Unilever PLC - Chairman's Statement

RNS No 7520f
UNILEVER PLC
UNILEVER NV
23rd October 1998

             Morris Tabaksblat, Unilever chairman:

           'WATER, FISH AND AGRICULTURE KEY AREAS IN
     UNILEVER'S EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Partly with its own commercial interests in mind, Unilever
accepts its responsibility for safeguarding the quality of
life for subsequent generations and is therefore firmly
resolved to make a material contribution to sustainable
development. In doing so, Unilever is concentrating on fish,
agriculture and water management. Those are the areas on which
the company has an impact, and where it can make a meaningful
contribution on the basis of its know-how and experience. This
was said by chairman Morris Tabaksblat at the annual
presentation of the Unilever Research Prizes Friday morning in
Vlaardingen.

Unilever has set itself the objective of meeting the daily
needs of people everywhere. This objective also means: helping
to ensure that the raw materials needed to do that remain
sustainably available. 'We are a company that makes large-
scale use of natural resources such as the sea, agricultural
land and fresh water', said Tabaksblat. 'Given our task in
society, that is a legitimate use but it also imposes on us
the obligation to seek to achieve sustainability.'

Fish is an important natural resource and makes a considerable
contribution to Unilever's foods activities. For the success
of its activities in foods and products for home and personal
care, the company relies on the availability of fertile
agricultural land and a sufficient supply of clean, fresh
water.

Unilever's efforts to achieve sustainable development are
therefore focused on sustainable fisheries, sustainable
agriculture and water management - living systems, each with
their own complex set of dynamics. According to Tabaksblat, a
great deal of scientific research still needs to be done in
these areas to develop models that can contribute to finding
solutions. 'As yet we are a long way from having a full grasp
of how natural and man-made systems function so that we can
always intervene by taking the right steps when things
threaten to go wrong', said the chairman.

Of all the known fish stocks, for example, as many as 30% are
over-fished. The worldwide need for fish and fish products
will rise in the years ahead to 110 to 120 million tonnes a
year. As catches decline, the result will be a shortage of
about 40 million tonnes a year.
                               
'In 1996, therefore, we decided to set up the Marine
Stewardship Council together with the World Wide Fund for
Nature. The Council's aim is to reach agreements world-wide
about sustainable fishing methods with all parties concerned',
said Tabaksblat. Reliable models are needed to monitor and
predict fish stocks, whilst a lot of research is also needed
into optimal catching and processing methods. Unilever has set
itself the target that as from 2005 it will solely offer fish
products that originate from a source certified by the
Council.

The challenges in agriculture are at least equally as big.
Deforestation, excessive use of fertilisers, the dependency on
fast-ripening varieties and the use of crop protection
products have made agricultural production one-sided and
vulnerable. 'Here we are facing the question of how we can
drastically raise productivity, reduce vulnerability and at
the same time protect the environment and the natural
resources that are still intact', said Tabaksblat. Unilever is
currently working on sustainable agriculture projects in
various parts of the world, focusing on crops that are
strategic to its activities, such as tea, tomatoes, peas and
spinach, and also palm, rapeseed and sunflower, which provide
the oils that form the basis for margarines, baking and deep-
frying products and personal care products.

Unilever is also convinced that it must be possible to make
more prudent use of water, both in the company's manufacturing
processes and in the homes of consumers. In addition to its
internal activities in the area of water management, Unilever
has also pledged its commitment to a number of initiatives
outside the business, such as the 'Living Lakes' initiative of
the Global Nature Fund, a worldwide network of projects for
sustainable water usage.

Over the next 25 years ways will have to be found to feed and
look after 2 billion more people than are alive today. 'As
responsible people and responsible companies we have to ensure
that the generations that follow us will also have what they
need. That is not only good citizenship but is also in our own
self-enlightened commercial interest.' Science will have an
important role to play in this, said the chairman.


Business and University: A knowledge network

Business and universities will have to work together more and
more closely to meet the needs of society and to respond
quickly to market developments, said Dr Jan de Rooij, Director
of Unilever Research Vlaardingen.

Mr De Rooij, speaking at the annual presentation of the
Unilever Research Prizes, talked about the changing character
of the cooperation between industrial research and scientific
research conducted at universities. According to Mr De Rooij
contract research will increasingly be replaced by strategic
cooperation. In recent years research has been brought ever
closer to the market and the innovation cycle has been
shortened. Products have a higher knowledge intensity and
incorporate a bigger science and technology content.

'That is why we need many different scientific disciplines
both in our laboratory and elsewhere, which in turn brings the
need to work more in interdisciplinary teams', said
Mr De Rooij.

Instead of the former linear way of working within each
separate discipline, efforts are now being made to establish a
more integrated approach in which all aspects of the various
disciplines are linked together: the systems approach. This
requires a more purposive way of applying knowledge processes.
The osmosis of knowledge from universities and from industry
will become an increasingly important success factor for
business. And that is why Unilever will keep on investing in
networks that link the business with universities and other
knowledge institutions, said De Rooij.

Unilever Research Prize

The annual Unilever Research Prizes were established to
promote high-quality scientific research and to further good
relations between Unilever and the universities. This year the
prizes, amounting to 5,000 guilders, were presented for the
42nd time to ten young university students who have conducted
important research in the fields of chemistry, biology and
mechanical engineering at Dutch universities. With these
Research Prizes Unilever wants to encourage promising young
talents at Dutch universities in their further scientific
development.

The ten winners are: Steven Verhelst (State University of
Leiden), Sanne Melles (Delft Technological University), Derk
Hekkelman (Twente University), Ron de Swart (Eindhoven
Technological University), Niek Buurma (State University of
Groningen), Ivo Rieu (Nijmegen Catholic University), Sander
van Doorn (Utrecht University), Maarten Boele (Amsterdam
University), Jasper van der Gucht (Wageningen Agricultural
University), Jorrit Hornberg (Amsterdam Free University).

Full text of speech available from the 
Unilever Press Office 0171 822 6719


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