SEKEM Insight

SEKEM‘s Journal for Economy, Culture and Society in Egypt

SEKEM Insight Nr. 73 - July/August 2008

Dear Reader, everyone is talking about climate change - at least in the industrialised countries of the “global west”. What goes on in many developing countries is a different story.

Many of them do not yet possess the political and economic stability that would allow poor and marginalised people to care about environmental damage or climate change or anything else outside their daily struggle for survival.

This situation is more than understandable. Nevertheless many Western voices express the demand that at least emerging markets should be more tightly integrated in the global struggle to prevent climate change.

Moreover there are many regions in which the economic circumstances are not the primary reason for staying out of game. Often fundamental awareness raising is the required first course of action. Many years of misinformation or simply the lack of any information at all have frequently to be compensated first before any substantial development can take place.

In this issue we will introduce you to SEKEM’s newest project designed to spread the word about climate change in the Arab world.

Your Editorial Team

Agriculture

Cancer Research

Islam Seminar

Countering Climate Change

Atos Researchers Travel to Hong Kong

New Islam Seminar to be Held in SEKEM

Countering Climate Change Through Organic Agriculture

It is possible to green the desert using compost

It is getting hard these days to escape the topic of the climate change, which is presented to us daily in the media. And right so: there is no time to be wasted, if we want to avoid the worst consequences for our environment and the livelihood of millions of people. The good news is, that everybody can join and make an effort to reduce his personal CO2balance by saving energy on a daily level and by getting more informed about the issue. Not an easy task, when it comes to the holiday season and the many travels we all like to make.

Another way is the support of such projects, which actively reduce the CO2 emittance. As always, holistic and integrated systems are the best and most sustainable way to do this while developing a wide array of further benefits.

Organic Agriculture and Food Security Organic agriculture is a holistic production management system, which enhances agro-ecosystem health, utilizing both traditional and scientific knowledge.

Organic agriculture supports and enhances ecologically sound sys-

Page 1

without even one adequate meal a day. According to UN reports, nonsustainable agriculture practices contribute with up to 30% to the global greenhouse gas emissions and uses about 70% of the worldwide available fresh water. Daily more than 500.000 hectares loose its fertility due to inadequate land use and agriculture management systems.

The lush climate on the SEKEM Farm itself has also mostly been achieved through compost use

tems of food production that provide food security by increasing and stabilizing yields, improving resistance to pests and diseases, combating desertification through decreasing erosion and improving water uptake and retention, combating poverty through debt reduction and increasing returns for labour invested, and even building on local management skills and resources and so enabling local communities of farmers, fisher folk and pastoralists to be self-sufficient.

Access to adequate food of the quality and diversity to maintain an active and healthy life is a basic human right. However, chemically based agriculture is proving more and more to be incapable of guaranteeing it: each year, over 200 million hectares of agricultural land go out of production due to salinisation, in many parts of the world, yields are declining despite increased quantities of chemical inputs, green revolution agriculture makes wasteful use of water, destroying soils and increasing the threats to biodiversity and ecosystems, and pesticides are a major health hazard for farmers and farm workers, particularly in developing countries, as well as to wildlife. Genetically modified crops generally yield 10% less than their non-genetically modified equivalent varieties and oblige the farmers using them to sign highly restrictive contracts.

There is sufficient food produced in the world to feed everyone, but more than 850 million people remain

Organically managed soils have the capacity to improve the water management within agriculture by up to 50%. By not using mineral fertilizers, organic agricultural systems can avoid nitrous oxide emissions, which occur during the manufacturing and application of chemical fertilizers represent almost 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Not talking about the methane emission reduction potential due to organic composting and carbon sequestration in organically managed soils.

Agriculture still is one of the major sources for income and employment in the development countries.

But due to degraded soils, shortage in fresh water and the going along with food scarcity, more than half of the worldwide population lives today in urban centres – the socio-economic consequences are known.

It is time to capitalize on the outstanding environmental benefits of implementing organic agricultural practices.

The Sekem Sustainability Credit Together with its international partners EOSTA and Soil & More, Sekem carries out various projects to tackle the above mentioned environmental issues.

Within the last 12 months, more than 100.000 tons of compost were produced and 60.000 tons of CO2 have been reduced on Sekem composting sites, as per verification

by TÜV-Nord. The compost which is produced on these facilities is sold to organic and to conventional farms and replaces many tons of

chemical fertilizers. The outstanding colloidal, clay-humus structure of the compost produced, proved to have an increased water holding capacity of up to 70%, which remarkably improves the water management of Egypt’s agricultural soils.

Through its high diversity of microbiological life, the soils enriched with compost, stimulate a healthy biodiversity on a meso- and macro level, which provides a balanced and therefore sustainable ecosystem, acting as a natural immune system for the plants grown on these fields, preventing infestation of diseases and pests – again reducing the amount of harmful pest- and disease control agents applied.

In order to further roll-out and expand these activities, Sekem invites you to participate in and contribute to the compost project through the purchase of 1 or 5 tons CO2, which were reduced on Sekem’s composting facilities, according to the United Nations guidelines, verified by TÜV-Nord.

One Sekem Sustainability Credit, which includes one ton of CO2 emission reduction, is available at € 30,00.

If you want to buy five Sustainability Credits including, which include five tons of CO2 emission reductions, you can do so at € 100,00.

To compare with: 1 ton of CO2 equals driving a regular passenger car for 5.000km with an average fuel consumption of 8 litres/100km or approximately one return flight in economy class from Frankfurt to Rome for two passengers.

Sekem would be honoured to receive your donation to a clean and sustainable agriculture. Please contact info@soilandmore.com if you would like to join the movement and buy Sustainability Credits from SEKEM. If you wish to read more details about current scientific studies and UN reports on the advantages of organic agriculture systems, please contact the author Tobias Bandel at tobias@soilandmore.com.

Tobias Bandel

Page 2

SEKEM Participates in Foundational Meeting of Arab Sustainability Leadership Group While the world continues to discuss topics like climate change and increasing food prices directly affecting the poor of our societies, some of the leaders in the Arab world decided to take action and under the patronage of Queen Rania of Jordan the Arab Sustainability Leadership Group (ASLG) was founded on a first meeting on the 7th of May. Helmy Abouleish, CEO of the SEKEM Group was among the founding members and was visibly enthusiastic to support the movement, which is still very new to most Arabs.

“We have to use this window of opportunity to do the right thing,” said the Queen. The group will encourage businesses to balance profit with environmental protection, and equal opportunity.

“Sustainability is about meeting the needs of today’s generation without compromising the ability of tomorrow’s generations to meet theirs,” she noted as she commended the leaders for being pioneers in this field and for their commitment to produce responsibility reports for their respective entities.

The network committed to meeting quarterly to discuss ways to change mindsets about sustainability and reporting, to increase public awareness of the benefits of reporting to companies and the public, and to discuss innovative ways of how to promote these issues. The ASLG includes 16 companies and NGOs spanning five countries in the Middle East: from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Palestine to Egypt with the Sekem Group. The group hopes to expand to include all 21 countries in the region within the coming year, but will strictly hold to its standard of only allowing such organizations and corporations to join, which publish a GRI-checked sustainability report.

All members agreed, that going forward, public awareness and advocacy are critical to advancing the sustainability agenda in the region. They wish to create a sense of urgency around sustainability issues. Environmental and resource issues will only mean something when it can be demonstrated how they directly impact the lives of people. For example, on water shortage/poverty, farmers will be able to relate to how saving water will directly impact on their farming and livelihoods. Governments of the region shall be included in the group’s target, so they can set good administrative examples.

The group also hopes by their active work on sustainability issues and communication about the project to change the world’s perception of the region – to demonstrate how the Arab regions is more transparent, accountable and open to innovation. The ASLG can have a significant role in communicating globally about their lead and the emerging discussion regionally.

Helmy Abouleish, SEKEM’s CEO and founding member of the Arabic Sustainability Leadership Group returned from the meeting full of enthusiasm. Once more, SEKEM is living up to its goal of setting an example for Egypt’s industry and encouraging others to follow sustainable principles in their business practice. “I am proud to report about the steps we have taken here in Egypt at our next meeting of the ASLG in Jordan”, says Helmy Abouleish.

SEKEM Products on Display at Fashion Show in Hamburg‘s Harbour At a fashion show staged in Hamburg’s museum harbour Övelgönne several renowned citizens from the German city of Hamburg on 8 July presented products made from fairly traded cotton grown by SEKEM. They also used the occasion to appeal to fellow Hamburg citizens to dress and live in environmentally conscious ways and consider the effects of their purchasing choices on the developing countries.

7 famous figures of Hamburg’s public life were visibly enthusiastic about the designs of the fashionable clothes. Among them were HSVsoccer player Silva Lone Saländer and the “Viva con Agua”-activist Benny Adrion. The journalist Nina George presented the event and Secretary of State Reinhard Stuth, Christina Boecker from SEKEM, Dr. Hans-Christoph Bill from the action committee „hamburg mal fair“ as well as Anneheide von Biela from the “Clean Clothes Campaign” explained the reason for their excitement to a large public audience.

The collection consists of 7 innovative patterns from Hamburg and is available from Hamburg’s “One World” stores and the branches of the drugstore chain “Budnikowski” as well as other fashion boutiques, particularly on Hamburg’s “Kiez”.

Christina Boecker

Her Majesty Queen Rania welcoming the guests of the ASLG to Jordan

Page 3

Atos Researchers Travel to Hongkong to Present Firm‘s Scientific Work In March 2008 the product Cystinol was launched on the Egyptian market. Cystinol aids in case of ailments of the urinary tract and provides a better flushing. This also counteracts the creation of kidney stones. Through its anti-microbial effects the product also protects against infections in the urinary tract. Cystinol is available on prescription through all well-stocked Egyptian pharmacies.

On 29 May Atos Pharma held a national symposium on Viscum products and invited oncologists and researchers from all over Egypt to familiarize themselves with the products, their application and the scientific work demonstrating its usefulness in fighting cancer.

Together with medical doctors and senior representatives of Atos Pharma several personalities supported the event: Dr. Hans Werner, general practitioner at the SEKEM Medical Centre, Dr. Harald Matthes, Product Manager of the firm Abnoba (producer of the Viscum products) and Mr. Barkhoff, Managing Director of the firm Abnoba/Germany. All of them furthered the diversity of the sessions through their own speeches and other contributions.

In June the study that argues the usefulness of Viscum fraxini 2 was presented at the international liver congress in Hongkong. In the study, Atos shows Viscum fraxini ‘s 2 positive effects when taken by patients suffering from liver tumours.

The study had already been carried out between 1999 and 2001 following the criteria of the World Health Organisation (WHO) demonstrating substantial results: 5 of the 51 patients that took part in the study experienced a total disappearance of the tumour. 8 additional patients experienced a reduction of the carcinoma of 50% and excellent effects could also be observed in relation to better longevity, higher quality of life with almost all patients, less pain, and a substantially better appetite.

Several other providers of pharmaceutical products, other firms as well as independent research institutes presented the results of their work or their products to a professional audience leading to numerous excellent exchanges and conversations.

Impressions from SEKEM SEKEM’s Lotus enterprise processes herbs and spices among other raw produce and creates the tasty products to be sold later through SEKEM’s ISIS brand. Its new factory has just been constructed this year. Now that the harvest of the summer of 2008 is coming in, the new stacked storage facilities that have just been built are already filled to the roof with 1.200t of raw materials - even though the place seemed spacious at first. The new facilities have been constructed according to international WHO standards.

The new raw materials storage at SEKEM‘s Lotus

Christina Boecker, Dr. Anan El-Sharaky

Annual Islam Seminar in SEKEM

Dr. Anan El-Sharaky at the presentation of the study in Hongkong

The annual Islam Seminar „A Modern Understanding of Islam“ will take place again 10 – 15 April 2009 at SEKEM. The event will feature presentations and speeches by Dr. Abouleish and artistic exercises in Arabic scripture, Quran recitals, Arabic music, and Eurythmy as well as a full day trip to the Islamic quarter of Old Cairo including visitations to many historic mosques and other sites of interest. Extension with further programme is possible at info@ sekem-reisen.de or ++49-(0)7556931777 or Fax ++49-(0)7556-931385, SEKEM-Reisen Dietmar Kreuer, Obere Immengasse 3, D-88690 Oberuhldingen, Germany

Imprint: Publisher: SEKEM, Egypt The editorial team of SEKEM Insight would like to thank all correspondents who have contributed to this edition.

Editors: Christina Boecker Bijan Kafi Contact: SEKEM-Insight c/o Sekem Holding P.O.Box 2834 El Horreya, Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt

Page 4