Remarks prepared for the Conference of the Committee for Teaching about the UN (CTAUN) – Achieving the MDGs – Teaching for Action

United Nations, 14 Jan 2011

David Stillman, PhD, Executive Director

 Public-Private Alliance Foundation

“Fighting the silent killer in the kitchen – Achieving the MDGs”

We think of a barbeque as a pleasant alternative for weekend outings in good weather.  For half the world’s population, biomass fuel (wood, dung, agricultural residues) is the everyday essential to meet all the basic energy needs of cooking, boiling water, lighting, and, depending on climatic conditions, for space heating.  This is not a picnic but a serious problem with implications across the range of issues treated in the Millennium Development Goals. 

Since adoption of the MDGs the World Health Organization has reported country by country on “percentage of population using solid fuels”, as a key indicator in relation to Goal 7, on environmental sustainability.   But WHO and others have found significant implications from noxious fumes for most of the MDGs, especially Goals 4 and 5 on children’s and mothers’ health.  That’s why WHO has coined the term “the silent killer in the kitchen” and has estimated that 1.9 million people die worldwide each year from exposure to cookstove smoke.  WHO and others have also found serious effects of smoke and gathering fuel in relation to Goal 1 on extreme poverty and Goal 3 on women.  Effects can also be counted in relation to Goal 2 on primary education and Goal 6 on serious diseases. 

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, launched in September 2010 and housed in the UN Foundation, responds to this very simple problem which has such major negative effects.  The founding partners are an impressive group of organizations, companies and UN and government agencies, including strong support from the USA.  The aim is to save lives, empower women, improve livelihoods and combat climate change. 

The Public-Private Alliance Foundation is a partner in that organization, and works with many collaborators.   The Foundation aims to reduce poverty by networking with business, government, academia, the financial community, non-profits, the UN and others.  It focuses on several key issues in the focus countries of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Madagascar.  Currently the chief emphasis is to promote and help implement in Haiti the introduction of ethanol stoves and fuel, chiefly from locally grown sugar cane.  That’s what I’ll talk about today, one year since the tremendous losses in the earthquake of January 12, 2010.

Burning wood and charcoal for cooking and small business is Haiti’s greatest energy use.  Trucks arrive daily into Port au Prince and other population centers with the charred remains of dwindling forest, often from clandestine operations.  With ever-increasing demand exceeding annual supply, this has stripped the country bare, leading to erosion and hurricane mudslides. Since the devastating earthquake one year ago, conditions have become worse, especially for over a million people now living in cramped tent camps.  Prices have gone up. Add to this the crisis of cholera, which would be greatly eased by ensuring that water was boiled before drinking or washing.

But sugar has a long history in Haiti, though agricultural production and mill output has declined greatly in recent decades.  Distillation for rum and home-made spirits is also well known, but with inefficient processes and much waste. 

So there are challenges but also opportunities, and the current situation of so much misery in the country has brought attention from all over to help and to find innovative solutions. 

Moreover, as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves has declared, the time is right internationally, in terms of awareness, research, technology, commitment and the potential of carbon financing.  Pilot projects can blossom into the creation of a thriving and sustainable clean cookstove industry.

Prospects are positive for alcohol fuel and stoves in Haiti.  Ethanol is cheaper than the alternatives – liquid propane gas (LPG), kerosene or charcoal, and the great majority of people can’t afford LPG fuel or stoves.  Ethanol is safe and clean, rivaling LPG in efficiency.  So-called Improved wood and charcoal stoves still rely on trees. 

Our efforts aim to improve the lives and pocketbooks of families, provide jobs for farmers, stove-makers and small entrepreneurs, encourage micro-finance and reduce deforestation.

Several areas of action must be addressed – ethanol production, ethanol distribution, stove production and stove promotion, sales and use.  Plus governmental policy, regulations and promotion.  Each of these involves various actors – public sector, business, technicians, funders and workers. 

The Public-Private Alliance Foundation is collaborating with several partners to take action in this seemingly simple but actually complicated area.  Representatives of some of these organizations are here in this room. 

One is a Haitian-American investment group known as SIMACT.  Most of the shareholders in SIMACT left Haiti in their youth.  They have become successful in the USA but their hearts and their resources extend back home to help develop their country of birth.

Another partner is Project Gaia, which has done research, mobilized collaborators, conducted pilot studies in several countries, and has selected the Dometic CleanCook stove as the ideal for production and use in Haiti and elsewhere.  This stove has been in production for many years, and is now going to the “bottom of the pyramid” market.  You can see an example at the information fair. 

I also want to introduce to you Blume Distillation LLC, which aims to produce community-level alcohol fuel distilleries, linked to sustainable agricultural options.  This grows out of the long-standing work of David Blume, founder of the international Institute for Ecological Agriculture.  The company is currently gathering investors and purchasers for appropriately scaled distillation systems that can use various feedstocks and have advanced flexibility, productivity and remote diagnostics.

In brief, our group of for-profit and non-profit partners is focusing on: 

• Simple cook stoves from a well-known marine and leisure camping company, 
• Syrup from a Haitian sugar mill and local sugar farmers, 
• Conversion of syrup into fuel by community-level distilleries,
• Target populations of low-income families, street vendors, and small businesses,
• Support by local and international relief organizations to people displaced by the earthquake,
• Participation by Haitian-American investors and supporters of micro-finance,
• Increased jobs and earnings by Haitian farmers and small entrepreneurs,
• Improved health, especially for women and children, and
• Decreased deforestation.

These efforts draw inspiration from the international policy priorities and constitute practical actions to help achieve the MDGs in Haiti, especially in relation to the themes of today’s panel – Poverty / Hunger / Sustainability.  Please talk with me if you would like to get involved.

 Thank you.

http://www.ctaun.org/images/photos/2011NYCConFlyer-Speakers3-_2_.pdf 

January 15 – SImACT is organizing an event at SImACT headquarters in Brooklyn for presentations by, and discussions with, David Blume and others of Blume Distillation LLC.  (See article above re: Atlanta seminar.)    This is aimed to engage parties within and outside the Haitian-American community interested in the cookstove and micro-distillery initiative.

The Société Immobilière de Agriculture, Commerce et Tourisme, Inc., (SImACT) and the Public-Private Alliance Foundation (PPAF), in collaboration with Haitian government and other local and international partners, will conduct a workshop for potential foreign and local investors and businesses to facilitate their efforts in the region.  The workshop will bring together the private sector, government, donors, non-profit organizations and others to work together toward the common goal of revitalizing the Southern area of the country.  The workshop will emphasize the United Nations Millennium Development Goals as a framework for sustainable development.

Workshop dates are  27–29 June 2010.  A maximum of 70 participants, both Haitian and from other countries, will be invited to attend.  If you or your organization would be interested in attending or in co-sponsoring, contact Dr. David Stillman at ppafoundation@gmail.com

Languages of the conference will include French, English and Spanish. High-level officials of the Government of Haiti will be specially invited. 

Workshop topics being developed  include: 

• Overview of the Haiti Action Plan for National Recovery and Development
• Regional Priorities for Recovery and Development in Southern Haiti
• Role of the Private Investor and of Public-Private Partnerships
• Perspectives of NGOs and Local Government; Involvement of Local People in Decisions
• Credit and Funds Transfer, Legal Issues, Other
• Subgroups will depend on interest and may include:
  • Infrastructure – Seaport, airport, roads
  • Renewable energy –  Ethanol, biodiesel, solar power
  • Housing – Low-cost, moderate cost and safe repair
  • Agriculture and agribusiness – Fish farming, sugar and other
  • Social venture capital and microfinance
  • Ethanol cookstoves
  • Health – Clinics, training and post-traumatic stress
  • Historic District – UNESCO World Historic Site; repairs to standards
  • Tourism – Marketing of Jacmel, eco-tourism, voluntourism
  • Arts and artisans

Members of the Advisory Group have a breadth of knowledge and experience, in government, business, academia, finance and non-profit management.  The broad work of PPAF aims toward achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, especially those aimed toward poverty reduction, environmental sustainability and building global partnerships.

Members of the Group may work together on areas of common interest, and also provide guidance individually. 

The first two topics the Group will address are:

(1)  Renewable Energy in the Dominican Response to the Haiti Earthquake Crisis;  

(2)  Renewable Energy in Haitian Post-Earthquake Reconstruction and Development

Members of the group are: 

Philippe Barjon, MS EE, Product Manager Energy Solutions at OpenLink Financial; Energy Director of BioTek Solutions, Inc.

Antonio Bento, PhD, Associate Professor, Applied Economics & Management, Cornell University

Marty Borruso, BS Forensic Chemistry; Chief Executive Officer, Fuel Bio Holdings, LLC

Gerónimo A. Chotin, BS Finance, Manager of Operations and Finance, Dominican Renewables, Inc.

Johanna Mendelson Forman, JD, PhD, Senior Associate, Center for Strategic & International Studies and Executive Director, Jatropha Foundation

Virgilio Malagon, PhD, Adviser to the President, National Energy Commission of the Dominican.Republic

Pablo Reyes, MA, International Policy; Director, Centro de Estudios Estratégicos Latinoamericanos

Robin van Puyenbroeck,  Master of Law/ Lic. Jur.; LLM International Law; Treasurer, UN Association of New York; Member, Carnegie New Leaders Program; international banker

Jean-Marie Wolff, MBA, MA Real Estate; President, SImACT Mining Holding, Inc.; CFO, SImACT, Inc. (Société Immobilière d’Agriculture, de Commerce, et de Tourisme)

Ex-Officio members of the Advisory Group are:

V. Judith Bowman, MBA, PPAF Senior Fellow.  Consultant in finance

Nazia Habib-Mintz, PPAF Fellow, Renewable Energy Program.  Doctoral candidate, Cambridge University. Consultant in renewable energy

Herb Oringel, MBA, PPAF Board Member.  Chair, Energy Advisory Panel, Town of Somers, NY

Amar Shibli, MBA (2011) - Dartmouth, PPAF Associate.

Nikhil Seth, Director of the Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination introduced the report on UNPPA. E/2009/72    It is also available in Spanish and French.  He said that the promotion of rural development was essential to reducing poverty and for promoting better standards of living for much of the world’s population and for meeting the Millennium Development Goals.  The report provides updates to the 2003 declaration of promoting partnerships amongst stakeholders in support of rural development. It highlights the importance of rural development and the impact of the recent global financial and economic crisis on this. According to the report, the crisis can be expected to further impoverish people in many developing countries, and further compound their difficulties arising from food and energy crises and the climate change.

In the discussion among government representatives to ECOSOC, speakers said that partnerships among stakeholders were vital for rural development and in protecting local resources.  In particular the United States delegate encouraged the UN to foster partnerships focusing on sharing knowledge and expertise for development of rural communities and to promote partnerships for sustainable development.

The Report makes special note of the contributions of the Public-Private Alliance Foundation (PPAF) to the efforts of UNPPA by bringing together corporate sector, government, civil society, academia, and the United Nations, to facilitate linkages, promote partnerships, encourage capacity-building and mobilize resources, commerce and investment in support of development.  The report also highlights the PPAF role in two UNPPA countries – Madagascar and the Dominican Republic.

In May 2007, PPAF held its first Partners Against Poverty event at the United Nations, to connect policy-makers with local development initiatives. This led to organizing a conference on fish farming in the Dominican Republic, with collaboration from the Dominican Aquaculture Association (ADOA), the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, the UN South-South Unit, the FAO and others.  ADOA has since taken several further actions.  PPAF enabled Esperanza International, a microfinance organization in the D.R., to obtain a grant from Western Union Foundation.  PPAF provided funds to the Office of the First Lady of the D.R. for community efforts to rebuild housing after tropical storms.  PPAF also promoted the charitable work of the famous Madagascar singing group Mahaleo and the opening of a permanent exhibit on Madagascar at the Bronx Zoo.

At its second annual Partners Against Poverty event at the United Nations in July 2008, public, private and other representatives gathered to focus on promotion of health, agribusiness, renewable energy, sustainable tourism, microfinance and entrepreneurship in Madagascar and the Dominican Republic.  This led to PPAF collaboration with Project C.U.R.E. to deliver over $1.2 million in medical equipment and supplies to Madagascar. The Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the UN and Project C.U.R.E worked to raise $100,000 from private donors for shipment of the goods.

Building upon the 2008 meeting PPAF has worked with a Dominican growers’ nonprofit organization, GLOCAL, and with a Canadian buyer and investor, Oneel Corporation, to promote production and export of vegetables and fruits and related farmers’ capacity-building.  PPAF has also collaborated with New York representatives from the National Supermarkets Association, the distribution company Super-Produce, and the Centre for Export and Investment of the D.R., to promote Dominican exports to New York’s Hunts Point Market.

PPAF and business collaborators also explored issues of sugar-based ethanol and related bio-energy, leading to a partnership with ResearchPAYS, Inc. to develop further initiatives for stakeholder collaboration.

PPAF’s third annual Partners Against Poverty event (May 2009) brought together high-level Dominican, Brazilian, Haitian, U.S. and UN public and private participants to focus on ethanol, leading to further work in New York and the Dominican Republic on investment and commercial prospects of bioenergy.

PPAF continues to work with the United Nations and other stakeholders to promote development and alleviate poverty in developing countries. PPAF looks forward to building upon its collaborations in the Dominican Republic and Madagascar and expanding these to Haiti.

Bill Miller, host and producer of Global Connections Television, interviewed Francis Lorenzo, Ambassador, Mission of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations and Vice-Chair of the Board for the Public-Private Alliance Foundation. They discussed the Millennium Development Goals in the D.R and how public-private alliances can contribute to alleviating poverty.

Bill Miller, host and producer of Global Connections Television, interviewed Aristides Fernández-Zucco, Minister of State and President, Dominican Republic National Energy Commission. They discussed the bio-energy strategy of the D.R. and Law 57-07, and development of bio-fuel production on the Haiti-Dominican border.