About the project
The Eco-map is a project headed by oikos Maastricht. It is a map of Maastricht in which sustainable and environment-friendly shops, restaurants and further spots of interest can be found.T he project aims at raising awareness for the existence and accessibility of sustainable products by promoting goods that adhere to certain standards ensuring more ecological attitude towards the handling of consumer needs. It provides a quick orientation for tourists, students as well as permanent residents, seeking to buy green, sustainable, ecological, locally grown or ethically labelled products. It serves students, residents of Maastricht as well as tourists to locate those spots in Maastricht where sustainably produced and distributed products can be acquired.
About Oikos
Oikos Maastricht is a student organization that belongs to the broad oikos network consisting of 45 local chapters in 21 countries. It was founded in 2010 and as a part of the international network aims and promoting the topic of sustainability among the students from all faculties in order to ensure that the generation of future leaders will consider sustainability issues in prospective decision- making. Furthermore, oikos Maastricht encourages Maastricht University, local businesses and other stakeholders to raise awareness about sustainable development. Our goal is being achieved by organizing diverse sustainability- related projects. Find out more about oikos Maastricht at http://maastricht.oikos-international.org
The criteria
The criteria used to evaluate shops, restaurants and cafés are based on three components of sustainability:
- Environmental criteria: taking care of the environment
- Social criteria: enhancing people's capabilities
- Cultural criteria: preserving cultural diversity and promoting local development
These criteria are assessed by looking at the different certifications and labels that the shops, restaurants and cafés can have. Certifications and labels can concern both the products sold (sustainable products) and the place itself (sustainable management).
Moreover, places that are willing to take further actions towards sustainability are also rewarded in order to incitate them to implement more sustainable practices.
A future development of the Eco-Map is the alignment of criteria with other Oikos chapters in order to set up a common format for assessing sustainability.