The NY – NJ Harbor Estuary Business Stewardship Program seeks to integrate
the resources of local businesses with coastal marine conservation efforts by leveraging
available human and financial capital and increasing pollution prevention awareness
within corporations, small businesses and industry.
The NY – NJ Harbor Estuary is home to one of the largest business communities in the
world. This includes thousands of corporations, manufacturers, and small businesses
that employ hundreds of thousands of residents and support local economies with
millions in revenues. At the same time, these entities contribute pollution and wastes
that greatly affect the health of natural systems. Past conservation strategies,
such as command and control regulations, were reactive and based on negative incentives
that created an ineffective business versus environment standard. More recent efforts
have attempted to shift towards more proactive approaches that incorporate businesses
into environmental management plans. However, for the most part these programs have
not addressed stewardship in a comprehensive manner that examines the entire spectrum
of business activities, impacts and resources.
CMRC’s Business Stewardship Program Initiative focuses on offering real mechanisms
for environmental coordination that are profitable and efficient for businesses within
the Harbor Estuary. While in currently in development, when established the initiative
will provides businesses with an opportunity to support coastal conservation activities,
while recognizing them for their positive contributions through reward and recognition programs.
Phase I of this effort is to review business stewardship programs region-wide,
such as the NY Academy of Sciences’ Harbor Project and Port Authority’s Greenports
Program, and then examine efforts outside the region such as Chesapeake Bay’s Businesses for the Bay.
CMRC is currently working with its public, private and non-profit sector partners
to develop and facilitate the following outputs:
- Detailed description of the business community in the New York – New Jersey region
- Catalogue of existing business stewardship programs in the Harbor Estuary
- Case studies of business stewardship efforts outside the region
- Stakeholders meetings with business, non-profit, and government focus groups
- Business Stewardship Program framework and recommended pilot projects
For more information on the Business Stewardship Program please
contact us.
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