7th World Conference on Sport and the Environment - International ...

Report
To summarize, a business or sports organization cannot operate in isolation from the social context
in which it is located. A responsible business or sports body will take the time to understand the
social context within it operates and assess the threats and opportunities that it contains. In order to
avoid the potentially adverse effects of that context an organization should then take steps to ensure
adequate regulation of its sphere of activity and regularly check on compliance. If public bodies are not
providing adequate regulation private actors may need to be mobilized. Maintaining compliance with
performance standards always requires investment in capacity building to ensure that all of the people
involved in delivering that performance have the skills and experience required. Finally, in order to ensure
sustainability, those people or organizations need to be equipped to maintain delivery even after the
withdrawal of a key partner. Sustainable compliance relies on the self-sufficiency of the participants. It
cannot be provided by external actors (at least not in the long term) and so needs to be rooted in local
processes and resources. Responsible business and sports organizations can and should contribute to
that wherever they operate.
<strong>7th</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on Sport and the Environment
International Cooperation and Development Dept.
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