Technology Cooperation and Capacity Building - CommDev

TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING… Setting the sceneInstitute’s STEP programme (see boxon page 10).The industry has produced morespecific guidelines such as the CanadianAssociation of Petroleum Producers(CAPP) Code of Practice, and theguiding principles, jointly produced byEUROPIA and E&P Forum. Otherexamples are the E&P Forum’sguidelines for environmental protectionwhich address operations in tropicalrain forests, mangroves, and Arctic andsub-Arctic onshore regions. Thesepublications are designed for individualsand organizations involved in oil andgas exploration in environmentallysensitiveareas, and are also meaningfulbecause they are the product of apartnership between an NGO, theWorld Conservation Union, and an oilindustry association, E&P Forum.In summaryThe importance of business and industrywas acknowledged at UNCED and isreferred to in Chapter 30 of Agenda 21:‘Business and industry, includingtransnational corporations, play a crucial rolein the social and economic development of acountry and should recognize environmentalmanagement as among the highest corporatepriorities and as a key determinant tosustainable development.’Private and official flows to developing countries, 1989–94financial flows (US$billions)250200150100500private flowsofficial flows1989 1990 1991 1992Overall, the volume of private capital flows to developing countries has quadrupled since the turnof the decade.The oil industry agrees with thisstatement and recognizes it has animportant role to play in contributingtowards sustainable development.Although the oil industry is reducing anon-renewable fossil fuel resource, it isstriving to minimize environmentalimpacts so that they are within thecarrying capacity of the affectedecosystems. This requires theintegration of environmentalprotectionplanning and managementinto economic decision making andengineering design. The wealth andemployment created by the businesssector must also be used to fight thebattle against both poverty andenvironmental damage. Since poverty isamong the greatest threats to theenvironment, its elimination is a1993 1994fundamental step in protecting theenvironment.The growing importance of thebusiness sector in promoting a moresustainable future is highlighted by thefact that private financial flows todeveloping countries have nowoutstripped official aid (see graph).The oil industry—which plays a keyrole in private financial flows—hasgained experience over many decades inthe forms of partnership reflected inAgenda 21’s recommendations. Thecase studies that follow bear witness tothis fact, and illustrate the variety ofways in which technology cooperationand capacity building, initiated by theoil industry, is contributing to the goalof environmentally-sound development.Source: World Debt Tables, 1994–9513