The fly on the wall

30/04/1994

The fly on the wall THE logo of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SNF), a peregrine falcon in flight, may not be the most imaginative. But in the minds of many Swedes, the symbol of the threatened predator suggests something honest, close to nature and authentically Swedish.

One out of every 40 Swedes is a member of SNF, the country"s biggest environmental organisation. SNF embraces everything from nature hikes to political lobbying. Its goodwill is partly due to the innumerable nature hikes that unpaid members have organised for decades -- no profit motive, no glamour, just dedicated nature lovers with bins at the ready.

Perhaps this reputation is no less due to the fact that SNF has not ossified: its attention has shifted gradually from nature conservation to more modern environmental protection, generating respect and interest among the general public. Sweden"s two best-selling books in 1991 were a spy novel and SNF"s green shopping guide, Handla Miljovanligt.

SNF was founded by a small group of professors, authors and senior civil servants. Until the 1930s, it was very much an old boys" network, with only a couple of thousand members. But its presence was strong. Sweden"s first conservation legislation, for example, was drafted almost verbatim by SNF"s first chairperson, Sten Selander, author and member of the Swedish Academy.

"But," says Peter Westman, SNF"s international secretary, "SNF began to change from the inside. Instead of concentrating on rescuing frogs and other threatened species, it broadened its perspective to a campaign for the whole of the environment." SNF entered the lists against nuclear power and pollution and membership figures rose.

"The frog savers," Westman continues, "were joined by ordinary housewives who could see the pollution of the environment in their kitchen sinks." When the Chernobyl disaster coincided with reports about seal deaths in the Baltic and tree death in southwestern Sweden at the beginning of the "80s, membership figures and financial resources skyrocketed. In 10 years, SNF more than doubled its strength.

Most of SNF"s members, though, are not active workers. But they keep themselves informed and support the organisation through contributions. SNF"s active members are estimated at 5,000. The society has 267 local branches and is represented in nearly every municipality in Sweden. Issues vary according to region. In the sparsely populated northern municipalities, it is forest questions that predominate. In the south of Sweden and in Stockholm, the capital, traffic questions are the most pressing concern.

For some years now, a nationwide campaign has been in progress to reduce consumption of environmentally-harmful products. Members put pressure on local stores to stock only products meeting SNF"s ecological criteria. Parallel to these voluntary activities, a staff of about 60 officials and experts work to investigate, plan and inform. Nationwide campaigns are planned, targeting schools, universities, enterprises and the media. Surveys are conducted or commissioned to help members in their activities.

SNF is officially consulted by government commissions and its members work actively, through personal contacts and lobbying, to influence decision-making in national government and enterprises in an ecological direction.

For a couple of years now, SNF has run a joint programme with about 40 environmental organisations in the southern hemisphere, called The Environmental Movement That Is Transforming The World. Says Westman, "We have begun to realise that we must also work internationally in order to safeguard our own environment." Through this joint programme, SNF aims at reinforcing efforts made by local and national environmental organisations. Support goes to everything from lobbying against disastrous dam projects to youth activities and projects for sustainable use of resources.

The SNF secretariat also serves international networks of environmental organisations. Westman says these networks have already begun supporting SNF"s work in relation to the Swedish environment. Big Swedish forestry companies -- Sweden"s main source of foreign exchange -- never used to listen to what SNF had to say about ecologically correct felling operations. "But now, the networks and environmental organisations in our main export markets are writing to these companies, asking them what they are doing to preserve biodiversity and so on. This makes an impression on the companies and they have now suddenly begun to show interest in environmental issues."

The reverse, too, happens. Recently, a Laotian group sought SNF assistance in showing the World Bank the dangerous effects of a planned forestry project.

"Our opponents call us powerbrokers and say that we have too much say in things, but personally I feel more like a fly on the wall," says Magnus Nilsson, veteran member and SNF"s political secretary. Nilsson finds it hard to pinpoint how SNF has brought about lasting environmental improvements, but maintains that it was SNF that ended the spate of dam construction projects in Sweden a decade ago.

"This year, we have begun to gain a hearing for our demands that taxation be used as a means of improving the environment. The riksdag (parliament) is now dicussing our proposals for taxing fossil fuels."

"Although SNF is a democratic organisation," Westman observes, "its officers have a fairly free hand, subject to the guidelines laid down by the general assembly." Members plan the work of the local branches, but they have really only one opportunity every year to decide how SNF officials are to act at the central level.

However, environmental issues are not quite as fashionable in Sweden as they were a few years ago. Organisations like Greenpeace and WWF have lost members, while SNF"s strength has remained more or less intact. SNF, which for a long time has had excellent contacts in the academic world, is now moving in the opposite direction and focusing on the grassroots.

"After all," says Nilsson, "our 200,000 members include an immense, unutilised labour reserve. A great deal of political decision-making in Sweden is now being decentralised and so we will have to strengthen our local groups and involve them more so as to influence politics and the economy in an environment-friendly direction."

Westman anticipates similar developments at the global level. "With the EC, multinationals and the growing internationalisation of decision-making, it is becoming more important than ever for us in the environmental movement to join forces. The international grassroots of the environmental movement have nothing to lose and everything to gain through cooperation."

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