Question and answer session after statement (SG/SM/7742) at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, (unofficial transcript)
Press events | Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General
SG: Let me thank you for your two questions. On the question on housing, I see I have (Arcot) Ramachandran here, who used to be head of UN Habitat and spent several years working on this issue.
I think on the question of housing, first of all, for the general public, one has to try and come up with a strategy that will offer them affordable housing. Affordable housing implies also assisting them with funding and coming up with schemes that will allow them to be able to acquire their own houses. But governments alone cannot do that. Companies should have an interest in working with governments to ensure that their workers have a roof over their heads and they will come to work the next morning, rested, full of energy and ready to go. There are areas around the world where private sectors and governments have come together and worked out schemes that offer that kind of affordable houses. Obviously, each society will have to approach it in its own way. We cannot have a "one shoe fits all" approach, but companies can play a role and lots of companies have done this around the world. I would want to see more of that done.
On the question of environment, housing, energy and water, before I go to that, I would also mention natural disasters, and in fact, as we have noticed with the climate changes, we are going to be seeing more and more disasters.
Yesterday, I spoke in Dhaka about the environmental changes we are witnessing. We are going to see more monsoons, more cyclones, climate changes, the ice caps are melting, sea water will rise and some islands and countries will vanish completely. As I indicated, Bangladesh will be one of the ones to suffer. So we need to plan ahead. Today we have the technological information to be able to predict when some of these natural disasters are going to occur and if we are able to use that knowledge to prepare the people and move them out of harm's way, we can save them. In the case of earthquake, which happens very quickly, we now have the scientific knowledge to know where the fault lines lie. We should be able to design against it. Japan has lots of earthquakes but they don't always have so many people killed because they design against earthquakes and have a design structure and building codification, and I think these are lessons that we can learn in other parts of the world.
On the issue of water, there are many countries that are today in distress when it comes to water. We are not managing water. We have to be able to get more crop per drop of water we use. Even for agriculture, the water tables are dropping because we are not managing water properly. And drinking water is going to be a serious problem, and if we are not careful, future wars are going to be about water and not about oil. But this is where the corporations have a responsibility. You are the ones that have the technology and the means to exploit the resources. There's lots of green technology around, but are we exploiting them? Are we using them? I don't think we are. I've often told companies, when you go into a country to operate, you don't have to wait for a government to pass a law to know that your operations should not pollute the water or the river or the lake that produces the fish. You don't have to wait for the governments for you to know that. If you are in lumber, if you have cut the tree, you must plant and make sure that it will be able to grow back 10 years later. And these are things that companies can do automatically without any governmental regulation and you have a role to play. Some companies are dealing and focussing on energy because they realise that it is a key area. There are fossil fuels that are throwing up greenhouse emissions and the poor developing countries where every tree is cut for firewood, if we can offer alternate sources of energy which is affordable, we will protect our forests and we will be able to help our environment.
I spoke to one of the leaders in the oil industry and we talked about clean energy. I said: "Are you getting involved in solar energy?" He said: "Yes, we are making huge investment, because the people are going to insist on clean energy and we are in the energy business, not oil business." And even when you look at what is happening in that industry, gas, natural gas production, is growing at the rate of 50% a year. Oil is not, because people are looking for clean energy and this is going to continue and it is those who go to green technology and are sensitive to the environmental issues who are going to make it in the longer run, who are going to really be able to compete and I would encourage you really to look at that.
And, in fact, in the third world, if we opt for green technology, we will avoid the wasteful approaches that the industrialised countries have had to go through and are still causing problems for the environment.
Q: Are you satisfied with what has happened on the global front and have you got the response that you desired from the Indian leaders? And what are your views on women's entrepreneurship and what directives are there for that?
SG: First of all, on the Global Compact, the participants are not just corporate leaders or corporations. I must stress that we also have trade unions. Trade unions and NGOs are participants and therefore even though it is not a code of conduct, transparency and dialogue can be powerful tools. What we are asking these corporations is to act responsibly and post it on their websites to indicate what they have done. If they don't tell the truth, their workers know that "this is not what is happening in our company". The NGOs are also monitoring and in fact by putting these things on their websites they are able to share, and we are able to share, the best practices. We get to know what is working and what is not working. And other companies can learn from each other and hopefully compete with each other in a positive way.
On the question of women's empowerment, I think we are making some progress but we have a long way to go and I am speaking globally, I am not talking about the UN. About the UN too, I think we have done well. I have brought in a lot of women in senior positions, leadership positions, who are working at the UN and heading UN programmes and agencies. But globally, I think what is happening is an emphasis on girls education which is the right place to start. Starting with girls education and working with the mothers to ensure that they all go to school. The tentative steps that are being taken also to give them access to credit and management so that they can take charge of their lives are important. I am also encouraged by attempts to get women engaged in political life and what has happened here in India with 33% of the local parliamentary seats being held by women, is important. I notice Pakistan has just adopted a law that is also going to do the same thing and in other parts of the world, in Scandinavia, it is about 45%. I am encouraged by what I see and I think that women are also beginning to have role models whom they can follow. And what is even more important, in quite a few of these organizations where women are in serious positions, one is beginning to see a critical mass that will become a network and support each other. I have seen situations where there is only one woman amongst, say, 20 top management and that is tough. I sometimes felt for them. Now they are holding their own. Thank you.
Q: Sir would you consider establishing a Task Force to prepare a template or a format in which generally the government and the industry and the NGOs could work together, which could then be used as guidelines in many countries?
SG: I think that while I agree with the idea, and I support the idea that they should work together in partnership, I would prefer to share with them experiences of good practices of where it has worked, explain why it worked and encourage people to emulate it, rather than try and come up with guidelines. In fact by working through situations where it has worked you are able to determine how to proceed. Maybe, over time we will be able to come up with guidelines of that kind but I would tell you that the first group that will resist the guidelines strenuously and you may scare them away, is the private sector, the businessmen. Am I right? (laughter).*****