Mission

SDI seeks to heighten the environmental quality of economic development efforts through improvements in policy and practice. Its geographical concentration is on tropical forest regions and the Atlantic coast of Canada, the U.S., and the eastern Caribbean.

A specialist in environmental communications, SDI informs policymakers and the general public about positive grassroots activities that demonstrate synergies between economic and environmental goals, but too often fail to get recognition or support from policy communities.

SDI also works to enlighten such decision makers about the sometimes sharply negative environmental and economic consequences of poorly conceived development projects. When appropriate, SDI tries to build linkages between groups working at the grassroots level in order to strengthen their overall effectiveness and enhance their appeal to policy communities.

Atlantic CoastWatch

Community Forest Management

Tropical forest decline remains a worldwide problem that constitutes a security risk as well as a severe environmental hazard for many nations and regions. By treating these forests less as biological resources or human habitats than as commodities, governments, several branches of industry, and international development agencies have all contributed to the problem. Among many remedies being attempted, an especially promising one is the empowerment of tribal and indigenous forest dwellers in many lands who benefit not from the forest's destruction but from its survival and regeneration. In many developing countries, community forestry projects have yielded encouraging results at a low cost.

With a three year grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, SDI has been working: (a) to highlight these positive examples in the global policy making communities, and (b) to emphasize among aid donors and lenders the gap between their new policies with regard to community participation in forest projects, and what is actually happening in practice. SDI has conducted a groundbreaking global email conference on this subject and prepared and published a number of  reports on this and other community forestry particulars. Results will be fully presented in SDI's own book on the subject Tropical Forests & the Human Spirit to be published by the University of California Press in 2001.

Development Blueprint for Long Island, NY

This area, which has extraordinarily high environmental values that constitute its comparative economic advantage, is also under heavy attack from pollution and sprawl. Since 1992, SDI Director and President Roger D. Stone has been researching ways for the island to achieve economic stability by basing its development planning on environmental considerations. In May 1996 Waterline Books, a specialist in Long Island materials, published his fulllength book on the subject. Entitled Fair Tide: Sailing Toward Long Island's Future, this work describes the region's rich environmental history and also highlights the economic and environmental advantages of sensitive forms of development as alternatives to the destructive planning and zoning zeitgeist of the postWorld War II decades.

In July 1996, SDI separately published a brief summary of the book's recommendations and the rationale for them. Several thousand copies of this report have been distributed throughout the island with the assistance of local partners. The report has also been posted on the World Wide Web. A number of town boards and town planning boards have expressed enthusiasm and their intention to incorporate SDI's ideas into their planning. In the future SDI will continue to advocate the implementation of its recommendations.

In the future we may begin publishing a bimonthly Pacific CoastWatch similar to Atlantic CoastWatch in style and format. The geographical range of Pacific CoastWatch coverage will extend from Alaska’s Pacific coast (including the Aleutian chain) southward to the end of Baja California. We will cover the entire Sea of Cortez and all inland waterways, estuaries, and major river systems lying to the north.

As does the Atlantic edition, Pacific CoastWatch will provide concisely packaged and practical information about successes and failures, lessons learned, new ideas or approaches, new scientific discoveries or suggestions. Subjects to be highlighted include land use and land conservation, habitat and species protection, forms of pollution that affect coastal waters, and inshore fisheries--all paramount among the issues facing those seeking better coastal management.

The tightly-written eight page newsletter will provide summary information. With almost every story, guidance will be offered as to how to find out more by phone, mail, or the World Wide Web. Recipients targeted include regional officials of federal agencies, state and local government officials, citizen groups, people in academic and research institutions, the media, and the general public. A Pacific Advisory Committee composed of distinguished Western citizens, leaders, and scientists will help us focus our work.

St. Mary's County in southern Maryland is rich in biological, historic, and cultural resources.  This fast‑growing region boasts economic opportunities in such sectors as high‑tech business, tourism, and recreation.  It is also beset by heavy development pressures and undergoing incipient sprawl. For some time we have been been deeply involved in efforts to manage growth better in this region.  Our goal is to engage local citizens and leaders in a broad effort to define core values and aspirations connected to place, and build community consensus and policy around them.  Our methodology's organizing principle is whole systems thinking, as defined and practiced in recent years by the late Donella Meadows and others, and applying this methodology to critical issues in a rapidly evolving community.

Already, a team of prominent whole-systems thinkers we have assembled has done much to influence the County's top leaders to approach decision-making from a holistic perspective.  Now we are embarking on a pioneering partnership with St. Mary's College, a first-class liberal arts branch of the University of Maryland, to create a model for utilizing local academic institutions to build ongoing community resources to support this type of thinking. 

The inter-disciplinary River Lands Institute will relate the College's scientific, cultural and socio-economic knowledge to community needs, and build a  "land ethic" rooted in shared values.   Representatives of several academic departments will base research, education, and outreach activities at the Institute.  SDI's team will act as a bridge between town and gown, integrating data, facilitating dialogue, and documenting the outcomes in a book (already under contract) and other print and electronic publications.  The Institute's achievements will clearly show how an academic institution can interact more closely and more creatively with the place that surrounds it, to the benefit of students, faculty, citizens, and community.

As an initial venture for the Institute, we and the College are focusing on the St. Mary's River watershed as a prototype for future projects at the Institute and elsewhere.  The watershed, which lies entirely within the County and forms the very heart of its ecosystem, is a microcosm of the land-use issues faced by the County as a whole.  For several years College scientists and students have been studying trends in the watershed's water quality and biodiversity.  Our group has launched a systems-based examination of past, present, and future land uses involving an intensive Geographical Information Systems mapping program. Currently we are engaging the community in analyzing these findings, visualizing the consequences of various development options, and conducting watershed management planning activities.  This initiative addresses an important goal of the tri-state Chesapeake Bay Agreement.  It also provides a model for building a community's understanding and stewardship of its unique natural, economic, cultural, and historical resources.

A book about St. Mary's County's history, culture, and evolution is under contract to the University of Georgia Press for delivery in December 2003.