Presentation at the Rotary District 3450 about Sustainability and Peace

1. Sustainability and
Peace
54th District Conference (Feb 22-23, 2014)
Rotary District 3450

2. About Myself
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Born and raised in Hong Kong
Moved to Thailand about 3 years ago
Started Adams Organic in Thailand
Getting involved with local farmers and farming communities
Graduated from the Rotary Peace Program Chulalongkorn
University (Thailand) in Aug 2013
• Sponsored by Rotary District 3450
• Current focus is on rural sustainable development and helping
farmers to grow and market their organic produces

3. My Classmates

4. About the Rotary Peace Program at Chulalongkorn
University (Thailand)
• Fully funded by Rotary Foundation
• Eleven week of intensive course in Bangkok
• Designed as a comprehensive overview of the peace studies
and conflict resolution fields.
• Objective: To build up a global community of peace
builders, Rotary Peace Center hopes to make a lasting
contribution to peace and communities across the globe.

5. Study Objectives
• Centered on the core themes of conflict analysis and
mapping, conflict tracking, conflict transformation, and
peace building.
• Provide solid theoretical understanding of the concepts.
• Experience sharing from peace practitioners across the
world, e.g Palestine, Africa, Southern Thailand
• Students from different
background and countries

6. “Making Peace by supporting
sustainable living”

7. 15 Global Challenges
facing humanity

8. Global Dialogue on Sustainable Development 2013
- First, Examine our values
• Which value systems can drive business towards sustainable
futures for tomorrow?
• Sufficiency Economy Philosophy
• Moral Capitalism
• Sustainable Leadership
All based on moderate forms of capitalism e.g. Rhineland capitalism

9. 1. Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP)
• HM King Bhumibol introduced SEP decades ago
(Thailand)
• SEP balance capitalism’s push for growth with
moderation and ethical behaviour
• Components of SEP
• Moderation
• Reasonableness – evaluate choices &
consequences
• Incorporate resilience (against internal &
external risks)
Plus
• Wisdom
• Integrity
• Example: Mae Fah Luang Foundation
• (http://www.maefahluang.org)

10. 2. Moral Capitalism
“Moral Capitalism is a field theory that integrates intangible
moral considerations with traditional micro and macro economic
postulates. In sum, Moral Capitalism asserts that interest and
virtue are not necessarily in conflict; that virtue is an extension
of interest rightly understood.”
Caux Round Table
(http://www.cauxroundtable.org)

11. 3. Sustainable leadership
• Sustainable leadership incorporates…
• Those behaviors, practices and systems that create enduring
value for all stakeholders
• By Gales Avery & Harald Bergsteiner
• See: http://www.instituteforsustainableleadership.com

12. Honeybee & Locust philosophies
• Honeybees
• Work as part of a community
• Collaborate to create value
• Add value to the world
• Locust
• Are generally isolates
• Form swarms
• Destroy value in the world

13. Honeybee enterprises
• See themselves as part of a wider community
• Believe their success depends on the support of others in the
community
• Take care of the present for future generations
• Prefer a long-term perspective
• Stakeholders matter
• Ethical
• Money is not central

14. Locust organizations
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It’s all about money
“business of business is business (Charles Handy)
Isolated from the wider community
Short-term thinking
Investors not other stakeholders

15. Honeybee leadership more
sustainable
• Research shows that honeybee principles lead to better
performance, eg.
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Brand & reputation
Customer satisfaction
Staff satisfaction
Financial performance on many criteria
Stock performance is better and less violatile
• Honeybee leadership creates resilience

16. Business case for honeybee
practices
• Sustainable Leadership:
Honeybee and Locust
Approaches 2011
By Gales Avery & Harald
Bergsteiner
• The business case for a wide
range of sustainable or
“honeybee” practices

17. In a nutshell…

18. Rotary Peace Study
Media literacy
Genocide
Journalism
Capacity building
Gender Conflict
Transitional justice
Conflict
Transformation
Security Sector
Reform
Conflict Analysis
What is Peace?
Trauma and self-care
Human
Trafficking
Conflict
Resolution
Causes of
Conflict
Mediation
Post Conflict
Reconstruction

19. Rotary Peace Study
• Main drivers for conflict
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Poverty
Inequality
Human Rights abuse
Fight for national resources
Education and earning opportunities
• This is especially the case in the rural area
• Leading to many issues, e.g. human trafficking

20. Rural = Farming community
Enviroment
Weather
BAD Externalities
Communities
Water
GOOD Externalities
Seeds suppliers
Equipment suppliers
Intruders
Soil
Fertilizer suppliers
Pest Control suppliers
Other farmers
Farm
Technology suppliers
Financing
Farm workers

21. Challenges facing our
current agriculture industry
Global Climate Change
Legal/Illegal
Immigrant
Water pollution &
depleting water table
Lack proper
access
Aging
Population
Outside
National Power Grid
Under
representation
Focus only
on survival
Cross Border
Human Trafficking
Digital
divide
Low
Land grab, Resources
Extreme Militants
Lack formal education
Polarization
Inadequate
facilities

22. Core Issues
De-urbanization
Urbanization
Rebuild
Rural Communities
Deserting
Rural Communities
Economic
Development &
Industrialization
Environmental
Conflict
Environment
Protection
Rural Livelihood
Deprivation
Improve
Rural Livelihood
Find solution in reversing the cycle

23. Core Issues
De-urbanization
Urbanization
Rebuild
Rural Communities
Deserting
Rural Communities
Economic
Development &
Industrialization
Environmental
Conflict
Environment
Protection
Rural Livelihood
Deprivation
Improve
Rural Livelihood
Find solution in reversing the cycle

24. The future of our next generation…

25. Proposal to the Rotary community
• Support rural agriculture development
• Support more vocational training in the agriculture sector
• Focus on sustainable farming practice, especially organic
farming
• Support local farmers
• Or simply be conscious in your consumption and eating
Survival 
Sufficient  Sustainability

26. Rotary’s Participation
Subject
Focus Area
Possible Areas for participation
Production
Farm Level
•Capital financing to farmers
•Green house installation
•Water management improvement, etc…
R&D
Tertiary institutions
•Financial support to institutions
•Vocational training, etc…
Pest Control
Bio-pest control development
•R & D support
•Capital financing to rural suppliers, etc…
Fertilizers
Compost and other organic
fertilizers
•R & D support
•Capital financing to rural suppliers, etc…
Seeds
Seeds bank
•R & D support
•Seeds bank establish, etc…
Technologies
Renewable energy
Social media
Mobile technologies
•R & D support
•Capital financing to rural suppliers
•Social internet network for info sharing
•Buyer/Seller internet network
•Mobile network for instant info, etc….
Logistics
Distributive network
•Provide logistic support to local NGOs, etc…
Rotarians
Buy / Consume
•Community Support Agriculture (CSA), etc…

27. Essence of sustainable agriculture
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Production is sustainable.
Enhance economic development and environment protection.
Introduce new technology and methodology
Facilitate young creative entrepreneurs and educated
participants
Create jobs and vocational training
Recreate community development and bio-diversity
Provide good quality food for well-being.
By focus on local consumption, reduces carbon footprints
It works with our one and only one ecosystem

30. Let’s work together
for better world!
Rotary District
Peace  Love  Hope

31. Thank you Rotarians!

32. “Making Peace by supporting
sustainable living”
Spencer Leung @ bangkok
Rotary Peace Fellow 2013
mailto:spencer.leung@me.com