FAI Hang Gliding and Paragliding Commission (CIVL)

Recognizing that:

• Hang gliding & Paragliding are sports that take place in the natural environments. Events are taking us to spectacular, natural, remote, and fragile landscapes in high numbers. At the same time as enjoying the sports, all stakeholders – organizers, participants, volunteers, sponsors, suppliers, partners, and even the public – must take on a responsibility to protect the environment and the landscape.
• Our sports have a unique power to inspire a wider societal change that prioritizes sustainable development so that our planet and our natural environment stay preserved for future generations to enjoy.
• Protecting nature and combatting climate change is a responsibility we all share. By working collaboratively with our peers and relevant stakeholders, we can pursue these goals in a consistent and mutually supportive fashion at our level. We should strive to share knowledge and experience with each other, disseminate good practices and lessons learned, develop new tools, and collaborate on areas of mutual interest.

CIVL is committed to minimizing our environmental impact wherever practical. We urge all competition organizers to agree with the above and commit to adopt the practices set out and, in particular:  Respect and conserve nature, its flora and fauna, natural habitats, and landscapes.  Integrate sustainability into event organization.

• Reduce waste at source and support recycling of resources.
• Manage water usage in a sustainable way
• Reduce the event’s carbon footprint.
• Raise awareness of participants, volunteers, sponsors, suppliers, and partners (collectively, “stakeholders”) about the importance of an environmentally friendly approach. In this respect, organizers of Cat 1 and Cat 2 events are, at least, expected to follow the following practices:
• Define an Environmental approach for the event and nominate a resource person in charge of the implementation of a dedicated environmental program and related actions  Where logistically feasible, select a venue for HQ that enables pilots and officials to walk to HQ from their accommodations.
• When the weather conditions and logistics permit, set tasks that minimize the driving required to retrieve pilots.
• Provide shared transportation options to and from the nearest airport, and to any non-flying activities during the competition.
• Provide maps and all other competition information electronically rather than by printing.
• Promote water-saving actions (like dry-toilets, …), for lawn management and at fields (take-off & landing) - Provide options to refill water bottles.
• Source any food, t-shirts, and other competition resources locally wherever possible.
• Promote the use of renewable materials, support waste reduction at source, and recycling resources

In order to help competition organizers in implementing this policy, a self-assessment template is made available. From the documented output of this template, in case a minimum commitment can be demonstrated, the specific logo ‘CIVL Green commitment’ can be used by the event organizer.

For Cat 1 competitions, the ability to meet the practices above as described in the provided bid information (Annex D) will be factored into the selection decision for the bids, and failure to achieve the guidelines could factor into any future bid acceptance decisions.

Test-event and Event Steward reports will address specific conclusions regarding those issues. After the test event, the organizer will have to correct/improve identified failing practices.

This is aligned as best with FAI ENVIRONMENTAL CODE OF CONDUCT (2016).

Annexes are found at https://www.fai.org/civl-documents < Other documents:

CIVL Environment Policy - Self-Assessment Template - Logo ‘CIVL Green commitment’