Sustainable Rural Development in West Iceland
Meeting 3Borgarnes, Iceland, 21-22 Sept 2011
Stefán GíslasonMSc Environmental Management and PolicyOwner and Managing DirectorEnvironice, Borgarneshttp://www.environice.is / [email protected]
Contents1. About Environice
2. Problems and challenges in West Iceland
3. A few solutions
4. How can RIBS contribute?
5. Opportunities
6. What if we do not act?
7. General observations
What is ?Environmental Consulting Iceland = UMÍS ehf. Environice:
A consultancy, serving companies, organisations and public authorities in the fields of environment, management and sustainable development
Established in 2000
Today: 2-4 employees
Tasks e.g.:
1. Sustainable tourism, (for local governments, companies and organisations (mainly related to Earth Check))
2. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
3. Education for sust.dev., course material, courses, presentations, etc.
4. Project management for The Nordic Council of Ministers
5. Environmental management (e.g. Ecoalabelling, ISO 14001 etc.)
6. Evaluations, reviews, etc.
7. Green economy
Environice:
Emphasises the human part rather than the technical
www.environice.is (and on Facebook)
West Iceland
Hard-hit by the economic downturn/crisis Dependent on construction industries
Lack of education ??? Guess so, but haven’t seen recent data......
Lack of pioneers ??? Success of a community/region may rely on one individual!
If you don’t believe me, think of Apple and Steve Jobs!
Main problems and challenges
And this is the only problem without an easy-to-design solution
Basically we don’t have any problems! Or at least:
”There is no problem without a solution associated to it”!
Promising ways out of crisis: Small-scale solutions (SME’s leading the way)
Cultural heritage (sagas included)
Natural heritage
Local production (food etc.)
Organic production (food etc.)
Sustainable, innovative tourism, such as.....:
Geological tourism
Bike tourism
Extreme sports
Sustainability certification (for reliability)
We can be the first (competive andvantage)
“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them”
A few solutions
RIBS = Rural Innovation and Business Systems!
How can RIBS contribute?
By creating tools?
Tools are necessary
But they all have one thing in common:
They do not do the job by themselves!
A lot of tools EMS
ISO 14001
EMAS
EMS-light Nordic
Ecolabels
Type I (third party) (Nordic Swan, EU-label, Bra Miljöval, TCO, ....)
Type II (first party) (Producer’s claim)
Type III (EPD (Environmental Product Declarations))
Standards, guidelines, Codes of Conduct, …….
Policies, strategies, action plans, .......
EMS-light Nordic One of the tools mentioned above
A specific Excel-worksheet created during a Nordic project(Iceland, Åland, The Faroe Islands)
Companies paid up to 1000 EUR for being a part of the development team
Some 15 companies in Iceland
Turned out to be a useful tool for those few who ever used it
Several just paid, and then didn’t even have time to accept free guidance on how to use the tool
Would they have paid 1000 EUR for education/consulting?
Do we believe in tools as quick-fixes? www. ems-light.net
A simple fact
Systems make it possible,
People make it happen!
What is a real success?
To have a strategy in place?
Or having implemented it?
“Jeg HAR lagt en plan, men jeg husker ikke hvor jeg lagt den”
It’s not enough to lay down a strategy (policy or plan) if you don’t remember WHERE it is laying!
Is a key translator missing -
to translate rhetoric into action?
Assist in THE translation
Identify the needs and the differeneces, there is no “one size fit all”!
Tailor made solution instead of ready-to-go packages
Identify/contact the “ambassadors” of change (Pioneers?)
Understand their situation
Not easy to be the “ambassador” of change within a company
Understand the inherit resistance to change
Sort of a defense mechanism!
How can RIBS contribute?
Exchange knowledge and experiences
Co-
How can RIBS contribute?
nfidence
mpetence
operation
ordination
{ I guess it’s not mainly about tools, it’s about…..:
It’s about education ……for sustainable development
Building the capacity to ACT
Fostering diversity
Teaching critical thinking
Creating the courage to saynot only “YES” but also “NO”
The opportunities do not lie in the situation today,but in tomorrow’s demand
What will „tomorrow“ be like?
Hard to predict, especially about the future, but anyway: Number of tourists will be increasing
Growing demand for cultural tourism
Longer stay at each destination
More emphasis on local products and services
Growing demand for quality and unique experiences
Growing knowledge/awareness about the dark sidesof food production
More questions about content
More demand on tracability (knowing the origin)
Growing demand for organic food
Opportunities*
What if we don’t?
Those companies which lack the energy or the commitment to meet the demands of sustainable development will lose …
Their customers
Their reputations
Their investors
Their best employees
to better performers, not in any particular order, but all at the same time.
Bob Pickard, Shell Canada (sometime in the 90’s)
The following slides contain a list of things that came to my mind during the day
But: I haven’t seen the original project description / application for RIBS
So, I’m an alien in this respect
General observations/comments
You have done a very interesting inventory However, comparison between countries may be tricky
The assessment being done is really a valuable base!!
RIBS is about systems, not about individual companies But I assume the companies have limited interest in systems
But IF you need/decide to address individual companies You could provide them with tools, guidelines, etc.
But face-to-face communication is still the most effective way
Keep in mind that some of the companies found it hard even to “fill in the form” (Oulu)
“SMEs need consulting/education + advice on how to make use of (EU-)funds”. (Oulu)
General observations/comments
Can tool-making easily be financed through EU-funds, but consulting/competence building/awareness raising/education not?
General observations/comments (cont…)
My company (Environice) has been participating in a similar survey annually for a few years (University of Reykjavík) Benchmarking is what has turned out be valuable for me
Benchmarking may be a good “selling argument” when addressing the companies
Thanks and good luck!
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