March 2010: Short survey of relevant indexes and sets of indicators concerning development towards sustainability.

A new report of ANPED, written by Geurt van de Kerk and Arthur Manuel of the Sustainable Society Foundation.  This new publication gives a very good overview of the various indexes and sets of indicators used nowadays by NGOs and governments. Policymakers find it always difficult to measure sustainable development, because of the complexity. Nevertheless it is very urgent to use alternative indicators, to know the progress or decrease of the SD-goals. As is mentioned in this publication the "perfect" index or set of indicators does not exist. But that does not mean that we cannot start using alternative indicators right away.

Fact is that the ‘golden calf indicator’, the GDP, does not measure anything remotely connected to sustainable development. 

 

March 2008: A new report by Chris Church, Co-Chair of the Northern Alliance for Sustainability, ANPED, and Tamara Malkova, Director of Green Dossier, looks at the role of NGOs in tackling climate change. The report, Action on Climate Change: From a Divided Europe to a Common Purpose, is based on a survey carried out by NGOs within the ANPED Network in autumn 2007. It looked first at government action on climate change across Europe. It became clear early on that Europe is divided on this issue. Nations that are part of the EU and that have clear targets under the Kyoto protocol are mostly moving in the right direction (often slowly). But in the eastern part of the pan-European region there are very variable approaches. The survey also looked at NGO activity, asked whether and how the NGO was active on climate change. Again there were big differences between east and west.

 

[Russian version]  

January 2008: Biodiversity and Sustainable Consumption: A Qualified Analysis and Unqualified Suggestions. What biodiversity implies for sustainable consumption and thus what sustainable consumption can do for biodiversity is an issue neglected so far in both, the biodiversity and the sustainable consumption discourses. This paper compares the place biodiversity and consumption hold in the overall sustainable development discourse, and focuses on the known reasons for biodiversity loss, asking how they could be influenced, in particular by sustainable consumption.

Dr. Joachim Spangenberg is a biologist, ecologist and economist. From 1992 to 1999 he was in charge of the taskforce on “Sustainable Societies” at the Wuppertal Institute and worked as a scientific associate at the Social Science Research Centre Berlin and the Institute for European Environmental Policy in Bonn. Since 1999 he is the Vice-President of the Sustainable Europe Research Institute. 

September 2007: Towards Sustainable Production and Consumption Patterns: Country Reports. Since its foundation, ANPED and its member organisations have constantly worked to improve consumption and production patterns in a sustainable manner. In this context the ANPED Sustainable Production and Consumption working group bridges the day to day work on local and national level with the political processes in the international arena.

The collection presented here provides an observation of 11 national NGOs what is done and not done in their countries to improve production and consumption patterns – by their governments as well as by the NGO community. This is for comparison between countries, and beyond that it intends to set a clear signal that NGOs all over Europe and beyond are keen to see improvements towards sustainable consumption and production and are prepared to contribute their knowledge and capacities.

March 2007: ANPED CSD Manual. This document is prepared for a group of NGOs or other units of civil society to come together at a workshop, discuss, map opportunities, develop and compose a strategy and a plan to engage their constituencies in such a way that it may lead to greater interest in andinteraction with sustainable development issues in the nation. The purpose of such a workshop is not to reinvent the wheel, or make new and adventurous forays into the undiscovered world of sustainability. The purpose is to re-discover and be conscious of the already existing possibilities and to devise methods whereby we can use existing and officially accepted priorities to promote and refine concerns that are at the heart of ‘We the Peoples’ and thus fulfil the UN Charter’s bold and noble intentions.

Social and Community Enterprise: A European Perspective. This report is produced by the Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED), and outlines the progress of social and community enterprise in Europe within the context of sustainable development. It describes historical factors that have determined the development of the social economy, and illustrates how this now makes an important contribution to social and business life across Europe.

The report includes information about just a few of the many and varied organisations that can be described as social or community enterprises, ranging from informal community organisations to large businesses operating within strict legal criteria. The report makes recommendations on practice and policy to encourage a more sustainable society.

Water is Life! From Global Declarations to Concrete Actions. [English] [Russian] This publication offers stories on how very different people in various countries solve the problems of access to drinking water, ensuring safety of water resources and sanitation. The ANPED network actively participates in international processes at various levels representing its members who achieve success in concrete actions on the ground. 

The relationship between global decisions and their implementation can be seen in the activities of concrete organizations. Making this publication possible has been another example of international cooperation early in the decade that, following the UN decision, will pass under the "Water for Life" slogan.

Building Our Own Futures: Local Action for Sustainable Development across Europe in the 21st Century. This report is produced by the Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED). ANPED links NGOs in all parts of the UNECE region. It seeks to highlight the value of local action for sustainable development, not just in its’ own terms but also where it is linked to a wider political agenda.

Local action for sustainable development takes literally hundreds of different forms, and within each of those forms there may in turn be hundreds of similar projects. Most successful LA21s owe much of that success to the active roles played by local NGOs. It is possible to identify eight broad areas within local action: Raising awareness; Meeting local needs and building capacity; Tackling local problems; Support for national action; Local planning and cooperation; Project development; Stronger local governance; Integrated development programmes – Local Agenda 21 and beyond.

ANPED Newsletters

Outreach Issues is a new and improved civil society newsletter produced by Stakeholder Forum and the SDIN Group. Bringing together the best of the two previous CSD conference dailies, Outreach and Taking Issue, Outreach Issues aims to “report with an attitude, from the global scene of sustainability”.

The two conference newsletters at CSD ‘Outreach’ and ‘Taking Issue’ – have a common past, and perhaps a common future. Outreach was the first CSD daily and catered to all major groups. Taking Issue started in the run up to the WSSD and became the spokes-organ for NGOs. Still, governments never understood the nuances between the two, and thought they were one and the same. In fact they were not. Outreach has been published by Stakeholder Forum, UK, and carried government and stakeholder views. Taking Issue has been published by the SDIN Group and has been largely a vehicle for NGO opinions.

Northern Lights is the platform for ANPED members to highlight their activities on the local, regional and national level to the network members as well as to the wider public. It is used to update and inform on the progress of projects, upcoming international governmental and other meetings, and provides relevant information to people interested in the many issues ANPED is working on.