Daxam Sustainability Services

“Forum for sustainable development on the Mekong Delta (Vietnam)”

admin — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:48:49 +0000

Ana from Daxam and Linus Hasselström from Enveco, representing Fores, were invited to give a presentation at the forum “Nature and Culture Conservation Forum for the sustainable development on the Mekong Delta” in Ca Mau, Vietnam.

This was the 5th edition of the forum and the theme was Maintaining Ecosystem Services in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. The forum was organised by the Vietnamese Biodiversity Conservation Agency with the matching funds of WWF and Sida.

Fores, EES, Enveco and Daxam are working together with Vietnamese partners in a project to pilot a payment structure for the coastal wetland ecosystem services (PES) in Mui Ca Mau National Park in the context of climate change and poverty reduction in the local community. For this reason, we gave a presentation titled “Using PES in Mui Ca Mau NP – An overview of ecosystem services in the NP and lessons learned from other ecosystem services markets”.

According to WWF experts that were in Ca Mau, “the recovery and maintenance of ecosystems and their services require synchronization of local policies to ensure sustainable livelihoods for those still dependent on rice planting, fishing and aquaculture. Increasing awareness of the need for environmental protection in local communities is also critical—along with the development of Mechanisms and tools to support ecosystem service payments (PES)”. The main objective of the forum was to help policy makers in the region to better understand the importance of ecosystem services for economic and social development and environmental protection, and to show them the tools and policies that are available so they will be able to consider ecosystem services while planning the use of natural resources such as those provided by mangrove forests.

Workshop – It is time to make the Swedish offices’ coffee rooms sustainable

admin — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:08:05 +0000

Many of us feel that the time is ripe to “make Sweden’s office coffee rooms sustainable once and for all”.

In order to investigate interest and possibilities, we will hold a first ‘problem in the middle’ type workshop in Stockholm on the 26th of March, and are working to ensure key representatives from all relevant sectors will come and bring their knowledge, experience, ideas and energy, so that together we can make this change for the better.

Of course sustainability performance improvements in the coffee room are not core business, but helping Sweden take this further step towards responsible consumption is good for brand Sweden and hence good for us all. It is also an exercise that in a small but tangible way helps contribute to the continual development of culture and practice of sustainability thinking.

So, who could this be interesting for?

HR practitioners working in the areas of employee health, wellbeing, motivation and productivity; Purchasing personnel responsible for sustainable procurement; CSR/ Sustainability experts from academia and relevant NGOs; representatives from catering/ food distribution companies, and Sweden’s best and brightest fika room product suppliers.

If you are interested to participate, please click here for more information: Swedish: Tiden är mogen! inbjudan and English: Tiden är mogen! inbjudan (ENGLISH)

Pilot project on Payment for Ecosystem Services in Vietnam

admin — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:12:22 +0000

In partnership with Forum for Reforms, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (FORES) and Environmental Economics in Sweden (EES) and the Vietnamese Biodiversity Conservation Agency (BCA), Daxam has been awarded a project to pilot a payment structure for the coastal wetland ecosystem services (PES) in Mui Ca Mau National Park in Vietnam in the context of climate change and poverty reduction in local community. The 1M USD project commenced the 15 of Nov 2012 and goes for 1 year with co-financing from Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The overall objective of the project is through a pilot PES, to do a reality check of the application of a relatively new concept of PES into a country where regulations have been dominated as major state governance tools. A PES structure will be constructed together with development and testing of small household livelihood models that generate incomes for the poor and provide means for the payment for the environmental services. Lessons learnt will be drawn for further replication of PES schemes in other areas in Vietnam.

Experts from Daxam will conduct field study to evaluate the ecosystem services which are potentially used for local livelihood models of small agribusiness and tourism. The experts are also in charge of stakeholder analysis and capacity need assessment to the national regulating agencies for them to effectively apply market based instruments such as PES in the management of biodiversity of the national parks. Daxam will also be responsible for the coordination between Swedish and Vietnamese implementing partners.

First PACT Nordic pilots successfully completed

admin — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:55:26 +0000

As part of the the high profile Adaptation Strategies for European Cities project, the first three Nordic pilots of the adaptation module of the PACT – Performance Acceleration through Capacity Transformation – Action Planning Tool have been completed. The piloting cities are Albertslund (Denmark), Lahti (Finland) and Malmö (Sweden).

Daxam coaching role within the EU Cities Adapt project

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:13:14 +0000

As part of the DG Climate Action EU Cities Adapt project, twenty-one cities have completed an online self-assessment of their current adaptive capacity using the PACT framework.

The detailed reports produced for each city will feed into the design of training and coaching activities to be carried out at workshops in Rotterdam, Dublin and Dresden, with the aim to provide capacity building and assistance for cities in developing and implementing an adaptation strategy.

Stuart Filshie of Daxam will support the PACT ABL team in delivery of coaching to aid the development of tailored adaptation strategies for each participating city.

Daxam presents at CSR Europe

admin — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:12:07 +0000

Daxam partner Mike Debelak presented his research and business proposition for a “collaborative distribution model to the base of the pyramid” at a CSR Europe conference in Brussels last week. The conference explored partnership opportunities for meeting the needs of the poor in developing markets, with a specific focus on access to energy, food, nutrition, agriculture and healthcare. Around 50 participants attended the conference from 18 businesses and 20 public organisations, including Phlips, Unilever, Coca Cola and the UNDP amongst others.
The conference was successful in building the foundation for stronger partnerships focussed on inclusive business at the base of the pyramid. Daxam is currently working with some of the conference participants to build a coalition of organisations interested in meeting the needs of the poor in Ghana and Vietnam.

Go to CSR Europe

Daxam attends Covenant capaCITY Conference in Malmö

admin — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:29:44 +0000

Covenant capaCITY Conference: Energy Action Planning made easy!

The conference took place in the city of Malmö (18th September 2012) and it is part of a 3-year project named “Capacity building of local governments to advance Local Climate and Energy Action – from planning to action to monitoring“. The main project aim is to assist Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) development in Europe – from motivation, planning, implementation, to monitoring and evaluating.

At the Covenant capaCITY Conference experts and users shared with assistants useful guidance, great ideas and tips on how to proceed with SEAP (Sustainable Energy Action Plan) development and stakeholder involvement. The event aimed to improve local leaders’ and municipal staffs’ capacity of compliance.

Daxam is growing!

admin — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 06:53:21 +0000

Daxam is happy to welcome three new members to the team – Trang Tran, Stuart Filshie and Sandra Samuelson.

Trang is Vietnamese, and has 10 years of work in the development sector in Vietnam and Lao PDR where she has developed expertise in project management, business and environmental management and strategic consultancy. She is currently delivering a project on Payment for Ecosystem Services in collaboration with Swedish and Vietnamese partners.

Stuart, originally from Scotland has made Sweden his home since 1989. He is a senior consultant with more than 20 years of consulting experience, working with IT, business and organisational development. Stuart has extensive training in the Natural Step methodology and has recently completed a Masters in Leadership towards Sustainability from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden.

Sandra recently joined Daxam as an Analyst and is part of the PACT Nordic team. She is also the organiser of the Green Drinks Göteborg, and after the success of the first event you will not want to miss the next one!

Once again, we would like to welcome our new team members on board! The Daxam team hopes that you three will enjoy this exciting journey together!

Popular evening at the relaunch of Green Drinks Göteborg

admin — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:12:17 +0000

On the September 6th Daxam helped to relaunch Green Drinks Göteborg at Lokal bar, which turned out to be a successful night. There was a big interest for Green Drinks and about 70 persons turned up to discuss and mingle with other likeminded, sustainability interested people.

Webinar on PACT for Municipalities together with Hållbar Utveckling Väst and Klimatkommunerna

admin — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 08:56:12 +0000

On September 3rd Hållbar Utveckling Väst, Klimatkommunerna and Daxam held a webinar for Swedish municipalities to introduce PACT, a strategic organizational capacity development tool.

Brett Hagen, Environment Manager at Crawley Borough Council, UK, shared his municipality’s experience with PACT over the last 3 years, and together with Doogie Black of Alexander Ballard Ltd and Kristen Guida of Climate South East, UK, answered questions about the application and value of PACT.

If you are interested to listen to the webinar, or to have a look at the material, please click here. (The webinar is half in Swedish, half in English, the written material is in Swedish.)

And if you want to learn more about PACT, follow this link.