Mike Valli | Academic and Entrepreneur

Wakk Designs

admin — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 02:09:56 +0000

Wakk Designs are a down to earth highly experienced team of web enthusiasts that get a real buzz out of seeing our client projects succeed. We believe that the web truly represents a great opportunity for small and large companies and we love working with our clients to turn opportunities into tangible results.

Wakk’s philosophy is simple, elegant designs which achieve exceptional results. Services include Online Strategy, Web Design, E-commerce, Blog Design, SEO, Facebook and Google Ads, Logo Design and Branding, Email Marketing, Data Visualisation, Domains and Hosting and Content Design through video and photography.

www.wakkdesigns.com

Neo-Colonialism and Agricultural Land Grabs

admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:47:14 +0000

Sustainability of the land deal between Syria and Sudan

Water scarcity and rising populations compel food insecure nations to rely on world markets to import food. Since the beginning of the new century, there has been an increasing trend for nations to lease or buy overseas land to secure their own food supplies through direct production. The Global Financial Crisis and food price spike of 2007-2008 sparked a proliferation of these ‘landgrabs’. These deals are driven by the food-water nexus: water scarcity is limiting factor in global food production.

Cultivating foreign lands for domestic benefit is a colonial phenomenon. Landgrab deals are the most recent adaptation and have been thus criticised as a form of neocolonialism. This dissertation examines one of earliest deals in which Sudan leases land to Syria for agricultural production. The aim of this dissertation is to determine the sustainability of the Syria-Sudan deal with particular attention to water rights. It applies the sustainability questionnaire proposed by the FAO in their research paper Landgrab or Development Opportunity as a framework for measuring sustainability in the Syria-Sudan deal. Data is taken from document analysis and the historical case study of the Gezira Scheme under British colonial rule.

This paper proposes that the deal is not sustainable and that it is unlikely to assist Syria’s agricultural goals nor Sudan’s development aspirations.

Dissertation submitted for the MSc Water Science, Policy and Management Oxford University Centre for the Environment

Old Newingtonians Union Council

admin — Tue, 24 May 2011 11:54:53 +0000

I contribute as ex-officio member of the ONU council. The object of the Old Newingtonians Union (ONU) as described in its original Constitution is to ‘strengthen the bonds between Old Newingtonians and the School’. The ONU commenced in 1895 following an initial meeting of interested ex-students on 13 August. A meeting was held on 26 August at which a constitution was adopted for the ONU and officers for the ensuing year were elected. The first meeting of the Council of the Union took place on 30 August. The inaugural event was a cricket match, followed by a dinner, on 20 September 1895.

http://www.newingtoncollege.nsw.edu.au/alumni/old-newingtonians-union

PhD Thesis

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 08:09:18 +0000

This study undertakes analysis of the water market in the NSW Murray Darling Basin between 2004 and 2010. It combines state-wide water trading, land trading and land-use data to map the transfer of water rights and the characteristics of market participants. This data is analysed using a combination of GIS, spatial statistics, econometrics and interviews of key stakeholders. The results show the changing property-level ownership of water entitlements and allocations then compares it to the premise of the National Water Initiative that water flows to its “higher valued uses”.

Water reform in the MDB is highly contested, evidenced by the furore surrounding the Guide to the Basin Plan and the federal government’s Water for the Future policy. The reforms extend from the National Water Initiative framework, which seeks to maximise the efficiency and productive use of water, and optimise the “pattern of water use and related investment that maximises the economic, social and environmental benefits of Australia’s water resources” (NWC Biennial). The separation of land and water property rights and the of creation markets for trading water entitlements are the principle instruments for achieving the NWI outcomes. The introduction and subsequent expansions of water markets were “based on the premise that trading provides economic benefits to buyers and sellers, and to society as a whole, by reallocating scarce water resources to higher valued uses” (NWC 2010).

The impacts of the water market are well explored in the literature from an economic perspective. Less attention has been paid to the spatiality of water ownership and how this changes over time, despite water’s undeniable biophysical constraints as a commodity. This study is a quantitative attempt to examine the spatio-temporal geographies of water traders. Using the theoretical vocabulary of economic geography, it is argued that the spatio-temporal characteristic of traders provides a more complete understanding for the value of water than simply economic productivity. The spatial context of water traders determines how they value water, their investment decisions and the “pattern of water use and related investment” across various geographies.

Now in non-academic language…

Governments have embraced market-based management of natural resources from Carbon to Water. The National Water Initiative 2004 created the institutional framework for Australia’s Water Trading Market, intending it to optimise social, economic and environmental aspects in the Basin. We assume that markets are successful vehicles for efficiently allocating water resources, but we don’t even know where the water has gone! After a decade of water trading, there is still scarce knowledge about the trends in the water market. Are foreigners buying Australia’s water? Do large agri-businesses own more water than family farmers? Is water ownership flowing from Dairy farms to the Cotton farms? What communities gained or lost water during the recent drought and with what impacts? How does the price of water relate to other agricultural commodities?

Understanding these questions is critical to government policy-makers, farm businesses, water brokers and water investment funds.

Agri-Food Research Network

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 07:56:51 +0000

As advisor to the Agri-Food Research Network I help with website development and building the online community through social media. The Agri-Food Research Network is an open network of Australian and New Zealand researchers interested in food, agriculture and the rural sector. The Network was established in 1992 through the instigation of Professor David Burch, then at Griffith University. Its original aim was to provide a collaborative forum for researchers interested in food, agriculture and rural issues from across different areas of the social sciences. At the time, there was no such arena for researchers from different backgrounds to gain insights from one another. These original aims continue to remain central to the Network. In the intervening period, the Network has grown ins size and scope. The AFRN annual Conferences usually bring together more than 100 researchers from different backgrounds, across the University, public and community sectors. Whilst most researchers come from Australia or New Zealand, conferences also have an international flavour, involving participants from an array of countries, both in the developed and developing worlds.

Rowing

admin — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 01:29:33 +0000

In a former life I was U23 rowing world champion representing Australia. I began rowing at the age of twelve at Newington College, Sydney after my teacher said I would be suited for the sport. I continued my rowing career at Sydney University after accepting sport scholarships from the Sports Union and St Paul’s College. I spent time at the Australian Institute of Sport and became State and National champion in several events. My final competitive race was the 2009 Oxford-Cambirdge Boat Race, representing Oxford (Isis). On a chilly London morning, we won by 4 lengths.

Amani Children’s Home

admin — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 01:21:14 +0000

I am co-founder of Friends of Amani Australia, which participates in a global community, brought together to support the Amani Children’s Home in Tanzania. Amani Children’s Home is dedicated to the protection of Tanzania’s most vulnerable population: street-children and AIDS orphans. It is estimated that there are 2.5 million orphaned children in Tanzania. Since its founding by Tanzanians in 2001, Amani has rescued hundreds of children from the perils of life on the streets, where they face a high risk of HIV transmission, malnutrition, and abuse.

Friends of Amani (FOA) is an international network of volunteers united in Amani’s mission. Friends of Amani teams are committed, caring people who work together to raise support and awareness for the Amani children in their home countries. The Friends of Amani Australia was formed for the purpose of raising funds to promote the health, welfare, and education of children and their families through the Amani Children’s Home.