Environmental Conservation NGOsand the Concept of Sustainable Development: A Research into the Value Systems of Greenpeace International, WWF International and IUCN International

On the background of the widely known and controversially discussed concept of sustainable development and the ever increasing influence of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on social, environmental and economic issues, this article focuses on how NGOs, specialised in environmental protection and conservation issues, reacted to the holistic societal concept of sustainable development which aims at finding solutions not only to environmental, but also to social and economic issues. For this purpose, the article investigates whether and to what extent the sustainability concept has been adopted by three worldwide leading environmental conservation NGOs: Greenpeace International, WWF International and IUCN International. The research, conducted in early 2006, reveals that the three organisations integrated the sustainability concept to different degrees depending on the organisations' dominant value set. The more an organisation is bound to the idea of environmental protection, the less it is inclined to adopt strategies stemming from the sustainability concept whose implicit value system contradicts a strong bio- or eco-centric position. This finding adds evidence to the assumption that the holistic sustainability concept is most likely to be reduced and adapted when addressed by a specialised societal actor such as an NGO. Such insight into the influence of value systems on the actual actions of pressure groups might also be valuable in the light of the ever increasing number of strategic partnerships between NGOs and the private sector. To be familiar with each others' action-leading key assumptions can significantly contribute to establishing a sound basis for a fruitful and rewarding collaboratio

Understanding Local Knowledge – an Interdisciplinary Framework in the Context of Sustainable Development

This dissertation undertakes an in-depth analysis of the notion of ‘local knowledge’ on which basis it develops a structured, comprehensive, interdisciplinary conceptual-analytical framework on ‘understanding local knowledge’. This framework goes not only beyond typically encountered simplifications and the often seen prioritization of the factual perspective or the ecological dimension, but is also compatible with principles of sustainable development. Local knowledge – understood in this research as an overarching term for forms of knowledge such as e.g. traditional, indigenous, traditional ecological, folk or farmers’ knowledge – is locally adapted knowledge developed over time by people living in close interaction with their natural surroundings. Such knowledge proves vital in a myriad of ways and on various societal levels: Not only does it sustain local communities in their livelihoods and, thus, survival, it also is at the base of what is commonly called ‘ecosystem management’. These services are carried out by local communities at local and regional scales, thereby contributing to advancing environmental conservation and sustainable development. Lastly, with respect to the global level, local knowledge also acts as a vast, highly diversified and locally adapted knowledge repository with many current and potential future applications such as e.g. the development or introduction of novel materials, agricultural products or pharmaceuticals. Regrettably, despite its vital multi-functionality and -valency and a certain global recognition through the official integration of local knowledge into the ‘Convention of Biological Diversity’ at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, local knowledge continues to experience serious marginalization, devaluation and, as a result, an ongoing and almost world-wide erosion and decline. Reasons for this development are to be located not only in real-world power dynamics and vested interests at all societal levels, but also in a limited understanding of the actual character of local knowledge. The latter often stems from a lack of insight by the generally highly specialized Western actors into local knowledge’s complexity and the influence of their own biases and constraints on how a given local knowledge form is perceived and made sense of – biases and constraints rooted in their disciplinary, organizational, structural and personal backgrounds. This research contributes to tackling the latter issue by developing a multidisciplinary-based framework approach to ‘understanding local knowledge’. The heuristic instrument is designed generically such that it is applicable to a broad range of local knowledge forms in rural and urban areas in industrializing and industrialized countries and can be applied in the context of research as much as conservation and development cooperation. Methodically, the dissertation is based on extended literature analyses across sociology, philosophy, anthropology, geography, the ethno-sciences and development, cultural and area studies in order to conceptualize and theoretically inform the notions formative for ‘understanding local knowledge’ as broadly and inclusively as possible, namely ‘knowledge’, ‘locality’ and, to a lesser extent, ‘understanding’. In this process, a total of 16 theory-based generic dimensions characterizing and specifying the three notions are identified. In a second step, these 16 dimensions are aggregated in a conceptual-analytical framework whereby I follow the methodology outlined by Jabareen, Dowding and Stanley. This dissertation’s contributions concern various levels. First, on an analytical level, the heuristic developed facilitates the understanding of principally any given form of local knowledge through a theory-based minimal set of interconnected key dimensions and questions. Second, in view of its normative foundation in sustainable development, the framework provides interested parties with a differentiated way to gain comprehensive insights into local contexts as basis for collaboratively determining sustainable conservation, management and/or development strategies. Third, its structured and systematic approach facilitates comparative studies and forth, its interdisciplinary foundation is expected to promote the uptake of scientific findings across disciplinary boundaries, counteracting tendencies of disciplinary isolation. Fifth, by including the aspect of ‘understanding’, the framework also allows for a critical reflection on the contingency of one’s own understanding on pre-existing biases and constraints, thus also taking account of challenges related to understanding across epistemologies. Approaching the topic of ‘understanding local knowledge’ with an instrument specifically developed to analyze local knowledge forms comprehensively and systematically promises to provide a more complex, transparent and at the same time balanced notion of a given local knowledge form that thus contributes to facilitating collaboration, be it in research, conservation or development cooperation

Doing the Right Thing Right: The Role of Sociological Research and Consulting for Corporate Engagement in Development Cooperation

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the role of sociology in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It presents a case study conducted by a research group consisting of two University partners in association with a Swiss SME. This project attempted to draw conclusions from a specific sociological consultancy research project on the general possibilities and opportunities of sociology in applied research and operational sustainability consulting. On the basis of the project findings, the article reflects on the extent to which sociology could profitably intervene, on the limitations for sociological research and consultations in this field and on the conclusions that can be drawn for future analyse

Nachhaltiges Management von Nonprofit-Organisationen

Wenn von der Notwendigkeit einer größeren Verantwortung von Organisationen gegenüber ihrer Umwelt die Rede ist, so bezieht sich diese Forderung zumeist ausschließlich auf Wirtschaftsunternehmen. Allerdings sind Nonprofit-Organisationen (NPO) mit ähnlichen Herausforderungen konfrontiert wie gewinnorientierte Unternehmen

Misleading variations in estimated rotational frequency splittings of solar p modes: Consequences for helio- and asteroseismology

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether there are any 11-yr or quasi-biennial solar cycle-related variations in solar rotational splitting frequencies of low-degree solar p modes. Although no 11-yr signals were observed, variations on a shorter timescale (~2yrs) were apparent. We show that the variations arose from complications/artifacts associated with the realization noise in the data and the process by which the data were analyzed. More specifically, the realization noise was observed to have a larger effect on the rotational splittings than accounted for by the formal uncertainties. When used to infer the rotation profile of the Sun these variations are not important. The outer regions of the solar interior can be constrained using higher-degree modes. While the variations in the low-l splittings do make large differences to the inferred rotation rate of the core, the core rotation rate is so poorly constrained, even by low-l modes, that the different inferred rotation profiles still agree within their respective 1sigma uncertainties. By contrast, in asteroseismology, only low-l modes are visible and so higher-l modes cannot be used to constrain the rotation profile of stars. Furthermore, we usually only have one data set from which to measure the observed low-l splitting. In such circumstances the inferred internal rotation rate of a main sequence star could differ significantly from estimates of the surface rotation rate, hence leading to spurious conclusions. Therefore, extreme care must be taken when using only the splittings of low-l modes to draw conclusions about the average internal rotation rate of a star.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Environmental Conservation NGOs and the Concept of Sustainable Development

environmental protection, non-govern- mental organisations (NGOs), functional differentiation, sustainable development, value systems,

Nachhaltiges Projektmanagement als Potential für Non-Profit-Organisationen

Auch Organisationen aus dem Non-Profit-Sektor stehen zunehmend der Forderung gegenüber, Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte in ihrer Arbeit zu berücksichtigen. Während dies auf organisationaler Ebene vielfach geschieht, ist die Ebene der Projekte selten im Fokus. Das entsprechende Nachhaltigkeitspotenzial ist bedeutend – für Non-Profit- ebenso wie für Profitorganisationen