SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Human activity is causing the depletion of essential resources, global warming, rapid
loss of biodiversity, and accelerating degradation of Earth’s life support systems. These
developments threaten the livelihoods, health, and security of people in all nations and
cultures as well as the well-being of the greater community of life. The RBF’s sustainable
development grantmaking endeavors to address these challenges by supporting
environmental stewardship that is ecologically based, economically sound, socially just,
culturally appropriate, and consistent with intergenerational equity. The Fund
encourages government, business, and civil society to work collaboratively on
environmental conservation and to make it an integral part of all development planning
and activity. Recognizing the global nature of many environmental problems, the Fund
also promotes international cooperation in addressing these challenges.

Some of the Fund’s sustainable development strategies are pursued at the global level,
while others are pursued primarily in North America. The Russian Far East is the focus
of a modest program of grantmaking. In addition, sustainable development is a theme
that may be identified for attention in one or more of the Fund’s “pivotal places.” In all
regions where the RBF is engaged in sustainable development grantmaking, it monitors
the social and environmental effects of development programs and fiscal policies that
are associated with global economic integration and seeks to integrate activities across
geographic areas to promote maximum impact.

GOAL: COMBATING GLOBAL WARMING

In the United States and globally, the Fund supports efforts to combat global warming
and seeks to promote international cooperation on this issue through the following
strategies:

STRATEGIES

• Advancing cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy-based approaches to

reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

• Building public and policymaker understanding of the threat of global warming and
support for a range of actions to address this problem.

• Supporting efforts to strengthen and advance coordinated international action and

policy, which are particularly critical to the mitigation of global warming.

GOAL: PROTECTING ECOSYSTEMS AND CONSERVING BIODIVERSITY

The Fund seeks to conserve terrestrial and marine biodiversity by protecting and
restoring ecosystems and by fostering sustainable communities that pursue locally-
appropriate development plans. The Fund promotes this goal through the following
strategies:

STRATEGIES

• Supporting the conservation and sustainable use of remaining intact blocks of coastal
temperate rainforest lands, especially in British Columbia.

• Promoting sustainable forest management practices that maintain healthy forest

ecosystems and protect communities that are culturally and economically dependent on
them throughout the world.

• Supporting the reform of unsustainable fishery management practices in the United

States and British Columbia.

• Supporting efforts to protect Pacific Salmon, a “keynote species,” by encouraging

terrestrial and marine conservation programs that link the health of open ocean
ecosystems to that of forest watersheds in the Russian Far East.

Michael Northrop, program director, and Jessica Bailey, program officer, carry
responsibility for the Sustainable Development program.

The Sustainable Development program participates in the cross-programmatic initiative

on energy led by Jessica Bailey.