From left: Global Compact Network Sri Lanka Director Rasika Withanage, Global Compact Network Sri Lanka Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam and Global Compact Network Sri Lanka Steering Committee Member Sandya Salgado - Pic by Sameera Weerasinghe

By Shiran Illanperuma

Ahead of its launch at the UN General Assembly in New York on 25-27 September, Global Compact Sri Lanka announced ‘Project Everyone’ – an international initiative to raise awareness at the grassroots level of Global Sustainable Goals, the spiritual successor to the Millennium Project. The latest project hopes to engage Sri Lanka’s population of 21 million on contemporary challenges in achieving sustainability. 

‘Project Everyone’ will also be taking place internationally with the overall aim of sharing Global Compacts sustainability goals with 7 billion people in 7 days through all manner of media platform ranging from television to radio, newspaper to magazine and billboard to internet .

With the Millennium Project coming to a close this year the UN Global Compact’s new 15-year initiative seeks to further the development agenda of its predecessor while building on some of its failures and shortcomings. With a concerted focus on the corporate sector 40 local companies have so far signed on with the 17 point agenda.

Among the local signatories are leading companies such as Cargills Ceylon PLC, The Capital Maharaja, Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing and Durdans Hospital.

Sri Lanka being a tiny nation with relatively little impact on the global climate compared to major developed and developing economic hubs like USA, Europe and China has kept a low profile in the UN with regard to such issues. This was, according to Global Compact Network Sri Lanka representatives, exacerbated by the previous regime’s troubled relationship with the UN.

However, with a new government in power and Sri Lanka lagging behind on certain Millennium Project goals relating to nutrition, environmental sustainability and gender equality, the Global Compact Board of Sri Lanka has sought the signatures of numerous corporate stakeholders to secure better development in the coming 15 years.

Global Compact Network Sri Lanka Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam said, “We have a reached a critical juncture where urgent drastic action is necessary, Global Compact aims to draw in all the stakeholders who can make such an action possible particularly in the corporate sector.”

According to Global Compact Sri Lanka Network representatives, a flaw of the Millennium Project was its state driven model and the subsequent lack of corporate participation and awareness in bringing about meaningful sustainable change.

“We need to make companies see that sustainability is not just a matter of CSR but a boon to branding, sales and long-term productivity when incorporated properly into corporate strategy,” said Global Compact Network Sri Lanka Steering Committee member Sandya Salgado.

With 17 development goals and 169 targets to meet, the Global Compact agenda which has been recognised by UN member states is far more comprehensive and ambitious than the eigh- point Millennium Project that preceded it.

The stated objectives of the Global Compact include raising awareness within Sri Lankan civil society, particularly the corporate sector on pressing international issues. This in turn hopes to begin a dialogue with powerful corporate stakeholders in order to achieve the compact’s goals.

The ultimate goals however is to bring in a multi-stakeholder partnership between private and public sectors as well as non-governmental organisations to formulate programs necessary for change.

The 17 goals address diverse contemporary issues such as poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, clean energy, economic growth, industry and infrastructure, inequality, sustainable cities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, welfare of life on land and in the water, peace and justice; and partnership between stakeholders.

Global Compact is touted as the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative.

Poverty and climate change intertwined in disaster-prone Lanka

The issue of income inequality is deeply entwined with global issues such as sustainability and climate change, suggests Global Compact Network Sri Lanka Director Rasika Withanage.

“With 42% of the country’s land tied up in agricultural use and nearly 10% of the population depending on plantations for their daily wage, shifting weather patterns due to climate change would have disastrous effects on the Sri Lankan populace,” he said.

Already planters have been battling with erratic weather patterns lowering overall productions, thereby harming revenue and stifling planters’ ability to meet the wage demands of their workers

Global Compact representatives further emphasised the severity of the global situation by referencing 980 ‘loss events’ that occurred in 2014 - that is, natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes landslides, storms and extreme temperatures. Furthermore temperatures that soared to a record high last year are set to be surpassed this year.

Disasters that Sri Lanka in particular is vulnerable to include hazards such as floods and droughts, the former being an issue seen more frequently in the Dry Zones of the north and east. Cyclones and coastal erosion are also a concern. 

Additional concerns include the spread of vector-borne diseases due to changing weather and new breeding grounds for mosquitoes. This is particularly true for canal communities where conditions are deteriorating due to lack of adequate waste management.

Furthermore increased rainfall combined with deforestation has led to soil erosion and landslides as seen in the recent past in the Hill Country causing death, displacement and economic loss.