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Sustainability at the Crossroads of Finance, Social Responsibility and the Environment: A Primer on Microfinance for Conservation Practitioners

Anything “sustainable”—be it a bank, a community, or an ecosystem in nature—is defined by the fact that it is, effectively, a whole system unto itself, one which does not ultimately rely on external inputs—of financial, human, or natural capital—to survive if left independent from the rest of the world. This Master’s Project explores the nuanced meanings of sustainability in the context of businesses and organizations which focus on financial self-reliance, microfinance institutions and development organizations devoted to a social mission of poverty alleviation beyond basic fiscal responsibility, and environmental NGOs and green businesses who seek to achieve “environmental sustainability.” I provide a primer on microfinance for conservation organizations and individuals interested in investing in “Green” microfinance and social entrepreneurship, using principles established by leaders in the field of triple bottom line (TBL) business strategy and sustainable development. Introduction With rising concern worldwide over the impacts of human-induced climate change and environmental degradation, nonprofit organizations, corporations and individuals alike are increasingly being forced to consider the impacts of their activities on the local and global environment. Those who will be most affected by the potential impacts of global climate change—like rising sea levels and desertification—are the extreme poor. As noted in the Johannesburg Declaration, “the adverse effects of 1 UN Millennium Campaign, 2007: http://endpoverty2015.org/ 2 "Poverty and Climate Change: Reducing the Vulnerability of the Poor through 3 climate change are already evident, natural disasters are more frequent and more devastating and developing countries more vulnerable.” Experts believe that the world’s poor will suffer the most drastic impacts from climate change because of both their greater dependence on natural resources in their immediate surroundings as well as their “limited capacity to cope with climate variability and extremes.” Developing strategies and tools that can help to reduce the vulnerability of the poor while also protecting critical natural resources represents an urgent need for the global community. Microfinance represents one tool that has been proven effective at poverty alleviation, by empowering the poor through small business loans, group participatory lending structures, and safe institutions for saving money. Consequently, microfinance may serve as an integral component of climate change adaptation strategies geared at reducing the vulnerability of the poor to the impacts of climate change. The international development community is just beginning to explore the evolution of thinking around the issue of environmental sustainability at the crossroads of microfinance, social enterprise development, and poverty alleviation. Achieving fiscal, social and environmental sustainability (the triple bottom line) represents exciting new territory for corporations and NGOs in the developed world—where tremendous profits can be made by providing products that are both good for people and the environment. However, meeting these three bottom lines represents a much more urgent challenge for Adaptation." Prepared by African Development Bank; Asian Development Bank; Department for International Development, United Kingdom; Directorate-General for Development, European Commission; Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Development Cooperation, The Netherlands; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; United Nations Development Program; United Nations Environment Program; The World Bank. Report presented at The Eighth Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in New Delhi, 2002. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid 4 poor communities at the bottom of the development pyramid—where the poor themselves are likely to be more vulnerable to any environmental costs associated with business or other economic development. Objective This Master’s Project will explore the nuanced meanings of sustainability in the context of businesses and organizations which focus on financial self-reliance, microfinance institutions and development organizations devoted to a social mission of poverty alleviation beyond basic fiscal responsibility, and environmental NGOs and green businesses who seek to achieve “environmental sustainability” on top of the other two bottom lines. In particular, I explore the evolution of the concept of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) of fiscal, social and environmental sustainability and how the TBL might be applied at the level of grassroots development—specifically to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and microfinance institutions focusing on poverty alleviation. For leaders in the environmental conservation community, this document will serve as a primer on some of the current challenges facing the microfinance industry and how microfinance might be integrated into overall strategies for promoting environmental sustainability among the vulnerable poor, especially in the context of climate change adaptation. For prospective donors/ investors and leaders in the microfinance sector, this document will offer some insight into the potential environmental challenges associated with microfinance as well as the landscape of opportunities cropping up at the intersection of microfinance and the environment.