‘A Gentle Whisper in Your Ear’

Older People in Emergencies – Action & Policy Development (II)

In 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) Report: ‘Older People in Emergencies – Considerations for Action & Policy Development’ was published.

The following are short extracts from that Report …

Older People

Until recently, older peoples’ needs in disasters and conflicts were addressed only by broader adult health and humanitarian programmes.  This has changed, as several recent emergencies highlighted this population’s vulnerabilities.  Of the 14,800 deaths in France during the 2003 heat wave, 70% were people over 75 years of age.  Of the estimated 1,330 people who died in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, most were older people.  In Louisiana, 71% of those who died were older than 60 years;  47% of this group were over 77 years old.  Worldwide, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has estimated that older people make up 8.5% of the overall refugee population, and in some cases comprise more than 30% of caseloads.  In 2005, approximately 2.7 million people over the age of 60 were living as refugees or internally displaced persons.

Globally, the proportion of older people is growing faster than any other age group.  In 2000 one in ten, or about 600 million, people were 60 years of age or older.  By 2025, this figure is expected to reach 1.2 billion people, and in 2050 around 1.9 billion.  In developing countries, where 80% of older people live, the proportion of those over 60 years old in 2025 will increase from 7% to 12%.  Moreover, life expectancy at birth has increased globally from 48 years in 1955 to 65 in 1995, and is projected to reach 73 in 2025.  By 2050, people over 80 years old are expected to account for 4% of the world’s population, up from 1% today.

Disability & Older People

Worldwide, it is estimated that more than 80% of the disabled population lives in developing countries, where the prevalence of disability is approximately 20%.  That rate is expected to increase dramatically as populations age.  By 2050 in India, the incidence of disability is expected to jump by 120%, in China by 70% and in sub-Saharan Africa by 257%.

Emergency Planners must consider these trends, because poor health and reduced mobility increase the risk of serious injury and illness in disasters.  Older people have sustained more injuries in disasters than other groups because of functional limitations such as poor balance, muscle weakness and exhaustion.  Older people have higher rates of coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, respiratory diseases and rheumatism.  A study in China found that 74% of those over 80 years old had chronic diseases, 1.5% were physically disabled, and 3.46% had Alzheimer’s disease.  In Iraq, more than half of 340 older people surveyed by HelpAge International had chronic joint and bone problems, hypertension, heart problems, diabetes and reduced eyesight and hearing.  In West Darfur, Sudan, 34% of surveyed refugees 50 years of age and over were disabled, 27% could not move without help and 19% had severely impaired vision; while 61% reported chronic diseases that required specialized treatment and/or medicines that were not available.

Objective 1:   Increase Visibility and Raise Awareness among Health Agencies and Humanitarian Organizations about Older Peoples’ Needs and Priorities in Emergencies.

• Mainstream and integrate issues related to older people and emergencies into existing policies and guidelines (i.e. emergency medicine, nutrition, protection, gender-based violence, participatory assessments and programming).  Include plans for older people in national policy and guideline documents.
• Highlight the need to assist and protect older people as well as their capacities and contributions in rebuilding affected communities.
• Develop inter-agency efforts to identify gaps, develop practice guidelines and provide training and education.
• Promote better practice policies and documents among all stakeholders.
• Collaborate with funders to increase humanitarian assistance to older people based on needs assessments and reflect these in funding proposal criteria.
• Involve older people in developing emergency management activities to increase their visibility and ensure their needs are taken into account, for example, in shelter plans and locations.

Objective 2:   Develop Essential Medical and Health Resources for Older People in Emergency Practices.

• Identify and include essential medicines for older people in emergency kits.  Include medicines for chronic diseases and other illnesses common among this social group.
• Develop disability aid packages with equipment such as eyeglasses and walking sticks.
• Develop education modules for health professionals on diseases common among older people, including HIV/AIDS.
• Develop and disseminate guidelines for geriatric medicine in emergencies and humanitarian crises.
• Within the health care system, ensure that conditions and needs common to older people are integrated into patient triage, clinical evaluation, treatment, the emergency medical response system and access to specialty care.
• Ensure that nutritional guidelines for food distribution suitable for older people are integrated into health planning and response plans.
• Ensure local development of guidelines for feeding older people, using locally available foods to the extent this is possible where populations depend on external food aid.
• Implement gender-based analyses in planning and programme design to account for differences between older men and women in terms of both health needs and access issues.

Objective 3:   Develop Emergency Management Policies and Tools to Address Older Peoples’ Health-Related Vulnerabilities.

• Integrate older peoples’ health needs and related issues into assessment tools and practices.
• Develop community-based tools using disaggregated data to identify vulnerable older people.  Include formats to identify chronic health conditions, disabilities and nutritional needs.
• Develop procedures to identify hidden and stay-behind older people.
• Develop standardized tools to assess support needs of older people, including inter-generational and community care options.
• Develop age-friendly standards and guidelines so that service and care environments are accessible to older people with disabilities.
• In collaboration with older people, their families and communities, develop personal and household preparedness kits in areas of predictable disasters.
• Collaborate with communities in identifying and implementing community-based home care and support strategies which may reduce older peoples’ isolation and vulnerability during crises.
• Develop guidelines and evacuation plans that include mechanisms to identify and transport frail, disabled and older people with special medical conditions.  Identify procedures to ensure adequate care and treatment as necessary.
• Develop guidelines to ensure safe and adequate treatment of older people in evacuation centres and refugee camps.
• Ensure that health facilities have feasible plans to care for older people during disasters and humanitarian crises.
• Develop monitoring and evaluation tools to measure the performance of health care services and humanitarian interventions targeting older people.  These measures should be integrated into existing monitoring and evaluation procedures where possible.

Objective 4:   Ensure that Older People are Aware of and Have Access to Essential Emergency Health Care Services.

• Use established assessment tools to identify and locate frail and disabled older people and those with chronic diseases and special medical conditions, as well as older caretakers of orphaned children.
• Ensure that assessments are participatory and target all older populations.  Assessments should include information on health conditions, social support needs, caretaking responsibilities and available means to meet basic living needs, including access to food and health services, treatment and medicines.
• Ensure that assessments are coordinated across primary health care, rehabilitation, long term care and social services to meet the needs of older people.
• Implement outreach services and referral mechanisms to identify and ensure care for hidden or stay-behind older people.
• Coordinate primary health care, rehabilitation, long-term care and social services to establish system referral mechanisms that older clients may require.
• Assess and organize training for health staff to ensure knowledge of geriatric nutritional, health and medical care needs.
• Establish information programmes to educate older people, families and caregivers about nutritional needs, medical conditions and health care options.
• Use disaggregated data to assess services by age and gender.

Objective 5:   Provide Age-Sensitive and Appropriate Health and Humanitarian Services to Maintain Older Peoples’ Health.

• Ensure that equitable access to shelter, clothing, food and sanitation prevent deterioration of health through integrated individual assessments and referrals to health and humanitarian agencies.
• Ensure that age-friendly practices are used to promote services to older people with disabilities.
• Provide access to appropriate health care, including medicines for chronic diseases and disability/restorative aids.
• Collaborate with communities in identifying community-based home care and support options for frail and disabled older people.
• When appropriate and feasible, develop mobile clinics to extend health services to older people living in remote locations.
• Implement mechanisms to assess nutritional balance and ensure access to supplementary food programmes when appropriate, taking into account that many older people also care for children.  Provide education on food preparation using supplementary or locally available foods.
• Ensure that protection needs of older people are integrated into programming (e.g. social welfare or community services) to identify persons at risk and prevent abuse and exploitation.
• Undertake monitoring to assess continuing effectiveness of services to older people.
• Use disaggregated data to assess efficiency of implemented activities by age and gender.

Objective 6:   Promote Cross-Sectoral Planning and Co-Ordination to Raise Awareness of Older Peoples’ Needs in Crises and Reduce Their Risk of Marginalization and Deteriorating Health in Emergencies.

• Raise awareness among agencies and organizations concerning physical and health issues specific to older people and of ways to adapt basic need support to their requirements (e.g. supplementary food rations, livelihood needs and impacts of protection issues on older peoples’ physical and psychological health).
• Where possible, include older people in planning and programming committees to increase their visibility and ensure their needs and priorities are integrated.
• In coordination with appropriate partners, establish community self-help groups to facilitate community care for more vulnerable older people.
• Recognize self-sufficiency as key to maintaining health and encourage the inclusion of older people in training programmes, income-generation schemes, and community development projects.
• Establish older peoples’ committees to facilitate self-advocacy and communication with authorities and ministries of health to increase access to existing services and entitlements.

Objective 7:   Build Institutional Capacity and Commitment towards Ensuring the Health and Safety of Older People in Emergencies.

• Integrate cross-cutting health emergency management issues into global/regional/country strategic plans.
• Promote inter-agency and cross-sectoral consultation on cross-cutting policy and programming issues to build consensus, commitment and capacity to respond to older peoples’ needs in disasters and humanitarian crises.
• Collaborate with ministries of health to establish mandates and legislation ensuring the provision of care to older people; apply a human rights framework to these issues.
• Collaborate with ministries of health to develop options to increase older peoples’ access to affordable health care services, including the implementation of subsidized medical and medicine programmes.
• Advocate for enhanced funding and humanitarian assistance to older people in emergencies and conflicts.  Encourage funding agencies to recognize older people as a priority.
• Develop frameworks to promote participatory, transparent and accountable processes to advance the needs of older people.
• Develop sustainable mechanisms to maintain advocacy and consultation of older people within the health care-system.  Establish and involve advocacy committees in the planning, implementation and evaluation of emergency management practices when appropriate, for example regarding the design of community shelters that may be accessed by older disabled people.

Objective 8:   Strengthen the Capacity of Ministries of Health and Health Care Systems to Meet the Needs of Older People in Emergencies.

• As required, integrate the medical and nutritional needs of older people into local public health and emergency preparedness and response strategies.
• Develop strategies to ensure that existing health care systems develop capacity (infrastructure and knowledge) to meet the increasing proportion of older people who will be impacted by disasters in the future, taking into account medical, disability and mental health needs, including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Collaborate with communities in identifying community-based home care and support strategies for older people as an option to reduce older peoples’ isolation and vulnerability to disasters.
• Collaborate with communities to develop and maintain disaster reduction committees.  Assist in the implementation of strategies to strengthen community support to older people and reduce their levels of risk during disasters (e.g. development of community emergency response teams or mutual assistance groups among more vulnerable older people).
• Integrate older peoples’ needs into exercise designs and facilitate the dissemination of lessons learned.
• Develop performance frameworks and monitoring mechanisms to assess medical response systems and older peoples’ access to specialty care in emergencies.

Objective 9:   Develop Mechanisms to Ensure Continuing Development and Exchange of Expertise as these Relate to Older People in Emergencies.

• Develop and provide ongoing training and education to staff on the needs and priorities of older people, including responsibility to include this population in planning and policy development.
• Integrate issues related to older people in emergencies into relevant university curricula.
• Undertake comparative research to assess the health status (including access to assistance) of older people in emergencies vis-à-vis other age groups.
• Undertake research to address demographic shifts and the increasing proportion of older people in disasters as this relates to health care and infrastructure/facility development.
• Ensure emergency preparedness and response considerations are integrated into relevant services and institutions (e.g. facilities caring for frail and disabled older people are required to develop and practice evacuation and emergency care plans).

Objective 10:   Promote Active Ageing as a Strategy to Reduce Vulnerability and Develop Resiliency to Disasters.

• Promote a wider understanding among ministries of health and humanitarian organizations of the economic and social factors contributing to the vulnerability of older people, including issues related to livelihoods, inter-generational dependence and social pension.
• Develop policies that recognize active ageing and resiliency as facilitating older peoples’ capacity to prepare for, cope with and respond to the affects of disasters and conflicts.
• Include a life course perspective that recognizes health promotion and prevention of disease and disability.
• Support cross-sectoral forums and activities which link the risks of older people in emergencies to frameworks for livelihoods, protection and gender-based equality, health promotion and social pension.
• Collaborate with relevant organizations to mainstream the health needs of older people into existing humanitarian programmes addressing shelter, nutrition, livelihoods, protection and gender-based violence.
• Develop information campaigns and encourage media to highlight both the needs and capacities of older people and to increase their visibility.
• Collaborate with funding bodies to integrate active ageing as a criterion in funding proposals targeting older people.

 

 

END

Tags: 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) Report: 'Older People in Emergencies - Considerations for Action & Policy Development', Accessibility-for-All, Build Institutional Capacity and Commitment towards Ensuring the Health and Safety of Older People in Emergencies, Built Environment, China, Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government (DEHLG), Develop Emergency Management Policies and Tools to Address Older Peoples' Health-Related Vulnerabilities, Develop Essential Medical and Health Resources for Older People in Emergency Practices, Develop Mechanisms to Ensure Continuing Development and Exchange of Expertise as these Relate to Older People in Emergencies, Disability and Older People, Ensure that Older People are Aware of and Have Access to Essential Emergency Health Care Services, FireOx International, France during the 2003 heat wave, human and social rights, human environment, Hurricane Katrina, Increase Visibility and Raise Awareness among Health Agencies and Humanitarian Organizations about Older Peoples' Needs and Priorities in Emergencies, India, International Legal Instrument, Iraq, People with Activity Limitations (2001 WHO ICF), Personnes à Performances Réduites (2001 WHO ICF), Promote Active Ageing as a Strategy to Reduce Vulnerability and Develop Resiliency to Disasters, Promote Cross-Sectoral Planning and Co-Ordination to Raise Awareness of Older Peoples' Needs in Crises and Reduce Their Risk of Marginalization and Deteriorating Health in Emergencies, Provide Age-Sensitive and Appropriate Health and Humanitarian Services to Maintain Older Peoples' Health, Strengthen the Capacity of Ministries of Health and Health Care Systems to Meet the Needs of Older People in Emergencies, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sustainability Implementation, Sustainable Human & Social Development, technical control, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), West Darfur Sudan

‘Feeling’ the Violent Earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy ?!?

Exactly a week ago … in the early hours of Monday morning (03:32 hrs local time), 6th April 2009, a violent earthquake hit the central Italian Region of Abruzzo.  The quake had a ‘magnitude’ of 6.3 on the Richter Scale … a scale developed by Charles Richter (1900-1985) during the last century, in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg (1889-1960).

 

The high numbers of fatalities and people injured continue, even at this time of writing … seven days later, to rise and rise.  Approaching 60,000 people have been left homeless.  It will take many, many years to restore buildings … and much longer than that to restore the delicate social fabric of local communities.

 

It is a remarkable joy to experience the culture, and live among the people of one such small community in the centre of Italy … Amandola (≈ 4,500 inhabitants), which is a typical hilltop town located approximately 70 Km north of L’Aquila (≈ 67,000 inhabitants), capital of the Abruzzo Region.

 

 

 

 

Earthquakes between 6.1 and 6.9 on the Richter Scale regularly cause damage in areas up to 100 Kilometres away from the ‘epicentre’ … that point on the earth’s surface located vertically above the place deep within the Earth where the quake originated.

 

To put local news reports into some context … accurate measurement of dramatically increased levels of natural radon activity in soils, allied with a good understanding of local geology and seismology, can be an important, although not 100% reliable, indicator of what is happening deep underground.  Unfortunately, and unlike in Ireland, radon protection of buildings is not taken seriously in Italy … so, not much attention would have been paid to what anybody said about radon activity in the soils around L’Aquila before the ‘big one’ hit !

 

Tremors from an earthquake, or trembling vibrations, can be felt strongly far away from an epicentre.  I know, because I was in Amandola last Monday morning.

 

To be involved in Earthquake Resisting Design is one thing … I am very comfortable with technical issues, facts, concepts, building products, etc.  To become intimate, however, with the ‘reality’ of a mother of an Earthquake is altogether different !

 

Jerked awake in those early hours … the building was rocking, not just swaying.  Before reaching full consciousness … too much had already happened.  If the building had collapsed, I would never have known what hit me.  But, it didn’t … and there was no internal damage or cracking.

 

I don’t know why … but, I went back to sleep again.

 

Just after 08.00 hrs (local time), phone texts began to arrive from Ireland … “was everybody safe ?”.  Something ‘big’ must have happened during the night.  I rushed to put on the television news … forget about SKY NEWS, CNN, BBC and that miserable, no-good, laughable excuse for an ‘impartial, balanced and fair’ news service FOX NEWS … the best coverage … and continuous coverage … was on the Italian TV Stations.

 

Tragic scenes … of historical buildings destroyed … expected, because they would not be of modern (reinforced concrete or steel) construction … and, far many more than should be the case, of modern buildings seriously damaged or collapsed like a plate of pancakes … somewhat expected, because of inadequate technical controls over building design and construction in many parts of the country.

 

[Similar scenes of modern, 'tofu' construction could be witnessed after the Major Earthquakes in Central China, beginning in May 2008.]

 

Later that morning, I inspected an historical building which I had recently restored … and where I had incorporated earthquake resisting features.  Relief, relief, relief … not a single crack.

 

Travelling back to Rome by car that afternoon, fleets of emergency response vehicles moved swiftly in the opposite direction towards the Earthquake Zone …

 

 

Tags: 'tofu' construction, 6.3 on the Richter Scale, Beno Gutenberg (1889-1960), Charles Richter (1900-1985), China, CJ Walsh, Earthquake Epicentre, Earthquake Resisting Design, Earthquake Tremors, Earthquake Zone, fleets of emergency response vehicles, historical buildings destroyed, Italy, local geology and seismology, modern buildings seriously damaged or collapsed like a plate of pancakes, natural radon activity in soils, radon protection of buildings, SKY NEWS - CNN - BBC - FOX NEWS, Sustainable Human & Social Development, Violent Earthquake in L'Aquila (Abruzzo)

Europe Pretending to Lead the Way on Climate Change ?

In August 2008 … I travelled to Bengaluru (Bangalore), in the south of India, to attend a Fire Conference organized by the Fire & Safety Association of India (FSAI).  A year earlier, I had been with them in Chennai (Madras), also in the south.  My own father, Con, had been a teacher in the north of the country from about 1930 onwards, so I had always wanted to see the country for myself.  He was caught there, by the way, during the 2nd World War and could only travel back home, to Ireland, in 1947.

 

Much to the amusement of local people, the means of transport I decided to use … guaranteeing a vivid experience of the varied local sights, sounds and smells … was an Auto-Rickshaw … a three-wheeled scooter, with an open yellow cab on the back.  It is a common form of transport in the large cities of India.  This was a serious effort … no messing around in the sealed cocoon of an air-conditioned taxi !

 

 

These 2 Photographs were taken during the rush hour traffic, early one morning, in Bengaluru.  The roads were jammed solid with traffic … every type of vehicle … crawling along at a snail’s pace.  The driver of my Auto-Rickshaw was bent over the handlebars … always coughing … heaving a loud, jagged-rough, deep cough …

  

 

 

The reason for his coughing … you can see an actual pollution haze to the right of the frame below … a haze so thick, that it almost had to be parted with your hands in order to see ahead …

 

 

This is the reality of everyday life on the ground in one of the economically more advanced ‘developing’ countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa (BRICS) – where far too many people are chasing the dream of our reality in Europe … a reality created from the plunder, over hundreds of years, of those same ‘developing’ countries.

 

This is why the European Union must lead by ‘real’ example when it comes to Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.  But, is it ‘real’ ????

 

This is why Ireland must begin to properly face up to its responsibilities under Kyoto I, the EU 2020 Targets, and a probable Kyoto II International Agreement to be finalized in Copenhagen towards the end of 2009.

 

This is why the United States of America must stop prancing around our fragile planet like a spoiled, immature child … and engage seriously with the rest of us.  We have lost all patience !

 

 

 

Copenhagen & the European Union …

 

On 28th January 2009, the European Commission issued COM(2009) 39 final …

 

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee & the Committee of the Regions – Towards a Comprehensive Climate Change Agreement in Copenhagen.

 

On Page 2 of the Communication, the Executive Summary commences …

 

‘ The successful conclusion of the international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen at the end of 2009 is a key priority for the European Union (EU).  Now that the Climate & Energy package has been adopted, the EU must step up its contacts with third Countries, both in the UN context and beyond.’

 

A paragraph later, it continues …

 

‘ In order to limit the global average temperature increase to not more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, developed countries as a group should reduce their emissions to 30% below 1990 levels in 2020.  The EU has set the example by committing to a 20% reduction in its emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2020, irrespective of whether or not an international agreement is concluded.  This is by far the most ambitious commitment by any country or group of countries in the world for the post-2012 period.

 

The EU is willing to go further and sign up to a 30% reduction target in the context of a sufficiently ambitious and comprehensive international agreement that provides for comparable reductions by other developed countries, and appropriate actions by developing countries.  Developing countries as a group should limit the growth of their emissions to 15-30% below business as usual.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Auto-Rickshaw, Bengaluru (Bangalore), Brazil, BRICS, Chennai (Madras), China, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, economically more advanced 'developing' countries, EU, EU 2020 Targets, European Commission COM(2009) 39 final, european union, Fire & Safety Association of India (FSAI), Fire Safety, FireOx International, global average temperature increase, India, Kyoto I - UNFCCC 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Kyoto II International Agreement, photograph, pollution haze, Russia, South Africa, Sustainability Implementation, Sustainable Human & Social Development, Towards a Comprehensive Climate Change Agreement in Copenhagen, United States of America

Ireland’s Recycled Waste Statistics – Rubbish ?

On Wednesday last, 28th January 2009, Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the ‘National Waste Report 2007′. As usual, a Press Release accompanied the launch … and the contents of this Release are still beginning to appear in our national media.

 

You may also have caught some interesting waste-related newspaper articles just after Christmas. It was those which really started my mental wheels turning. Congratulations to Ms. Sylvia Thompson in The Irish Times (2008-12-30) !

 

 

 

Between 2001 and 2007, the total amount of waste (in tonnes) produced by this country – all of us together – under each of the ‘selected’ four categories shown in Appendix A – Indicators on Page 33 of the recent EPA Report, i.e. municipal, household, commercial and packaging … has increased dramatically. Not only are we dirty, messy creatures on this beautiful island, but it is also clear that a much heavier, and more effective, regulatory hand is required to get to grips with this increasing problem. We suffer from too many national marketing campaigns and too many national voluntary schemes … which “don’t amount to a hill of beans”, as John Wayne grunted many years ago.

 

But, just how ‘useful’ are the numbers we were presented with on 28th January ?

 

- It took 13 Months to produce the National Waste Report for 2007. Having had a brief conversation with a key person in the EPA (who shall remain nameless), I know that there are all sorts of reasons why this continues to happen year after year. But, the time lag is ridiculous, and unacceptable. To be ‘useful’, we need Reliable Waste Data and Statistics far, far sooner. For example, if this Report had been ready for mid-September 2008 … National/Local Waste Policies and Budgets could have been adjusted in time for the start of 2009. Does that make sense ?

 

- In 2007, we did not recycle 36.5% of household and commercial waste. We recovered this percentage of waste. If, however, you were then to apply the following criterion … how much of this waste was actually processed for recycling within the island of Ireland and in a location no farther than 75 Km from the point of recovery … how quickly do you think the figure of 36.5% would nosedive into the ground ??? To be ‘useful’, we need a more developed Waste Indicator Set which will reveal the complete picture on national performance.

 

- With Tables 5 & 6, on Page 7, firmly in the back of your minds … how ‘sustainable’ is it to be exporting our waste to countries as distant as China, India and the USA ? This forces me to ask a strongly-linked question … does anybody within the EPA, or at the higher levels of any of our National Institutions, really understand the word ‘sustainable’ ? Looking at the Environmental Aspects of Sustainable Human & Social Development, alone, is a pointless exercise. In the long-term, it is actually counterproductive. To be ‘useful’, we need Waste-related Environmental Indicators which are properly integrated into a Multi-Dimensional Matrix which also contains Waste-related Social, Economic, Institutional, Political and Legal Indicators.

 

 

Put very simply … our Aim should be to use as close to ‘real time’ Performance Indicators as practicable, with Benchmarking at Year 1990 … to target ‘real’ improvements in Ireland’s Sustainability, verify Target Attainment, and to continually re-adjust those targets at appropriate intervals thereafter.

 

 

 

Have a nice weekend !

 

 

 

Tags: Benchmarking at Year 1990, China, Environmental Aspects of Sustainable Human & Social Development, India, Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ireland's Sustainability, John Wayne, Ms. Sylvia Thompson, Multi-Dimensional Matrix, National Institutions, National Waste Report 2007, National/Local Waste Policies and Budgets, Reliable Waste Data and Statistics, Sustainable Human & Social Development, Target Attainment, The Irish Times, USA, Waste Indicator Set, Waste-related Environmental Indicators, Waste-related Social Economic Institutional Political and Legal Indicators