mapping for sustainable consumption initiatives
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
New ways of working…
Mapping local action: supporting sustainable consumption initiatives
Chris Church ANPED Trustee
Director, Mapping for change
SCP - What is civil society doing?
Activities around the SCP agenda: Consumer focussed campaigning & lobbying Work in multi-stakeholder processes & alliances Engaging with communities Issues emerging from the ‘Action Town’ programme
A range of problems to tackle
Consumer campaigns
Plenty of activity – needs to be more effective. We need: Better dissemination of examples of good practice To show what is effective and ‘mainstream’ this work To go beyond preaching to the converted To link to social and winder media To inform and impact on political campaigns.
But ‘just what is SCP’?
It is the nature of ‘SCP’ that it is difficult to define what ‘it’ is.
We lack common principles which could be used as a basis for joint working.
Those who see this as their ‘single issue’ are a very small group.
The linking of consumption and production makes it more complex.
Too big an issue?
Most NGOs only approach this through projects.
Little focus on policy and global issues. There is a lack of capacity and of the skills
needed to address, engage with and influence work on these issues.
Many other priorities for NGO activity
A lack of leadership and support
Any NGO looking to work on biodiversity or waste will find networks to provide information and support.
This is not the case with SCP. ANPED has focused on this issue but is small.
EEB may promote these ideas, but mostly to larger organisations
So much of what smaller civil society groups want to know about is being done by…
…Smaller civil society groups
So…
If this work is to develop we need to: Make it easy to find what is happening Avoid duplication but replicate where
appropriate Share information Provide advice and support
We need innovation in our information systems
Lessons from on-line mapping: Keeping it all together
It’s almost impossible to know what’s going on in any large city (or diffuse rural area)
Traditional networks work for those already engaged
Many new ideas emerging
Mapping for Change A social enterprise set up as a partnership between
the London 21 sustainability network and University College London
Provide participatory mapping services to communities, voluntary sector organisations, local authorities and developers using a suite of innovative tools for communication.
Five years ago: the London 21Green Map The first on-line Green Map
The value of mapping Any thing that is ‘based in a place’ can be placed
on a map This can turn a ‘directory’ into a living resource Organisations can design their own maps to
record the information that they want to use and that they want others to see
Maps can be local, wider-ranging and / or thematic
Local Mapping
We can map Quantitative data - measurements of the local
environment or the economy. Qualitative data - surveys of people’s perceptions,
the things people like, dislike or want to change. Ideas - or at least the places where ideas can turn into
reality: possible sites for growing food or creating new play spaces, or sites that need to change.
Stories and histories - records of what has happened in an area can be linked to specific places
Localising this: the Hackney Wick Community Map (and others like it)
So what could we map for SCP?
One part of London has mapped: Community Views and Facilities Made Here and Independent Shops Home improvement and repairs Organisations Reuse/Recycle facilities Conservation Areas Events Green Areas Youth Activities
Those categories in use
Mapping for SCP: one approach A London-wide map of resources for climate and consumption 1. Climate-focused bodies (including campaign groups, transition
towns, etc.) 2. Community / resource centres 3. Renewable energy projects and energy advice centres 4. City Farms and larger community gardens / food-growing / green
spaces 5. Community health / well-being projects 6. Key ethnic minority / faith / cultural / refugee / organisations and
networks 7. Time Banks and other local economic development projects 8. Community media organisations 9. Upcoming relevant events
Mapping good practice across Europe
Some issues: Easy as local at one level Who chooses? Who maintains?
How does this impact on policy?
Any interested agency can find out more about what is really happening
Any individual can get active more easily – this may lead to their greater engagement in lobbying etc.
Policy needs infrastructure for implementation – maps can show existing work and also the gaps
Maps tells us where we should be going…
“It is not down in any map; true places never are”. - Herman Melville (Moby Dick)
Or maybe we don’t have the right kind of maps… Yet…
