A constructive merger of values.

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt convened the first North American Wildlife Conference to stimulate public interest in the management and development of America's natural resources. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF), founded as a result of that conference, has since become the nation's largest nonprofit conservation education organization, with millions of members and supporters nationwide.

The Federation has long believed that the careful merger of conservation values with basic business principles will ensure an economically viable and environmentally sustainable future. The Federation demonstrated its commitment to this goal by establishing the Corporation Council in 1982. The Council serves as a forum where senior corporate executives from various industrial sectors engage in "off-the-record" discussions with the Federation's leadership to develop innovative and constructive proposals to improve economic productivity and environmental quality. Through this positive approach, the Council aims to minimize adversarial confrontations in the future.

The Council reflects its commitment to environmentally sustainable economic development by:

* Providing for informed discussions on contemporary environmental issues utilizing experts;

* Encouraging corporations to integrate environmental considerations into all aspects of their decisionmaking processes;

* Raising corporate awareness of critical environmental needs;

* Promoting exemplary environmental accomplishments in the private sector; and

* Encouraging other appropriate joint ventures between the business and environmental communities.

In order to provide an opportunity to develop relationships of confidence and goodwill which allow for frank discussion of the members' interest in the wise use of natural resources, membership is limited to a maximum of 20 senior executives. Members include: Asea Brown Boveri Inc.; AT&T; Bank of America; Browning Ferris Industries; Ciba-Geigy Corp.; Dow North America; Duke Power Co.; Merck & Co. Inc.; Monsanto Co.; Pacific Gas & Electric Co.; The Procter & Gamble Co.; Shell Oil Co.; USX Corp.; and WMX Technologies Inc.

Council discussions generally focus on topics that reflect an environmental issue with a clear corporate or industrial connection. The Council has issued policy statements on wetlands conservation (1984), groundwater protection (1986), soil conservation (1987), hazardous waste reduction (1988), and environmental education for business management (1991).

The Council has initiated various projects to implement the policy statements, including a wetlands restoration project and an environmental curriculum project for graduate business schools. As part of the curriculum development project, the Council funded the development of a casebook entitled Managing Environmental Issues, published by Prentice-Hall.

The Council also has published a monograph on the implications of sustainable development for corporations entitled Building the Sustainable Corporation: Creating Environmental Sustainability and Corporate Advantage (1992). This document, written by Dr. Thomas Gladwin of New York University, was commissioned for the Council's annual "Synergy" conference. Each January, the Council hosts a conference for CEOs on an emerging topic of national/international interest. These "off-the-record" meetings hosted by Council members record" meetings hosted by Council members are for an expanded group of CEOs from the United States, Europe, and Asia, leaders of other major environmental organizations, and government officials. Synergy '93 focused on Environmental Responsibilities in Developing Countries.

The annual Synergy meeting is followed by the Council's Environmental Achievement Award Banquet attended by Synergy participants and an expanded group of business leaders, members of Congress, Administration officials, and leaders of other environmental organizations. Each year the Council presents one achievement award to a U.S. business in recognition of innovative, progressive environmental initiatives that demonstrate exemplary corporate commitment to environmental protection and sustainable economic development beyond the level required by laws and regulations. Some previous winners include: Amoco Corp. for the "North 40" wetlands restoration project; 3M for the "Pollution Prevention Pays" program; Wisconsin Electric Power Co. for the "Appliance Turn-In" energy conservation program; Pacific Gas & Electric for its "Commitment to Environmental Quality: Demand Side Management" program; and Merck for the INBio agreement with Costa Rica.

Barbara B. Haas has been Director of the National Wildlife Federation's Corporate Conservation Council since 1983. The Council was established in 1982 as a forum for discussion among senior industry executives and the NWF leadership on natural resource issues of mutual concern. She discusses some of the Council's initiatives below.