Non-governmental Associations and Organisations : Complex and
Constructed Expectations
There may remain something of the great manoeuvres…
The first World Summit, i.e. the United Nation's conference on environment and development, took place in Rio-de-Janeiro in 1992. Following this event and along with the ongoing preparation of the Johannesburg Conference that will take place at the end of August, sustainable development is once again at the forefront. And, in France, it is all the more important as the fight was long to start.
On 12 March, during the National Summit for Sustainable Development that took place in Toulouse, the Minister for Regional Development and the Environment presented the government's propositions for a national strategy (available on-line at www.environnement.gouv.fr). A French committee, chaired by Michel Mousset (former chairman of the Interministerial Mission-MIES), was established to prepare the World Summit for Sustainable Development and "bring together the actors involved and […] propose solutions to the government". This committee works day and night with discreet logistic means. Urgency certainly makes the work of voluntary workers (who generally have a professional activity) all the more difficult! Dictating time is not particularly sustainable…
French associations, grouped together in the "Jo'Burg 2002" cooperative,
sharpen their analyses and state their positions (www.rioplusdix.org).
Their diagnosis is far from being eulogistic: "People are becoming aware
of the urgent need to reorient human activities. Yet the concept of sustainable
development does not give rise to many concrete commitments: difficulties
in having the signed protocols ratified, meagre changes in public policies
and few implementations at the level of the local Agenda 21". The French
committee for the environment and sustainable development, Committee 21,
is currently preparing the upcoming event with its members and announced,
among other things, a pilot cooperation project with Durban, in South Africa,
and the creation of a Sustainable Development Atlas
(www.comite21.org). And France Nature Environnement has dedicated
its June 2002 congress to sustainable development
(www.fne.asso.fr).
The world of economy is also benefiting from days of grace.
On 22 February, in Lyon, the Prime Minister confirmed that "industries can no longer ignore their responsibility as global actors. […] The time has come [in his opinion], to rebuild the reflection on entirely new foundations, by establishing transparency rules and by clearly defining the social and environmental responsibilities of these major actors of globalisation."
Yves Cochet, Minister for Regional Development and the Environment, was recently talking about the official "birth" of the environmental and social report of all industries "quoted on the regulated market". It will complete their yearly report with information on the social, territorial and environmental implications of their activity. The decree, taken to enforce the recent law on the new economic regulations, was published on 21 February 2002 in the Journal Official. The minister confirmed that "all actors, and above all shareholders who are especially powerful today, must be made accountable as this premises the move towards an economic development respectful of the environment and of populations living nearby high-risk industries, and the move towards sustainable development".
As for Guy Hascoët, Secretary of State for Economic Solidarity/"Secrétaire d'État à l'économie solidaire", he congratulated the development of a standard applied to products stemming from equitable trade, i.e. "respecting the income of small producers and the environment". A committee grouping together the parties involved, distribution associations and the AFNOR (the French standardisation agency) has been working on this standard since December 2001. "The aim is to elaborate French and then European standards of reference before extending the studies to an international level so that common European foundations will be taken into consideration by the International Standard Organisation (ISO)."
The daily "economic" newspaper, Les Échos organised the first "Forum for Sustainable Development and for an Environmentally Responsible Society" in Paris, on 5-6 March 2002 (FEDERE 2002). Many high-rank politicians and industrialists met up there to discuss the stakes of sustainable development, the tools and practices of responsible industries, the role of industries in sustainable development in Europe and the compared merits of virtuous self-regulation - a small Davos-on-Seine. The matter of social non-governmental associations and organisations -ill known and rather special actors- was often evoked at this forum. In the framework of a session dedicated to the "expectancies of civil society in Europe", Patrick Legrand, responsible for the Environment & Society Mission (ME&S), honorary chairman of France Nature Environnement and member of the National Commission for Public Debate, evoked the role of environmental associations in the adventure of sustainable development.
A few preliminary remarks based on the experience of an associative member
of the environmental spheres.
In the first place, instead of speaking about the "expectancies of society
as regards the suggestions of institutions and industries", I suggest that
we look at the issue from another point of view: faced with the expectancies,
suggestions and projects of civil society, what solutions can the institutions
and industries offer? Citizens, non-governmental associations and organisations
(NGO) are also often a motor of progress… This is nothing new. However,
regarding the topic that has brought us together today, the issue is often
ill-known.
Yet, international associations, "those people of the
beach"(1) as Hubert Curien, a former Minister
of Research, used to say, have largely contributed to giving some substance
to the sustainable development project that began to take shape in
Rio-de-Janeiro, in 1992. This is confirmed by taking a quick look at the
45 treaties (2) elaborated by the
International Forum of NGOs and social movements parallel to the Official
Conference of the United Nations on Environment and Development, which still
constitute the common pathway of this international network. These treaties
represent all the expectancies that civil society has taken into its stride
and cover issues as diverse as education, cooperation, economic alternatives,
consumption, poverty, climate, energy, natural resources, biodiversity,
demography, urbanisation, etc. They constitute the first analysis grid, along
with several declarations and general principles specific to the associations
(Declaration of Earth Populations and the Earth Charter, ethic
commitments…).
Many industrialists and politicians could have read and learnt from them…
In the second place, the sustainable development plan is, on the one hand,
a concept in the designing, in the process of formation, and to sum things
up, a prospective orientation which is based on a social and political process
that is progressively shaping the plan, is probably as important as the result
itself.
On the other hand, it must be added that the project implies radically changing
the definition of development itself: from exclusive to comprehensive economy,
from quantity to quality, from immediacy to the long-term, from one-dimensional
simplism to the systemic and complex. This raises several ambiguities: an
industry does not participate in a sustainable society project simply because
it lasts or wants to last…
In the third place, European associations concerned with the environment are well placed to contribute to this project. They have long known the link between social and ecological inequalities. They also know that the environment is both an ecological and cultural system, a bio-cultural concept, we could say, which does not exclude humans, and that the environment, flora, animal wildlife and ecological mechanisms are closely linked to past, present and future cultures and human activities. And thus that sustainable development and the environment are indissolubly linked, that all monomaniac approaches are doomed to fail and that nothing can be sustainable without profound debate, cooperation, discussions and time.
Now that these expectancies have been identified, beyond the definition of
sustainable development that everybody now knows (association of social,
environmental and economic factors, the biosphere as a whole, reversibility
of choices, governance modes, prevention and precaution, long-term and future
generations, amongst other features) and by considering society's expectancies
from a voluntaristic point of view, what are the objectives and roles of
NGOs and associations -ill-known, sometimes deplored but ever-evolving actors-
faced with the industrial world?
They are at least of three orders.
- These actors are first the bearers of expectancies - comprehensive demands often considered as inaccessible, irreconcilable or contradictory, and thus often dismissed… When encouraging us to go beyond the apparent contradictions, outdated ways of thinking and ultra-conservatism, these actors are often considered as irrational or dreamers, until the way is made free. In Europe at least, nobody would ever dare to publicly state that it is absurd to evaluate the consequences of genetic engineering before implementing the latter. This obvious fact, claimed by environmental associations, took only 10 years to impose itself. Yes, it is necessary to find agricultural means that are, at the same time, productive, humanised and environmental. Yes, Human Rights, ethical, cultural and social rights and ecological balances must simultaneously be part of the problematic of production. And, deep down, the contradictory character of these aspirations often stems from the fact that they are generally considered separately and depends on who has the power, or who claims to have the power, to a priori hierarchically classify them.
It is therefore most probably useful for the associative actor to give a social foundation to the utopia of sustainable development. And several recent examples show that this vague objective will have many consequences: the sudden emergence of ethics on the trading floor, equitable trade, multi- functional agriculture, industries' "environment" reports, multiple public debates (Port 2000 at Le Havre, the Boutre-Carros high power line, the port of Nice, the road and rail skirting of Lyon…), the policy of Natura 2000 itself, etc. This progress owes its success both to utopia itself or the people behind it and to all those who prosaically believe in utopia on a daily basis.
Deep down, this means that, amongst the expectations of society, there is a desire to discuss all objectives, i.e. what will become of the choices made, the values that they cover, unity in its totality and the future that is being prepared by balancing "priorities"… The same questions are raised as regards the public debate; the "opportunity" of the sustainable development project is constantly called into question, more or less intentionally. For instance, during the local public debate, suggested by the National Commission for Public Debate and which took place in Cadarache at the end of 2001, on the plan for the conditioning and stocking of CEA radioactive waste, all the actors agreed on the necessity to quickly organise a debate on the French energy policy… even though this was not the issue at hand.
- These organisations are also places of concrete collective intelligence, where the general aspirations of society are made operational. I have heard justified complaints about the fact that "consumer demands are still poorly elaborated". Their associative work contributes to developing a form of collective and transversal intelligence which refines all expectations, gives them substance, detail and complexity, and suggests new ways to articulate currently contradictory aspirations. This does not always lead to extreme or unrealistic positions! Here is an international example which should have been considered by genetic engineering industrialists - an extract from the Inter-Associative Treaty n°20 - Sustainable Development - Rio-de-Janeiro, June 1992: "Demand the adoption of a legislation that fixes biotechnological research rules, tests on genetically modified organisms, and demand that free access to information on applied biotechnologies be allowed to avoid the monopolising of techniques and the dependency of rural producers." The evaluation programme was laid out. The ongoing open conflict is thus mainly due to the shortsighted strategy of promoters of new technology. A small number of people agree with this fact.
Beyond these particular cases and to sum things up, society is also concerned
with the modalities: how are things conceived, how are they produced, how
will they be used and consumed?
Besides, many NGOs have developed rare and new technical competences, especially
as regards multi-objective, systemic and anticipative approaches, impact
studies, monitoring, evaluation and experimentation. The leaders and technicians
themselves lack these competences.
- Finally, these actors are also the actors of a form of critical social control; they both control the environment and sustainable development, and guarantee the confidence that citizens can have in the parties involved in these commitments.
Although some people may think this is unnatural, it is proved as certain
NGOs are associated to the development of the environmental reports of
industries, the common reflections on cooperation modalities with the public,
on the systems of indicators of sustainable development… and the multitude
of contract types that link industrialists and NGOs together…
Deep down, and to anticipate on the next round table dedicated to governance,
as regards sustainable development, one must add a third term to the famous
saying "think globally, act locally": "conceive collectively".
In Europe, this procedural demand is just as important as the more targeted expectancies. There is no point in simply reading and looking down on these associative treaties, for at least two reasons: without an approach conserving the multiplicity of reality, the environment would no longer be in the hands of the plan and sustainable development would thus not be accessible; the progressive and collective construction of this plan would also lead to dealing with the choices taken collectively and explicitly.
I am fully aware of the fact that all this is the responsibility of the philosophy of production, the art of management, or even of politics (we all hope that this will be recognised in Johannesburg, next August, during the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 10 years after Rio), rather than that of dealing case by case with technical questions ; that can human intelligence always has the means of solving as long as they are sufficiently anticipated.
Patrick Legrand is director of the "Mission Environnement
Société de l'Inra"
Translated from French by Nicole Scott.
Notes
(1) Referring
to the NGOs that gathered together on a beach near Rio-de-Janeiro during
the summit.[VU]
(2) Treaties of non-governmental organisations and social
movements. CEDI-CLOSI ed., Paris, 1992, 315 p.+ ann
[VU]
