Address at the World Association of Former United Nations Internes and Fellows (WAFUNIF) General Assembly, Monday 14 November 2011

David Stillman, PhD

Executive Director, Public-Private Alliance Foundation

When we think of international perspectives on sustainability, the United Nations and the members of the UN System of agencies and organizations have a prominent place. The UN is, of course, the premier international institution.  Its members today represent 193 countries of the world.  Thousands of non-governmental organizations are also associated with the UN.

One of the main purposes of the UN is “to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.”

An important vehicle that focuses international and national action for this purpose is the Millennium Development Goals, which has the endorsement of all the UN Members States to try to achieve them by 2015.

The 7^th of the 8 goals seeks to ensure environmental sustainability. Four targets measure achievement of this goal, and each has a series of indicators:

• Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources
• Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
• Reduce by half by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
• Achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

Environmental sustainability and sustainable development go well beyond Goal No. 7, as all eight goals are interrelated. They aim to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, improve children’s education, safeguard mothers’ and children’s health, promote women’s empowerment, combat major diseases, and create global partnerships for development. Some countries and some of the goals are on track for achievement by 2015 but others are not.

The focus is not only on the billion people who live on less than a dollar a day. Standards may differ but economic and social advancement is important worldwide. Slums and hunger and diseases of poverty exist in rich countries too, and climate change affects everyone.

The agencies of the UN System seek to support achievement of the goals in their fields of expertise and my home base, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, has a very special role as the substantive secretariat for the forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, known as Rio 2012 or Rio+20.

Rio+20 — the short name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 20-22 June 2012 – will be an historic opportunity to define pathways to a safer, more equitable, cleaner, greener and more prosperous world for all.The 1992 Earth Summit resulted in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Agenda 21 UN Action Plan, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Forest Principles document and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which led to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.  These comprise a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection.

Next June the UN is again bringing together governments, international institutions and major groups to agree on a range of smart measures that can reduce poverty while promoting decent jobs, clean energy and a more sustainable and fair use of resources. Rio+20 is a chance to move away from business-as-usual and to act to end poverty, address environmental destruction and build a bridge to the future.

The official discussions will focus on two main themes: How to build a green economy to achieve sustainable development and lift people out of poverty, including support for developing countries that will allow them to find a green path for development; and how to improve international coordination for sustainable development.

Governments are expected to adopt clear and focused practical measures for implementing sustainable development, based on the many examples of success we have seen over the last 20 years.  In parallel with and between the official events, there will be numerous side events, exhibitions, presentations, fairs and announcements by a wide range of partners.

Preparations and negotiations are underway in many settings, aiming for Rio+20 to be a significant watershed. The next such meeting for representatives of civil society major groups will be held at UN Headquarters here in New York on 15 and 16 December 2011.

But Rio+20 preparations are taking place against the backdrop of many challenges.

• The world now has 7 billion people, and of these, one out of every five live in extreme poverty.
• The economic and commodity shocks of 2008 continue with very unsettling consequences.
• Environmentalists criticize the slow response to climate threats, as greenhouse gasses continue to rise.
• Developing countries doubt the future of a global agenda for development.
• Small island states are anxious for their survival.
• Energy and food insecurity threaten political security.
• Global governance and the global financial architecture are in question.

If we are to leave a liveable world to our children and grandchildren, the challenges of widespread poverty and environmental destruction need to be tackled now.  We will incur far greater costs in the future— including more poverty and instability, and a degraded planet — if we fail to adequately address these critical challenges now. Rio+20 provides an opportunity to think globally, so that we can all act locally to secure our common future.

Yet there are signs of hope as well –

• Growth in developing countries, reductions in poverty and related steps toward achieving the MDGs;
• increase of “green economy” sectors, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management, afforestation, water management, drylands rehabilitation, and sustainable agriculture; and
• new awareness and actions at the level of businesses, city governments, civil society organizations, and the media.

Let’s dig into the subject further and look at an organization that is little known to many but is in the vortex of controversy.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), aims to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socioeconomic consequences. It doesn’t conduct research itself but reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide that is relevant to the understanding of climate change.

In 2007 the IPCC published its Fourth Assessment Report and the IPCC and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore were joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize that year.  Its next major report is coming this month, entitled “The Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation.” The next (Fifth) Assessment Report on Climate Change will come out in 2013.

People from over 130 countries contributed to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. They included more than 2,500 scientific expert reviewers, more than 800 contributing authors, and more than 450 lead authors. The report stated in its summary, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal,” and “Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.”

But the IPCC has been criticized regarding both its findings and the process of producing its reports. Detractors have labeled the work a scandal, alarmist and a hoax including in the U.S. Congress.

In February of this year The US House of Representatives specifically voted to cut off all U.S. funding to the IPCC as well as to reduce by almost a third the budget for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and other provisions to block funds for specific environmental programs, including those related to greenhouse gas emissions.   This was adopted along party lines in the Republican-controlled chamber.  Similar efforts are underway now in the House of Representatives as related to next year.

While national and international actions are slow and contentious, local efforts are moving at a different pace.

In November of last year, in Mexico City, mayors from around the world signed a voluntary pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Participants from some 135 cities and urban areas – including Buenos Aires, Bogota, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Paris and Vancouver – signed the pact which states their intent to adopt a slate of measures to stem climate change. Data for this will be on-line so that residents will be able to track their city’s performance. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said, “We have to tell the international community that it’s in the cities that the battle to slow global warming will be won.”

Indeed, more than half of the world’s population now lives in cities. Urban areas consume up to 80% of global energy production and emit 60% of greenhouse gases, according to the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“Generally, cities are the place where it’s going to happen,” says the ICLEI USA-Local Governments for Sustainability, part of an organization of some 1,200 local governments worldwide dedicated to urban sustainability and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. “Land use, zoning, and transportation are the nexus that has the potential to have a real impact because it’s about where we live, how we live, and how we travel.  These are the fundamental inputs into greenhouse gases of a region.”

The “City’s Climate Honor Roll” compiled by ICLEI USA shows how urban areas nationwide are taking steps, large and small, to re-think the way cities are built, powered and designed. Efforts include residential green building codes in Santa Fe, New Mexico; a compressed work week in Asheville, North Carolina; a solar feed-in tariff in Gainesville, Florida; promoting cycling and walking in Chicago; biogas to energy in Columbia, Missouri; wastewater treatment in Houston; solar power in Santa Monica, California.  In Westchester County, New York, where I live, a 2008 Action Plan for Climate Change and Sustainable Development provides information resources to help you “go green and save green($$).” There are sections on business, county government, municipal government, higher education and K through 12 schools.

The old expression “Think Globally, Act Locally” has never been more true.  The UN and the globally agreed goals and commitments are beacons for the planet, but we must all do what we can to help shape a brighter future.

Climate change is any long-term change in the statistics of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can express itself as a change in the mean weather conditions, the probability of extreme conditions, or in any other part of the statistical distribution of weather.

Cancun Climate Change Conference – Nov.-Dec. 2010:    The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Cancún, Mexico, 29 November to 10 December 2010. It is officially referred to as the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 6th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties (CMP 6) to the Kyoto Protocol.  Results are discussed in a press release on the UN Environment Program website: They are considered too little by many environmentalists, but a step in the right direction.

Copenhagen Climate Change Conference – December 2009     The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15), in Copenhagen, 7-18 2009, was intended to be the culmination of the international effort to address climate change before the Kyoto Treaty (below) expires in 2012. The United States, which did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol (below), was very involved in work on the Copenhagen Protocol.

Gender Issues in Climate Change:   The Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA), which includes many UN agencies as well as non-governmental organizations, aims to ensure that climate change policies, decisionmaking, and initiatives at the global, regional, and national levels are gender responsive.  It was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in Dec. 2007.  

Global Warming refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that increasing greenhouse gas concentrations resulting from human activity such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation are responsible for most of the observed temperature increases. Low-lying countries and coastlines are particularly vulnerable to melting arctic ice and glaciers

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  - The IPCC is the leading body for the assessment of climate change.  It was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.  It does not itself conduct research but reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change.  In 2007 the IPCC and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore were joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2007 the IPCC issued its Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change, the largest and most detailed summary of the situation ever undertaken, involving thousands of authors from dozens of countries.  It stated in its summary, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal.” and “Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.”

Kyoto Protocol   The Kyoto Protocol, adopted 11 December 1997, is an international agreement linked to the UNFCCC.  As of July 2010, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol (but not the USA).  The Protocol requires 55 industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to target levels 5.2% below that of 1990. If unable to, they must buy emission credits from countries that are under these levels. Developing countries are not required to reduce emissions unless developed countries supply funding and technology. 

Sustainable Development    The 1987 United Nations Report Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development  (the Brundtland Commission)  defines sustainable development as a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development; and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations.

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)   The Convention sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenges posed by climate change. It entered into force 21 March 1994.   It recognizes that the climate system is a shared resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and other emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.  The Convention enjoys near universal membership, with 192 countries (including the United States) having ratified it.

which emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.  The points below in this blog entry summarize are a summary by the Foundation of work in relation to sustainable development.

Sustainable development seeks to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations. We have to learn our way out of current social and environmental problems and learn to live sustainably.  Sustainable development is a vision of development that encompasses populations, animal and plant species, ecosystems, natural resources and that integrates concerns such as the fight against poverty, gender equality, human rights, education for all, health, human security, intercultural dialogue, etc.  (UNESCO)

• UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs –   Division for Sustainable Development (New York)

DSD promotes sustainable development as the substantive secretariat to the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) and through technical cooperation and capacity-building at the international, regional and national levels.  The achievement of sustainable development requires the integration of economic, environmental and social components at all levels. This is facilitated by continuous dialogue and action in global partnership, focusing on key sustainable development issues. The Division’s website links to reports of the annual meetings of the CSD http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/   The Division is the substantive secretariat for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, to be held in Rio de Janeiro. http://www.uncsd2012.org/  

• UN Environment Program  (Nairobi and Paris)

UN Environment Program:  GREENeconomy  See especially these documents –

Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication – A Synthesis for Policy Makers (52 pp)

http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/GER_synthesis_en.pdf

Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication  (Full Report – 626 pp)

http://www.unep.org/GreenEconomy/Portals/93/documents/Full_GER_screen.pdf

UNEP Resource Kit on Sustainable Consumption http://www.unep.org/tools/default.asp?ct=sustcon

Sustainable Societies: Africa – Modules for Education in Sustainable Development curriculum. This is designed at the university level and can be used outside the African context.  It was created with Environics Foundation International, which has pretested it in Nebraska and is developing a Great Plains version. 

http://www.unep.org/training/programmes/Instructor%20Version/Overview/Foreword/index.html

• UNESCO  (Paris)

Education for Sustainable Development, for which UNESCO is the lead agency, supports five fundamental types of learning to provide quality education and foster sustainable human development – learning to know, learning to be, learning to live together, learning to do and learning to transform oneself and society.  Extensive materials are available on the website. http://www.unesco.org/en/esd/

 Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit  The toolkit is based on the idea that communities and educational systems within communities need to dovetail their sustainability efforts. As communities develop sustainability goals, local educational systems and programs can modify existing curricula or create new programs to reinforce those goals.  Published in 2006. (130 pages)   

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001524/152453eo.pdf

Media as Partners in Education for Sustainable Development  The toolkit is part of a series on Journalism Education.  It encourages the journalist to know enough science to understand technical issues, but to communicate this with clarity to the public.  2008 (71 pages)

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001587/158787E.pdf

• UN-Energy (Various).  Secretariat: DESA (New York);  Chair: UNIDO (Vienna)

UN-Energy was established to help ensure coherence in the UN system’s multi-disciplinary response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and to ensure the effective engagement of non-UN stakeholders in implementing WSSD energy-related decisions. It aims to promote system-wide collaboration in the area of energy with a coherent and consistent approach since there is no single entity in the UN system that has primary responsibility for energy.  Twenty UN-related agencies are members.  Secretariat services are provided by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).  http://esa.un.org/un-energy/index.htm

• UN Development Programme (New York)

UNDP’s work on Environment and Energy is focused on six priority areas:

Integrating Environment into Development ; Effective Water and Oceans Governance; Access to sustainable energy services ;Sustainable land management to combat desertification & land degradation;  Conservation & sustainable use of biodiversity; National/sectoral policy & planning to control emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) & persistent organic pollutants POPs. http://www.undp.org/energyandenvironment/  

• FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization (Rome)

Natural resources and their services are essential to food production, enhanced rural development and sustainable livelihoods.  As summarized by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report published in 2005, “….. any progress achieved in addressing the Millennium Development Goals of poverty and hunger eradication and environmental sustainability is unlikely to be sustained if most ecosystem services on which humanity relies continue to be degraded….”.

FAO’s Natural Resources Management and Environment Department provides leadership, technical and policy advice towards the sustainable use of the earth’s natural resources; improved responses to global environmental challenges affecting food and agriculture, assessment of opportunities and challenges of bioenergy; and strengthened transfer and extension of knowledge required towards these goals.  The Department consists of two Divisions: Climate, Energy and Tenure Division and Land and Water Division.

Extensive resources are available at: http://www.fao.org/nr/aboutnr/en/  FAO’s preparations toward the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) can be viewed at. http://www.fao.org/rio20/e-forum/en/ 

 UNICEF (New York)

All UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)  programmes are designed to contribute to the Millennium Development Goal #7 target on water and sanitation — to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation.   Information on programs, statistics, etc., are available at:  http://www.unicef.org/wash/

UNICEF also partners in Sanitation and Water for All, aimed at achieving universal and sustainable access to sanitation and drinking-water, by firmly placing this on the global agenda with an immediate focus on achieving the MDGs in the most off-track countries. http://www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/aboutswa.html

• UNIDO (Vienna)

UNIDO recognizes that all industrial, activities create a burden on the environment while simultaneously creating revenues. Major problems include global warming, loss of biodiversity, water and air pollution, releases of persistent organic pollutants & other toxic substances, and land degradation including coastal erosion.

UNIDO focuses its efforts on Environmental Management and Energy and Climate Change programs including (1) Services re cleaner and sustainable production ; water management; and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Persistent Toxic Substances (PTS); (2) Energy and climate change, including greater access to modern energy services, increasing productivity through energy efficiency, and reducing GHG emissions;        (3) Promoting renewable and rural energy solutions; and (4) and Global forum activities including sharing information and experiences and chairing the inter-agency entity UN-Energy.  http://www.unido.org/

• World Bank (Washington)

Much of the World Bank’s work in sustainable development occurs via an internal grouping of departments, the Sustainable Development Network.  It covers a wide range of economic sectors: agriculture and rural development, energy, transport, water, environment, urban development, social development, oil, gas, mining, and chemicals, information and communication technologies, and sub-national activities.  The Bank aims to make sustainability its comparative advantage, enhancing the quality of growth to help developing countries move to, and remain on, a development path that reduces poverty and meets the needs of people today without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their own goals.

 The Network’s agenda embraces the “triple bottom line” of sustainability – economic, environmental and social – as well as anticipates and addresses major trends such as climate change, natural resource depletion, food scarcity, and urban expansion.   http://www.worldbank.org/ 

 http://www.worldbank.org/sustainabledevelopment/

Cordes emphasized the impact of dirty, inefficient cookstoves and open fires on health and environment, as half the world’s population continues to depend on wood and other biomass for cooking.  She pointed out that exposure to such smoke kills almost two million young children and women a year and sickens millions more.  Cookstove smoke is one of the top five worst overall health risk factors in the developing world.  Reliance on wood and charcoal is a major contributor to deforestation. 

Cordes described the recent establishment of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, its program focus and the technical working groups that are being established.  She declared that the Alliance hopes to promote adoption of 100 million clean, efficient cookstoves in ten years, which would be approximately 20% of the globally affected population.  She invited expanded government, private sector, philanthropic, academic, NGO and other institutions to engage in partnership opportunities.  For more information, see http://cleancookstoves.org  and http://www.flickr.com/photos/ppaf  For information on the UNA-USA Conference, see: http://unasouthernny.wordpress.com

Meetings were held with several potential private investors, with Ambassadors to the UN from Madagascar and Haiti, and with UN officials.  On the 15^th SImACT, a Haitian-American investment group, organized a session with more than 50 participants at their Brooklyn headquarters for discussions on both the clean cookstoves and the distilleries. 

On January 14, Blume Distillation represented and investors joined Stillman at the Conference for Teaching About the UN.  Blume staffed a display table at the conference along with Project Gaia.  Stillman addressed the conference on the topic “Fighting the Silent Killer in the Kitchen: Achieving the MDGs.”

Photos are available on the Foundation’s Flickr account.

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.

PPAF works to promote the advancement of women in its activities in its focus countries and welcomes this new important agency. 

UN Women will function as a secretariat and also will carry out operational activities at the country level; it brings together four parts of the UN system:

• the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), established in 1946;
• the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), established in 1976, and with its headquarters in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic;
• the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), established in 1997; and
• the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), established in 1976).

The new body will be headed by an Under-Secretary General who will be a member of all senior UN decision-making bodies and will report to the Secretary-General.  [Keep reading for more information on UN Women and on Ambassador Cuello's statement concerning a role for UN Women in the Dominican Republic.]

Advocates argue that through the establishment of UN Women, an historic step has been taken towards gender equality, women`s empowerment and women`s human rights as a whole.   According to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, through this resolution “We enter a new era in the UN`s work for women.”    

INSTRAW and the Dominican Republic  

In the UN press release discussing adoption of the resolution, Ambassador Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo is cited as saying his delegation

 “‘shares the delight’ of all other Member States at the adoption of the resolution.  The creation of UN Women answered the call of millions of women and girls around the world that had been waiting on the United Nations to respond to their needs.  He hoped that working with and for women through a single body would allow the Organization to tackle the gender-related specificities of development in a coherent and efficient manner.  He thanked the co-facilitators and Secretariat officials that had provided guidance during the negotiations.

 He said that the Dominican Republic had a long history of fighting for women and, to that end, had hosted INSTRAW, which had been essential, among other ways, in providing logistical support to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) following the devastating 12 January earthquake there.  He trusted that the integration of INSTRAW’s mandate into that of UN Women would preserve its training functions and ensure that its physical facilities remained in the Dominican Republic to guarantee the new body’s equitable geographical representation.”

 Role of UN Women

The General Assembly resolution creating UN Women expects this agency to have both operational and what the UN calls “normative” roles: dealing with policies and promoting and monitoring international covenants and agreements, working with the Commission on the Status of Women, a separate intergovernmental body, and with the UN Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC.

As far as the financing is concerned, the operations of UN Women will be funded from voluntary contributions, while the regular UN budget will support its normative work.

According to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon “UN Women will significantly boost UN efforts to promote gender equality, expand opportunity, and tackle discrimination around the globe.”

For more information, see the text of the full draft resolution, which deals system-wide coherence under the agenda item 114, Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit.

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/64/L.56   The final resolution, not yet posted, is: A/RES/64/289.  See also:

http://www.unwomen.org/

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/

http://www.un.org

The Public-Private Alliance Foundation promotes a business approach to development for poverty reduction and partnerships, and in support of all of the UN Millennium Development Goals.  PPAF is a participant in the UN Global Compact.

Procurement

One way to become a vendor and gain access to the UN’s $6 billion international market is to take advantage of the “one-step, fully on-line” registration process of the UN Global Marketplace.  This registers businesses with 21 agencies, funds and programs and the UN Secretariat, which represent over 95% of the UN procurement program’s expenditures.

Large contracts make the headlines, but the UN also relies on small businesses to support its operations. To encourage small business participation, the UN offers a tiered contract system   based on contract size – ranging from under $200,000 to over $5 million – with reduced compliance requirements for smaller contracts.

The UN Global Marketplace guide “Doing Business with the UN System” outlines the process. 

Disaster Response

A business can partner with the UN in disaster response as a paid service provider or by making donations.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) produces “How Can My Company Help?”   This page explains the role of businesses in disaster response, as well as methods of giving.

Cash is always the preferred type of donation, as it allows the UN to direct resources to the most immediate need, but in-kind donations are accepted so long as they meet current emergency needs. In all cases, donated goods and services must be aligned with the goals of the UN.

Businesses can also donate expertise by providing full-time employees with needed skills to UN agencies, and can facilitate individual giving through employee donation programs.

 OCHA encourages businesses to develop their ability to respond to future disasters, especially by creating long-term partnerships with emergency relief organisations.  OCHA also encourages support after the initial disaster passes, as reconstruction often costs ten or more times the cost of the initial response.

The UN Global Compact

The UN Global Compact  is a public-private initiative that joins businesses with the UN to make commitments to sustainability and corporate citizenship in four core areas: human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. By signing the Compact, businesses agree to implement and promote ten universal principles and to make annual contributions according to revenue-based guidelines.

Participating in the Compact allows businesses to contribute to the creation of a “more sustainable and inclusive global economy,” as well as to enjoy the benefits of partnering with the UN, governments, civil society, labor, and other non-business interests to develop best practices and implement an “established and globally recognized policy framework for the development.”

The June 2 summit was organized in effort to begin to review the funds that had already been pledged in the months following the New York summit. The day was spent discussing ways to create and implement initiatives aimed at rebuilding the Haitian infrastructure after the devastating earthquake of January 12. The focus was on projects that would restore some of Haiti’s most basic systems such as water, sewage and electricity, as well as building housing for the many displaced Haitians.

Fifty-four donor countries and 35 international organizations attended the summit. According to President Fernandez, by its close, a total of 7.81 billion was promised to help aid in the reconstruction of Haiti- still short of the 10 billion originally pledged in New York.  Most of these funds have not yet been delivered.

“ All this leads to the figure of US$6.71 billion. If we add the US$1.30 billion offered by the United States in the Summit in New York to that, we’ve already identified US$ 7.81 billion in pledges for Haiti’s reconstruction” (President Fernandez) .

 Former President Clinton and Prime Minister Bellerive are charged with using $ 5.3 billion of those dollars to fund various reconstruction projects over the next 18 months. The new Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (ICRH), will have their first meeting on June 14th to discuss further details.

Another concern was the safety of the million or so Haitians who are now homeless and susceptible to the 2010 Hurricane season which began June 1. Efforts are being made to ensure their protection and secure housing for the refugees in order to shield them from the effects of the harsh season and prevent further tragedy.

“We have more than one million people that are currently living in very precarious conditions, in camping tents,” stated Clinton, who is the United Nation’s Special Envoy to Haiti. “We can not allow for people to die during this Hurricane Season because they inhabit temporary dwellings.”

The PPAF YouTube channel now provides links to several videos from the United Nations in Action series that recount the first two months after the earthquake in Haiti.   Also linked is an earlier video on the protection of mangroves in the north. 

MINUSTAH hit hard by Haiti’s earthquake

Haiti’s Earthquake disaster

Haiti: Emergency medical care after the quake

Haiti: Search and rescue

Haiti: Food aid continues

Haiti Earthquake: UNICEF helps children to reunite with their families

Les soins médicaux d’urgence à la suite du séisme en Haïti

L’aide alimentaire continue en Haïti

Durement touchée par le tremblement de terre en Haïti

L’opération de recherche et secours en Haïti

Haiti: mangrove protection