Last week, I took part in a really interesting conference/workshop in London – the Smart CSOs (Civil Society Organisations) Initiative – that gave me lots of hope and energy!

“This Initiative, led by WWF-UK with the support from CSCP, is a community of practice consisting of +/- 100 leaders from civil society organisations, academics and funders exploring how CSOs can become stronger change agents towards the Great Transition to a sustainable society and economy.

Current consumption and production systems are hitting up against planetary boundaries on many different levels – the water system, biodiversity and the ability of the atmosphere to absorb carbon. The changes needed are fundamental and can only happen through a co-evolving cultural and political transition from consumerism to sustainability with shifts in values linked to this. New institutions need to be developed and new ways of organising society at all levels. This comprehensive shift is increasingly being termed by various organisations ‘The Great Transition’.

The current global economic growth paradigm will have to be replaced by a societal well being paradigm. Economies need to become much more localised and the current prevailing model of shareholder driven global corporations will be replaced by new ownership models of companies that are much better placed to serve society and the planet.

This paper is the result of discussions and research undertaken in the Smart CSOs Initiative over the past year and it analyses where potential weaknesses of current CSO strategies can be found and aims to build collaborations across sectors to develop more effective strategies and become stronger change agents towards tackling the global sustainability crisis.”
I recommend browsing the website http://www.smart-csos.org/home as there are lots of interesting papers and ideas on how to bring about a more sustainable world. The framework is organised around 5 leverage points to bring about concrete collaborations for the Great Transition.

For the GreEn Forum, this platform will be the opportunity to share young people’s views and ideas on these important matters and we would be happy to host some discussions on specific aspects of the paper if there is interest….