In many countries, pressure is brought to bear on politicians, governments and decision-makers to address environmental concerns as a result of organised and opportunistic lobbying and advocacy, mainly by civil society organisations, NGOs and the general public, and by civil society organisations playing an oppositional role (e.g. seeking to hold authorities to account)¹. Such interactions can pave the way for more in-depth discussions. In many countries the voice of civil society is growing. For example, in Uganda there is:

“…Pressure from a growing active civil society organization movement, as evidenced in the media and liberalization of both radio and television stations. There is no doubt therefore that if government empowered the general public about their rights, and invested in other potential tools like Public Information Disclosure, the practice of environmental mainstreaming would be more sustained.” (Birungi, 2008)

There is also often a demand, particularly in developed countries, from the public and other stakeholders for companies to adopt measures which will ensure better environmental performance stipulated by standards and limits set by legislation. In developing countries, the demand is much less. Some examples can be found in literature produced by the UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (see: www.scp-centre.org). An interesting case is the support by civil society groups such as Ufadhili in Kenya (see: www.ufadhilitrust.org) for the application of extra-territorial standards such as Globalgap². Even though Globalgap is seen by many small farmers groups in Africa as imposed, poorly adapted and undemocratic (as is a private standard), Ufadhili opposed weakening the standard, as it was seen (i) to have a positive spill-over into the domestic market and thereby one of the only ways to level the playing field between Northern and Southern consumers in terms of access to safe and green foods, and (ii) as a way around the compromised and self-serving process of national policy making.

Sometimes personal and ethical values play a key role in motivating people, either individually or in their formal roles, to address environmental concerns - what DBSA (2008) describe as “the moral need to protect ecosystems and their services and use them wisely, love of life and natural/cultural heritage.”