Mock This? Davos Facilitates Worthy Social Programs

The Great Ruaha River of southern Tanzania runs dry for months each year because of deforestation and inefficient irrigation. Food supplies are at risk, as is the country’s most important cash crop, coffee. But help is on the way. Under a partnership launched two years ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, agribusinesses, including Norway’s Yara International and Switzerland’s Syngenta, are using their money and technical expertise to help Tanzanians reduce their water consumption while boosting crop yields. This year, Yara Chief Executive Jørgen Ole Haslestad turned up at the Alpine resort and exhorted his fellow businesspeople to do more, saying, “There is a huge need to step up the pace.”

The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania initiative is the type of thing that the World Economic Forum is most proud of—and least known for. The project got less attention this year than the stuffed elk with green lasers shooting out of its eyes that dazzled guests at a party hosted by former Facebook President Sean Parker. To the outside world, Davos is a snowy playground where the likes of Lloyd Blankfein, Derek Jeter, David Cameron, and a polyglot assortment of the world’s billionaires exchange compliments. Some—gasp!—even have a tendency to bloviate. The British newspaper the Guardian mocked the forum this year with an online Davos HotPhrase Generator that spits out terms like “multi-interactive-agnostic” and “pre-disrupt-alization.”