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Publications: Green Plan Primer: Benefits for NGOs
Benefits for NGOs: Meaningful Involvement at the Outset Non-profit and non-governmental environmental and community organizations play a key role in green plan development and implementation. No longer are NGOs faced with the prospect of playing a defensive, outsider role, relying solely on protest and litigation to effect change. Instead, they are actively involved in the process of shaping and implementing a shared vision for the future and tracking that process every step of the way. This does not mean that environmentalists are no longer critical of the environmental protection process; rather, their continued role as critics and watchdogs of the process is essential to keeping it on course. It does mean that environmental and community groups can develop new roles, working with businesses and educating the public as well as helping develop priority goals and strategies. Achieving sustainability becomes an integral goal of both the public and private sectorsÑbuilt directly into the green planning process, not just tacked on as an afterthought. This provides environmental and community organizations with an unprecedented opportunity to focus most closely on ensuring the success of the process and not on a grab bag of incoherent policies that have little prospect of resulting in a sustainable future. In the Netherlands, Dutch NGOs have achieved a remarkable level of sophistication in their advocacy activities and their collaboration with diverse interests. These groups engage in "strategic" cooperation to further environmental aims, choosing in some situations to work in partnership with government and businesses, and in others to oppose them and politicize an issue to build public support for stronger solutions. |
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