Corporate Sector Rallies in a Time of Need

The ongoing army operations against militants holed up in the North West Frontier of Pakistan has led to what the UN terms as one of the largest mass migrations in recent history, with more than 3m people having to flee to safer zones. As can be imagined, massive relief efforts were required to cater for the immediate needs of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), including shelter, food and medicines. The corporate sector in Pakistan has played an active role in contributing to these efforts, with the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) donating Rs. 150m in the form of relief goods, the Jang Group (Pakistan's largest media house) raising millions of rupees thru telethons and offline campaigns, local airline AirBlue teaming up with an NGO HelpCounts for airlifting of relief goods, the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation setting up free Public Call Offices at the IDP camps and the telecom companies donating Rs.100m to the Prime Minister's fund for IDPs. Employees of a very large number of other firms have donated a day's salary to the fund and even Emirates airlines has pitched in, shipping 120 tonnes of supplies for the IDPs.

Despite all these efforts, the scale of the challenge is enormous and the government is seeking more donations in cash or kind. If you want to help, visit http://helpidp.org/, http://www.geo.tv/swat/ or see details of the Prime Minister's Fund to which you can send your donations. If you're in Pakistan, you can donate Rs.10 per SMS by typing FUND and sending it to 1199 for donating to the Prime Minister's Fund. And remember, every bit helps.

Green Accounting for Staying Out of the Red

With the UNDP estimating that environmental degradation costing Pakistan over Rs. 350b every year, the need for following green agendas is self-evident. At a recent workshop, experts suggested the introduction of 'green accounting' frameworks to calculate the costs of environmental depletion. The WWF agrees with earlier assessments that the costs of environmental degradation are as high as 6% of the GDP and needs a concerted mix of fiscal, monetary and managerial steps to reduce these costs. Businesses often tend to ignore or underestimate such costs but as was clearly indicated by speakers at the event, it's time their books stay in the green in the more ways than one.

Promoting Environment Protection

Two good pieces of news have emerged from the government side. First, there is a commitment to introduce environment as part of curriculum in public schools. The Ministry of Environment announced recently that it would collaborate with the Ministry of Education to include environment as a subject, helping raise awareness in youth. This is indeed a welcome initiative. The government agencies would be well advised however, to include civil society organisations, most notably the Book Group, which have established expertise in alternative textbooks and teaching resources, mainly with funding from corporate entities as part of their CSR initiatives.

The second encouraging news relates to plans to introduce Euro-II emission standards for petrol driven vehicles from July this year and for diesel driven automobiles from July 2012. As reported in the press, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources will have to ensure availability of Euro-II compliant diesel with low sulphur, by January 2012. This move also ties in with the government's plans to reduce air pollution and promoting the use of CNG-run vehicles, including the introduction of 8,000 CNG buses in major cities of the country.

Deaths in a Karachi Effluent Treatment Plant: Occupational Hazard?

Four workers in an effluent treatment plant in Karachi's Korangi Industrial Trading Estate, have allegedly died due to a methane gas leak in one of the plant's desludging pipes. This incident, reported widely in the daily newspapers, is the latest in a long list of events that amount to gross negligence on part of the employers and to a failure of the regulatory system.

Provisions related to Occupational Safety & Heath are spread across a number of legislation, including the Factories Act, 1934; Provincial Factories Rules; Hazardous Occupations Rules, 1963; Mines Act, 1923; West Pakistan Shops and Establishments Ordinance, 1969; Provincial Employees Social Security Ordinance, 1965; Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923 and Dock Laborers Act, 1934. While there may be a case--oft pleaded by experts--for consolidating and updating these provisions, there appears to be neither a work safety culture nor any momentum for change. In 2001, the Government of Pakistan promised to set up a National Occupational Safety and Health Council but that initiative has yet to see the light of the day. Similarly, a National Labour Protection Policy was published in 2006 which called for improving work safety and working environment for labour. No report on whether this policy is being implemented or not, has been published by the Government.

The existing laws are overlapping in scope and tend to be soft on reporting requirements, making data collection on the actual number of casualties, injuries and health concerns due to poor work environment a very difficult task. The existence of a large number of informal businesses compounds this problem because they are unregulated and hence no official data can be compiled on them. Curiously enough, the Labour Force Survey 2005-06 claims that at 41%, the majority of OSH related casualties/injuries took place in the agriculture sector, with manufacturing (15%), construction (14.5%) and mining (.3%) lagging far behind. Conventional wisdom would suggest the exact opposite in terms of results and this clearly points to under-reporting in the non-agriculture sectors.

Moreover, there is little confidence in the regulator's willingness and ability to ensure compliance with these standards. But as I have often argued on this blog, the employers must deliver on their responsibilities as well and develop work safety standards that meet international benchmarks, not just the outdated ones found in the current Pakistani legislation. While this is already happening in export-oriented sectors who have to meet exacting international standards set by the buyers, there is a need for the rest of the sectors to catch up.

New Petroleum Policy Promotes Better CSR Practices

The newly announced Petroleum Policy calls for better CSR practices in the form of raising the social welfare obligation in exploration phases by $5,000 in every zone i.e. from $25,000 to $30,000 a year; calling for more direct benefits to the locals in terms of offering at least 50% of the non-skilled jobs to them; and fostering more inclusive management of the exploration areas through local participation.

While these are welcome measures, the track record of compliance by the oil and gas exploration companies doesn't exactly muster much confidence. Despite the the concession agreements signed between the government and the MNCs working in the sector clearly including CSR-based action points, the MNCs have often left the locals holding the shorter end of the straw. Worse still, the regulators have demonstrated neither any clear willingness nor the ability to enforce the agreements, further exacerbating the plight of the locals.

One NGO, Participatory Development Initiatives, has been actively advocating for better enforcement of the agreements in Sindh province. With support from Oxfam GB, their 'Community Mobilization and Networking on CSR of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Companies in Sindh' project has done good work in raising awareness about the manner in which the local population is being denied their right to benefit from the investments in the sector.

The new policy is a step in the right direction. But it can only come up trumps for the locals if the Government is serious about ensuring compliance and better still, if the private sector companies are sincere the promoting CSR.