Approaches
The concept of local is also crucial to the kinds of efforts and objectives what we will carry out. This aim is going to aid how we will “facilitate, fund, promote, and provide planning and organizational assistance to so-called grassroots organizations”. Our efforts come in many forms such as: launching campaigns against nuclear weapons testing, protesting whale hunting, and “international campaigns against the degradation of environmental goods caused by practices like “clearing of timber, and criticize states for their ineffective policies or transnational corporations for environmentally damaging production”.
There is incredible potential for the region to develop in a more environmentally sustainable way. While the above examples demonstrate that NGOs can play a major role in helping to address some of the environmental issues, there remain a number of challenges.
The first is that the role of the NGO is not well understood and recognized. NGOs, whose mandate is to contribute to causes such as environment, art, and education are misunderstood because we are seen as lobbyists against governments or even competitors.
The second challenge is a somewhat popular view in the region that NGOs are not needed because the government is seen as solely responsible for the welfare of its citizens and residents. This is exacerbated by a lack of faith in the ability of non-governmental actors to drive change in our countries — if governments with all their strengths and funding aren’t doing their job then how can an NGO do it? This perception is exemplified by the fact that there is no legal framework for NGOs to establish themselves in the region, which significantly hinders our work.