The following list contains some of the most relevant reports carried out by Engineering without Borders.
El insostenible consumo energético del sistema alimentario
Este estudio se presenta como una revisión del sistema agroalimentario actual desde el punto de vista de la energía y de los impactos de su uso, por parte de los distintos modelos de producción, distribución y consumo alimentario. Se divide en tres bloques fundamentales: i) Introducción al sistema agroalimentario mundial y a las alternativas existentes al mismo, como un contenido previo fundamental para poder entender las dinámicas y relaciones económicas, sociales y ambientales en las que nuestro sistema agroalimentario se desarrolla; ii) Consumos energéticos asociados a las fases de la cadena alimentaria,en el que se introduce la importancia de la energía en la alimentación y se desglosan una a una las principales fases del sistema de producción y distribución de alimentos y iii) Casos prácticos de comparativas energéticas entre cuatro alimentos escogidos (manzana, leche, cerdo y tomate).
Edita: ISF Cataluña
Puedes descargarte aquí el informe [PDF]
El derrame de petróleo en el Parque Nacional Yasuní (Ecuador) es un ejemplo de los muchos casos similares ocurridos en países como Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Perú, etc., donde la actividad hidrocarburífera y las ansias de desarrollo y crecimiento económico han dejado en desamparo a los habitantes de las zonas en las que hay existe hidrocarburos. El presente trabajo busca determinar cuáles son las vías jurídicas existentes en Ecuador, en España y ante el Sistema Internacional, que permitan exigir la responsabilidad de las empresas españolas que desarrollan sus actividades industriales en territorio ecuatoriano.
Edita: ISF Cataluña
Puedes descargarte aqueí el informe. [PDF ]
The trade policy of the European Union has valued the commercial interests of European transnational corporations over environmental and social conditions of the most vulnerable populations in the South. Moreover, the commercial interests for safe water supply and sanitation as well as those for more environmentally polemical areas (electric power generation, mining..) have become extremely worrying. Thus, in a further step in that direction, the policy of European global competitiveness has focused on Central America, after the rejection of other countries and regions of the global South. In this study, we analyze the possible impacts of the Association Agreement between the EU and Central America, particularly on the water in this region.
Edit: ISF Cataluña
Available in English. [PDF]

The trap of initiatives of foreign debt reduction and the processes of water privatization in Sub-Saharian Africa.
Author: Irene González Pijuan, member of Engineering Without Borders Catalonia
Co-author: Iolanda Fresnillo Sallan, researcher at the ODG
Maps: Pau Miró, Universitat Politècnica de València and ODG
Edit: ISF Cataluña
Available in English. [PDF]
This report examines, analyzes and confirms that FAD loans promote and facilitate the internationalization of Spanish firms in impoverished countries while destroying local capacities to create their own local fabric of industries. In this sense, the loans granted to corporations in order to make projects related to water management do not differ from loans granted to other sectors. As a consequence, there is enough evidence to assert that the FAD loans are not the most suitable instrument to fight poverty.
Edit: ISF Cataluña
The situation of the Right to Water in El Salvador is quite precarious. This is because the Right to Water is not recognized as such within the legislative framework and, furthermore, there is a competences overlapping leading to a responsibility vacuum. In addition, the state authority in charge of safe water supply and sanitation has weak institutionalism and receives scarce public investment. Therefore, this entity is forced to resort to loans conditioned by International Financial Institutions.
Moreover, the lack of public governance is exploited by the corporations, both national and transnational, that waste and pollute water without accepting consequences.
Hence in order to face this situation, organized civil society aims to promote the democratization of water management through public participation.
Edit: ISF Cataluña
Nowadays many people worldwide have no access to safe water and basic sanitation. This problem, however, is not because of a lack of resources but of political will. Thus, in recent years, policies on water management have moved a step backwards. In this sense, then, it becomes necessary to know what policies have been promoted until now by development banks and the main donor agencies in order to reformulate them.
Edit: ISF Cataluña
From a human rights perspective, the state of Right to Water in Cameroon has deteriorated steadily over the past 20 years. The privatization process, started in 1999 and finished in March 2008, has not been anything but a step in the process of replacing an inalienable right with a commodity, subject to the laws of supply and demand. The report details the steps of the process and analyzes the implications of privatization: coverage, service and price of water.
Edit: ISF Cataluña
Draf version in french: [PDF]



