Workshop Partner

Background

Imperatives of sustaining industrial production have to be homogenized with environmental protection. Awareness generation and capacity building of stakeholders are central to the success of such an integrated approach. In this context, access to information and technical orientation to tools and techniques of cleaner production and other preventive practices which could be imbibed by industry gain significance. Internalization of externalities through an assessment of costs vis-à-vis impacts, and development of fiscal interventions to minimize economic dislocation and obsolescence costs of production systems in conjunction with emerging trade regimes, are also essential elements and call for concerted action by financial institutions. Capacity building of communities to monitor, report and reinforce implementation of regulatory measures is the other complementing facet of eco-industrial development.

Several initiatives are already in progress. It is however important to up-scale outreach and develop location and systems-specific interventions without compromising on the developmental imperatives. For example, the Cleaner Production Declaration of UNEP which brings industry, regulatory agencies/ governments, representatives of the civil society and financial institutions together, for concerted action is a classic example. The Global Reporting Initiative and the Corporate Social Responsibility framework also prompt preventive and remedial action, duly acknowledging the mutually supportive roles of all the stakeholders. Waste minimization circles and demonstration projects on cleaner production and energy efficiency focus on capacity building of firms. These initiatives however, are predominantly centered on large firms with only a marginal involvement of small and medium enterprises.

The scope for understanding barriers in adoption of cleaner technology alternatives, as a function of the technical preparedness of industry, at large, is apparently enormous. This is also true in having to improve preparedness of civil society to effectively participate in environmental protection. It is important to orient representatives of the civil society to the use of tools and techniques to monitor and report on environmental quality, not only to the regulatory agencies but to the industry also. This is particularly relevant in the management of environmental impacts and remediation. Capacity building of civil society on effective use of legal tools to not only seek compensations, but also enforce compliance becomes important in this context.

It is important to provide ‘appropriate information in a timely manner’ to enable effective environmental action. Fulfilling commitments to multi-lateral environmental agreements and trade regimes in addition to demands for compliance at the local level, calls for need- based capacity building on the basis of rapid assessments of limitations of technologies and the ability of firms to adopt alternatives. Of equal importance is the need to strengthen systems of forecast and response to natural and technical disasters. The significance of timely response of stakeholders, enabled through concerted information support and capacity building, within specific periods of time cannot be overemphasized in either instance.

The objective of the deliberations at this particular workshop was to propose a roadmap for reaching out to industry, financial institutions, regulatory agencies, media and representatives of the civil society. Reaching out, in this context, refers to

• Understanding information and capacity building needs
• Development and implementation of a mix of interventions (awareness generation programmes, demonstration projects, reality checks, advocacy etc.) to enable environmental action; and
• Means of integrating production and environmental protection imperatives.

Deliberations at the workshop accordingly focused on:

• the unfinished agenda in so far as awareness generation and capacity building of SMEs and other stakeholders is concerned and
• barriers which have to be taken into account while developing the road map for awareness generation and capacity building that will enable environmental action.
  
  
  • The topics for discussions on the 18^th included
    • Integrated Approaches in Preventive Environmental Management – Role of different stakeholders
    • People’s Right to Know: Enabling Effective Public Participation in Environmental Protection
    • Towards Improving Environmental Performance of Industry
    • Strengthening Partnerships between Regulatory Agencies, Industry and the Civil Society
    • Barriers faced by civil society in environmental action
    • Capacity Building of Communities to Strengthen Compliance
      
      
  • The topics for the 19^th included
    • Emerging trends in Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Financing mechanisms and developmental imperatives
    • Capacity building of financial institutions
    • Learnings from sectoral assessments on technical preparedness of industry to integrate preventive environmental practices
    • Integrated Chemicals Management: an emerging framework.