Focus on the Long-Term and Resist Short-Termism Afflicting Corporate Behavior

Photo of Larry Fink: BlackRock

Laurence (Larry) Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock, a New York, N.Y.-based investment firm, sent his annual Corporate Governance Letter to chief executives at S&P 500 companies and large European corporations. Mr. Fink's letter encourages corporate leaders to focus on creating long-term strategies and resist "the powerful forces of short-termism afflicting corporate behavior." While you can read the letter in its entirety, there are a few points worth discussing in this post.

The lack of transparency and openness on Wall Street has long been a concern of mine during my professional career. I am pleased to read Mr. Fink's message "that companies have an obligation to be open and transparent about their growth plans so that shareholders can evaluate them and companies' progress in executing on those plans." Mr. Fink continues to say: "We are asking that every CEO lay out for shareholders each year a strategic framework for long-term value creation. Additionally, because boards have a critical role to play in strategic planning, we believe CEOs should explicitly affirm that their boards have reviewed those plans."

I spend a significant amount of my time reading reports issued by publicly-traded companies as required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and I am routinely disappointed these companies do not address management's vision and future plans. Therefore, I find encouragement in Mr. Fink's words:

Annual shareholder letters and other communications to shareholders are too often backwards-looking and don’t do enough to articulate management’s vision and plans for the future. This perspective on the future, however, is what investors and all stakeholders truly need, including, for example, how the company is navigating the competitive landscape, how it is innovating, how it is adapting to technological disruption or geopolitical events, where it is investing and how it is developing its talent. As part of this effort, companies should work to develop financial metrics, suitable for each company and industry, that support a framework for long-term growth. Components of long-term compensation should be linked to these metrics. 

Mr. Fink also addresses how environmental and social factors are impacting corporate long-term plans:

These issues offer both risks and opportunities, but for too long, companies have not considered them core to their business – even when the world’s political leaders are increasingly focused on them, as demonstrated by the Paris Climate Accord. Over the long-term, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues – ranging from climate change to diversity to board effectiveness – have real and quantifiable financial impacts.

"At companies where ESG issues are handled well, they are often a signal of operational excellence."

It is too easy to blame companies for being too focused on the short-term; "investors, the media, and public officials have a role to play," according to Mr. Fink. "In Washington (and other capitals), long-term is often defined as simply the next election cycle, an attitude that is eroding the economic foundations of our country" and "public officials must adopt policies that will support long-term value creation."

Lastly, "Companies, for their part, must recognize that while advocating for more infrastructure or comprehensive tax reform may not bear fruit in the next quarter or two, the absence of effective long-term policies in these areas undermines the economic ecosystem in which companies function – and with it, their chances for long-term growth."

What are your thoughts about Mr. Fink's letter?

Aaron Rose serves as President and CEO of ROI3, Inc., a Seattle, Wash.-based company that empowers people in emerging economies through innovative, technology-based solutions. He is also the editor of Solutions for a Sustainable World.

AT&T ZERO Charger Helps End Wasted Electricity and Reduce Landfill Waste

According to the United States Department of Energy, the total amount of electricity that flows through internal and external power adapters is nearly 470 billion kWh per year or about 12 percent of the nation’s annual electricity consumption. During the process these devices consume about 120 billion kWh per year of electricity and turn it into heat, costing the nation over $12 billion in electric bills. Continuing the theme of energy conservation in this blog, AT&T announced that it will make available in its U.S. stores in a mobile phone charger that “does not waste power when left plugged in, and improves charging efficiency when powering a device.” (Photo: AT&T)

According to a March 17, 2010 press release, “The AT&T ZERO Charger will also make life easier for customers, with a ‘block and cable’ design for maximum interchangeability, allowing them to use the same charger for future handsets and will, over time, cut the number of chargers produced, thus reducing future landfill waste.” Partnering with Irwindale, California-based Superior Communications, “the AT&T ZERO charger works by automatically sensing when a mobile phone is not plugged up to the charger and cutting the power supply from the wall socket. The charger will be sold in packaging with 100% recycled paper. AT&T recently announced a transition to smaller and more eco-friendly packaging for the wireless device accessories sold in AT&T stores. This change will eliminate more than 60 percent of the paper and more than 30 percent of the plastic previously used for AT&T’s accessory products.”

AT&T notes that when conventional chargers are left plugged in, even when not actively charging a mobile device, can draw as much as 5 to 20 times more energy than stored in the battery. “Adding to its efficiency, the AT&T ZERO Charger can be used to charge many existing and future handheld devices — all from one outlet,” explains a Superior Communications press release. “Over time, this will help reduce the number of chargers produced and discarded to minimize impact on the environment.” This innovative device has a 5-star efficiency rating, which exceeds the standards set by GSMA and the ZERO charger is AT&T’s first step toward full GSMA compliance. (Photo: Superior Communications)

Social Responsibility: One Tasty "Peace" at a Time

As I discussed in the previous blog entry, I had the pleasure of attending the Social Venture Capital/Social Enterprise Conference in Miami Beach, Florida. Among the approximately 110 panels during the three-day conference, there was a session titled “Women Social Entrepreneurs in Latin America,” featuring three successful entrepreneurs. One panelist, Sarah Endline, gave a presentation about sweetriot, a New York City-based company that retails natural cacao nibs sourced directly from Latin America. These cacao nibs or “peaces” are genetically modified organism-free, dairy-free, kosher, and gluten-free.

During her presentation, Ms. Endline’s stated that sweetriot is not focused on financial returns, per se, but her company is guided by a social mission that people can change the world. She explained that sweetriot’s social responsibility is composed of three key areas: Product, People, and Partnerships. In addition to using premium, high quality, and all-natural ingredients, the socially responsible company’s values include fair trade with developing countries, celebrating culture and diversity through their products, and creating sweet experiences among customers, partners, and employees. In Ms. Endline’s words, “sweetriot is a joyful celebration of culture, diversity, and understanding — it is the opposite of a civil riot, which is dangerous, violent, and oppressing.”

It is also worth noting that sweetriot is offsetting all of its employee travel and office emissions by partnering with Carbonfund.org. Moreover, customers can join the effort by offsetting their shipment’s CO2 emissions by selecting an option through the ordering process that will make a $.50 contribution toward climate-friendly projects such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, and reforestation. “This effectively offsets the carbon dioxide emitted by delivery vehicles when shipping from our warehouse to your front door,” explains sweetriot’s website. Through the Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree® Partner program, sweetriot claims to be “the first chocolate retailer to offer customers a chance to improve the world through carbon offsets.”

At the conclusion of the panel, Ms. Endline distributed samples of sweetriot’s flavor 50—roasted cacao nibs covered with 50 percent dark chocolate packed in one-ounce tins. The recyclable and reusable tins feature with works from various artists and my tin features the work of Callie Danae Hirsch, an artist residing in Brooklyn, New York. What about the taste? I find that the cacao nibs are tasty and with each tin holding a serving size of one once (or two spoons), I consumed mine very quickly. For disclosure purposes, except for the one complimentary tin, I am not receiving any compensation for this blog entry nor do I have a business relationship with sweetriot.

The Peepoo: A Biogradable Single-Use Toilet for Urban Slums

The New York Times published an article written by Sindya N. Bhanoo about the Peepoo, “a biodegradable plastic bag that acts as a single-use toilet for urban slums in the developing world. Once used, the bag can be knotted and buried, and a layer of urea crystals breaks down the waste into fertilizer, killing off disease-producing pathogens found in feces.” (Photo: Peepoople)

Developed, produced, and distributed by Stockholm, Sweden-based Peepoople AB, “The Peepoo is in the form of a slim elongated bag size 14 x 38 cm,” explains the company’s website. “Within the bag there is a thinner gauze that measures 26 x 24 cm. The inside of the Peepoo bags is coated with a thin film of urea. Without sacrificing ergonomic function the bag’s design is adapted in every way so that it might be manufactured at as low a price as possible and sold to the groups with [the] weakest purchasing power in the world.” After successfully testing in Kenya and India, the Peepoo toilet is scheduled to be mass produced and available for delivery in summer 2010 with a price point of 2 or 3 cents each, which is comparable to the cost of an ordinary plastic bag.

One benefit of the Peepoo toilet is its portability and small size, weighing less than ten grams. Peepoo bags are odor free for at least 24 hours after use and can thus be stored in the immediate environment. Moreover, the Peepoo is one of few sanitation solutions which require no water and the only water required is to wash the hands after use. This means that the traditional link between water and sanitation has been cut. A used Peepoo bag is clean to handle. It has become a waste that neither smell nor is dirty to handle and collect.

The bag is made of a high performance degradable bioplastic which meets European Union standards. This means that the plastic not only disintegrates, but also that the molecules are broken down into carbon dioxide, water and bio-mass. 45 percent of the plastic used in the Peepoo is produced using renewable materials and through research and development, the company intends to find a solution that is 100 percent renewable. The bioplastic comprises a mixture of aromatic co-polyesters and polylactone acid (PLA), with small additives of wax and lime. PHB represent alternative bioplastics. (Photo: Peepoople)

This innovative product does not require infrastructural solutions for implementation (i.e., the construction of buildings or pipes), therefore reducing investment costs. The company explains that the “Peepoo can be simply distributed and can thus meet the enormous demand in a highly efficient manner.” Comparing investment costs for different sanitation solutions are listed below to illustrate the product’s financial value.

Local costs for installation (not including use, maintenance costs, water costs and emptying):

• Flush toilet connected to sewer or septic tank, 400-1,500 USD
• Urban dry or wet Eco San, 675-1,500 USD
• Condominal sewers, 75-600 USD
• Dry vault urine diversion, 35-400 USD
• Improved pit latrine or pour flush toilet, 40-260 USD
• Basic pit latrine, 10-50 USD
• Soil composting ecosan, 10-40 USD
• Communal toilet/latrine (50 persons per seat), 12-40 USD
• Peepoo bag, 0 USD

The need for proper sanitation is greatly needed in the developing world where, according to United Nations figures, an estimated 2.6 billion people, or about 40 percent of the earth’s population, do not have access to a toilet. This creates a public health crisis where open defecation contaminates drinking water, “and an estimated 1.5 million children worldwide die yearly from diarrhea, largely because of poor sanitation and hygiene,” explains The New York Times article. “To mitigate this, the United Nations has a goal to reduce by half the number of people without access to toilets by 2015.”

The World’s First Bio-Sourced SIM Cards

Gemalto, a digital security company, announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the launching of a pilot of bio-sourced SIM (subscriber identity module) cards for SFR, a French mobile phone company with 20 million clients. Gemalto’s press release dated February 16, 2010, explains, “The bio-sourced SIM card is made from a new renewable material derived from corn, sugarcane or potato starch. This material is easily recyclable and compostable through small scale industrial units and reduces the global ecological footprint of the production process.”

The recyclable and compostable card body is made from plant-based bioplastics, which can be incinerated without emission of toxic fumes. The Amsterdam-based company says it also supplied SFR with packaging made from recycled paper and plant-based inks and SFR will begin distribution of the bio-sourced SIM cards to its customers this spring. This program is the first trial of bio-sourced cards in the world.

Worth noting is Gemalto’s effective tactics of incorporating environmental sustainability into the product’s value proposition. From the company’s website, here is a list of the product’s Operator Benefits and End-User Value:

Operator Benefits

• Security: Ensuring SIM card safety
• Eco-friendly: Fully committed to environmental protection
• Brand: the perfect company brand and image booster
• Competitive: Improving cost saving packaging solutions
• Peace of mind: Gemalto manages complex logistic processes

End-User Value

• Security guaranteed to the access of the PIN and PUK code
• Simplified end user access and understanding to maximize the use of mobile services
• 2nd life for your product with re-usable packaging and card body: the gift concept!

E-Waste: A Small Component of the 2010 Olympic Medals

Like many of you, I am enjoying watching the 2010 Olympic Winter Games that are taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia. There are reports about the unique design of the medals awarded at the 2010 Winter Games, but a sustainable component to these reports is worth discussing on this blog. Making Olympic and Paralympic history, the medals will be the first to contain metals recovered from end-of-life electronics (e-waste) otherwise destined for the landfill. The medals are comprised of metals provided by Teck Resources Limited (Teck). (Photo: VANOC)

In describing the process of making the metal into medals, Teck says, “Historically, metal for the medals has been sourced only from mineral deposits that are mined from the earth and refined for commercial use. Teck has created a recycling process to recover metal from end-of-life electronics (e-waste) such as TVs, computers and keyboards. This process provides a practical solution to the challenge of reducing the amount of e-waste material destined for landfills and is part of the company’s pursuit of sustainability—a core value that drives its approach to business.”

Furthermore, according to the Vancouver-based mining, mineral processing and metallurgical company, “Metal can be sourced from many manufactured metal products, including household appliances, electronics or cables. Teck’s process involves recovering metals contained in cathode ray tube glass, computer parts and circuit boards through smelting. The process involves shredding, separating, and heating of the various electronic components to recover a variety of metals.”

The gold, silver and copper used in the medals were recovered from e-waste and then combined with the metal from other sources for the medal production. The content of recovered metal from the e-waste material in the specific metals is: Gold: 1.52%; Silver: 0.122%; Copper: 1.11%. While the percentages of reused metals are minimal, manufacturing the medals with recycled metals creates an inspiring initiative to reducing the Olympic Games' carbon footprint.

In addition to providing the metals, Teck worked with Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) and the Royal Canadian Mint in the development and production of the medals. Click here to watch a video, “The Making of the Vancouver 2010 Medals.”

Cleaning Up Haïti: Converting Human Waste to Fertilizer through Innovation

On January 4, 2010, CNN posted an article on its website written by Eliott C. McLaughlin, "Group seeks answers to Haiti's woes in its toilets," about an organization that is implementing a sustainable solution of proper sanitation by composting human waste through public dry toilets. Founded by Sasha Kramer and Sarah Brownell in 2006 and based in Cap-Haïtien, Haïti, Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting soil resources, empowering communities and transforming wastes into resources in Haïti. By facilitating the construction of dry toilets that compost human waste to be used as fertilizer, the results include greater access to clean water, greater agricultural output, and reduction of human mortality by preventable diseases.

During my visits to Haïti during the past few years, I have witnessed the impact poor or nonexistent sanitation in the urban areas has on the natural environment and local population. Traveling through Haïti's rural areas, I observed low agricultural output caused by poor soil fertility, soil erosion and lack of fertilizers, which are often cost prohibitive to the impoverished farmer. In identifying the problem further, according to SOIL's website, "16% of rural Haitians and 50% of those in cities have access to adequate sanitation facilities, by far the lowest coverage in the Western Hemisphere. People are forced to find other ways to dispose of their wastes, often in the ocean, rivers, ravines, plastic bags, or abandoned houses."

Why soil? The nonprofit organization explains, "Maintaining soil is the essence of sustainability from both environmental and social perspectives. The basic elements that make up living matter all come from, and return to, the soil. Nutrients from the soil are constantly flowing through all living organisms. Healthy soil retains and cleanses water resources and protects communities from natural disasters. All of humanity is dependant on soil, biologically, economically, socially, and spiritually. Human health, livelihood, and wellbeing are inextricably linked to the soil."

Here is a video that provides additional details about the workings of the dry toilets:


"Toilets are one example of SOIL's outreach," writes Mr. McLaughlin. "The group also holds contests urging children to recycle garbage into something useful and Brownell's husband, Kevin Foos, spearheads a photo empowerment project called 'Looking Through Their Eyes,' which allows children to capture what they love and hate about their communities on film. SOIL also supports special centers in Shada, Milot and Le Borgne where Haïtians can present and test technologies for improving their health, environment and economic independence."

Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times posted a video, "American Ingenuity in Haiti," on his YouTube channel about SOIL's worthwhile efforts to resolve a problem that each individual contributes: human waste.

Japan's Plan to Grow their Green Economy

The Japan Business Association of Seattle and Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle sponsored an event on November 12, 2009 featuring Mr. Toshiki Takahashi, Director of Japan External Trade Organization's (JETRO) International Economic Research Division. JETRO is a Japanese government-related organization that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world. Mr. Takahashi's presentation, "World Economic Development and the Japanese Economy," focused on the Japanese economy as it relates to the broader global economy. Mr. Takahashi also discussed the investment opportunities that exist in Japan's environmental sector and the country's desire to grow its green economy.

According to a JETRO publication printed in 2007 discussing Japan's environmental sector, "Japan's economic development has so far been supported by a society based on mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal. Currently, approximately 450 million tons of waste is generated every year, putting waste treatment facilities under unrelenting strain." The publication further explains, "As global environmental problems grow more acute, a concerted effort towards a recycling-based society has begun, and Japan's ecobusiness market is rapidly expanding in both size and range." Japan's Ministry of the Environment predicts the ecobusiness sector will be valued at 47.2 trillion yen (US$530 billion) by 2010.

Moreover, "Ecobusinesses that provide technology, products, or services that contribute to the protection of the environment play a vital role in the creation of a sustainable socioeconomic system with a low environmental impact, and the government will continue to actively promote and foster these businesses in the future." Japanese businesses are "currently developing environment technology under the banner of the '3 R's': Reduce, Reuse and Recycle."

JETRO segments the environmental sector into five key areas conducive for foreign direct investment:

1. Clean energy: According to the Environment Ministry's "Market Size and Employment in Japan's Environmental Business Sector: Present Condition and Forecast for the Future," the scale of the market for green energy, which includes renewable energy facilities and energy conservation and management, was 890 billion yen (US$10 billion) in 2000, no more than about 3 percent of all environmental business. Due to technological development and reforms, however, the market size is predicted to increase 6.5 times, to 5.812 billion yen (US$65.3 million), by 2010, and grow further, to 9.9 times this size, or 8.798 billion yen (US$98.9 million), by 2020. The clean energy sector includes solar power generation, fuel cells, and energy service company (ESCO) businesses, which provides comprehensive services relating to energy conservation in factories and buildings;
2. Waste treatment: While the waste treatment and recycling sector market is already large and is expected to grow further, it is supported by small businesses. This industry does not require large-scale existing facilities or huge initial outlays and so small and medium-size businesses, as well as venture companies that are yet to be established, can enter the industry. Studies by the Ministry of the Environment predict the market for waste disposal to grow from 3.614 billion yen (US$40.6 million) in 2000, to 7.736 billion yen (US$86.9 million) in 2010, and still further, to 11.126 billion yen (US$125 million), by 2020;
3. Recycling: Recycling laws for key items have already been introduced in Japan, beginning with enforcement of the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law in 1997, followed by recycling laws for food, construction material, and furniture, and then, in 2005, the Automobile Recycling Law. With the enforcement of each of these new recycling laws, the trajectory was set for a new recycling sector. A variety of business opportunities have been created in the recycling sector, including development of new technologies, that take advantage of regional government schemes enabled by national government policies, such as "eco-towns" and "designated structural reform districts";
4. Soil and water remediation: According to the Ministry of the Environment, the size of the soil and water remediation market, including equipment and services provided, was 84.8 billion yen (US$964 million) in 2000. However, it is forecasted that soil and subterranean water pollution controls in Japan will become stricter, and the market will grow to 6.8 times its 2000 size, to 582.8 billion yen (US$6.5 billion), by 2010; and
5. Air pollution prevention: The number of business opportunities related to air pollution prevention is increasing due to the introduction in 2000 of an ordinance requiring the use of exhaust purifiers in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba. In addition, the climate change policies are expected to bring about the full-scale initiation of greenhouse gas emissions trading. Apart from international emissions trading based on the Kyoto Mechanism, domestic trading is also anticipated, allowing every business to fulfill its pollution reduction targets.

(1 JPY=0.0112 USD)

King County, Washington Reduces PC Energy Consumption by Nearly 40 Percent

King County, Washington, which encompasses the city of Seattle and outlying suburbs, is making efforts to reduce greenhouse gases by implementing personal computer (PC) power management software. Verdiem, a Seattle-based software company focused on PC Power Management and Green IT, issued a press release saying "as part of King County's nationally recognized initiatives to measurably reduce greenhouse gases and prepare for climate change, King County and Verdiem, Inc. today announced the results of the county's deployment of Verdiem's SURVEYOR PC Power Management Software. Since deployment in October 2007, Verdiem's SURVEYOR has enabled King County's agencies to reduce energy consumption by an average of 38 percent and eliminate more than 3 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. The software also helped King County departments achieve PC energy costs reductions ranging up to 62 percent - equal to about 140-thousand dollars in savings."

Furthermore, Verdiem explains, "King County purchased Verdiem's SURVEYOR for nearly 10,000 PCs in 18 departments, ranging from the Metropolitan King County Council to the Department of Transportation. While SURVEYOR can be managed by central IT, each of the 18 agencies in King County has the flexibility to set their own PC power management policies and the Department of Community and Human Services has been able to achieve energy cost saving of 62%. King County's deployment of SURVEYOR has enabled the county to nearly reach their PC energy efficiency goals for 2009 – with SURVEYOR already achieving 38.6 percent of the County's targeted 39.6 percent goal for PC energy reduction."

Verdiem claims that a typical PC consumes 535kWh of electricity a year and two-thirds of that energy is wasted when the computer is not in active use, primarily outside of business hours. Here is a video produced by ZDNet that further explains the energy consumption and related costs of personal computers.

Power Down for the Planet

I just read on the Official Google Blog about Power Down for the Planet, "a challenge program designed to encourage universities and their campus communities to reduce their own IT power consumption and get their students, faculty, and staff involved in the fight against climate change." Through YouTube, participants may submit a video showing how they are powering down for the planet for a chance to win $5,000 cash or other prizes. The Video Challenge starts March 2nd and runs through April 17, 2009. The challenge winner and the collective results of all participants will be announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2009.

According to the Power Down for the Planet website, "The challenge is to develop original and creative videos that educate, entertain, and/or inform others about the importance of energy efficient computing to the global environment."

• How do we spread the word about slowing climate change through energy efficient computing?
• How do poor computing practices waste energy?
• What will the impact of better power management have on our environment?
• What does sustainable computing mean to you?

The Power Down for the Planet program is sponsored by the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program. Launched in 2007 by Google and Intel, the CSCI "is a nonprofit group of eco-conscious consumers, businesses and conservation organizations. The Initiative was started in the spirit of the World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program that was created to cut carbon dioxide emissions and demonstrate that reducing emissions by saving energy is good business." CSCI's "goal is to promote the development, deployment and adoption of smart technologies that can both improve the overall energy efficiency of a computer as well as reduce the energy consumed when the computer not in use through effective power management."

Lastly, I want to mention the IT Power Management Summit, which is scheduled for March 30, 2009. This free educational webinar is sponsored by the CSCI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designed to raise awareness of the benefits and savings associated with enterprise power management. According Harris Interactive® study fielded from February 29-March 4, 2008, virtually all PCs support power management, but only 5 to 10 percent of U.S. organizations use this feature. Register now for this free session to get the information you need to begin deploying power management within your organization.

Haïti: Using Tourism as a Means for Sustainable Social and Economic Development

As explained in post, Haïti: Pearl of the Caribbean, despite the ongoing problems in Haïti, there are several beautiful destinations for visitors in this unique country. Growing a viable tourism sector could provide Haïti the economic and social tools to resolving many of its development needs. As part of my assessment project, I visited key locations the Haïtian Ministry of Tourism designated for tourism development and was provided with several documents and a presentation that collectively provided details to Haïti's tourism strategy.

The Tourism Ministry's impressive 94-slide presentation provided details of the vision and objectives of the tourism strategy. The presentation included statistical data of the number of tourists who visited Latin America, Central America, and the Caribbean, both as a region and by a few selected countries. According to the statistics provided from the presentation, in 2005, Haïti had 110,000 visitors compared to 3.9 million, 3.7 million, 2.26 million, or 1.5 million in Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica, respectively. Regarding the number of hotel rooms, Dominican Republic (60,000), Puerto Rico (13,500), Cuba (50,000), and Jamaica (22,500) compared to Haïti's 800 rooms available to house its visitors.

Photo of the Port of Jacmel:
Marc Roger

Haïti's tourism strategy is based on three components: history, experience, and the environment, which provide a strong basis for establish an ecotourism industry. Other strengths to the tourism strategy include establishing a partnership between the Haïtian parliament and municipalities; strengthening private enterprises including private-public partnerships; drafting regional and international cooperation agreements; recognizing the need to train tourism professionals and create a national branding and marketing strategy; and developing channels for research funding.

The tourism development plans I reviewed are very comprehensive regarding urban planning and land use issues, but based on my assessment lack a realistic implementation timeline with measured benchmarks and defined clear accountable results. In addition to defining and establishing benchmarks, I recommend establishing a collaborative partnership among the other Haïtian governmental departments and integrate the tourism development strategy into a national strategy to ensure that tourism is balanced with broader economic, social, and environmental objectives at national and local levels. In other words, the tourism development strategy should serve as an anchor to rebuild and strengthen Haïti's education, health care, private sector, capacity building in the public sector, public infrastructure development and maintenance, and protection and restoration of natural resources.

This national strategy should be based on the knowledge of environmental and biodiversity resources and integrated with national and regional sustainable development plans. It should also enhance prospects for economic development and employment while maintaining protection of the environment.

To achieve maximum success, the planning and implementation process should be completely transparent to all stakeholders including government agencies, civil society, private business, and the general population. Moreover, the Haïtian government should encourage the development of partnerships with primary stakeholders and provide stakeholders with ownership shares in projects and a shared responsibility for success.

Photo of Ile à Vaches: Marc Roger

Branding and marketing is essential in promoting tourism in Haïti. The first step is defining a "corporate image" to promote a positive view for Haïti, in particular in terms of safety and security for travel and tourism. In addition, marketing various activities as part of an ecotourism package will provide value for the visitor.

Another hurdle the government will have to overcome is financing the strategic plan. By partnering with international aid agencies, foreign governments, the private sector, and most importantly, the Haïtian Diaspora abroad should engage in financing the implementation of the tourism plan. I recommend creating a foreign equity fund that will allow the Diaspora to collectively contribute and participate in developing and implementing the tourism strategy. Through this fund, the Diaspora will have an opportunity to take an active role in their home country's development while receiving a financial return to their investment.

The Diaspora would contribute up to 70 percent of the fund's assets while the Haïtian government, whether through financial reserves or foreign assistance, contribute the difference. A financial holding corporation would be formed with government officials and representatives from the Diaspora community serving on the board and third-party managers managing the assets.

Photo: Marc Roger

Despite the ongoing crises in Haïti, there are several great places to visit. I am impressed that the Haïtian government has a vision to grow an ecotourism industry and I appreciated the opportunity to assess their strategic plan. With the right tools and tactics, this strategic plan should serve as the centerpiece to a national sustainable development strategy.

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of GT Perspectives, an online forum focused on turning perspective into opportunity.