SEKEM Group 3, Belbeis Desert Road 11777 Cairo Egypt PO Box 2834 El Horreya, Heliopolis Tel: +20 (2) 6564124 Fax:+20 (2) 6564123 regina.hanel@sekem.com www.sekem.com Managing Director: Helmy Abouleish
SEKEM Group, 3, Belbeis Desert Road, 11777 Cairo
Cairo, 27 June 2012
The Rio+20 Earth Summit: SEKEM Urges Action From Governments to Safeguard Global Water, Signs Special Communiqué On occasion of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, a group of 45 chief executive officers announced a major commitment to advance corporate water management practices, and called on governments attending the Summit to make global water security a top priority. In a special Communiqué carrying the names of all 45 CEOs, the business leaders highlighted the urgency of the global water crisis, calling on governments to step up their efforts. Helmy Abouleish signed the document on behalf of the SEKEM Initiative. The CEOs outline a range of public policy actions they believe governments should undertake to make meaningful progress on water and to better leverage the resources and capabilities of the international business community. These include developing policies and incentives to improve water productivity and efficiency especially agriculture, establishing fair valuation of water for agriculture, industry, and people, increasing investment in sanitary infrastructure, sharing policies, innovations, and tools in order to scale up good practice, and working more actively with the business community, private finance and civil society. “Water is the source of all life. For us, being located in an arid climate, this is a challenge which we tackle through innovative irrigation systems developed in cooperation with international partners”, said Helmy Abouleish, CEO of the SEKEM Group. SEKEM has been following the proceedings at Rio+20 closely and reiterates its demands concerning the key role of agriculture in fighting climate change and protecting our most important global common, the environment: 1. Acknowledge the fundamental role of sustainable agriculture in fighting climate change, improve and protect the earth’s arable soils, safeguard water resources, and improve the health of global flora and fauna. Governments, private actors and civil society need to collaborate more to put in place the necessary policies, incentives, and frameworks for effective action. 2. Organic agriculture goes just half the way - the future of sustainable agriculture lies in „organic+“, that is organic production plus global frameworks for fairer and more equitable trade. Only the two together will make sure that both earth and humankind will benefit equally. Through the Communiqué, the companies including SEKEM commit to expanding their water-management practices, which include actions such as setting targets on water efficiency, working with suppliers to improve their water practices, and partnering with other stakeholders in the field. “This Communiqué and the examples of action show that many businesses are ready to raise their game even further – urging that governments do the same.”, comments Gavin Power, Deputy Director the UN Global Compact, and Head of the CEO Water Mandate.
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All 45 chief executives are endorsers of the UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate, a business-focused initiative launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2007. The special Communiqué was issued at the Global Compact-hosted Corporate Sustainability Forum in Rio de Janeiro before the official opening of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20. Background: SEKEM – A Community for Sustainable Development The SEKEM-Group of companies is a part of the SEKEM Initiative founded in 1977 by Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish to strengthen sustainable development in Egypt by producing, processing, and marketing organic and bio-dynamic foodstuffs, textiles, and phyto-pharmaceuticals in Egypt, the Arab World, and on international markets. SEKEM has been widely praised as an “Egyptian organic pioneer” and has received the 2003 Right Livelihood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) as a „Business Model for the 21thCentury” and an “economy of love”. With part of their profits the SEKEM companies co-finance the social and cultural activities of the SEKEM Development Foundation that runs, among others, several schools, a medical centre, an academy of applied sciences, and other institutions in Egypt. To receive SEKEM’s monthly newsletter via email, please visit http://news.sekem.net Reprint free of charge, copy requested. Please contact us anytime for any inquiries and further information: SEKEM Gruppe & SEKEM Europe GmbH Hr. Bijan Kafi Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Gotzkowskystr. 15 10555 Berlin bijan.kafi@sekem.info +49 (30) 22410288 www.sekem.com
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