-------------------------------------------------- G D R C M o s a i c www.gdrc.org April 2006 -------------------------------------------------- Welcome to another edition of GDRC's Mosaic! This month, GDRC Mosaic is being set to more than 1200 subscribers in 120 countries worldwide. -------------------------------------------------- THIS MONTH'S SPOTLIGHT: Businesses Going Green from GDRC's Programme on Sustainable Businesses. Businesses are increasingly looking at making their operations more environmentally sustainable - driven by pressures that are internal (cutting costs, preventive measures etc.), as well as external (an aware clientele, discerning consumers etc.). A number of concepts are currently being used to make businesses more environmentally sustainable. They are directed at both the supply and demand ends of the product lifecycle, and many times spaning the entire continuum. This special feature of GDRC's Sustainable Business Programme looks at four concepts that enable businesses to 'go green' - (1) Green Productivity, (2) Green Consumerism, (3) Green Procurement, and (4) Green Labelling. GDRC has been working on these and related issues . Resources on this topic are available at: http://www.gdrc.org/sustbiz/green/a-green.html As with all sections of GDRC, contributions, comments and suggestions are always welcome from users and subscribers! Please contact GDRC's Coordinator at - mosaic@gdrc.org -------------------------------------------------- FOCUS ON GDRC: LEARNING LESSONS Problems-behind-problems [and solutions-for-solutions] Developing GDRC’s content has brought up an interesting lesson - When we look at problems we tend to look at only the facile or visible aspects and label them as ‘problems’. Slums or squatter settlements are a classic ‘problem’ that is always mentioned in improving urban environments. But is it a ‘problem’? What is the real problem with respect to slums? What problems lie behind this visible, tangible ‘problem’ – lack of political will? Vested private interests? Land management policies? Or a combination of these? There will always be problems behind the visible p roblems and to find a lasting sustainable solution, we need to find out what these are to attack the root causes and reasons of the end problem. And similarly we need to find solutions that can generate more solutions – one action that fosters, supports and enables more action to be taken, by a wider range of stakeholders. -------------------------------------------------- MONTHLY STATISTICS FOR GDRC'S WEBSITE Total hits encountered - 1,309,328 Total files downloaded - 1,029,031 Total pages viewed - 499,038 Total web visitors - 157,371 Total KBytes - 10,807,965 Pages per day - Avg. 16,634. Max - 23,476 Visits per day - Avg. 5,245 Max. - 7,887 -------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S NEW AT GDRC'S WEBSITE? Some highlights of new items added to GDRC's programmes: Urban Environmental Management: Energy Systems: Pages on Wind Energy and Wave+Tide \ Energy were updated and new info added. NGO Cafe: Bungee Jumps [Japan NGO Scene]: Japan's NPO Law Microfinance: Case Studies: Africap Microfinance Fund Sustainable Business: Documents and Reports: More than 3Rs! -------------------------------------------------- ABOUT GDRC MOSAIC The "GDRC Mosaic" is a monthly email newsletter that provides information bites, and summarizes programme activities of GDRC, including new items added to the website. You are welcome to forward this newsletter to friends and interested people! To subscribe: http://www.gdrc.org/about/newsletter.html To unsubscribe: unsubscribe-mosaic@gdrc.org Comments/suggestions/contributions: mosaic@gdrc.org -------------------------------------------------- CONTACT ADDRESS: Global Development Research Center 1-5-1-1013, Mori Minami Machi, Higashi Nada-ku, Kobe 658-001, Japan Tel / Fax: +(81-78) 452-8414 Email: mosaic@gdrc.org Web: http://www.gdrc.org/ -------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 2005-2007, GDRC. All rights reserved.