A. Current roles and contributions of NGOs

1. Natural resources

• Promoting sustainable development as a concept rather than as a fact or factor.
• Supporting local NGO activities which are likely to provide good examples of sustainable development practice.
• Reporting and responding to participation of all stakeholder work as a part of an international negotiation team.
• Working to ensure that farmers are included in CSD; taking a leadership role in evolving grassroots to address social, economic and ecological aspects of food security.
• Worked at Food Summit in US coalition that set agenda for discussion with government to develop sustainable food security.
• Leading debate on natural resources with people.
• Creating and supporting partnership for establishment and management of protected areas.
• Blocking toxic imports.
• Organizing economic development projects to explore parallel programs of action to move government policy towards sustainability.
• Advocating reforms.
• Cooperating with other sectors in moving Agenda 21 forward.

Promoting approval of social accounts by European Parliament.

• Promoting better cooperation between governments and NGOs.
• Recycling of certain wastes in urban environment.

2. Finance

• Creating framework for controlling subsidies-making process.
• Helping NGOs to fund small projects.
• Supplying information access programs to international financial institutions.

3. Human Settlements

• Developing whole communities.
• Promoting best practices.

4. Social development and culture

• Illustrating the effects of different actions and links between environment and health.
• Working to promote volunteer programs.
• Promoting understanding of global governance processes and ensuring participation at local community level.
• Round table on poverty involving wide range of issues.
• Produced best practices report for CSD.
• Producing educational journals, organizing conferences relating to global environmental problems.
• Promoting recycling programs for different materials with active participation of women and children.

5. Education

• Pressuring European countries to implement convention on right to know and access to information.
• Promoting new production ethic.
• Providing children with environmental education and encouraging them to participate in finding solutions.
• Assessing viability of small scale alternative processes and areas such as water management. Linking diverse organizations such as unions, NGOs, women, youth, around values of environmental justice.
• Working on video presentations on sustainable development themes to be shown on airplanes, demonstrating how individuals can become involved.
• Developing alternative education programs and tools.
• Developing education programs for rural areas where it is easier to measure impact.
• Facilitating discussions with civil society and governments.
• Lobbying during international negotiations of the environmental conventions.
• Raising awareness about desertification and combating it with tree planting.

6. Energy

• Plans to promote sustainable energy.
• Awareness raising and influencing political decision-makers.
• Make local authorities green.

B. What is the key role of NGOs?

• Partnership building.
• Acting independently.
• Pushing governments and influencing decision-making.
• Lobbying and advocacy.
• Innovation.
• Facilitating access to resources.
• Changing legal frameworks.
• Supporting access to funds.
• Promoting and publicizing the views of local people.
• Promoting best practices.
• Developing volunteer programs.
• Facilitating local participation.
• Developing education programs.
• Facilitating information access and exchange, in order to strengthen capacity.
• Initiating concrete activities such as tree planting programs.
• Stimulating public dialogue.
• Stimulating creative and innovative solutions.
• Keeping media informed of the key issues by producing educational materials.
• Mobilizing the general public to take direct action.

C. What are the things that NGOs do best?

• NGOs have been particularly successful in agenda setting. Their primary role is always to catalyze recognition of key problems. Global recognition of all the major environmental problems of recent years is the result of NGOs putting them on the political agenda.
• NGOs have a key role to keep on pushing government authorities to play the role they must play. Another important role is the groundwork which they can do more effectively than governments.
• NGOs are also good at networking among themselves, circulating information and promoting the concept of sustainability, although this is a function that should be improved.
• Follow-up and monitoring to solve key implementation problems
• Engagement of vast numbers of individuals.
• Information dissemination, awareness raising and mobilizing the public.
• Occupying political space to catalyze fundamental change.
• Linking multiple actors to highlight unsustainable behavior and practices.
• Challenging power relationships, supporting the voice of community and civil society and networking to exchange practical experience and mobilize resources for NGO projects.