Browsing by Author "Douglas, Calbert H."
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- An open participatory conceptual framework to support state of the environment and sustainability reportsPublication . Ramos, Tomás B.; Martins, Ivone P.; Martinho, Ana Paula; Douglas, Calbert H.; Painho, Marco; Caeiro, SandraIt is fundamental to monitor, evaluate and report the state of the environment at global and local levels, to better implement sustainable development principles and practices. The State of the Environment and Sustainability Reports should be written in an understandable and accessible way for stakeholders and also be developed from the beginning with its involvement and participation. Despite several initiatives that refer public engagement in State of the Environment and Sustainability Reports, from the national to the corporate levels, usually the participatory approaches are restricted to consultations of key actors. They do not explore the role that could be played by stakeholders as part of the report staff, from designing to production and reviewing. The aim of this research is to develop a conceptual framework to support open participatory, interactive and adaptive State of the Environment and Sustainability Reports, where the stakeholders’ involvement (non-experts and experts) will effectively contribute to the design, data gath- ering and evaluations produced in the reports. The proposed open participatory approach will support the design and implementation of a collaborative report. The stakeholders’ assessment of the State of the Environment and Sustainability Reports can also be used as an indirect way for formal results evaluation, allowing for cross-validation. The paper analyses and explores two practices of regular and formal State of the Environment reports: the “European Environment e State and Outlook (transnational scale) and the “Portuguese State of the Environment Report” (national scale). In both reporting initiatives, the partici- patory approaches in the design and production of the reports are weak or inexistent and many times merely formal. A set of steps and procedures, embedded in a formal framework, is proposed for adoption in the both initiatives. The proposed framework should be implemented through gradually and prioritised steps to mitigate practical difficulties, due to the complexity of institutional reporting processes. The open participatory State of the Environment and Sustainability Report will represent a joint commitment among stakeholders for active reporting development with new information and knowledge. Rethinking tradi- tional reporting and related participatory approaches can move the State of the Environment and Sus- tainability Reports to a new stage of evolution: a continuous updating of information. In this process, data and information will come from formal and informal sources and, stakeholders can scrutinize each other’s participation and increase the overall content and quality of the collaborative disclosures.
- Corporate sustainability reporting and the relations with evaluationPublication . Ramos, Tomás B.; Cecílio, T.; Douglas, Calbert H.; Caeiro, SandraThis paper assesses how sustainability reporting practices have been adopted in organizations which operate in a Southern European country, Portugal, and how those practices are related with environmental management and evaluation systems. A questionnaire survey was carried out in 2006, involving a statistical population of 69 firms, specifically the member companies of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Portugal, the Portuguese branch of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The questionnaire survey was designed to assess: (i) the use of environmental management systems (EMS) and environmental performance evaluation (EPE) frameworks and (ii) practices connected with environmental and sustainability performance reporting, namely: report formats; regularity; key target audiences; reporting driving forces; guidelines; and future intentions. The results indicate that the environmental management system was a well-accepted environmental management tool. More than half of the companies surveyed had adopted environmental performance evaluation related frameworks. Corporate sustainability reporting was found to be a growing issue in a high number of organizations. Those companies that produce a sustainability/environmental report have an EMS and EPE in place. Most organizations in the study produced annual reports, in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Despite the increasing interest among organizations in the adoption of environmental and sustainability measurement and reporting practices, this issue was mainly confined to larger companies. The six Portuguese Small and Medium Enterprises analyzed show a poor environmental management and environmental performance evaluation and sustainability reporting profile. The findings show that they needed to be more engaged with these practices. Specific drivers must be used to enable these directions, including environmental education and raising awareness, since that is the first step toward improving the current scenario of reaching a better sustainable profile.
- Environmental and sustainability impact assessment in small islands : the case of Azores and MadeiraPublication . Ramos, Tomás B.; Caeiro, Sandra; Douglas, Calbert H.; Ochieng, CockerThis paper compares Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) practices and effectiveness in the Portuguese islands of the Azores and Madeira. This was accomplished by qualitative appraisal and evaluation of the contents of EIA statements and the characterisation of the EIA practices. Data was collected from the islands’ regional environmental agencies and from the Environmental Portuguese Agency internet database. The findings reveal that most EIA project practitioners and consultants in the islands are associated with the regional government agencies. Proposals were generally approved with ‘conditions’ and the diversity of project types were lower in the islands than in the mainland. There was limited follow-up on the EIA process so that evaluation of conditions compliance was scanty. Key areas identified for consideration in the development of good impact assessment practice in the islands included, the Islands’ unique geographical and ecological characteristics, scale effects, intra-insular regional dimension, impact significance evaluation approaches, and training, education and development skills in EIA processes.