natural environment.