El seguro agrícola es un instrumento eficaz en la gestión de riesgos rurales. Paradójicamente, su uso por los agricultores es relativamente bajo en la mayor parte del mundo. Una notable excepción son los Estados Unidos de América, país donde tiene éxito. El proceso, sin embargo, fue lento, muy costoso y con la participación del Estado. Así, los países que deseen incorporar este instrumento entre las prioridades de su política agrícola, como parece ser el caso de Brasil, deben tomar en cuenta los requisitos necesarios para tener éxito, y los problemas que genera.

La inseguridad económica se produce cuando las personas,las comunidades y los países se ven expuestos a circunstancias adversas y no logran resistir y recuperarse de las pérdidas sufridas. Cuando se señalan los crecientes riesgos y la gravedad de las amenazas económicas se suele responder que son consecuencia de fuerzas autónomas e irresistibles que escapan a nuestro control colectivo. El Estudio Económico y Social Mundial 2008 ofrece una perspectiva distinta.

En el marco de la Segunda Reunión Ministerial sobre Agricultura y Vida Rural en el contexto del proceso Cumbres de las Américas, los(as) Ministros(as), Secretarios (as) de Agricultura de las Américas, reunidos(as) en la ciudad de Panamá acordaron adoptar el PLAN DE ACCIÓN “AGRO 2003-2015” PARA LA AGRICULTURA Y LA VIDA RURAL DE LAS AMÉRICAS.

2005 was a year of natural disasters.The impacts of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Hurricanes Katrina and Stan, and the Pakistan earthquake prompted calls for better disaster prevention and preparedness systems. Nature's power renders us impotent, but human actions and omissions are clearly worsening the impacts of disasters in some cases.This is where risk reducing measures must lock in, as the last fifteen years of international disaster risk management show.

The devastating tsunami has shown in a tragic way the great vulnerability and exposed nature of coastal communities to natural calamities. It also has drawn global attention to the poor living conditions of fishing communities and the many threats to the sustainable use of fishery resources and coastal ecosystems. Post-tsunami rehabilitation offers the opportunity to build back better, improve and make more secure the lives of disadvantaged sections of the population and set fisheries and coastal resource use on a sustainable footing.

Post-tsunami reconstruction has been under way in the Indonesian province of Aceh for nearly two years. In the authors' view, swift coordination of goals and instruments has enabled positive synergies to be created between short-term development-oriented emergency aid and long-term recovery. In this way, and by means of a conflict-sensitive approach, the aim is to guarantee the sustainability of the reconstruction effort.

People-centred early warning systems empower communities to prepare for and confront the power of natural hazards. However, the efficiency of such systems is to be measured in terms of lives saved and reduction in losses, which is directly related to the execution of an anticipated response by the people and institutions once a warning is issued.This paper addresses traditional views on early warning systems, and what it takes to transform them into efficient, people-centred systems.

The series of dramatic natural events is never ending. 2005 again illustrated that natural disasters are unavoidable. For disaster prevention systems to function properly, investments in raising risk awareness are key.

The tsunami disaster on 26 December 2004 claimed more than 200,000 lives. It triggered an unprecedented outpouring of reconstruction assistance from both private and public donors.The prompt provision of emergency relief averted the threat of epidemics and prevented major movements of refugees out of the affected regions. However,many of the reconstruction measures failed due to poor coordination between the actors involved and the lack of expertise underlying some of the interventions.The reconstruction effort was also very slow to get off the ground.

Juste après le tremblement de terre, en janvier 2010, la GTZ a lancé en Haïti un projet d'aide alimentaire d'urgence avec plusieurs partenaires. En l'espace d'un mois, environ 1 000 tonnes de vivres ont été distribuées. L'article rend compte de cette expérience et décrit les facteurs qui revêtent une importance décisive pour le succès d'une telle opération.

The Act makes provision for the establishment, functions and powers, organization, etc.

This Act provides for the establishment of the National Environmental Council, the Environmental Management Agency, Environment Management Board, the Standards and Enforcement Committee and the Environment Fund, provides for the formulation of environmental quality standards and environmental plans, provides for environmental impact assessments audit and monitoring of projects and for other matters relative to management and conservation of the environment.The Act consists of 143 sections divided into 16 Parts: Preliminary (I); General Principles of Environmental Management and Functions of