Native Notes

The biggest Nordic conference on sustainability, “One Small Step”, focused on the many green initiatives that have taken root in the region.  An important outcome of the conference is the collation of a single and complete Nordic catalogue featuring examples of sustainability in practice. The catalogue of best practices is intended to serve as a source of inspiration to others.  It will be handed over to the Danish climate minister prior to the UN Climate Summit in 2009.  The September 15-17, 2008 conference in Odense represents a small – but well chosen – step towards greater sustainability in local communities in the region.

The aim of the Nordic Sustainability Conference is to encourage local and global sustainability. The Nordic countries take turns at hosting the biennial conference. The agenda for “One Small Step”, the third in the series, includes Local Action and the Climate.  “It would, of course, be a major advantage for the Nordic countries if we were able to brand ourselves as a key region on environment and climate issues. It would, however, require us to be better at sharing knowledge and information, so I look forward to the joint Nordic plan for sustainability,” said the Danish climate minister Connie Hedegaard, who addressed the conference. 

These objectives are shared by the planners and participants of the recent Workshop on Adaptive Governance and Climate Change sponsored by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management in Pendleton, Oregon.  Like the Nordic conference on sustainability, the aim of the CTUIR—IIIRM workshop was to highlight best practices and show how Indian tribes, state and local governments, businesses, consumers and NGOs, individually or in partnership, can take tangible steps to promote sustainability at local level.  By starting this blog, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management are taking one small step which we hope will make us all better at sharing knowledge and information about regional efforts to advance sustainability.  We invite you to tell us of the initiatives you’ve undertaken to promote sustainability in the region.