Building trust is part of United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, justice, strong institutions
Building trust in common climate solutions is crucial. Trust is an underrated, undervaluated part of United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal no 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions. An institution is strong when it obtains trust from the people. You win trust step by step: Truth, flexible, include, respect. For each step leaders need to use compassionate, empatic listening and communication. This is lacking too often. The result is mistrust. Here are 8 examples on how to build trust for common solutions: (Ecologic Solidarity Economy article number 7):
1)SDG 16: Peace, justice, strong institutions
United Nation’s sustainable development goal (SDG) number 16 of 17 is very important and says: «Peace, justice and strong institutions.» If measures for sustainable development are experienced as unjust, the majority of people will refuse to support it. Strong institutions means for instance they are strong because they have legitimity. People trust in them. Trust is something you win and obtain.
2)Maslow needs in communities - step by step
The social needs are to survive, security/safety, be included, respected. Trust is a process built step by step from survival/truth to safety/security/flexible/open to inclusion to respect and the result is trust. First after these needs are satisfied - then people may be more easily interested, motivated and willing to co-create common future and unleash potential. The fith need of Maslow is unleash potential.
3)Worthy wage to live upon
The social dimension of sustainable development is about people and society. Social costs of workers, consumers and people in society should be taken into account and internalised in the costs of production. This means a viable pay back to all costs of production. In addition, economic sustainable contains also - earnings to allow paying tax to the commons and freedom of action to improve and invest in research and development. When people get a worthy wage to live upon – they may be much more eager to support common solutions for nature and climate. Poor people need to focus on ther own survival – and not common climate measures.
4)Reduce inequalities
Treathening and hurting trust - is also inequalities of opportunities. Redistribution from poor to rich – is the opposite to Robin hood policy. He took from the rich and gave to the poor. Redistribution of wealth, income, money, resources, common goods, tax avoidance from public, consumers, common people, poor - to super-rich, millionaires. Very many think inequalities are unethical and unjust. It hurts and is opposite to the United Nation’s sustainable development goal (SDG) 10 of 17: «Reduce inequalities.» Economy should be just, fair, fredom for all – not only for the richest. If people see inequalities are reduced – trust to the elites and solutions they propose - will increase.
5)Nontransparent trade and company agreements
Trade agreements are said to often have democracy deficit. One problem to the deficit may be complex kinds of ownership, decitionmaking, dispute settlement in new juridical bodies are difficult to understand. Another cause of mistrust is: When leaders, negotiators, politicians tell domestic opinion that the country has a large room of action and interpretation – this may be play for domestic gallery. Other countries and the dispute settlement atthornies may have a stricter meaning of the room of maneuer. When opinion is confused and uncertain who they should believe in, they get brain confusion, cognitive dissonance – and enthusiasm and trust may decrease. Even more the trust may decrease when politicians promise a positive possibility - and the dispute settlement mechanism decides that the positive interpretation is forbidden. This is an argument in favour of more to be decided local – in order to win more trust by local populations. Bottom up processes with aim of solving local needs are good in order to include and create trust. If the aim is free unregulated trade, and comes from the top down – lack of democracy, transparency, enthusiasm and trust are probable.
6)Saying «green» and do the opposite, leads to mistrust
Lack of transparency and keeping back information leads generally to mistrust. This may be to label «renewable» when the fact is that companies use nature - first and foremost to cash in big money without paying tax to the state and for the common natural resources. People see they hunt profit - hurt nature – and lure people to believe it is «renewable» «green shift». Reality is they shift big money from consumers and public to private millionaires in other nations and tax heavens. Leaders, companies and politicians may this way hurt and force people to get mistrust to them.
7)Agreements to put nature, people’s needs prior to economic growth, profit
Cooperation and trade agreements have often economic growth as their aim. Growth in material circulation is an unprecise tool and measure for development. Cooperation for good life and happiness for all is an alternative and positive aim of international agreements. This may be concretised that they are sustainable development, climate and nature agreement that put his before economic material growth and private market competition.
8) What people want to happen – must be started as a bottom up process
This is the basic need to include. Create room for releasing the potential found in each person and local community. Welfare states are built last 45 years based on a from bottom and up perspective. The management model was elected politicians to represent the population. The needs of local people were central, together with cooperation, co-creation and political elected leaders. Today this is about to be turned up down. The management model is substituted with a business model. Partnership agreements could have been cooperation for people’s needs – but are now more often nearer to a stock market business model. The aim may be nearer to economic sustainability, growth, earnings, income, private profit – more than satisfying needs of people and nature. Business model based on earning, profit, effectivity, competition/outsourcing/public procurement, steering, after the single bottom line: money, earnings, profit. If they have a tripple bottom line, economic sustainability, growth, profit may come first, environment and social conditions for employees may be vaguer. Bottom up is alternative to the «New Public Management» (NPM). People and nature should come before private profit.
What are you thinking / feeling on how institutions may build trust?
Read more in my book: Kreativ i ekstremvær
https://www.helgechristie.com/butikk/helge-christies-15-bok-kreativ-i-ekstremvr-e-bok
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