10th Forum on CSR in Senegal : “Businesses for Biodiversity Conservation”
The 10th edition of the «Forum on CSR in Senegal» is the opportunity to create exchanges between all actors on this years theme which is "Businesses for Biodiversity Conservation" in Senegal.
Overview of the project
In order to respond to the expectations and economic and social aspirations of the Senegalese population and especially those of Youth, in recent years, Senegal has accelerated its investissements in production and infrastructures that have a big impact on the environment such as oil and gas exploitation, mining extraction, construction of infrastructure (roads and highways, bridges, ports, rails, thermal power plants, air, etc.
A major challenge will therefore be to not ‘clone’ the development model promoted by European countries and on the contrary, to think of a new socio-economic model adapted to Senegal and enabling the country to separate the economy from natural resources! to know how to prosper without over-consuming and exploiting natural resources.
In this context, the Business Community plays an essential role in building this new economy:
- on one side, it requires large businesses (but also all economic actors that use natural resources such as hotels, agricultural companies etc, to commit to integrating biodiversity into their global development strategies and then, to contribute to fulfilling the objectives defined by the national and international community on biodiversity
- and which, above all, must be really engaged on a local level in order to encourage the mobilization and empowerment of all stakeholders, beyond those of the company.
This 10th Edition of CSR Forum in Senegal follows the momentum created by the two past editions of the National Conference on Sustainable development (“Conférence Nationale sur le Développement Durable” CNDD) and will for the first time, present a debate on strategic CSR and sustainable development on a local level, in a rural community and will give content to a Stakeholders Dialogue in the context of ecological solidarity.
Promoting biodiversity conservation for companies thanks to dialogue between multi-actors stakeholders, firstly on local level (Rural community of Fimela, Senegal) by a group of businesses committed to promoting CSR.
Launching
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This debate setting will allow various categories of concerned actors by biodiversity conservation in the Delta du Fleuve Saloum (river) to participate such as:
- Private sector actors:
- Representatives of local economic actors
- Representatives of micro and small industries in the Agriculture sector using local goods
- Representatives of large businesses with strong environmental impacts (roads, bridges, petrol, mining…)
- Representatives of large businesses of services currently evolving in the Delta of River Saloum (such as electricity, bank, telecommunication…)
- Public and local authorities and institutions
- Actors from Civil Society that are evolving in the domain of biodiversity conservation on local and national level.
The 10th Edition of the CSR Forum in Senegal aims to:
- Create a real dynamic to protect, value and restore biodiversity
- Raising businesses’ awareness on Biodiversity Conservation issues and the reduction of their environmental impacts (mainly those on the Delta of River Saloum).
- Sharing the experiences of large companies in the domain of prevention and environmental risks as well as the appropriate measures
- Strengthening capacities between enterprises and local actors on facilating tools implemented through local strategies in order to preserve biodiversity and sustainable development (norm ISO 260000, Agenda 21, Strategic Environmental test etc).
La 10° édition du Forum sur la RSE au Sénégal vise les objectifs suivants :
- Créer auprès des entreprises et des acteurs locaux une véritable dynamique collective pour protéger, valoriser et restaurer la biodiversité.
- Sensibiliser les entreprises sur les enjeux de la préservation de la Biodiversité et de la réduction de leurs impacts environnementaux, en particulier au niveau du Delta du Fleuve Saloum.
- Partager les expériences des grandes entreprises dans le domaine de la prévention des risques environnementaux et les mesures appropriées (incitations, atténuations, réhabilitations, compensations, etc…).
- Renforcer les capacités des entreprises et des acteurs locaux sur des outils facilitant la mise en oeuvre de stratégies locales de préservation de la biodiversité et développement durable (norme ISO 26000, Agenda 21, Evaluation Environnementale Stratégique, etc…).
- Raising large companies’ internet in deplouing the area of the Saloum River Delta Community Engagement projects responding to environmental and tourism issues. Other objectives ((impact on local tourism):
- Promoting the area and its tourism potential to managers and executives
- Generating financial resources for local economic actors (hoteliers and suppliers)
Privat sector contributions (companies committed to the CSR approach)
organisation
Created in 2008 by Mr. Philippe Barry, the Initiative RSE Senegal is a private initiative that aims to promote Corporate Social Responsibility within Senegalese and West-African businesses.
The CSR Initiative is guided by African development which should value local resources (skills and local goods) and make all West-African companies conceive a community project for sustainable development in order to create outreach for CSR in West African countries. The Initiative is supported by a network of private companies (“Réseau RSE Sénégal”/CSR Network Senegal) and by institutional partners such as the Canadian Embassy, the Dutch Embassy, the AFD (“Agence française du développement”/French Development Agency), Institute for Science and Environment, the University of Dakar, the National Council for French bosses in Senegal).
in collaboration
