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At the 20th UN HABITAT Governing Council, held on 4-8 April 2005
at UN Headquarters in Nairobi, German Global Compact participant BASF and UN
HABITAT exchanged letters of intent to jointly respond to the devastating impact
of the December 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean region.
In her
remarks, Dr. Anna Tibaijuka, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director
of UN HABITAT, stated that BASF, beyond its contribution of US-$ 500,000, will
“add value through the provision of technologies and capacities to UN HABITAT’s
integrated approach to sustainable relief, reconstruction and long-term urban
development”.
She further urged participants not to forget the
“‘silent Tsunami’ affecting developing countries: widespread poverty, the AIDS
pandemic, crises such as in Sudan and Congo, the one billion slum dwellers,
among others”.
Dr. Tibaijuka said that this major and innovative
partnership with BASF for UN HABITAT is a model for the UN cooperation with the
private sector within the Global Compact and announced “that this will be the
starting point for a private sector partnership programme at UN
HABITAT”.
BASF International Law Advisor Dr. Andreas Blüthner, on
behalf of the company’s Vice-CEO Eggert Voscherau, elaborated on two projects -
one supporting sustainable reconstruction with UN-HABITAT, the other (in
cooperation with UNEP) focusing on the clean-up of soil contaminated by the
Tsunami. He described both efforts as ways to “unite complementary strengths
where the rubber hits the street, in concrete activity at the ground for the
benefit of those affected by the Tsunami.”
Participants of the
signing ceremony agreed that this public-private partnership demonstrates the
ability of the Global Compact to stimulate positive change in support of the
Millennium Development Goals as well as the ten principles of the Global
Compact.
For more information, please contact Mr. Günter Karl,
Office of the Executive Director, UN HABITAT, at guenter.karl@unhabitat.org.
