Corporates, not only governments, responsible for sustainability issues
While several areas in Sri Lanka still face severe drought conditions the government is looking at providing artificial rain to areas affected by importing emergency power purchases and other essential food items to its affected people.
“Owing to this scenario we have seen food costs going up and other social and political issues emerging with a ‘hungry man is an angry man’,” said the President, ACCA Sri Lanka, Adrian Perera making the welcome address at the ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards 2017 held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo recently.
He said in developing countries there is a rapid urbanisation and if the situation aggravates it can draw away human capital from the agricultural sector to the modern world that can further complicate the food security issues that have become the reality in Sri Lanka today.
He said in the Philippines today out of 109 million people, 9 million people rely on unsafe water and 19 million people lack access to improved sanitation, according to the World Water Organisation. In the US, 8-10 states are reported to be running out of water.
Although sustainability issues wasn’t an agenda for governments, the support of institutions and individuals was needed to achieve this objective.
The deforestation and the death of animals in the Wilpattu Sanctuary is a clear example of short-sighted policies. Referring to disposal of garbage in Sri Lanka, he said people dump garbage on the roadside believing that it was the duty of the government to clear it. But successive governments have not been able to give a clear answer to the garbage issue.
Meanwhile, in 2015, the United Nations adopted 17 sustainable development goals to be achieved by 2030. “We are very good in writing business reports on sustainability issues but should be equally good at in developing business roles as well. We want to have sustainable awards next year,” he said.
High Commissioner for South Africa to Sri Lanka, Robina P. Marks, the Chief Guest, drew an analogy by saying that a frog in a boiling pot was like companies that are not conscious of their internal and external environment that finally die. She said without reporting on the environment ‘we’ do not know what is being done and how close or far ‘we’ need to be. The UN mandated sustainable goals encourage companies to integrate sustainability information to reporting cycles.
The overall winner of the Best Sustainability Report Winner was Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO) while the Hatton National Bank (HNB) was the overall runner-up. Small and Medium Sector Sustainability winner was Vallibel Power Erathna PLC while the runner-up was Resus Energy PLC. The General Services and Utilities sector winner was Nawaloka Hospitals PLC and the runner-up was M.T.D. Walkers PLC. Leisure and Connected Services Category winner was Aitken Spence Hotel PLC while the runner-up was John Keells Hotels PlC.
The Retail and Trading Category winner was DIMO while the runner-up was Alumex PLC. The Finance and Insurance Sector joint winners were Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) and Union Assurance PLC with the runner-up being Mercantile Investment and Finance PlC. The Banking Sector winner was the HNB and the runner-up Commercial Bank PLC. The Conglomerates and Diversified category winner was John Keells Holdings PLC.