Corporate Watch

This is a US-based organisation which reports on non-ethical practices in corporations; industries covered include Food and Agriculture, Media and Entertainment, Retail and Mega-Stores and Tourism and Real Estate. The Issues section covers consumerism, environment, globalisation, health and labour. There is also a useful page which provides tips on corporate research.

The Society for Applied Anthropology aims to promote the integration of anthropological perspectives and methods in solving human problems throughout the world and to promote recognition of anthropology as a profession. The website provides abstracts from a number of their publications including Human Organization and Practicing Anthropology. There are a number of fulltext reports and papers available too.

A student poster competition has once again been launched by the SFAA. Broadly based on the theme of tourism, awards for the best posters will be presented during their annual meeting taking place next year.

Deadline for poster abstracts - 1st November.

As part of Blog Action Day, which has focussed on climate change this year, I've decided to talk about the Maldives. These islands with a reputation for luxury, sunshine and warm hospitality have a sad fate awaiting as growing sea levels creep up over these 12,000 low lying islands, most of which are just 1m above sea level. There is a real fear that the Maldives will at some point, become uninhabitable. The tourism industry there is also under threat; as Ali Rilwan, executive director of local environmental NGO Bluepeace, commented, "Our natural asset is the beauty of the islands. If the proper measures are not taken to protect these islands, I don't think the Maldives as a tourist destination can be sold as it is today." Although coral reefs offer some protection, the Maldives took a battering during the 2004 Tsunami and also suffer from regular flooding and tidal surges; together with rising sea levels, the islands will literally drown

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