Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Many of the initiatives mentioned here are relatively new and implementation is
still in its infancy, having yet to be properly reviewed. Swanson et al. (2003) argue
that reporting by host governments in the developing world is rudimentary and often
consciously evaded, as they themselves are often involved in commodity rackets and
hence have no incentive whatsoever to divulge reality. Countries have also created 'off-
budget funds', 'trust funds' or 'stabilisation', 'savings' or other 'special funds' outside
the normal budget systems and oversight procedures. Ascher (1999: 259) observes
that the “apparently weak enforcement 'capacity' is as much a choice as a 'given,' and
lack of enforcement capacity is often part of the strategy of resource manoeuvres.'' In
some countries, Indonesia and Chile being notorious examples, the military was highly
involved in natural resource exploitation through off-budget accounts that were secret.
In such situations, transparency initiatives are highly problematic and often actively
undermined.
Non-governmental transparency initiatives
There are many NGO-led campaigns that aim at promoting transparency. One well-
known example is the PublishWhat You Pay campaign spearheaded by Global Witness
and George Soros. These types of initiatives usually focus on the issue of corporate
social responsibility and the respective companies' reputations. The European Coali-
tion on Oil in Sudan (ECOS) - coordinated by IKV Pax Christi Netherlands - focuses
on oil companies active in that country, arguing that the income from oil is fuelling
the war (Frerks 2008). Similarly, the Caspian Revenue Watch was started by the Open
Society Institute (part of the Soros Foundation) and focuses on the investment of rev-
enues from natural resources. These three examples are only an illustration of the
existing wide variety of non-governmental actions.
Transparency initiatives at company level
In this section we give only a few salient examples to illustrate the initatives focused
on the corporate world and often initatied by them as well. The OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises agreed to by 33 OECD governments and several non-OECD
governments are non-binding recommendations for companies based or operating in
their jurisdictions. The guidelines form part of the OECD Declaration on International
Investment and Multinational Enterprises. The Global Reporting Initiative provides
guidelines for companies (and other entities) to report their economic, environmental
and social performance.
Swanson et al. (2003: 49, 72) report that the mining groups under the Mining,
Minerals, and Sustainable Development (MMSD) Project have worked with Trans-
parency International to increase the transparency of agreements between mining
companies and governments. Nine of the world's largest mining companies initiated the
project through the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The MMSD
Project focuses on research, a process of stakeholder engagement and a program of
information exchange.
A final example is the UN Global Compact. This is a voluntary code of conduct
first proposed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in a speech to the Davos Economic
Forum in 1999. The nine principles of the Global Compact cover the areas of human
rights, labour, and the environment and are based on international agreements, notably
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