Private Sector and SDGs: A case study on Huawei

Nairobi, 16 November 2018: Nowadays it is not uncommon for multinational corporations to report on sustainability. SDG Target 12.6 specifically calls for “companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle”. Indicator 12.6.1 is “Number of companies publishing sustainability reports”. While official data are not yet available for this new indicator, a recent study by KPMG reveals the followings:

To take a deeper look on the private sector’s engagement in SDGs, last Friday, I joined an informal study tour to Huawei’s office in Kenya. With a humble start in 1987 in Southern China, the tech giant has now 18,000 employees in more than 170 countries worldwide. Earlier this year, it had surpassed Apple’s iPhone as the world’s number 2 smartphone seller.  

One interesting thing that Huawei has done is to map out the correlations between ICT and individual SDGs, according to its report in 2017. Huawei sets its priority SDGs partially based on this.

On the environment side, Huawei has reported its contributions to SDG 6, 7, 12, 13 and 15 in its sustainability report 2017:

Our group has engaged in open and enthusiastic discussions with Adam Lane, Senior Director of Public Affairs of Huawei’s office in Kenya. Mr. Lane was candid enough to say that for everything that Huawei does, including its efforts on sustainability, is linked with the company’s bottom line on profit. “Profit is a complex formula; if we have a good reputation, it certainly has a positive impact on our profit,” said Mr. Lane.

Organized by UN Environment’s intern Yu Cheng, the informal study tour has attracted more than 10 colleagues from UN Environment, UN-Habitat as well as a government representative. This is one of a series of activities that UN Environment’s interns organizes to put the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into practice. 

#sdgs #sustainability #privatesector #huawei #technology 

A lecture for my hometown's young minds on sustainability

Hong Kong, 23 October 2018: It looks normal and it doesn't. On this Tuesday morning, while I woke up as usual at around 06:00, I didn't drive my car to the UN's office in Nairobi, Kenya, where I'm currently based. Instead, I took the metro to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where I had my undergraduate study some 10+ years ago. 

Today, I'm no longer a student. I returned to the Chinese University as a guest lecturer. The topic was sustainability, and the target audience were teenage undergraduate students pursuing the Global Studies programme. What a perfect match and spontaneous match to my profile! Back in Nairobi, Kenya, I work as a Policy Officer on Sustainable Development for the United Nations. 

My lecture is never boring, thanks to my two secret weapons. I like to visualize data, often using the Gapminder Foundation's powerful color motion bubble charts. I also like telling personal stories, this time quoting my field work experiences in Uganda, South Sudan, Nepal and Laos. My message was simple. Our world is never equal, and equity is at the heart of the topic of sustainable development. Classic examples include income and gender inequalities. Who make decisions? Who herd cattle and migrate when water becomes scarce? Who can afford a smartphone, and who pick up the e-waste?

"How did you enter the United Nations? Why couldn't we ask everyone to consume less? What can I do for sustainable development?" asked eagerly the 20 female and male students at the end of the lecture. I'm deeply impressed by the enthusiasm and critical thinking of these young minds.  

It was a very pleasant collaboration with the course's lecturer Dr. Harry Lee. Great partnership! To make the most of my visit back to Hong Kong, my hometown, I have also met with the Chinese University's Alumni Office, as well as Hong Kong's Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Thank you Annie Wong, Daniel Cheng, George Ma and Richard Chung, it was a huge pleasure meeting you all. 

SHE Protects our Planet, not with Policies and Projects, but with these Ps

I work for the United Nations, and we are good at using with the "P" words: projects, programmes, policies, peace, poverty, partnership... The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted unanimously by all 193 member states in 2015, adds to the list three buzzwords: people, planet and prosperity, signifying the 2030 Agenda's inseparable social, environmental and economic dimensions. 

Ms. Hannifa Kut, currently pursuing a master degree in environmental law in the University of Nairobi, has her own particular "P"s in promoting change: pen and paper, with passion as her ink. Nothing is too big, nothing is too small. Hannifa publishes articles in her own online blog, calling for change in the way we live, and in the way we connect with our mother nature. 

Hannifa does have her unique perspective. In her recent article "Diet Change or Climate Change", she is not shy about upsetting the meat-lovers:

"Animal agriculture actually contributes to global warming. That is meat and dairy production. With some sources having more effect than others, say beef and poultry, with beef being on the higher side."

Passionate about the issues of youth, gender and environment, the Kenyan student is particularly concerned with pollution that affects her own country:

"The Kenyan coast has not been exempted from the plastic pollution that has been taking place all through other oceans/seas."

To my pleasure, Hannifa is also a fan of UN Environment's #CleanSeas campaign. She also mentions about the last UN Environment Assembly in her stories! Click here or the link below to check our her blog on Environment Matters: https://hannifakut.blogspot.com/

Note: I met Ms. Hannifa Kut at the Global Landscape Forum, Nairobi, August 2018. I do not necessarily share the views expressed in her blog.

Congrats to Nobel Peace Prize winners; Say NO to sexual violence

How many women need to endure sexual violence, before men wake up to understand NO is NO? How many girls and boys need to die in conflicts, before humanity wakes up and say ENOUGH is ENOUGH? The answer, my friend, is to promote better natural resource management, and to improve data collection. For the latter, what gets measured gets done. 

Heartiest congratulations to Ms. Nadia Murad of Iraq and Dr. Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo for being this year's Noble Peace Prize winners! Ms. Murad, aged 25 and a former Islamic State sex slave, is a powerful advocate for ending gender-based violence as a weapon of war; Dr. Mukwege, aged 63 and a gynecologist, has been dedicating his life treating rape victims in his home country. I admire their courage, persistence and humanity. The award to Murad is another great evidence that women too are key actors in peace building, while the recognition of Dr. Mukwege sends a message that men too can be a strong force for gender equality. 

Over the last 60 years, the lake’s size has decreased by 90 per cent as a result of over use of the water, extended drought and the impacts of climate change. (Photo: WWF/Meg GAWLER)

One reason for conflicts, and thus a surge in cases of sexual violence, is related to degradation of natural resources. UN resolutions 2349 and 2408, adopted in 2017 and 2018 respectively, recognize climate and ecological changes as drivers of instability in the Lake Chad region and in Somalia. It is no surprise that UN Environment has recently stepped up efforts on environment security, click here to read more. 

Both Ms. Murad and Dr. Mukwege would be delighted to learn that data at least partially exist for the SDG indicator 5.2.1 on intimate-partner violence. In D.R. Congo, Dr. Mukwege's home country, as many as 36.8% women and girls between the age of 15 and 49 were subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the last 12 months, reported in the year 2014. Data for this indicator is not available in Iraq, Ms. Murad's country. In Kenya, where UN Environment's headquarters are based, the figure is 25.5%, reported in 2014.  

Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire, March, 2013: I supported these women and men to develop outcome-level indicators to measure women's decision making, it was a good lesson for me.

For many years, I had conducted field work in a number of countries to develop data collection tool and train up enumerators to assess the relations between women and men. In 2014, I supported a nation-wide gender and food security assessment in Chad; one of the results pointed to the possible linkage between climate change and girls' early marriage. Earlier this year (2018), during my gender analyses in South Sudan and Uganda, women reported higher incidences of violence committed by their husbands during dry seasons, prolonged by climate change. 

Peace and security, climate change, natural resources and social dynamics are all intimately linked. Addressing one can sometimes help tackle the others. Guess this is exactly the very purpose of the Sustainable Development Goals. In UN Environment, we are challenged to think vertically about the needs of the people that we serve, and horizontally how to connect our work with peace, security and socio-economic issues. The two newly named Nobel laureates would certainly appreciate our such efforts.

Message to 100 Young Leaders: Data can be fun and powerful

27 August 2018, Nairobi: Unlike most other weeks, this Monday, I couldn't wait to wake up. I was excited to be part of the Youth Workshop of the Global Landscape Forum as a speaker on the topic "The Policy Perspective". Organized by the Center for International Forestry Research in collaboration with UN Environment's Africa Office, the 2-day event attracted 100 young leaders - women and men - from across Africa in the field of ecosystem restoration. They came to learn new skills and share their entrepreneurial ideas.

Do you agree? Data can be dynamic, fun and powerful! That was the key message of my presentation at this workshop. With the assistance of my colleague Camille Proulx, I started my 10-minute talk (TED Talk?) with a 200-year history data show on the change in carbon emission (per person) and income (gross national income per person), from the Industrial Revolution, through the two world wars, all the way to the year 2014. The relationship is clear. The more (carbon emissions) a country had, the richer it was.

Presentation showcasing a 25-year trend of how forest coverage had changed among African countries

Apart from the economic lens, we can also look at climate change from a social perspective. When I showed the link between babies per woman with carbon emissions per person, it was received very well by the audience. While it's wrong to say that one causes the other, it happens that higher carbon-emitting countries have fewer babies per woman. The explanation was simple: when countries emit more and get rich, women tend to be more educated, economically empowered, have more access to contraceptives and control over their own lives. 

When the discussion was brought back to ecosystem restoration, I could see increased interest (eyes opened wider) from the young women and men. I showed a 25-year trend (1990 to 2015) of how forest coverage (Sustainable Development Goal indicator 15.1.1) had changed among African countries. Again, the fact that lower-income countries (such as Uganda) tend to export charcoal (forest products) to richer neighbors (such as Kenya, a middle-income country) was applauded by the audience, as it pointed to the need to address both the demand and supply sides of ecosystem restoration. 

My colleague Camille Proulx and I were challenging the young leaders on their worldview

During two 45-minute interactive sessions with these young leaders, Camille and I challenged their worldview, tested their logical thinking and had heated discussions with them on various topics. We were impressed by their curiosity and aspirations for the work of the United Nations, as well as their open-minded attitude in learning new things. For instance, they embraced our message with enthusiasm when we challenged them not to divide the world into the binary of "developed West" and "developing rest", but to pay attention to the fact that 50% African countries belong either high- or middle-income categories, as per the World Bank's country classification by income. Interestingly enough, in Africa, income and forest area have a strong negative relationship. Low-income countries have the highest average forest size, followed by lower-middle, higher-middle and high-income countries.

Everyone picked their favorite Sustainable Development Goal and posed for photos

The highlight was our photo and selfie time at the end, when these young women and men picked their favorite Sustainable Development Goal and posed for pictures. A few of them were "fighting" for Goal 5, it seems our new generation have high aspirations to gender equality! Yes let's make it happen!

From MDGs to SDGs: The story of Richard Munang

Left: Richard studied hard in harsh conditions back in his country in 2000; 

Right: Richard became Dr. Munang as he gained his PhD in the University of Nottingham in 2008

In 2000, the year when world leaders met in the UN headquarters in New York to agree on a 15-year vision called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), our dear friend and colleague Dr. Richard Munang had just finished high school in Bamenda, Cameroon, and was about to start university in his country’s capital city Yaoundé. Richard’s excitement to go to university was no less than the world leaders on the MDGs, especially because of his burning desire for knowledge, and the difficult days he went through to complete his high school education. “Times were hard. I remember once when I had to trek part of the journey to school from the holidays – a total of 70km – due to lack of fare,” recalls Richard. If you think that this is a single incident, you’re wrong. During his three years in university, Richard had to trek 70km every day to the campus. Yes, 70km every day.

Half way through the MDGs, in 2008, Richard completed his PhD in environmental change and policy from the University of Nottingham. The following year, he was recruited by Jian Liu (Science Division Director a.i.; the then Head of Climate Change Adaptation) into our UN Environment family. This was also the time when our world had nearly halved its population living in extreme poverty (MDG Target 1A), from 35.5% in 1990 to 18.1% in 2008 (World Bank Data Portal). The poverty rate further dropped to 10.9% in 2013, the year when Richard became UN Environment’s Climate Change Coordinator for Africa.

Changes in a 15-year time frame can be huge, Richard knows it well. From walking barefoot to school to earning a PhD and working for the United Nations is not only a dream come true, but also the best living evidence in human progress. Definitely worth celebrating. However, during the same period, our world has also increased carbon dioxide emissions by more than 50% (from 24 million kt in 2000 to 36.1 million kt in 2014, World Bank Data Portal), or nearly 25% per capita (from 4.033 in 2000 to 4.97 metric tons per capita in 2014, same data source).

Unfortunately, as per current trajectory, there is a strong positive correlation between income (per capita) and CO2 emissions (per capita) (The above chart was created with the online tool of the Gap Minder Foundation.)

To Richard, climate change is not just a scientific or political topic, it’s real, and it’s taking a toll in his own village in Cameroon. Back in 2000, during his semester break, he went back to his village. When herding his family goats, recalls Richard, “This is the first time when I saw the devastating effects the erratic weather – climate change – was having on farming in our village. It really frustrated me to witness my mother’s tireless efforts in tilling our farmland, only met by failing rains and much diminished harvest”. This is why when Richard joined UN Environment, he’s particularly passionate about linking the work on climate change with food security. His innovative initiative in establishing the Ecosystem-based Adaptation for Food Security in Africa Assembly is a celebrated success. In 2016, Richard was presented the UN Environment Baobab Award in programme innovation, and the African Environmental Hero Award by the International Environmental Roundtable for Africa. 

Dr. Munang in 2018, with a big smile: I was privileged to attend his book launch in Nairobi, July 2018

In 2015, when world leaders gathered again at the UN headquarters to celebrate success of the MDGs, and to commit to the global vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the next 15 years, Richard was watching the news with a big smile. During the MDG era, Richard has experienced first-hand the plights of poverty and climate change, the power of education, and the innovation in linking climate change with food security. Now, moving to the SDGs, Richard has no hesitation to embrace all the goals, and he is clear what he wants to do until 2030.

Dr. Munang at his book launch in Nairobi in July 2018; it was well attended by youth, UN Environment colleagues as well as diplomatic ambassadors

Interested to learn more about Richard’s vision? Check out his new book “Making Africa Work Through the Power of Innovative Volunteerism”!

SDGs are fun, let’s play!

3 August 2018, Nairobi: Something does not seem right, when a group of serious young professionals sat together in a meeting room and threw a dice for a board game. This is the Sustainable Development Goals board game, and they are Giada Congiu, Sandor Madar, Nadine Souto, Thomas Grupp, Huri Oyan and Camille Proulx. Coming from six different countries and three different continents, they work on a diverse range of issues such as faith, extractives, programme support, environment security and safeguards in the Policy Division of UN Environment.

According to Camille, Intern for the Faith for Earth Initiative, what they are trying to do is a series of actions to market the Sustainable Development Goals, to make it exciting and relevant to everyone. For this very purpose, they are working on a really cool project. What is their project about? Not to be disclosed now, so please stay tuned!