Exploring how civil society organisations (CSOs) can use a range of policy tools to influence business practices for social, environmental and economic benefits was the theme of a recent PANORAMA webinar, hosted by IUCN’s BioBiz Exchange.
Photo: Tropenbos Ghana
Policies are usually more effective when designed and monitored with the stakeholders, including business and CSOs, according to the experts participating.
Lorena Martinez-Hernández, a legal officer with IUCN’s Environmental Law Centre (ELC), said there is a wide array of policy tools and mechanisms to scale up good social and environmental practices from private actors. However, often people are most familiar with ‘command-and-control’ policies, which impose restrictions or obligations on business, or with economic mechanisms, which discourage or reward business activities.
A policy mix that includes direct regulation along with tools, such as voluntary international standards and incentives, is often more effective, she explained.
Civil society can ‘directly’ and ‘indirectly’ use policy to influence business practices, for example, by designing policies together with business and state actors, or using the media to highlight flaws in existing laws to garner greater compliance or government action.
In addition, governments can establish “alternative oversight mechanisms” that allow civil society to monitor and discuss developments, and this can give private actors a chance to strengthen their relationship with the CSOs, added Ms Martinez-Hernández.
Policy action to promote alternatives to illegal logging in Ghana
Mercy Owusu Ansah and Evans Sampene from Tropenbos International Ghana presented a case study on how their organisation helped transform the illegal timber activity in Ghana.
Pre-intervention, 84% of the lumber market was supplied illegally mainly by chainsaw operators that faced legal sanctions if they were caught. At the same time, state actors were under threat for trying to curtail this illegal activity. Even though a law existed, its enforcement was weak; and, communities living near the forests saw illegal logging as an important source of revenue.
To address these issues, Tropenbos Ghana, a forest and environmental NGO, opened a multi-stakeholder dialogue that brought together the illegal chainsaw operations with the state and civil society representatives to discuss the problem and identify solutions.
“When you bring stakeholders together and lead them to a common understanding of a problem, they are able to develop useful policies and laws that are owned by them,” said Ms Owusu Ansah. “Once they do it together, they own it together.”
Today, these efforts are paying off. Loggers and artisanal millers now provide legally harvested lumber to the domestic market as part of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the European Union. Former illegal chainsaw operators supported Tropenbos Ghana to reforest previously depleted areas, and stakeholders involved in the dialogue collectively developed a domestic timber policy and other legal instruments to formalise artisanal milling. In addition, Trobenbos Ghana equipped communities to undertake alternative options to logging.
“It is crucial to raise awareness about the impacts of illegal chainsaw operations with the relevant actors, so they are eager to make a change happen, especially with other stakeholders, like communities, state and civil society,” emphasised Ms Owusu Ansah.
In addition to the case studies featured in the webinar, the PANORAMA platform holds many more inspiring examples including:
- Environmental Rehabilitation: Learnings from Artisanal Miners in Mongolia, Jonathan Stacey, the Asia Foundation
- Au Burkina Faso, la mobilisation des OSC incite les entreprises au respect strict du nouveau code minier, Mamadou Karama, AGEREF (in French)
- Ensuring responsible natural resource extraction through community participation and business engagement at Peusangan watershed, Munawaratul Makhya, WWF Indonesia
- Protecting Rivers through Effective Cooperation and Collective Governance, Preeya Rampersaud and Mike McCormack, Policy Forum Guyana (coming soon)
Listen to the full webinar recording here.
For further information, the IUCN ELC offers an online introductory course on environmental law here.
If you would like to share your own experiences on using policy levers to influence business, you can upload your own PANORAMA story using this link.
The next webinar will focus on success factors for establishing business and biodiversity networks. Previous webinars, as well as registration links for future webinars, can be found here.
