Stakeholders and shareholders alike share environmental responsibilities
By Nyambura Njagi
Citizens' Guide to European Complaint Mechanisms
A downloadable document published by the CEE Bankwatch Network
The CEE Bankwatch Network recently launched its new "Citizens' Gui
de to European Complaint Mechanisms" in Brussels. This user-friendly guide introduces and/or clarifies the various redress mechanisms available to Europeans. It also takes readers step by step through the process of submitting complaints to relevant institutions.
The guide is an ideal resource for NGOs and civil society groups seeking transparency and accountability from public institutions and development project sponsors. The guide can also facilitate environments necessary for citizens to be proactive in identifying and challenging institutions that act irresponsibly.
MEP Marcin Libicki, chairman of the Committee on Petitions at the European Parliament, has endorsed the guide, saying: "The publication of this most useful guide will, I hope, spread the message of Parliament's wish, and its responsibility, to promote and defend the rights of EU citizens and ensure the proper application of law within the European community law."
Envisioned as a "living document," Bankwatch encourages members of the public to provide feedback and share insights on the Citizen's Guide. The document is available for download in several languages (Czech, English, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Macedonia, Polish and Romanian) from the Bankwatch website.
CSR Professional Services Directory 2007
Published by Ethical Performance, 66 pages
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a business reality of the 21st century, and though there is a wealth of information and literature available about corporate responsibility (CR), it has taken until now to bring about a compilation of organised CSR-related information.
Corporations naturally have to consider how to make profit and stay accountable to shareholders, but they must also be transparent about how profits are made and be seen as beneficial to local communities. Not only are corporations expected to be accountable to the public, they are also expected to consider the best interests of employees and customers. Sustainable development, including environmental sustainability, is another key to success in today's corporate climate.
This directory, which features 443 service providers in the CSR sector from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, is divided into an alphabetical and geographical index of 49 categories of organisations offering professional services. Such services, inasmuch as they pertain to CSR, include management consultancy, communications management, marketing, and work/life balance solutions.
The directory is fairly easy and straightforward to use, and many organisations listed also include a brief company profile. An invaluable tool for CSR compliance, the directory costs EUR 55 and can be ordered from the publisher.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: a toolkit for understanding and action
Published by Island Press, 25 pages
In 2000, then-Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan and his constituents decided "enough is enough" and partnered with international financial institutions, the World Health Organization, leading environmental institutions, governments and other stakeholders to establish a scientific link between human activity and ecosystem degradation.
Their objective was to organise, coordinate and synthesise environmental research from around the world to provide the "scientific basis for action needed" in order to get the political ball rolling. The effort, carried out by 1,360 experts from 95 countries, cost an estimated USD 24 million; and if all the document pages were placed end to end, they would rise to twice the height of the Eiffel Tower. Fortunately for interested readers, an overview of key millennium ecosystem assessment (MA) mechanisms is conveniently available through the internet.
The "MA Toolkit" leaves much to be desired in terms of offering more holistic approaches to solving environmental problems; what it does offer is a perspective reflecting a prevailing view that environmental challenges should be primarily understood in economic terms (e.g. nature as service provider), and improved through market mechanisms (e.g. assigning monetary valuation to nature's services and designing policies that "allocate these costs in an equitable way").
The toolkit is colourful, concise and easy to understand, but is more properly described as an introduction to some of the MA's most interesting publications and research, including full reports, graphic resources, slide presentations, videos and press releases.
