Nr. 102 - February 2011
Insight
SEKEM‘s Journal for Economy, Culture, and Society in Egypt
Editorial Dear Readers,
this cannot be just another regular issue of “SEKEM Insight”. Since 25 January 2011, the Egyptian revolution has been on everyone’s minds. It is hardly necessary to trace the course of development in recent weeks. However, it is necessary to explain how the SEKEM initiative and its co-workers steered through these times of change. SEKEM has always been committed to positive change and has always stood up for it. The current development has not left the social and economic environments of the people who work with SEKEM in Cairo and the surrounding area of Belbeis untouched. At times, the Cairo office could operate only to a limited extent, often not all farm employees could show up at their workplaces. Many of the executive managers at SEKEM’s companies are still sharing their experiences of the recent events with their colleagues. During the late days of January the SEKEM spirit was particularly noticeable when many employees guarded “their” SEKEM farm and co-workers day and night on their own initiative. We publish in this issue on page 3 the current statement of the initiative for the information of all employees, friends and partners.
Your Team of Editors
Revolution
Climate Change
Biodiversity
Statement by the SEKEM Initiative
Copenhagen, Cancún, Hamburg
Experiencing Diversity - with SEKEM
Cancún, Copenhagen, Hamburg: SEKEM Engaged for a Better Climate Helmy Abouleish has spoken on SEKEM’s work for a better climate at many events of international stature in the past - most recently in Cancun.
Egyptian and European engineers together with the trainees of the Vocational Training Centre engineers installed „Scheffler Mirrors“ on the SEKEM Farm partially replacing energy generated by fossil fuels.
T
he World Future Council’s Annual General Meeting in Germany and the United Nations Climate Conference in Cancún, Mexico have been the two most recent and high-level events at which Helmy Abouleish has been engaged as councillor or country delegate for Egypt and the work of the SEKEM initiative. Both events revolved around one of SEKEM’s core interests and concerns: agriculture and its contribution to fighting the dangerous consequences of climate change.
Last November the World Future Council (WFC) - a charitable foundation safeguarding the rights of future generations and with long-standing relations with SEKEM - convened for four days in Hamburg for their 4th Annual General Meeting. As a councilor and advisor to the WFC, Helmy Abouleish had been invited to participate in the meeting. At the AGM, the focus of his participation was placed on the issue of “Future Finance” within the framework of the Sustainable Economies SEKEM Insight | February 2011 | Page 1