Africa - TIPS

• International Trade in Services and Sustainable Development: The Case of Tourism in South Africa - Full Report
  Tourism is an important services sector identified by the government as a major contributor to job creation, economic growth and poverty relief objectives. However, certain constraints to tourism growth have been identified, such as a lack of transparent investment incentives to attract investors; a scarcity of needed infrastructure in regions with the strongest natural resource base for tourism; inadequate tourism education; and inadequate marketing of South Africa as a long-haul tourism and business centre. This research on the tourism sector focuses on the nature of trade liberalization and deregulation within a sustainable development framework.

• Sustainable Development: The Case of Energy in South Africa - Full Report
  Energy is central to achieving the interrelated economic, social and environmental aims of sustainable development and energy services play a crucial role in providing efficient access to energy in support of development. Developing countries are faced with a number of challenges in this regard, such as achieving more reliable and efficient access to energy for domestic consumption and production, growing their share in the trade of energy goods and services, and mitigating adverse environmental impacts from energy activities. The main objective of this study is to look at what dominates South Africa's energy supply – coal-based energy – with an emphasis on electricity.

• Trade and Environment: South Africa Case Studies - Full Report
  This study looks at three trade-related sectors in South Africa: coal, steel and citrus. In the coal and steel sectors, it forecasts the future trends in the industry and surveys the key environmental concerns. It also looks for threats to South Africa's exports based on environmental concerns or multilateral environmental agreements in their export markets. In the citrus sector, it details the way in which some producers have gone beyond domestic environmental standards in an effort to penetrate certain high-standard export markets.

Other Related Research

• A Minerals and Mining Policy for South Africa
  This white paper from the South African government gives an overview of the environmental considerations in the mining sector in South Africa.

Workshop Papers and Reports

• Proceedings of the TKN Phase I South Africa Workshop
  Report of the TKN Trade and Sustainable Development Workshop, held July 1-2, 1999 in Midrand, South Africa.

Malawi - The University of Malawi – The Polytechnic

• Tobacco Revenue Management: Malawi case study
  Nelson Nsiku, Willings Botha - The University of Malawi - the Polytechnic, 2007
  Commodity price volatility has been tremendously problematic in the past. When revenues are high they tend to distort fiscal responsibility and encourage corruption. When revenues slump they slash government revenues, drive unemployment, increase national debt, and undermine health and education spending. This is not a new problem. The international community and domestic governments have tried many different ways to stabilize prices: quota systems, commodity agreements, marketing boards, compensatory funds and price hedging on futures markets. Few, if any, of these mechanisms have been entirely successful.

  In 2003, tobacco production made up nearly 60 per cent of Malawi's exports. The international price of tobacco is an important determinant of Malawi's economic growth and the fluctuating price of tobacco has presented a serious challenge to national fiscal management. One of a series of seven case studies that examines national responses to the commodity price problem, this study focuses on how Malawi has addressed price volatility in its tobacco sector.