Acknowledgements
In producing the present report, we have researched
relevant information (existing examples, scientific research), clarified some of
the terms and concepts, and analysed the underlying values and ideology of MSPs.
Many people have been helping us with comments, ideas, and
references. Others took the time to be interviewed or fill in our questionnaire
to provide us with information about concrete examples of MSPs .
We also put the draft report to the UNED International
Advisory Board, people who are involved in the examples studied, and others who
have been working on multi-stakeholder processes.
Paul Hohnen, former Director of
Greenpeace International and advisor to a range of international NGOs,
organisations and corporations, reviewed an earlier version of this (draft)
report and provided a large number of invaluable contributions, comments,
amendments and questions.
We thank all who have contributed their expertise,
experiences, comments and critical questions (see Annex V). The authors take
full responsibility for the contents of the report itself, including its
shortcomings.
A
Call to Readers
Sustainable development is a process; and
multi-stakeholder processes are one of the tools that can help us to achieve a
more sustainable future. Increasing the utility of MSPs requires that we
understand and evaluate how they have been used in the past and that we gain
more experiences in more such processes.
"Since the answers to fundamental and serious
concerns are not at hand, there is no alternative but to keep on trying to find
them" (Brundtland 1987: ix).
As one commentator has recently observed: “Business as
usual, government as usual, and perhaps even protest as usual are not giving us
the progress needed to achieve sustainable development. Let’s see if we
can’t work together to find better paths forward” (Hohnen 2001).
We very much want our readers to join us in our learning
process. We are looking forward to hearing from you - to experiment in theory,
in discussion, and in practice.
