Paul Hohnen Sustainability Strategies

This letter was published in Financial Times on June 1, 2006 .

Blair may be damaged but message is right

From Mr Paul Hohnen.

Sir, As anyone who has spent time working with the United Nations and Bretton Woods institutions can attest, Tony Blair was spot on with his message that the international architecture created after the second world war is no longer appropriate ("Blair's proposals for the UN", May 29).

However damaged the messenger might be, the message is right. As Iraq has demonstrated, there are real limits to the Bush administration's doctrine of à la carte internationalism. Equally, there are questions about how long world-shaping issues such as climate change can remain off the Security Council's agenda.

While there may be a need to create new organisations, such as a world environment organisation, or even a global agency to promote low-carbon energy, much can be done by reforming existing bodies. Three reforms in particular should be taken.

The first is to increase inter-organisation co-ordination and co-operation around key themes, such as water, food, energy and housing. Some of this is already under way.

The second is to accept that nation states do not have all the solutions. A reformed UN has to embrace inputs from business and civil society in a more coherent manner. Having set clear performance goals, the third is for governments to let management do the job.

Many of the UN's failings can be traced directly to governmental interference. The UN was built on the rubble of governmental failures. Hopefully the world will not have to be reduced to rubble again before it gets the international governance "we, the peoples" deserve.

Paul Hohnen, 1017SL Amsterdam, The Netherlands