Green Marine, the North American environmental certification program for maritime transportation, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Worldwide Network of Port Cities (AIVP) to combine efforts to promote the social acceptability of ports.
AIVP has currently nearly 200 members representing more than 2,000 sustainable development actors in port cities throughout nearly 50 countries on five continents.
The agreement, signed at the conclusion of AIVP’s Annual General Meeting at the start of the organization’s 16th World Conference in Quebec City until Thursday, is expected to serve as a framework for cooperation to encourage and improve port relations with community. Philippe Matthis, AIVP’s president, said:
Through this agreement, we want to pool our knowledge and encourage our respective members to favour a global approach: environmental and societal.
David Bolduc, Green Marine’s executive director, added:
Green Marine will build on AIVP’s expertise in the field of the city-port-citizenry relations, and through the analysis of its tools, such as the Port Center online interface to communicate a port’s missions and projects, to develop its new indicator on social acceptability.
Under the agreement, the two organizations are seeking to establish a productive working relationship and, towards this end, waived each other’s association membership fees. Green Marine is now an AIVP partner, while AIVP becomes an association member of the Green Marine Management Corporation.
The parties also intend to collaborate in the promotion of their respective actions within each of their networks. Specifically:
- AIVP and GREEN MARINE undertake to inform their respective members of the events (national and international) organized by the other entity and to promote these events by the usual means (websites, email, social networks, etc.)
- Either organization may send a representative to the public session(s) of the other’s annual general meeting. No registration fee will be charged, but all travel and accommodation costs will remain the responsibility of the attending representative.
- AIVP and GREEN MARINE hereby agree to assist each other, if necessary, in the search for speakers for international events, according to the specific requirements of each organization.
