UNifeed: NESTLE / WATER

NESTLE / WATER

Interviews with Columbia Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs and Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe who are attending a business forum on solutions in policy and actions to the growing crisis of water security. UNTV / UNICEF / WORLD BANK / MINUSTAH / IFAD

Duration:03:06Date:28 April 2009

Categories:

United Nations Television, United Nations Children's Fund, WORLD BANK, WATER, INDUSTRY, International Fund for Agricultural Development, United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti

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Full Script

STORY: NESTLE / WATER
TRT: 3.06
SOURCE: UNTV / UNICEF / WORLD BANK / MINUSTAH / IFAD 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior, Millennium UN Plaza Hotel
2. Med shot, sign 
3. Wide shot, panel discussion during ‘Creating Shared Value’ symposium
4. Med shot, Nestlé chairman Peter Brabeck-Lemathe, moderator, and Columbia Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs at the podium
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman, Nestlé S.A.:
“We have given too little attention to the most important and the most valuable resource that we have, which is really water. And in the past time, we have not really been investing sufficiently in infrastructure, as a matter of fact we have been under-investing by almost 500 billion U.S. dollars per year. And of course this has consequences.”

FILE – MINUSTAH – FEBRUARY 2009, CENTRAL PLAINS, HAITI

6. Close up, water gushing out of a rubber hose
7. Various shots, water canalized into ridges

28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman, Nestlé S.A.:
“I don’t think we have to discuss whether it is a human right; the question is: What part of the water is a human right? I understand that it is the five liters of water that we need in order to drink, and the 20 liters of water that we need for a minimum hygienic. This is human right. I don’t think it’s a human right that we can water our golf courses, that we can fill up our swimming pools, that this is being considered a human right. That’s where I think it becomes a commodity.”

FILE – UNICEF – 2-3 APRIL 2008, MARADI REGION, NIGER

9. Wide shot, buckets of water pulled up from well
10. Med shot, woman pulling up water bucket
11. Wide shot, woman pulling up bucket from well and pouring water into basin

28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman, Nestlé S.A.:
“If we continue to use water the way we do it today, we will be run out of water before we are running out of oil.”

FILE – IFAD – JUNE 2008, MOGOLO, ERITREA

13. Wide shot, farmer walking through dry field
14. Zoom out, irrigation canal
15. Wide shot, tractor ploughing the field

28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman, Nestlé S.A.:
“I think this is all a sign that we are moving in the right direction, so I’m feeling very confident. There are always one or another person that still likes to criticize us; well I think in open democracy you always will have someone who will criticize you, so…”

FILE – WORLD BANK – SEPTEMBER 2008, POKHORA, NEPAL

16. Various shots, girl getting water

28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Columbia Earth Institute and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the UN Millennium Development Goals:
“Nobody escapes this challenge. No one’s going to escape this crisis, unless we work together to solve it.”

FILE – IFAD – JUNE 2008, MOGOLO, ERITREA

18. Various shots, children eating

28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Columbia Earth Institute and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the UN Millennium Development Goals:
“The private sector can bring in technology, it can bring in capital, it can bring in know-how, it can connect people to markets, and therefore build livelihoods. So these are all good things, if the private sector companies are responsible leaders who have a long-term vision, a reputation to sustain. If it’s disreputable, fly-by-night companies who are coming in to grab a resource, then we know that a lot of damage can be done.”

FILE – UNHCR – 1-3 JUNE 2008, KUNDUZ AND BAGHLAN PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN

20. Wide shot, water being poured

STORYLINE:

The chairman of Nestle today (28 April) said that 500 billion dollars a year need to be invested in more efficient water systems, or else the world will run out of water before it runs out of oil.

Nestle was co-hosting a two-day high-level global forum in New York where experts discussed the role of business in finding solutions to global challenges such as food and water security issues.

In an interview with UNifeed, Nestle chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe said too little attention had been paid to the “most valuable resource that we have, which is really water”. He said widespread water leakages and waste were the result of an under-investment of “almost 500 billion U.S. dollars per year” in infrastructure.

According to the UN, about 70 percent of freshwater is used for irrigation, about 22 percent for industry, and about eight percent for domestic use.

Brabeck-Letmathe estimated that in developing countries, two thirds of water is lost to leakage or waste.

Asked whether he viewed water as a human right or a resource too precious to give away for free, he said there was no doubt that water is a human right, but that he understood this to mean the “five liters of water that we need in order to drink, and the 20 liters of water that we need for a minimum” of hygiene. He said he didn’t think it was a human right “that we can water our golf courses, that we can fill up our swimming pools”, and that was where water “becomes a commodity.”

The UN suggests that each person needs 20-50 liters of safe freshwater a day to ensure their basic needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning. More than one in six people worldwide - 894 million - don't have access to this amount, according to the UN.

Brabeck-Letmathe claimed that because the world was already relying on fossil water that unlike rainwater is not replenished, “we will be run out of water before we are running out of oil” if current usage patterns continue.

During this week’s forum, Nestle launched several initiatives in nutrition, water and rural development.

Asked how he felt about continuing criticism of Nestle by some NGOs despite the company’s efforts to become recognized as good corporate citizen, Brabeck-Letmathe said that Nestle’s cooperation with the UN and a number of non-governmental organizations showed that the company was “moving in the right direction”. In a democracy, he said “you always will have someone who will criticize you”.

From the late 1970s, Nestle was boycotted over its marketing practices for infant formula, which it has since changed. More recently, the company has been criticized over its bottled water business, the use of genetically modified organisms, links to slave labor on cocoa farms in West Africa, and the promotion of unhealthy foods to children.

The Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals, Jeffrey Sachs also participated in the forum and spoke to UNifeed.

Sachs underlined that water stress was such a serious problem that “no one’s going to escape this crisis”, unless government, non-governmental actors and businesses work together to solve it.

According to the UN, by 2050 the world's water will have to support agricultural systems to feed and create livelihoods for an additional 2.7 billion people.

Sachs said that the private sector could do much to address the water crisis, by bringing in technology, capital, and know-how, and connecting people to markets. The involvement in countries with significant water stress of responsible companies with a long-term vision and a reputation to sustain was a good thing. But he noted that “disreputable, fly-by-night companies who are coming in to grab a resource” could also do “a lot of damage”.

Sachs has said that water scarcity in countries such as Afghanistan and Sudan is fueling conflicts there.

The global forum on “Creating Shared Value: Business and Development” was hosted by the UN Office for Partnerships, the Swiss Mission to the United Nations, and Nestle S.A. from 27-28 April 2009.

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