Public-Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development

by Bob Worth and David Stillman

Biofuels Digest recently conducted a survey on the “food versus fuel” debate, specifically on the question of the “morality” of different sources of biofuel, ranging from corn to marine-based feedstocks. Respondents were self-selected, mostly US-based and largely made up of Digest readers, but gave wide-ranging comments.  As stated by the Digest “The public says “depends on the feedstock,” but generally more moral than converting land for oil & gas or housing.”  Highlights of survey results are given below, and more fully at   http://biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2011/04/06/food-vs-fuel-are-biofuels-moral-or-immoral/

Recent efforts by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are also noteworthy for emphasizing the benefits to small-scale farmers in developing countries in growing both food and biofuel feedstock. Called ‘integrated food-energy systems,’ FAO finds that small-scale, local biofuel production brings economic and environmental advantages. As stated, “Integrating and intensifying food and energy production has the potential to improve food and energy security in rural villages and the national level as well.”  www.fao.org/bioenergy/67564/en/

The Biofuels Digest survey found broad support for well-managed biofuels. The first question was key – “Is it moral, or immoral, to use a (human) food crop at any time to make energy or fuel? Examples could include anything from an ethanol cook stove, a home-based corn pellet stove, up to industrial-scale production.”  The results were — Moral 62%, Immoral 16%, Other 21%, No response 1%.  Comments were welcomed, and PPAF gave a detailed one.

Respondents were most comfortable with producing biofuels from waste oils and municipal and agricultural waste, and from idle land not suitable for growing crops.  The survey found much less support for using land previously allocated for conservation, for using trees rather than crops, or for using farmland for shopping centers. 

Obviously this is a topic of great interest to the Public-Private Alliance Foundation, as we work to encourage adoption of cookstoves fueled by sugar- and sorghum-based ethanol as an alternative to Haiti’s heavy reliance on wood and charcoal, and the consequent health, economic, and environmental problems. At the same time, popular questions do arise, and need to be answered.

Creating a locally-based, sustainable ethanol industry and spreading the adoption of ethanol-burning cookstoves should be especially valuable to people in Haiti. Food versus fuel criticisms can be addressed, and as shown in the FAO program, a local ethanol industry could bring significant benefits, help reduce Haiti’s massive deforestation and help overcome poverty.

PPAF is a member of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves http://cleancookstoves.org/ and is a partner with SIMACT (Societe Immobiliere d’Agriculture, de Commerce, et de Tourisme) http://www.simact.net/ , Project Gaia http://www.projectgaia.com/ , and other organizations to promote ethanol cookstoves in Haiti.

Building on interest expressed in Orlando,  David Stillman and Daniel Faustin of SImACT met in Washington on March 14-15 with Lord Kevin Lumb, President of Global Investment Summits, for a series of meetings to plan the Haiti Reconstruction and Sustainability Summit, scheduled for mid-September.  This included meetings with prominent Haitian-Americans and at the Inter-American Development Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and UN Foundation (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves).  Foundation board member Carol Dabbs joined a lunch meeting with the president of the Haiti Renewal Alliance and another Haitian-American who owns land in Haiti.

A next step will be meetings in Haiti, planned for mid-April.   

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.

January 14 – David Stillman will speak at the CTAUN (Committee for Teaching About the United Nations) annual conference for educators on global issues, at the United Nations headquarters, which attracts approximately 500 participants each year.   This year’s topic is the Millennium Development Goals.   Stillman will speak on the work of the Public-Private Alliance Foundation and its partners in relation to Haiti.  Also, Harry Stokes of Project Gaia will demonstrate the alcohol-fueled clean cookstove. The aim is to demonstrate concepts and materials that could be translated into curricula.  For details, see: 

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.

From November 29 to December 1 David Stillman and Fritz Clairvil of SImACT, Inc. attended the “Clean Indoor Air Cookstove and Alcohol Fuel Production International Forum” organized by the International Institute for Ecological Agriculture (IIEA) and Project Gaia, and held in Atlanta, Georgia.  (The terms alcohol and ethanol are interchangeable.)

In Haiti, PPAF, SImACT, Project Gaia and their partners continue to develop the clean cookstoves project.  The meetings with IIEA and the Alcohol Fuel Production International Forum helped move this forward..

David Blume, founder of IIEA (www.permaculture.com) and Blume Distillation, LLC (www.blumedistillation.com), ran the seminar in two days of lectures plus Q&A. Harry Stokes of Project Gaia made a presentation and stove demonstration of the Dometic CleanCook stove.

David Blume’s career spans over 30 years as an advocate, writer and public speaker on ecology, especially the subjects of alcohol fuel and related integrated farming.  Based in California, he has devoted much attention to actions for substitution of gasoline and other petroleum products in the USA, has served as a consultant in several other countries, and is familiar with development issues generally.  

The sessions focused on the benefits of localized production and use of appropriate-scale alcohol fuel combined with “clean fuel” stoves and appliances.  Alcohol fuels offer an abundant supply of energy for cooking, heating, refrigeration; electricity and transportation needs and can be produced from a wide variety of native plants, waste products and cultivated fuel crops ensuring inexpensive and sustainable production. 

A presentation on Blume Distillation, LLC was a key element of the seminar.  This new company will specialize in micro-distilleries from sugar and other feedstocks to produce ethyl alcohol in the USA and abroad.  Blume and his company are now seeking investors to cover an estimated $3.2 million, and purchasers.  Company representatives will visit New York in January to this end.

Participants at Haiti benefit event

A celebration of Haitian paintings, culture and rum set the tone for the “Partners Against Poverty” benefit organized by the Public-Private Alliance Foundation on Thursday evening November 4 at Affirmation Arts in mid-town Manhattan.  The Foundation promotes collaboration by a mix of partners in a business approach to improving lives and livelihoods, with a focus on rebuilding in Haiti since the January 2010 earthquake. 

Affirmation Arts currently has on exhibit until November 24 an extraordinary collection curated by Gérald Alexis, an historian of Haitian art, which includes some pieces rescued from the rubble.  The Foundation thanks everyone who came to the benefit, and all who were unable to attend but donated.

Executive Director Dr. David Stillman welcomed the guests and focused attention on the Foundation’s work, especially in Haiti.  Tony Plana, the actor/director, hosted the event, urging guests to become involved in supporting the foundation.  Jocelyn McCalla, senior advisor to the Special Envoy of Haiti to the United Nations, described the status of Haiti reconstruction and the various players in this lengthy, difficult process.  Ian Williams, noted pundit and rum historian, spoke of the role of rum in Haiti’s history and economy and also led a tasting of Haiti’s famous Barbancourt rum.  Dr. Lesly Kernisant, president of SImACT, Inc., a Haitian diaspora investment group, talked about the partnership of SImACT with the Public-Private Alliance Foundation for several projects in Haiti.    

The event highlighted the Foundation’s recent focus on promoting improved cookstoves and fuel in Haiti. With several partners, the Foundation is working to create a sustainable industry of locally-grown and distilled sugar ethanol to fuel cookstoves manufactured, marketed and distributed in the country. The project aims to improve lives and health, especially for women and children, reduce the heavy reliance on wood and charcoal that has stripped the country of forest and topsoil, and improve the livelihoods of farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs.

Affirmation Arts, Crillon Importers and Eben Bronfman of Jared Samos Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Private Wealth Management were supporters of the event.  For photos go to:  www.flickr.com/ppaf/show

On June 12-13 PPAF and SImACT held their Jacmel Workshop “Reconstruction and Business Opportunities in Southern Haiti” at the Cap Lamandou Hotel.  This took place at a time of great crisis but also great opportunity. “Refondation”  will take many years and billions of dollars.  Yet the cry is to “build back better,” and investment, commerce and business have central importance in this.  

Some Jacmel participants

Seventy potential investors and contractors, the mayor and the president of the local chamber of commerce of Jacmel and other notables participated.  Conference materials with details on participating companies and organizations will soon be available on the PPAF website.   Photos can be viewed here.   

The Minister of Tourism (and reconstruction) Patrick Delatour gave the keynote address and an extensive powerpoint presentation.  He encouraged revitalization of the historic areas of Jacmel and other sites and their potential for becoming an economic engine for rebuilding and tourism.  He stressed the themes of revitalization of infrastructure, decentralization from Port-au-Prince, job creation, income generation and rebuilding Haitian pride.   

(l to r) Roland Zenny, Pres. Jacmel Chamber of Commerce; Edwin Zenny, Mayor of Jacmel; Patrick Delatour, Minister of Tourism

Photo: Frizner Nau 

Our workshop built on a just-completed conference of 600 participants that was organized by the American Chambers of Commerce of the Dominican Republic and of Haiti and the US Commercial Service. About 50 AmCham conference participants left at 6 a.m, Saturday and traveled by bus for a weekend in Jacmel. joined by others already residing in Haiti.  There we had practical discussions and site visits that focused on several priorities for Southern Haiti – seaport and airport infrastructure; the “soft house” and other transitional housing; agriculture and fishing; cooking without charcoal; Jacmel’s historic district, the arts and promotion of tourism; and the planned multipurpose community at Belle Rive.

Participants were struck by the magnitude of damage but also the possibilities for revitalization.  The resilience of the population, the hospitality and competence of the hotel, the vision and compassion of business people, the vitality of a nearby art foundation for homeless children, all contributed to a sense that serious efforts were merited and will bear fruit.   The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Al Jazeera TV and the Haitian magazine Rebelle Haiti as well as local Jacmelian press covered the event. 

Representatives of a dozen organizations discussed prospects for manufacture of ethanol stoves in Haiti and provision of fuel on a commercial basis, leading to planning and tentative agreements among Project Gaia, SImACT, Dometic, Inc., PPAF, the Haitian-American Association of Engineers and Scientists and others.   Representatives of the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children also participated in these discussions.  Since the Jacmel Workshop, Project Gaia has announced that 1,440 donated stoves are about to be shipped and that the Brazilian government will make available donated fuel to start pilot efforts.    

Similarly, guarantors and potential providers of funds for the Belle Rive site were impressed by SImACT’s planning and initial investments, the excellence of the site, and the potential in three markets — Haitian diaspora, decentralization from Port-au-Prince and development managers. 

The motto of SImACT is “To provide means to achieve, opportunities to live and reasons to dream.”  Strong steps were taken toward these goals at the Jacmel Workshop.

An article on the workshop, “Jacmel Woos Foreign Investors to Rebuild Shattered Resorts.” appears in the Globe and Mail (Toronto), written by Jessica Leeder, who writes “Project Jacmel,” an ongoing series. 

In order to assist businesses to work in the redevelopment of Haiti, several organizations have held or will hold events to bring prospective investment, commercial and related interests together.  Here are a few:

June 10-11, 2010 – AMCHAM DR / AMCHAM Haiti Conference– Montrouis, Haiti

About 600 people attended the “Building A New Haiti” conference organized by the American Chambers of Commerce of the Dominican Republic and Haiti and the U.S. Commercial Service.   Speakers included the Haitian President Rene Preval and the Prime Minister, Max Bellerive.  Partial lists of attendees and presenters and PowerPoint presentations of selected speeches are available on the AmCham DR website:  http://amcham.org.do  David Stillman of PPAF and a team from SImACT attended, with Lesly Kernisant making a presentation in the Tourism segment.  PPAF has posted a few photos from the event.

June 12-13, 2010 – PPAF/SImACT Workshop, Jacmel, Haiti    

About 50 participants from the AmCham conference, plus about 20 from Jacmel and elsewhere participated in the PPAF / SImACT workshop “Reconstruction and Business Opportunities in Southern Haiti.”  Billed as an add-on to the AmCham conference, this workshop focused group discussions and site visits on several practical possibilities.  The Minister of Tourism Patrick Delatour gave a keynote address.   (See article, press and photos.)

June 21, 2010 – “Building a New Haiti” Debriefing and Planning meeting, Brooklyn, NY

About 20 people attended the meeting, held at the offices of the Brooklyn International Trade Development Center of Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.  Several shareholders and friends of SImACT participated, as well as the PPAF Executive Director.   Thoughts, comments and suggestions of those who attended the June 10-11 conference in Montrouis will be used to shape the July 10 forum and the September trade mission (below) and for communications with government officials.  

July 10, 2010 – Meeting to Plan a Trade Mission to Haiti, Brooklyn, NY

Participants in the July 10 meeting will help plan for a trade mission to Haiti.  The meeting is being organized by the New York State Association of Minority Contractors and the NS and J Advisory Group.  It will be held Medgar Evers College.  PPAF and SImACT have been invited as presenters.  Contact events@nsandj.com  to reserve a place.

September 8-10, 2010 –  Proposed Trade Mission to Haiti 

A trade mission, jointly led by NS&J Advisory Group and SImACT, is being planned for September, to Jacmel and other sites in Haiti.  Details will be available after the July 10 meeting.

PPAF and SImACT, Inc. will hold the Reconstruction and Business Opportunities in Southern Haiti conference on June 12-13 at the Cap Lamandou Hotel in the coastal city of Jacmel.

Nearly 50 participants from over 30 organizations have registered, and represent businesses, professional associations, NGOs, media outlets and government officials from the U.S., Haiti, Canada, the Dominican Republic and several other countries.

The event will focus on areas of development and business including agriculture, infrastructure including seaport and airport, ethanol cookstoves, energy, housing and construction, distribution, tourism, transportation / logistics, the Historic District of Jacmel, social venture capital, healthcare, education, microfinance and art & artisans.

Participants will tour the area and will be able to meet local and national governmental authorities, become acquainted with needs and opportunities in Southern Haiti, and meet potential investors and business and NGO partners.

Jacmel, home to artisans and the arts, historic buildings that predate New Orleans, beautiful beaches and a developing tourist site, was strongly affected by the earthquake – for example, the hospital was demolished and many lost their homes or places of business. But large parts of the city remain untouched, and as the main city in Southeastern Haiti, Jacmel offers important prospects for reconstruction, for business and tourism and for development toward a bright future. The government of Haiti has proposed Jacmel for placement on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

PPAF et SImACT, Inc. tiendront un événement sur la reconstruction dans le sud de Haïti, à l’Hôtel Cap Lamandou à Jacmel les 12-13 Juin. L’événement mettra l’accent sur les domaines du développement retenues par les participants. Domaines possibles: agriculture, infrastructures, notamment portuaires et aéroportuaires, les fourneaux à l’éthanol, l’énergie, le logement et construction, distribution, tourisme, transport / logistique, l’arrondissement historique de Jacmel, de capital-risque social, la santé, l’éducation, la microfinance, l’art et les artisans et autres thèmes identifiés par les personnes inscrites. Les participants seront en mesure de répondre aux besoins locaux et ses autorités gouvernementales nationales, se familiariser avec les besoins et les possibilités dans le sud de Haïti, et de rencontrer des investisseurs potentiels et les entreprises et les ONG partenaires.

Coût du voyage à Jacmel est de 100 $, payable PPAF. Voir le formulaire d’inscription, qui devrait être soumis et payés par Juin 1.

Cet événement aura lieu immédiatement après la « Construire une nouvelle Haïti » conférence, qui sera tenue du 9 au 11 Juin nord de Port-au-Prince (au Club Indigo, la Côte des Arcadins, Montrouis). PPAF / SImACT assurera le transport du Club Indigo à Jacmel le samedi matin, 12 Juin et le retour à Port-au-Prince, le 13 Juin, à ceux qui s’inscrivent à ce sujet. L’espace est limité. SVP vous inscrire avant le 1er Juin en utilisant ce formulaire d’inscription.   D’obtenir le formulaire en francais, email:  ppafoundation@gmail.com

NOTE: Si vous souhaitez séjourner jours supplémentaires, écrivez à ppafoundation@gmail.com pour plus de détails.