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by Ben Block on April 2, 2009 As leaders of the world's 20 largest economies gathered in London this week, international financial institutions announced that the world economy would likely deteriorate more in 2009 than was previously feared. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development predicted that economic activity would shrink 2.7 percent; the World Bank projected a slightly more optimistic contraction of 1.7 percent. To gain perspective about today's many interrelated sustainability issues, Worldwatch staff writer Ben Block pulled aside Björn Stigson, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), for an interview this week at a U.S. National Academies of Science climate change summit. Stigson has overseen the global coalition of some 200 leading corporations since 1995. How do you expect the ongoing recession to affect sustainable business efforts, such as reducing pollution, water consumption, and energy use? Are businesses turning away from corporate responsibility? The question I get from around the world is: Has sustainable development fallen off the table given there is a recession? My response is the opposite. What has happened is that sustainable development has come to a tipping point, in my view, and that the focus on the strategic aspect on sustainable development, climate change, and so on - that focus is even stronger than before. It's stronger in companies, and it's stronger in governments. The recession is not really a barrier or a blockage.

'The economic turmoil brought about by the financial crisis of 2008, compounded by the impacts of a food crisis and pending climate change, has exacerbated many of the existing development challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This paper explores the idea that inclusive, sustainable business partnerships hold the potential to address multiple development needs within MENA.'

Even in hard times, it can make commercial sense for companies to develop markets that include poor people, and business models that address poverty. Businesses that create decent jobs, access to markets or goods and services that benefit low-income groups in emerging economies help to build healthier, wealthier, and more highly skilled communities. Those communities will provide the customers, suppliers, and employees that companies need for sustainable growth. Full paper in PDF format; Number of pages: 12p

With this manual, the Grameen Foundation introduces Village Phone Direct, a variation of the Village Phone programme. This manual provides a template for creating local, sustainable Village Phone Direct programmes that simultaneously bring telecommunication and information services to the rural poor, create viable new businesses for micro-entrepreneurs, and expand the customer base of telecommunication operators.