I am circulating Johan Enqvist’s clarification on the several errors in the article about his speech in Bangalore. It is a pity that the article was so inaccurate.

 Dear all,

I have just read an article in The Hindu published yesterday, regarding a presentation I did on January 9th of a study I am conducting on Hasiru Usiru and other citizen’s groups (the text is included further down).

The article is not representing what I said correctly, there are a number of errors that I would like to clarify in this forum since the article concerns Hasiru Usiru. These are among the more important ones:

1. My thesis is not about pointing out "loopholes" (a word I never used) in environmental groups – rather learning from how they are interacting.

2. I have not "discovered" that Hasiru Usiru only works reactively and never proactively – my impression is that the group does both. What I pointed out was that the group might benefit from discussing if it wants to focus on one or the other.

3. I never said that there is a core "committee" in Hasiru Usiru. Some members are more active than others, but that doesn’t mean that everybody else is in the periphery.

4. I did not say that there is "very little long-term commitment", I said that long-term commitment can be a challenge in a loose network. I don’t know from where the quotation in the following paragraph comes from, but I didn’t say that.

5. I did not recommend (nor did I advice against) a more "formalised structure" – I merely discussed the pros and cons with a structured network. As for the "need to ‘fine tune’ the decision-making process", those are not words I used and again not a recommended action but rather something to consider.

If any of you have any further questions, feel free to contact me (details below) or bring it up in this forum. There will also be an opportunity for those who are interested to hear more about this study and my results – an invitation to this event will be sent out shortly. For your information, I have also contacted the editor publishing the article to point out the errors. I have a recording of my entire presentation. I do apologise for any inconvenience that this might have caused.

For reference, please find the article in question here:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/article2792880.ece

The Hindu, January 11, 2012:
‘Activists must know what they want to be’

Mr Enqvist’s contact details, in case more clarifications are needed:

 Johan Enqvist
Master’s student in Ecosystems, Resilience and Governance
STOCKHOLM RESILIENCE CENTRE
Stockholm University
www.stockholmresilience.su.se

Contact
e-mail: johan.enqvist@gmail.com
phone Sweden: +46707198225
phone India: +919686029724

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