Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
13.7.1
Private foundations and NGO attitudes
In January 2004, the Wildhavens report, funded by three foundations and produced
by several members of the NGO community, was sharply critical of the MSC, in-
cluding asserting a lack of US NGO support for the MSC (www.guardian.co.uk/
fish/story/0,7369,1152856,00.html#article continue). The Pew Charitable Trusts
was one of the report's sponsors, and the authors of the report were involved
with other Pew initiatives. The Pew Trusts is one of the most active US private
foundations that funds lobbying, litigation and other oceans and fisheries advocacy
initiatives. Generally speaking, the Pew Trusts' oceans programme does not empha-
sise the collaborative, market-based approach embraced by the MSC and its major
funder (the Packard Foundation), so the report's conclusions were not surprising.
The Wildhavens report indicated that NGO support for the MSC would continue
to be withheld unless the programme was structured in a way that assisted NGO
fishery campaigns. The report states '(W)e found that MSC certification appears to
conflict with some (NGO sponsored) fisheries management reform efforts . . . While
it is true that conservationists are not always going to achieve their goals, it is equally
true that MSC does not have the ability yet to make the case that certifications will
achieve them either. And because of its lack of credibility with the conservation
sector, MSC will not be given the benefit of the doubt'.
The release of the Bridgespan Group's report coincided with publication of the
Wildhavens report. The Bridgespan report, which was funded in part by the Packard
Foundation, was less critical of the MSC and focused on perceived needs to improve
programme governance and administration.
While both reports appeared to press the NGO community's agenda for making
changes in the MSC programme, the tone of the reports suggested a rivalry of
ideas and initiatives between two large philanthropic foundations that are deeply
involved in somewhat opposing directions of oceans advocacy. Notwithstanding
the differences in tone, the MSC's current emphasis on a 'reform agenda' can
be traced back to these foundation-funded reports and the MSC's position in the
NGO community. As a result of these two evaluations, the MSC has undertaken to
implement a number of projects under its reform agenda, and the principle initiatives
are discussed below.
13.7.2 Clarifying, interpreting or changing the MSC
sustainability standard
The MSC is currently (2007) engaged in a two-phase 'Quality and Consistency
Project' purportedly to clarify its sustainability standard (see Chapter 4). The first
phase of this project is to develop descriptive 'intent statements' that expand upon
the original MSC Principles and Criteria. The MSC convened two 'expert panel
workshops' in June and October 2006 to develop and draft the intent statements.
In comments submitted to the MSC, APA challenged the composition of the expert
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