MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian oil industry in corporate social responsibility forum

Brazilian workshop on Corporate Social Responsibility was sponsored by the UK FCO

The Brazilian Petroleum Institute, Pro-Natura International hosted the first Brazilian workshop on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is part of a 3-year programme sponsored by the UK Government's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The programme aims to create an environment of Responsible Business Practice along the Atlantic Rainforest Corridor, from Espirito Santo to Sao Paulo, linked to the presence of the Extractive Industries. During the August 9 workshop in Rio do Janeiro participants from the Extractive Industries, including CVRD, MMX, Samarco, Rio Tinto, Shell, Chevron, Statoil, Devon and Sub Sea 7, exchanged their experiences and reported on the challenges and successes of CSR programs in Brazil. The group endorsed the key CSR themes on which Pro-Natura intends to focus; including stakeholder participation, human rights and transparent use of royalties. The majority of Companies present cited capacity-building to improve stakeholder engagement as the key challenge faced by the Industry in implementing CSR guidelines. Considerable interest was expressed in the Pro-Natura model for participatory sustainable development, based on the creation of community-led Local Development Agencies. A local community proposal to create a model agency in the South of Espirito Santo state, resulting from a Pro-Natura pilot sustainable development project, was well-received. A second workshop, involving the headquarters of a range of Extractive Industries, will take place in London on the 5th September.