With multi-stakeholder dialogue on CSD-19 and Rio+20 continuing, will a bridge be crossed?

Originally posted on the CSRwire website.

By CSRwire Contributing Writer Martha Shaw

The 19th annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-19) opened with hopes countries will agree on policy decisions that will significantly improve the safe use of chemicals, management of waste, safety in mining, efficiency of transport and reduction of the world’s consumption of Earth’s materials. Annual CSD meetings seek to promote more sustainable use of Earth’s resources. Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, warned of the consequences of unsustainable consumption and production on the world’s ecosystems. Member States are being urged to agree on a plan to promote more efficient and safer use of chemicals and waste.

“We need to change our consumption and production patterns so that our economies proceed on sustainable paths, and so that we are able to address key global challenges like climate change, water and other resource scarcities, and environmental degradation,” said Mr. Sha Zukang.

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Can better water governance between citizen, state and business solve the scarcity crisis?

By Philip Monaghan

Water is essential to our survival. It makes up between half and three quarters of the human body weight, needs to be topped up on a regular basis and we cannot go without it for more than about week. As well as drinking it, we also use water for cooking and sanitation, not to mention industrial processes. But more often than not in the West, we treat it with disdain, a fact reflected in its low price and how the developed world fritters it away (you may leave the kitchen tap running into an unplugged sink at home but you would not pour petrol from the station pump down the drain).

What makes matters worse is, despite 70% of the Earth’s surface being covered by water, only 2.5% of the total volume is freshwater resources and fit for human consumption. Coupled with the facts from the WBCSD and FAO that in 60% of European cities with more than 100,000 people, groundwater is being used at a faster rate than it can be replenished. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions.

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Corporations are using our money to trash the environment.

By Hank Boerner

Let’s ask ourselves, whose money is it, anyway? In a recent CSRwire Talkback blog post, I wrote that, in my opinion, the highest test of true corporate responsibility is to see how the corporate board and management respect the concept of managing other peoples’ money (OPM). That set me thinking: as the billions and tens of billions of dollars that trade every day go swirling around the capital markets…whose money is it, anyway that stock traders and investment bankers and hedge fund managers and other market mavens are using to “play the market?” Yours and mine? Let’s think about that for a second or two as we read of investment banking bonuses.

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Perhaps it’s time to scale back military talk and give diplomacy one more try.

By Stefan Wolff

1. The legal foundations for doing so are shaky.
UN Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011) of 26 February 2011 unequivocally states “that all Member States shall immediately take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.” Exceptions to this rule may apply, subject to approval by a Committee consisting of all members of the Security Council, to “non-lethal military equipment intended solely for humanitarian or protective use”, “protective clothing, including flak jackets and military helmets, temporarily exported to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya by United Nations personnel, representatives of the media and humanitarian and development workers and associated personnel, for their personal use only; or “other sales or supply of arms and related materiel, or provision of assistance or personnel.” The terms of reference of this arms embargo leave little room for interpretation.

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Gender diversity in the boardroom is good for companies.

By David Wilcox

Criterion Ventures’ managing director Jackie Vanderbrug made an excellent argument for how to celebrate International Women’s day—in the corporate boardroom. Citing research conducted by Catalyst, Vanderbrug reiterated boards with three or more women outperform those without by 83% (measured by return on equity). Diversity brings power.

At the UN Investing in Women & Entrepreneurship: Solutions to MDG 3conference held March 8, many supporting arguments were made for increased inclusion of women at all levels of management. Among the highlights: Geena Davis (of The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media) advocating for appropriate representation of women in the media and Dermalogica founder Jane Wurmand speaking on the concept of the “power of touch” and job creation for women globally, the foundation to Dermalogica’s success.

We were also reminded of the coming positive wave of social advocacy and enterprises led by millennials in general and young women in particular. The Girl Up campaign leverages this powerful generational good.

Obviously you can’t run out, add a couple of female directors, and expect corporate performance to improve. There is a lot of basic work needed to open any business to increased innovation and diversity. The bestselling book, The Game-Changer, by P&G’s former CEO A. G. Lafley, is an excellent example. Leaders are doing this work and they are discovering significant sources of innovation.

So how do you act on all of this?

• First, expand your network to include innovative movements and organizations lead by women.
• Second, invest in social movements and enterprises lead by women.
• Third, build and invest in businesses (and sustainable social enterprises) that employ women.
• Fourth, support movements and organizations that solve critical problems faced by women.

These four recommendations are not typically on the radar screen for most organizations, and many respond to these challenges with “our corporate foundation takes care of issues like that.” What may have been a decent answer a decade ago is no longer adequate especially since innovation is coming from new places like the Global South. Corporations who are actively scaling innovative social enterprises that have transformative impact and business models can actually achieve progress on several fronts simultaneously.

For example the Every Woman Every Child campaign is a massive set of commitments from countries, NGOs, corporations and others. Headlines for the September 22 announcement at the UN Summit read: “UN Summit launches drive to save the lives of more than 16 million woman and children – Global Strategy on Women’s and Children’s Health Draws more than $40 Billion in Resources.”

Business leaders wanting to expand their presence among women leaders are presented here with an almost unparalleled opportunity to build relationships and bridges that can transform millions of lives. What the Every Woman Every Child campaign needs is impact and business models that integrate a number of features – telemedicine, clean water, ERM, mobile diagnostics. These highly innovative solutions will enable initial expenditures to garner outsized results so that investment continues and goals are reached while spending sustainable amounts (not $40 billion).

(For more on this, see this Reachscale post.)

Social enterprises on the ground are already delivering these services. Healthpoint, along with Lifespring Hospitals and the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society, are examples of this. Corporate support could present these models to countries and the global health ecosystem, driving innovation and successful initial expenditures. Farther down the road, it will also seed the next generation of women leaders.

About David Wilcox

David Wilcox is the founder of ReachScale, an organization that aligns the social responsibility goals of corporations with high potential social entrepreneurs working in areas of common interest.

Talkback Readers: How gender diverse is your company’s board? What have you done (are planning to do) to increase the presence of women? Has it made a difference? Tell us on Talkback!