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Audubon International's PESP Strategy
Describe your Organization’s Five-Year Goals Related to Pesticide Risk Reduction
We envision our communities becoming more sustainable through good stewardship of the natural environment where people live, work, and recreate. To this end, we provide people with the education and assistance they need to practice responsible management of land, water, wildlife, and natural resources.
Pesticide risk reduction is one aspect of striving for sustainability and integrated pest management makes up one part of all our different initiatives (described below) and programs. We educate pesticide users to practice integrated pest management and to naturalize the managed turfgrass landscape to reduce or eliminate pesticide use. We also provided an information exchange and positive role models of those practicing such methods to encourage and motivate others.
What do you envision doing (broadly) to try to resolve your major issues?
Audubon International emphasizes voluntary action leading to environmental improvement. To help foster communities that are more sustainable, we focus on four distinct areas for affecting change:
- Community Engagement, Planning, & Action
- Eco-Design & Development
- Environmental Stewardship & Management
- Golf and the Environment
Our programs, services, and initiatives are based on Audubon International’s Principles for Sustainable Resource Management, which are:
- Encourage resource management practices that have the greatest positive impact on plant and wildlife species, water, and the ecosystems that sustain life.
- Strive to use resources that are most easily renewed.
- Strive to eliminate or reduce the use of resources that are difficult or impossible to renew.
- Encourage activities that result in identifying new resources and technologies and enhance our current resource base in ways that will maximize positive impacts on the overall quality of life and the environment.
- Encourage human activities and practices that conserve water and protect or enhance water quality on a local and global basis.
- Encourage human activities, practices, and land uses that support healthy ecosystems that maintain and enhance biodiversity.
- Consider the geographic and ecological contexts in which our actions take place, and at the same time strive to manage resources within the natural limitations and opportunities defined by ecosystems and geographic boundaries.
Goal 1 and Tactics
As mounting economic, social, and environmental challenges face communities everywhere, community leaders are increasingly embracing the concept of sustainability as an integrated way to achieve healthy and vibrant communities, now and for future generations. Through the Community Engagement, Planning, & Action Initiative, we help community leaders and stakeholders to embrace environmental stewardship and sustainability as a central element of planning, policies, and practices.
Goals
Facilitate Best Practices
Assist communities in becoming models for sustainability by helping community leaders and managers to better integrate environmental stewardship and sustainability goals in community-wide planning, policies, and practices.
Drive Change
Document and publicize the environmental, economic, and social outcomes of model communities to inspire change elsewhere.
Offer New Solutions
Identify existing policy barriers (e.g., governmental, economic) that hinder the establishment of more sustainable communities as well as alternatives to overcome these barriers.
Selected Priorities
- Focus on improving the environment in small and medium-sized municipalities and large resort communities through the delivery of the Sustainable Communities Program
- Develop and distribute case studies and fact sheets on the benefits of sustainable community best practices.
- Reach out to the 200,000-plus neighborhood and homeowner associations in the U.S., through the Audubon Partners for the Environment—Neighborhoods. • Deliver sustainable communities training and programs to leaders in the 900-plus towns across New York State.
- Develop an Advisory Council to provide advice, services, promotional support, and create new opportunities for change.
Goal 2 and Tactics
Land development has significant impacts on the nature of our communities. As population and our human footprint continue to grow, so too will our need to develop the land with nature in mind. The Eco-Design & Development Initiative serves to leverage innovation and best management practices to create models for the proper siting, design, construction, and management of new developments.
Goals
Facilitate Best Practices
Assist in creating model developments that protect the environment, while also meeting desired economic and social outcomes, by emphasizing eco-design, construction, and sustainable resource management.
Drive Change
Document and publicize the environmental, economic, and social outcomes of model sustainable developments to inspire change in others.
Offer New Solutions
Identify existing policy barriers (e.g., governmental, economic) that hinder the establishment of more sustainable new developments, as well as alternatives to overcome these barriers.
Selected Priorities
- Increase participation in the Audubon Signature Programs— targeting large-scale neighborhood subdivisions and resort-based projects—as a way to protect and sustain the environment.
- Develop and publish case studies and report the positive economic and environmental results of eco-centric design and development through conferences and publication.
- Ensure long-term participation and education of program end-users of eco-developments (i.e., homeowners).
- Develop new ways to incorporate eco-design and development principles into small-scale, residential subdivisions.
- Develop an Advisory Council to provide advice, services, promotional support, and new funding capacity.
Goal 3 and Tactics
The ways in which individuals and organizations manage land and use water, energy, and other resources have enormous consequences for our environment. Individual do, indeed, make a difference. The Environmental Stewardship & Management Initiative seeks to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship and help people improve the way they manage resources so that they make a positive difference in contributing to a more sustainable world.
Goals
Facilitate Best Practices
Assist organizations and individuals in adopting a stewardship ethic and practicing sound environmental management.
Drive Change
Document and publicize the environmental, economic, and social outcomes of sound environmental management to inspire broad-based change.
Offer New Solutions
Collaborate with governmental agencies, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations to promote broad-based conservation awareness, education, and action.
Selected Priorities
- Facilitate best management by reaching out to city and town park departments, park concessionaires, and business associations through the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program
- Increase environmental awareness and projects by educating school & youth groups, Chambers of Commerce, and other associations through Audubon Partners for the Environment.
- Increase the number of hotels participating in the Audubon Greenleaf Eco-rating Program, creating incentives and partnerships with credit card processors, insurance companies, etc.
- Create an Advisory Council to provide advice, promotional support, innovative solutions and new funding capacity.
- Increase program participation and environmental stewardship and management activity in New York State.
Goal 4 and Tactics
Golf has a unique role to play in caring for our environment. By their very nature, golf courses provide significant natural areas that benefit people and wildlife in increasingly urbanized communities across North America. At the same time, golf’s use of chemicals, water, and other resources to maintain playing conditions is often criticized for threatening the quality of our environment. The Golf & the Environment Initiative seeks to assist golf courses in becoming a valuable part of our conservation landscape, while building support for more eco-friendly golf throughout the golf industry.
Goals
Facilitate Best Practices
Assist golf courses and golf courses developments in providing wildlife habitat, protecting water quality, and improving overall environmental performance.
Drive Change
Document and publicize the environmental, economic, and social outcomes of environmentally-responsible golf course development and management as a model for change in other business sectors.
Offer New Solutions
Grow the market for eco-responsible golf by collaborating with industry, government, private sector, and non-profit stakeholders.
Selected Priorities
- Increase participation in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses and golf courses working through the Audubon Signature Programs—currently at 15% in the U.S.
- Develop and distribute facts sheets, presentations, and case studies centered on the business value of environmental stewardship.
- Develop the incentives for eco-responsible golf such as reduced insurance costs, premium credit card processing rates, and enhanced publicity for certified golf courses.
- Increase awareness through the Audubon Green Golfer Pledge.