In two different conversations, folks with deep experience and wisdom had brought in the “missing” stakeholders who go unrepresented at the table when we’re discussing solutions, and the climate and ecological outcomes we see as a result of them missing from there.
One of them are the Unborn - whose world/time we borrow from to chase aspirations and dreams in our own. The other is the forest/natural world, which we steal easily from again.
In all our work, irrespective of what we do, how can we ensure we give these stakeholders representation and a voice in what we do, even in formal, recorded ways? In our problem solving, in our businesses, in governance?
Would love to know of examples of this, or even ideas one could start experimenting with.
First, we need to understand this problem and hence I am trying to understand this problem sitting on a bus, so you might encounter some grammatical and phrasing errors.
If we create a 2X2 Matrix taking four parameters - Visible, Invisible, Long-term, and Short-term - we can understand a lot about where our motivation lies in terms of giving care.
You see, the first stakeholder is in 3rd quadrant (Invisible and long-term). We humans are selfish and hence it would be almost impossible to generate any kind of care. Again, this is just a problem which means definitely soluble.
The 2nd stakeholder is in the 2nd quadrant (visible and long-term). I am sure not more than 2 to 3% of humans on this earth care about this as well.
As we all know most humans live in 1st quadrant (visible and short-term). In fact, most humans panicked seeing problems in the 1st quadrant.
This means if we display 2nd quadrant events as 1st backed by strong math with a detailed explanation that could demand less cognitive load - might be a potential solution.
Apple purchased 36,000 acres of forest with the invisible purpose of preventing shortages and keeping lower prices of packaging materials. (If I will put some more thoughts I can even tell you the economics behind this investment)
And hence I suggested the digitizations of forestation in my last comment because these are non-linear approaches but for 2nd quadrant problems we mostly have non-linear approaches only. In fact, I was also thinking about how can we convert invisible incentives into visible ones that could create a self-sustainable solution.
It sounds literally impossible to represent ‘Unborn’ or the future generations, and nature (flora and fauna).
Wait, but don’t we already have a place for them? I guess we have. Nature, and humans, including our future generation is at the heart of designing the SDGs.
The UN and along with other collaborators used various tools such as Keeling curve (representing variations CO2 over time), climate spirals (representing temp variations over time), planetary boundaries, and many other advance tools to give voice to our mother nature. These tools tell us how human greed has impacted our only home over time.
On the other hand, tools such has hunger and poverty are representing human side of the suffering
Together, these tools helped in determining steps required to address the sufferings of two important stakeholders.
And lastly, yes it is all being done for our future stakeholders. By the time our efforts starts generating real impact on nature, no one of us might be around to take credits.
The last line was for dramatic effect . But yes, by simply taking the path underlined by the 17 UN SDGs, you can ensure that you are already listening and working for these stakeholders.
While answering questions regarding the representation of these two stakeholders is tough, I am linking a short TED talk by Ashish Kothari on rights of nature, which you might find interesting.
. But yes, by simply taking the path underlined by the 17 UN SDGs, you can ensure that you are already listening and working for these stakeholders.