KCCAA, GE, Black & Veatch, and $Billion Water Wars in China

[Dig]

About KCCAA
http://www.kcca-ks.org/wordpress/?page_id=67

Kansas City Chinese American Association (KCCAA) is a not-for-profit organization and our mission is to celebrate Chinese heritage; provide local community services; promote learning and mutual understanding through various charitable and educational activities within local communities. We’ve continued to evolve and expand the association’s focus to broaden the minds and perspectives of many – increasing cultural awareness and celebrating a storied heritage along the way. A recent example of KCCAA’s impact was our largest fundraiser for the KC Friendship School in China, a project that resulted from the earthquake ravaged Sichuan Province in China. Despite this catastrophic event, many participated through numerous Kansas City cultural and educational area programs to provide local inhabitants with hope. For those who supported this project, we thank you and we are greatly humbled by your outpouring of compassion.

KCCAA works closely with the Kansas City Ethnic Enrichment Commission, the Confucius Institute at the University of Kansas, the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC), and various other local school districts and organizations. We are honored to have such relationships in place. The leadership of our board of directors, along with the tremendous efforts from our members, has allowed KCCAA to become the largest Chinese organization in the Kansas City area. We are proud to say we have more than 1,000 active members who are influencing the Chinese-American community both socially and economically. Charitable and educational programs are supported by various annual fundraising activities. Our members, the public, and local corporations, which are governed by the IRS tax exemption code of 501c (3), serve as sponsors.

Looking ahead, KCCAA is planning a series of activities that will continue the expansion and appreciation of cultural diversity.


Board Member Bio’s
http://www.kcca-ks.org/wordpress/?page_id=1335
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Sam Chen – Sourcing Leader, GE Energy

Sam Chen is responsible for GE Energy Environmental Services Sourcing organization since December 2006.

Sam has a wealth of background in Technology, Manufacturing and Quality and 15 year experience in GE. Sam joined GE Nuclear Energy located in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1994. He progressed through responsibilities include Senior Development Engineer, Senior Application Engineer, NPI program manager, Six-sigma MBB and Quality Leader. Before joining GE, Sam has taught in college in China and conducted forefront fusion research work at UC Berkeley.

Sam earned a Ph. D. from University of California at Berkeley (1992) and Bachelor (1983) and Master’s (1986) degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

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Siew Lau – Financial Adviser Waddell & Reed

Siew is active in numerous non-profit organizations in the Greater Kansas City. She sits on the board of People-to-People Greater Kansas City Chapter and as the Treasurer. She is a board member and the secretary of the Kansas City Chinese American Association. Siew also is the founder and the Vice President for the Malaysian Association of Greater Kansas City. She served two terms as 1st Vice Chair with the Ethnic Enrichment Commission of Kansas City since 2008 and the commissioner for Malaysia. She served 3 years on the board of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce until the end of 2008. She is currently a member of the Leawood Chamber of Commerce.


Siew received her B.A degree from UMKC in 2001 while employed full time with Sprint in 1997. She was first employed as a graphic designer, and then later promoted to be a Mapping Analyst. In 2004 Siew joined Waddell & Reed where she is currently practicing her financial advising. On the side, Siew has been running her husband’s property management business since 2002.

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Colin Mackenzie – Chinese Curator of Nelson-Atkins Museum

Colin Mackenzie joined the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in June 2009. Dr. Mackenzie was formerly curator of Asian Art at the Yale University Art Gallery, Associate Director of the Asia Society Museum, and recently Robert P. Youngman Curator of Asian Art at Middlebury College. He received his B.A. and Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and spent two years studying at Beijing University during the early 1980s. Dr. Mackenzie’s interests range widely from ancient China to contemporary Chinese art. He has contributed to a number of influential exhibitions: He co-curated Asian Games: The Art of Contest (2004) and was organizing curator for Monks and Merchants: Silk Road Treasures from Northwest China (2001) and Inside Out: New Chinese Art (1998).

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Frederick Jiang – Senior Vice President of Waddell & Reed, CFA

Originally from Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, Mr. Jiang graduated from China Central Institute of Finance & Banking in June 1993 with a Bachelor of Economics, International Accounting degree. He served as the President of Student Council in high school and college and received several Excellence in Leadership Awards. He came to the U.S. in 1997 and earned an MBA with an emphasis in finance/management from New York University Stern School of Business in May 1999.  Mr. Jiang received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2001.

Mr. Jiang was affiliated with ABN AMRO Hoare Govett Asia, Ltd. in Hong Kong from 1994 to 1997 as an equity research analyst.  As a member of ABN AMRO’s China Research Team, he covered China’s equity market and followed the consumer durables, building construction materials and shipbuilding sectors.

Mr. Jiang joined Waddell & Reed Investment Management Company in July 1999 as an investment analyst covering Asia Pacific region.  He was named Portfolio Manager of Ivy Pacific Opportunities Fund in 2003 and was appointed a Senior Vice President in 2006. Mr. Jiang received two Lipper Fund Awards for the Best Pacific Ex-Japan Funds in 3 and 5 years in 2010. Mr. Jiang lives in Leawood, Kansas with his wife and two daughters.

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Gary Pettett – President of Edgar Snow Memorial Fund, M.D., F.A.A.P., Colonel, U. S. Army Medical Corp (Retired)

Gary is the President-Elect, Missouri State Medical Association. A professor Pediatrics and Medical Humanities, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Kansas City, MO. Director, E. Grey Dimond Program in International Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine.

He received his B.S. degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 1963-1967. M.D. degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 1967-197, and M.S. Business from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 1976-1977.

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John R. Phillips – Managing Partner of Husch Blackwell Sanders


John R. Phillips has been Managing Partner of Husch Blackwell Sanders, a Midwest law firm with which he has practiced in the areas of alternative dispute resolution, labor and employment, commercial litigation and healthcare for over 38 years.

He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Mediators, and the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, has been chair of the Missouri Bar Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, a member of the Missouri Supreme Court Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, has served as Special Master for the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in Klein et al. v. Kansas City of Missouri Firefighters (sexual harassment class action), and for the District of Kansas in Williams v. Sprint (age collective action).

He is a member of the Large Complex Litigation Panel; Commercial Panel; and the Employment Arbitration and Mediation Panels of the American Arbitration Association, CPR, and the US-China Mediation Panel of CPR/CCIPT, and has been an arbitrator in the Merrill Lynch class action and the Dalkon Shield cases.  He has been in Best Lawyers in America since 1994 and Chambers USA since 2003.

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Forest Rong – Section Leader at Black & Veatch

Lei (Forest) Rong is the Section Leader of the Underground Transmission Line Group in the Power Delivery Business of Black & Veatch Energy. He currently supervises, manages, and provides technical expertise on various underground/underwater transmission line projects for domestic and international clients.

He graduated with a BEng from Harbin Institute of Electric Technology in China and a MEng from McMaster University in Canada. He is currently a member of IEEE Power & Energy Society, and a Registered Professional Engineer in US and Canada.

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Tammy Wang – Manager of Strategic Planning, Black & Veatch Energy

Tammy is the former president and currently the board of director for KCCAA. Tammy also serves as the secretary on the board of Edgar Snow Memorial Fund and is the Alt. Commissioner for China at the Kansas City Ethnic Enrichment Commission. She is also the overseas committee member for All-China Federation of Overseas Chinese(中国侨联青年委员)and the committee member for the China Overseas Committee for International Culture Exchange (中国华侨国际文化交流促进会理事). Tammy taught Chinese language and culture part time at Johnson County Community College from 2006-2007 and is the guest speaker for KU Business School “Doing Business in China” class and other universities from 2008-2010.

Professionally, Tammy is the Manager for Strategic Planning for Black and Veatch Energy. Tammy began her career working for General Electric, and later was Black and Veatch’s first employee in China and helped open its Representative Office in Beijing in 1995. Upon graduation with her MBA degree from Kansas State University, Tammy rejoined B&V in 1999 as a consultant in the management consulting division and later has been responsible for Marketing for Black & Veatch Energy Asia region for 8 years before she moved to Global Strategies for Energy in 2010.

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CJ Wei – President of CJW Holding, LLC

CJ Wei is the current KCCAA President. He has been serving local communities since 2001 and taking lead in numerous community activities/events over the years. He is also the committee member for the China Overseas Committee for International Culture Exchange (中国华侨国际文化交流促进会理事).

CJ started his career as a software engineer at Kansas City pharmaceutical company Hurst Marion Roussell from 1995 to 1996, and he was the senior consultant at Cap Gemini from 1996 to 1998. After joining Oracle Corp. in 1998, CJ started as a senior consultant and later became the senior principle consultant, leading numerous projects for Oracle in the Midwest region for 12 years. CJ founded his own property management company CJW Holding in 2006, and developed his passion towards entrepreneurship. In addition to the time he spends on various organizations and volunteer activities, he devotes himself to his own business in various areas.

CJ received his B.S. degree in Electronic Engineer from Shenzhen University in 1990. M.S. degree in Computer Science and Telecommunications from University of Missouri – Kansas City in 1995.

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Sheree Willis – Executive Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Kansas

Sheree served as Associate Executive Director of the Institute from May 2006 through June 2008. Prior to joining the Confucius Institute, Ms. Willis worked for the University of Kansas Center for East Asian Studies, the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and the Office of Study Abroad. Ms. Willis worked as a consultant and freelance Chinese-English simultaneous and consecutive interpreter and translator for over ten years, with an emphasis in educational exchange, environmental projects, trade, and legal interpreting. She served as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State in Tunis, Shanghai, Beijing, and Kuala Lumpur. She holds M.A. and B.A. degrees from the University of Kansas in East Asian Languages and Cultures (emphasis in Chinese language and literature) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Foreign Language Education at the University of Kansas. She has lived in China for a total of eight years, including experiences as a student and as a U.S. diplomat and travels to China frequently.

[Dig]

WTF is a cultural diversity program and why are they formed? It is not what you think...

For one it uses the title "CULTURAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT" or CIA for short (must be a coincidence) and look at what they do...find out the blowback to taking over water systems, transportation systems, etc. by privatization via multinational bohemoths...

INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY
(INCD)
Cultural Impact Assessment Project
Framework for cultural impact assessment
Prepared by :  June 2004
Burama K. SAGNIA
Project consultant
Dakar, Senegal

CONTENTS

I   Background and Context 3
II  Principles for Cultural Impact Assessment 9
III  Legal Mandates and Administrative Procedures 13
IV  A Conceptual Model for Collecting an Examining Data and Information on Cultural Impacts 15
IV.1   Determine Project Type 15
IV.2   Identify Cultural Impact Assessment Variables 16
IV.3   Determine the Stage in Policy Development / Project Cycle 17
IV.4   Construct a Matrix for relating CIA Variables to Policy/Project Type and Stage 18
V  Procedure for conducting cultural impact assessment 20
VI  ConclusionS and Recommendations 26
VI.a   Constraints of Cultural Impact Assessment 26
VI.b   Application of Cultural Impact Assessment Results 27
REFERENCES 30

I-BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The idea to initiate the formulation of a framework for assessing the cultural impact of development policies and projects came out of the INCD third annual meeting held in Cape Town (South Africa) in October 11-13, 2002.

The primary objective is to outline a framework that will assist development agencies and private interests in fulfilling their obligations towards the affected communities of their policies and projects, and in so doing respect, preserve and promote cultural diversity and identity.

According to the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA), impact assessment simply defined, 'is the process of identifying the future consequences of a current or proposed action'.

Impact assessment as a standard development practice, gained international attention and recognition as a result of the activities of two international bodies. In 1980, during the special session on integrated impact assessment at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the formulation of a new organization was discussed. It would combine the interests of environmental impact assessment, social impact assessment, technology assessment, risk assessment and related fields. A working party was convened to advance the proposal and the International Association for Impact Assessment was inaugurated as an international non-governmental organization.

At the 1992 United Nations Summit on Environment and Development, otherwise known as the Earth Summit held in Rio (Brazil), the notion of environmental impact assessment gained further international attention as a critical tool for enhancing sustained development. Since then, governments were required to formulate National Environmental Policies, establish National Environmental Agencies and elaborate National Environmental Action Plans to provide strategic dimensions for the respective countries in their efforts to address development issues with environmental consequences. The provision of required enabling legislations, institutional and policy frameworks for environmental issues, provided the basis for governments to require development agencies to prepare environmental impact statements (EIS) before undertaking actions that may significantly affect the quality of the human environment.

Preparing an Environmental Impact Statement requires the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and the humanities. For example addressing the social components of the Environment Impact Assessment has gradually led to the development of sound principles and guidelines on social impact assessment (SIA). An internationally-applied SIA guidelines was prepared by an Inter-organizational committee established by the United States Department of Commerce in May 1994.

The EIS guidelines has adopted both social and cultural variables among others to guide its investigations. While some EIS's distinguish social variables from cultural variables, some subsume cultural variables under the broader social variables and treat culture as part of the social dimensions of environmental impact assessment, on the assumption that social impact assessment will adequately cover cultural issues and concerns.

The fact of the matter is that neither the cultural or social aspects of the EIS, nor the independent will of the cultural community has led to the development of similar international principles and guidelines for cultural impact assessment. A separate set of principles and guidelines that could provide common standards for addressing the cultural concerns of communities in a broad-based, holistic and participatory manner is what is required.

What is cultural impact assessment? What is its purpose or aim? Why has its development lagged behind other forms of impact assessment? What sort of principles and guidelines can be proposed to assess the cultural impact of development policies and actions? What efforts have or are being made to address cultural impact assessment issues at the national and international levels?

The term 'cultural impact' refers to the consequences to human populations of any public or private policies and actions that significantly change their norms, values, beliefs, practices, institutions as well as the way they live, work, socialize and organize themselves as part of their cultural life.

Assessing the cultural impact of policies and actions on the human environment is not an entirely new phenomenon, as several agencies have already developed cultural impact assessment guidelines as part of their project evaluation frameworks.

However, as these agency-driven guidelines are tailor-made and custom-designed to suit the needs of the agencies concerned, there are remarkable variations in approaches and experiences on how the cultural impact of projects is to be assessed. There is therefore, up to now, no systematic interdisciplinary statement from the cultural community as to what the content of cultural impact assessment should be like.

In view of the multiplicity of approaches and experiences in carrying out cultural impact assessment, there is the need to develop common standards and guidelines. That way systematic and consistent regimes of the cultural impact assessment process could be developed to reduce biases and abuses of the system. For instance, it is undesirable to have culturally-damaging activities being encouraged to concentrate in those countries with the weakest standards of preserving and promoting cultural heritage, and at least a basic minimum agreed common standard and a view about good practise, would help reduce this problem.

There is so far no internationally negotiated and acceptable definition of cultural impact assessment. However, as there are a variety of approaches and experiences in cultural impact assessment, it is worth beginning with a basic definition of what it is meant, so that the terms used in this text are clear. For the purpose of this study, cultural impact assessment is defined as :

A process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and communicating the probable effects of a current or proposed development policy or action on the cultural life, institutions and resources of communities, then integrating the findings and conclusions into the planning and decision making process, with a view to mitigating adverse impacts and enhancing positive outcomes.

It could be deduced from the above definition that cultural impact assessment is predicated on the notion that decision makers should understand the consequences of their decisions before they act, and that the affected people will not only be appraised of the effects, but have the opportunity to participate in designing their future.

The goal therefore for undertaking this task is to enhance the preservation and promotion of the cultural diversity of affected communities with a view to ensuring the sustainability of development actions and policies. In this way it provides planners and decision makers with better information about the consequences which development actions and policies could have on the cultural environment, although it cannot of itself achieve that protection.

The approach is characterised by its multidisciplinary, systematic and predictive nature and in its better form involves :

-Reviewing the existing state of the cultural environment and the characteristics of the proposed action and possible alternative actions ;

-Predicting the state of the future cultural environment with and without the action (the difference between the two is the action's impact) ;

-Considering methods for avoiding, eliminating or reducing any adverse impacts, and possible compensation for them ;

-Preparing a cultural impact statement or cultural assessment report which discusses the issues, and is used to inform and influence decision-making ; and

-After a decision is made about whether/how the action should proceed, monitoring the impacts which do occur, and acting on the results of such monitoring.

Apart from informing the authority responsible for approving projects about foreseeable cultural consequences of policies or projects, cultural impact assessment has or should have an important function in ascertaining whether policies or projects will conform to other international standard-setting instruments on culture such as the 2001 UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, the Action Plan of the 1998 Stockholm Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development, the 2002 Istanbul Declaration on the Intangible Cultural Heritage, etc'..

As a result of the publication of well-researched technical analyses of the significance of cultural factors in development efforts, coupled with active lobbying by a variety of research communities, a new recognition of the cultural basis and impact of development emerged. However, considered as a whole, there is still on the one hand, an almost total lack of established routines and on the other, a noticeable sceptism in development cooperation institutions as to the value of adopting more professional and standard approach to the cultural basis of development. At the sametime one can observe that the formulation of development cooperation goals and principles now underscore the fundamental role of cultural factors in recipient countries in the way development assistance is designed.

The above considerations notwithstanding, local communities face critical problems when it comes to the implementation of projects. More often than not, their participation in project that directly affect them is seriously curtailed. They are rarely actively involved in the project from the design stage through to evaluation. Rather, they are merely informed and their concerns, even if genuine, are hardly taken on board.

In the case of large infrastructural projects such as road construction, large scale multinational logging and dam constructions, because of the controversies involved, especially as it affects the local communities, the attitude of governments, the donor agency and the multinational contracting companies is one of benign neglect. It is out of such cultural concerns of the communities among others, that the need for cultural impact assessment arose. The following examples with illustrate the point.

[Dig]

China Joins Global Water Movement
The Chinese government has entered into a collaboration with the World Water Council
http://wwdmag.com/China-Joins-Global-Water-Movement-newsPiece18896
July 31, 2009

With a growing water shortage and piloting new solutions to water stress, China is at the forefront of the world water quest. Home to 21% of the global population, China has just 7% of its fresh water. The water is also situated highly unevenly: some 80% of the resource is found in the South of China where 55% of the population lives, leaving the other 45% of the population in the North often short of this vital resource. To connect to the global water community and enlarge its capacity to deal with the water challenge, the Chinese government has entered into a collaboration with the World Water Council.

During an official visit to China, a delegation from the World Water Council met with representatives from the Chinese government. “China is ready to increase cooperation with the World Water Council to jointly cope with water resource challenges,” said Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu. “This agreement unfolds a new chapter of co-operation between the Ministry of Water Resources and the World Water Council,” added Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei.

With the aim of promoting sustainable water management and improving access to water and sanitation, the agreement comes at a time at which China is more visible at the international level, as demonstrated by its strong participation during the 5th World Water Forum in March 2009. “China is increasingly present in solving global water issues. It is the right moment to establish a more permanent presence of Chinese water expertise and know-how at the international level,” said Loïc Fauchon, president of the World Water Council.

The cooperation will focus on raising awareness on water issues within China and abroad. To this extent, the World Water Council also met the vice mayor of Shanghai to define how wise water use can be promoted during the upcoming Shanghai World Expo 2010, in strong collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources. China expressed its interest in involvement in the next World Water Forum, to be held in Marseilles, France, in March 2012.

[Dig]

Congress for Cultural Freedom and the CIA

http://www.bilderberg.org/ccf.htm

[Dig]

China vows another $30B investment (on top of $100 Billion) in water saving projects
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/china-vows-30b-investment-water-saving-projects/
By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, December 25th, 2010 -- 11:24 am

BEIJING – China plans to invest 30 billion dollars on water conservation projects in 2011 to reduce the impact of natural disasters on grain production, state media said Saturday. The report comes after severe flooding and droughts across the country this year destroyed crops and drove up food prices, pushing inflation to its highest level in more than two years in November. The investment -- up 10 percent on year -- would go towards improving irrigation and projects to combat weather-related disasters, the China Daily said, citing water resources minister Chen Lei. China has invested a little over 100 billion dollars in water projects in the past five years, the report said. "We have to accelerate the construction of water conservation facilities as one of the key infrastructures the country needs to secure increasing grain production," Chen was quoted saying. The consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, topped five percent last month as food costs soared nearly 12 percent on year, official data shows. Ever-fearful of inflation's historical potential to spark unrest, Beijing has ordered a range of steps to boost supplies of key goods, crack down on speculators and offer financial help to the most needy. After one of the country's worst years for natural disasters, the government estimates that more than 80 million people will need food relief this winter, the official Xinhua news agency said last month. A leading agriculture expert last month warned that climate change could trigger a 10 percent drop in China's grain harvest over the next 20 years, threatening the country's food security. Tang Huajun, deputy dean of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, warned crop production could fall by five to 10 percent by 2030 if climate change continues unchecked, state media have reported. China, which is expected to produce 546.4 million tonnes of grain in 2010, plans to increase output to 550 million tonnes by 2020 to ensure food security for the world's most populous country of more than 1.3 billion. The environmental watchdog Greenpeace said in a recent report that China's food supply would be insufficient by 2030 and its overall food production could fall by 23 percent by 2050.

[trailhound]

 Dig...man you work! Thanks bro, merry christmas!

[Dig]

Dig...man you work! Thanks bro, merry christmas!

thanks, same to you. if you have a chance, check out this related thread:

**Black & Veatch: Transforming monetary policy from Petro based to Water based
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=195608.0