Enhancing the Effectiveness of Sustainability Partnerships
The Task Force on Linking Knowledge with Action for Sustainable Development organized a workshop to explore
the emerging role of public-private partnerships in addressing the
challenges to harnessing science and technology for sustainable
development. Promoting the concept of partnerships among governments,
business and civil society as a strategy to move the world toward
sustainability was one of the main outcomes of the 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD). Public-private partnerships for
sustainable development, such as the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean
Development and Climate and the SEED (Supporting Entrepreneurs for
Environment and Development) also have been embraced by the U.S.
government as part of commitments made at WSSD.
The workshop explored selectedcases of public-private partnerships for sustainable development, as
well as the unparalleled wealth of Roundtable members' experience with other relevant partnership efforts. The workshop began
a process of identifying: i) examples of particularly successful or
instructive partnerships from which useful lessons might be extracted;
ii) most significant obstacles to successful partnerships and effective
means of overcoming them; and iii) sustainability challenges for which
public-private partnerships are most (and least) likely to prove
helpful. The workshop found that the experience of public-private
partnerships could usefully receive further and more systematic
exploration as a means of linking knowledge with action for
sustainability. Possible follow up activities were also discussed.
Selected cases for discussion by the workshop were organized around three key sustainability themes:
public health, green chemistry, and agriculture. The steering group
responsible for organizing the summer study workshop selected examples
that focused on applying scientific knowledge and technology for
sustainability; involved partnerships among three or more sectors; and
were recognized as particularly effective at moving toward
sustainability.
More Information
Agenda (PDF,8 KB)
List of Participants (PDF,8 KB)
Presentations
Enhancing the Effectiveness of
Sustainability Partnerships (PDF,53 KB)
Public Health Partnerships, Malaria(PDF,1.3 MB)
Green Chemistry(PDF,1.5 MB)
Agricultural Development(PDF,35 KB)
Major Themes(PDF,1.3 MB)
