The EKLIPSE project, funded by the EU in H2020, is developing a European Mechanism to answer requests from policy makers and other societal actors on biodiversity related issues.
A request on supporting businesses to improve the outcomes of their operations for biodiversity was proposed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). In response to this EKLIPSE is launching an open Call for Knowledge inviting scientists, policy makers, practitioners and other societal actors to share their knowledge and available resources on this specific selected request.
Context
Government organisations and regulators have a key role in helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operate competitively yet in a more environmentally sustainable way. SEPA is working to implement their new regulatory strategy ‘One Planet Prosperity’, which summarises the agency’s vision for ways they can work with Scottish businesses to enhance environmental sustainability. SEPA would like to find out which approaches and tools they and other regulatory agencies in Europe could adopt when working with SMEs to achieve this vision, from compliance with mandatory environmental standards, to going beyond compliance, and encouraging and promoting voluntary participation. The aim is to understand and evaluate how effective these various approaches, techniques and incentives are in changing employee behaviour and company culture as well as customer behaviour and mind-set, and ultimately improving biodiversity outcomes of business operations.
What’s it all about?
The objective is to identify the range of approaches, from environmental compliance to voluntary agreements, available to enhance sustainability and biodiversity conservation; identify lessons learned from case studies where particular approaches have been applied with certain types of SMEs, and an analysis of what has worked or not, why and how?
What do we expect from you?
All knowledge collected through this call for knowledge will be collected and discussed on the KNOCK Forum (http://www.eklipse-mechanism.eu/forum_home). To upload documents and participate in the discussion, please register at our quick and easy ‘Keep me Posted’ page (http://www.eklipse-mechanism.eu/keep_me_posted). Then, please click on the relevant thread to upload your information.
Alternatively you may also simply comment to this post
Why should you do this?
If you’re not yet convinced of the necessity of enabling policy makers to make better informed decisions based on best available science, you may want to consider the following benefits:
— enhancing usability and relevance of scientific knowledge in general,
— impacting on decison making,
— getting attention for your work in this area,
— network opportunities,
— and potentially many others.
Want more information?
The full Call for Knowledge (Call for knowledge_improving biodiversity outcomes of business operations_16March2017) and more information on the processes and the EKLIPSE project is available at www.eklipse-mechanism.eu.