it is actually the embassy of ukraine today. you can see it there. it was basically more very's -- basically marbury's command post. for startingou this off with us. we appreciate it. thank you to the viewers. their questions and was make this so interesting. -- always make this so interesting. ♪

>> c-span's landmark cases series continues next monday. scott was enslaved by dr. john emerson. scottemerson died, mr. tried unsuccessfully to in freedom for himself and his family because he lived in illinois territory for four years where slavery would be legal. will it back at the scott versus sandford case.

that is live next monday at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span3 you can learn more about our landmark cases series which explores the human stories and constitutional dramas behind some of the supreme court's most significance decisions. from the website, you can find c-span's landmark cases book which features the illegal impact of each case written by tony morrow and published by c-span in cooperation with cq press. landmark cases is available for at95 plus shipping c-span.org/landmarkcases. boehner postpones elections for majority leader, whip. the writer of the peace joins us from cap -- of the piece joins

us from capitol hill. some somener was pressure under members of the congress to stop the elections until after a speaker has been selected. the favor right now is kevin mccarthy. will nominate him in a closed-door members medium -- meeting this thursday. 435 members of congress will come to the floor of the house and hold a live rollcall vote for their next speaker. assuming that leader mccarthy is chosen to be boehner's successor, he will have vacated his majority leadership position as such time members can vote for a new majority leader, assuming its majority whip, his position will be open for whip, triggering another election. members were concerned there

would be elections for members of leadership not accounting for the fact that the nomination for mr. mccarthy is not the same as actually electing him on the floor. there are also concerns if he can get the votes necessary on the floor to even become the speaker in the first place. does that make sense? you talked about kevin mccarthy, the presumptive favorite. there are a couple of other candidates for house speaker. tell us about those and they are set to speak before some of the republican caucuses on tuesday wednesday. why this process? emma: kevin mccarthy is the presumptive favorite, the establishment pick for speaker of the house. he is being challenged by a rank in file florida republican named daniel webster who many conservatives like because he talks a lot about process and collaboration.

he is new to washington. more or less, he is a member of the 2010 class so people like and he is a fresher face not spoiled by capitol hill, if you want to call it that. the new wrinkle in this in the candidacy of setting government reform, jason chaffetz, the utah republican has taken a very high profile role. he announced on fox news sunday that he would be challenging mccarthy as well. chaffetz, his argument is that mccarthy can i get the necessary 218 votes on the house floor. there are just too many conservatives who do not want to vote for him. and the democrats will vote for their leader, nancy pelosi. he's trying to put himself forward as an alternative as someone who can bridge divides and be a conservative alternative to mr. mccarthy.

that is kind of the case he will be making in the days ahead. host: moving forward a couple of weeks, and the process of the conference meeting this thursday to make their selection, tell us about the house selection for speaker. what will that look like? emma: similar to what we see, almost exactly at what we see at the start of every new congress, something we saw in january -- all the members gather on the floor. the clerk calls everybody's name individually and they stand and they announce their pick for speaker. traditionally, the majority party will speak -- vote in favor of the nominee who comes out of the conference committee. in this case, they nominated boehner inside the conference. that is who you would vote for if you were republican. the minority party votes for their minority leader to be speaker. in their case, that would be

nancy pelosi. not everyone votes for the nominee inside the conference. we saw that in january. there were about two dozen republicans who voted for candidates other than speaker weiner -- speaker boehner. some are still facing retribution for it, for not playing as a team. they will see some of that, too. if mr. mccarthy has enough defection for his nomination on the floor and is not get the winning threshold of 218 votes, the house will keep voting on the second ballot, third ballot, all rollcall votes until somebody gets 218 votes to become speaker of the house. host: all of that happening before speaker weiner -- speaker boehner ends his term. following in all is emma dumain. read more and follow her on

twitter. thank you so much. emma: thank you. announcer: next monday on c-span's new series landmark scott was1830, dredd enslaved to dr. john emerson. emerson was assigned to duties in several states, during which scott married harriet robinson. he tried to buy his family's freedom from the widow but she refused and he sued. follow the case of scott versus sandford in landmark cases, is to work supreme court decisions. exploring 12 supreme court hearings while relieving -- revealing the life and times of the people of these cases. landmark cases, they at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span --to get the_ background, order your copy of the companion book which is

$8.95 plusfor shipping. announcer: former british prime minister tony blair was part of a conversation of global party. he is joined by a belgian prince along with philanthropist howard buffett. this was at the newseum. [applause] >> thank you very much. .t is my honor to be here you could not ask for three individuals who care more about this issue. i know they all have a lot they

want to say. we are going to get right to it. howard buffett, will start with you. you are the one who was the driving force behind this. take us back to the beginning. thatas this something mattered to you? we know you came from a farming background. there were other things going on in your family. howard buffett: not much. i was teaching warren had to invest. other than that, not much. i had a mother that spent her entire life really dedicating herself to helping people. i think all of us kids grew up we weresehold where expected to give back to the community. of course, we had every opportunity in our lives to do what we wanted to do in many ways. best when hens it talks about the ovarian lottery.

you could be born in bangladesh, it could be born in yemen, you could be born in mullally. you could be born to presidents that are -- born to parents that are divorced, or criminals, or handicapped with challenges of providing a living. there are many scenarios that could develop. but you were born, and in my case, a white, male united -- male in the united states. that give you every opportunity to excel in life that you could ever ask for. hopefully, those demographics are changing. when i came into this world, that was the best situation you could find yourself in. i think we knew that and appreciated that. high expectations that we would go out in the world and do some things that are productive and positive. the big driver was how i grew up and what my parents expected of me.

was itodruff: and what about food insecurity and the african continent that attracted you? howard buffett: when we finally got some really money to spend, i was immediately attracted to trying to figure out where the most impoverished populations were. resources areere very scarce or limited. i wasare the places attracted to. we do a lot of work and central america and mexico. africa has some of the biggest challenges, especially food security in terms of agricultural production. unfortunately, it was the kinds of population we wanted to try and work with. that is how we ended up doing a lot in africa. judy woodruff: there is a lot to talk about in terms of your interest and what do have learned. i still want to bring in prime

minister blair and emmanuel de merode. at some point along the way, you got to know the both of them. and something else grew out of that. tell me how all of this got started. i went to uganda for the first time in 1997. it was a phenomenal experience. if anybody asks what the one thing i should do in my life is, i say, go there. it is quite an experience. do it when you are young enough for the hiking. i've taken my son and taken other people and it is really something. that captured my attention. and then i met a great woman, annette, who is think is maybe here tonight. and she keptgcp wanting to have dinner with me and i noticed she had phd behind her name. i did not want a phd do come of

dinner with me. and thentting her off finally, she just showed up. i realized what an amazing job she was doing and that, he hooked in the region. we've done a lot of work in these countries. in 2009 weemmanuel, went up to the park. he had been there for maybe a year and i realized the that have brought everything together. it brought the conservation peas, the poverty fees, the conflict peace -- the iece, theion p conflictiece, the piece. it brought all of these pieces together. emmanuel has an impossible job.

we have started to work with him and we are doing it because he is always there. one of met tony it was funny because cage, who worked for tony for a long time cap sending me these e-mails. saying, why do i want to meet the prime minister? what am i going to do with this guy? she would send me these e-mails and i would say, i am busy. sorry. and then, i was on this plane somewhere, and i read this article and i said, god, this guy is doing exactly what has to happen in africa. we can do everything with emmanuel and what is the one thing we do not have? we do not have rule of law, governance. ailhought, man, i have to em kate back and apologize for everything i said.

and that he came out and tried to run my combine. he ran some corn down. we were walking up to get in the combine and a think it was kate cusack, howard, he is not driven anything for 12 years. it is a rare thing to have someone with tony's experience .nd commitment he has been a leader, he has run a country. who can show up at the doorstep and share the experience is really rare. they're both very special people to meet and to my foundation. judy woodruff: i cannot wait to ask prime minister blair about the combine and the rest of it. howard buffett: he will not tell the truth. uel, whatruff: emman did you think when you are approached by howard buffett? howard buffett: you don't have

to tell the truth. emmanuel de merode: howard came to the congo at a very difficult time for us. saying, myt by function, my position, who i am, is it middle ranking public servant. situation,t into the which is management. it is a very large national park. it is the epicenter of a war that has been happening now for 20 years. it has turned out to be the most the greatest expression of human suffering cents the second world war. everyone of those wars over the period of 20 years began inside the in national park -- the national park that we manage.

i beget is park warden and i have not fully gather the difficulty. and then, howard turned up. is when i realized my problems were just beginning. [laughter] judy woodruff: what happened? did he actually come to you? emmanuel de merode: yes. howard has a long history of address these fundamental problems in the great lakes regions. they are enormous challenges to overcome. but what he offered us for the first time was not just the posterity of some of the generosity in terms of resources, but also the time to think through the problems that we were addressing.

he was actually willing to come to the field. times of armed conflict and work through these problems with us. story,has really been the working through these overwhelming problems in the eastern congo. hearwoodruff: i want to the beginning though, of the howard buffett story from prime minister blair's point of view. your office was trying to set up an appointment with him and it was not working until this wonderful article came out. tony blair: i always thought he was very keen to meet me. [laughter] i did eventually get to see him. i did get to see him. and once more, i got to drive the combine harvester, which was an interesting experience.

i think it was the only time i have seen howard very earnest. he kept telling me the amount of money this piece of machinery cost. the essence of it, for me, the issue of governance in africa is absolutely fundamental. when i was prime minister, africa was a big part of the agenda. and 2005 at the g8 summit, we actually put africa on the agenda and got commitments to give debt relief to african countries. would give a commitment to federal aid and other countries followed suit. the usa uplifted their aid substantially as well. i was aware of the fact that aid was never going to be enough on its own. you also had to build the capacity to govern properly. and so, africa came together with my other passion, which is the whole process of governance. office in 1997.

the only job i had ever had was prime minister. if you are going to start, you might as well start at the top. [laughter] howard buffett: we know you were not a farmer. as well.r: just here's the thing i discovered about government. i came in,hen because i was prime minister and at at the cabinet table, i thought if i took a decision around the cabinet table, something happened. this is a big mistake. i realized how the process of government works. i realized, you run for office as a great campaigner. to get into office and you have become the chief executive. you have be able to run the organization. i became sensed with the processes of government. why some of the african presidents-- african were struggling with.

i do not have the infrastructure of decision-making and organization around them to be able to do it properly. the purpose of the african government initiative was, we put people in who worked alongside the president's team. i worked alongside the president and we went through prioritization's and then the execution capabilities within the government to get things done. the thing is, with howard, he was prepared to help us with this. he supported it and resourced it. the result is, today we are in eight different african countries and i think we make a very big difference in how they function. judy woodruff: howard, talk you and the prime minister are doing together. give us some concrete examples. howard buffett: we have flexibility. we have given agi the money that was committed elsewhere.

when the ebola crisis came up in liberia, one of the peace people they went to because they were familiar with them was agi, for help. this was a disaster for the population. it was a challenging messaging and communication system. we don't get involved with health or anything else. we are pretty focused on what we to the when we spoke staff at agi, it was a very simple decision to say, yes, we will move some of that money. you use some of that money. use it what you need to use it for. we cannot judge that. the biggest thing for us is to have the flexibility and have partners that we trust. storyel can tell you a about a situation in goma that

is funny looking, back when you look at how we got it done. but it is really important for us to trust our partners. i realized that governance is such a critical issue. one of the things we did with agi was, we were on a conference call talking about different options and they brought up this called rapid action. it sounded great to me. i thought, tony needs to do what he needs to do. he does not need people like me or anyone else telling him how to do it. i have great confidence in what he is going to do and the decisions he will make. we made a commitment, a reasonable commitment, to fund that can help him go out to try and leverage that for additional funding. the rapid action fund is something where you don't have to go to ask a donor for something in the middle of an emergency. you have the money.

we willtell us, but never ask him how he used the money. it is not important to me. tony blair: in the of bulla crisis, we were in all three countries. they organized all the help coming in. hit theike these countries. there can make sure the people are going to the right places, setting up the right centers, setting up the systems. deliver maternal health care programs. we help people with agriculture programs. we will do things like make sure if it is a big infrastructure project around electricity, for example, which is vital to the country, that we help them deliver that program. i have not been to liberia for about five years. but when i flew there, it was about nighttime. and at that time, he did not

you could not see a light. that city did not have electricity. you are talking about a imaginen where cannot process in an a emergency of that scale. the don't have the people, infrastructure, or the power. people,on't have the infrastructure, or the power. you are trying to solve 20 problems at once. it is not just the ebola crisis. it is many different crises at the same time. the thing i love about that fund stafft gives tony and his the ability to just react, to go in and do it. we need much more of that kind of philanthropy.

our money in the private foundation should be the absolute first risk money. we should not worry about bragging about what we got right. you should tell people how we failed. that is the truth. too many people want to feel good about what they did. they want to tell everybody else how well they did something. certain places. it is the wrong thing for philanthropists to worry about, with the kind of flexibility and money we have. we should absolutely be the risk capital. judy woodruff: i would imagine, tony blair, not every philanthropist, not every source of funding you go to, understands this. tony blair: in the end, it is it unders -- it is an interesting way of doing this. they understand what we are trying to do, and they might support it. and you have freedom to get on and do it. there's not a huge amount of your opportunity -- of

bureaucracy around it. we are able to work really fast to help change the way those countries are run. one of the things that is very important to realize about africa is that, despite all of the challenges, it is on the move and there is real progress. life expectancy is going up. in the next few years, the middle class is set to double. you've still got a situation where two thirds of the population don't have access to electricity. these are fundamental things you can help change, but you can only do it if government is operating effectively. that is what it's all about. whether it's doing what we do with the government or what a manual does with conservation, the way that howard does the philanthropy is different from anything i've come across and

allows us to operate effectively and react to the need. judy: help us understand. on the surface, it sounds like you are doing different things. tony blair is describing a governance initiative. you are the chief warden of a national park in the congo. help us understand what that means and how it's involved in conservation. tony: this guy takes real risks. judy: i should say, emmanuel is a belgian prince. he's got all kinds of royalty. [laughter] i wasn't expecting that. i think there are always a norm is parallels. none of us have a monopoly on good development practice. it's what we are all trying to

do. there are many ways of doing it. there are certain underlying principles. it comes down to three things. you have to have a deep theitivity and respect for rights and needs of the most vulnerable, the poorest people in society. you have to have a sensitivity for the rights of the future generations, to protect the environment, governance initiatives in relation to natural resources, and then you have to respect rule of law. that is what holds society together. if you can maintain those principles, then there is a whole range of activities you can do. what tony has brought up, as long as you maintain those principles, then it's a question of how quickly and effectively you can deal with the dramatic

challenges we are faced with, particularly in places like the great lakes region. i only operate in a small world, but it's a small world that is extremely intense in terms of the deep challenges that our generation has to deal with. destruction of the world's resources and a how badly we treat each other, particularly those who can't defend themselves. judy: you talked about it a few minutes ago, but how do you see what emmanuel has devoted himself to fitting into your overall -- you've got some pretty ambitious goals, to do something tangible about food and security, about a part of the world that has been neglected for generation after generation. howard: one of the things -- i have some important partners in .rime

i felt that walking into congo at the time we did with a lot of conflict -- when we would see go throughe would checkpoints. the first two or three were the government. the next ones were the rebels. it was that way for a long time. we went back for or five times a year, and sometimes, 10 kilometers was a ghost town, and sometimes, 10 kilometers looked normal. a lot of change was coming. we realize the conflict part of it and the lack of the rule of law was one of the things that had to be addressed. one of the things that has never worked well in that part of the world is the demobilization and reintegration of rebels. that ifhis crazy idea

we start doing things now while the conflict is happening, we would have things available, so we can putable 500, 600 guys to work when they are ready to be reintegrated. instead of using frameworks from the past that have not turned out well. judy: reintegrated from combat? howard: i don't know the exact number. you get 700, 800 x combatants in rwanda and uganda in pretty poor conditions. in the past, they had no way to reintegrate them, no guarantee of jobs. he couldn't fit back in. obviously, that is a threat to the government. it doesn't take long to reorganize. if theme is different

government wants to do something about it. we can bring them back, reintegrate them immediately, and put them to work. you have to search changing some of the fundamental issues that have existed historically to change the future. one of those issues is how you tants andte ex-comba keep them from picking up arms again. that is a big part of what we are trying to do. it is a huge experiment. we have no idea what will happen. we could end up spending $100 million there and look back in 10 years and feel like we've got nothing done. millionuld spend $100 and change the course of how some things happen.

it won't be us changing it, but our investment. judy: how do you look on this, tony? do you look at this as a gamble, sure bet? tony: i would call it entrepreneurial philanthropy, which involves an element of risk and capital. if it works, it provides a model .or future engagements one of the things that is interesting about africa, you have sources from different quarters. all of these have to be used effectively by governments on the ground. with aid agencies, they will work in quite a bureaucratic way. they can be inflexible to do with. they do great work, many of these agencies, in many parts of africa, but the advantage of

howard's foundation is they can act with flexibility and agility that comes on the nature of the organizational leadership. one of the things we need to do in development is experiment. the thing that howard is thinking about now, how to agriculture, this is a huge problem. it's probably the single biggest problem the continent faces. if he was able to come up through a process of experimentation, if he was able , ithow what could work would have a dramatic impact on the way these countries develop. the big question is, how fast can they accelerate their development? take a country like the congo. emmanuel is dealing with a particular problem in the park, but this is a country that is vast with developmental problems.

if we were able to show how you could accelerate that path of development, it would have an extraordinary impact on millions. is a reminder that government doesn't always have the answers. it is essential in some ways, but you are working with some government but also around. tony: i think this is the way it is today. there should be partnerships between the public and private sectors. judy: specifically on the continent? tony: on the continent, there is no doubt philanthropy has made a massive difference. howard: you can't have any success long-term if the government doesn't buy into what you are doing and they don't support it. we've got an initiative in rwanda on agricultural do it all we are trying to do something we --nk will be unique agricultural development, and we are trying to do something we think will be unique. if we didn't think there was an environment where the government

of rwanda would buy into what we make it so that in 10 years or 15 years, they don't need us anymore, and they have a facility and training and extension and productivity and all the things that come with it that are important, and they are doing it on their own. is aid. is, aid all that means is you are trying to assist someone in a difficult set of circumstances, which can come from -- develop from a diff number of different ways. people talk about poverty like it is difficult to figure out. it's not difficult. you need to give people economic activity -- economic opportunity. they have to earn a living, and they have to make more than what they make today. you have to create that environment. one of the things we are doing in congo with the hydro plants

we are funding is bringing electricity. it's a great byproduct that it brings electricity to the people, and kids can study at night, but what it really does is, it says that you can now develop processing plants. you can develop anything. you can develop an industry so your farmers have a market. your farmers can produce more and get paid more. electricity is completely identified with agriculture if you work backwards. people don't think about it that way, but we've done a small facility, and we have a soap plant going in. we have an enzyme plant. thisricity is looked at as important thing as households and everything else. it's critical to agriculture. judy: i want to ask each one of you before we take audience questions, which we are going to do, what is your dream? what would you love to see come

from what you are doing? i also would like you to be candid about what your challenges are. it you have a hearty touch on some of those. i want to come to emmanuel first. tell everybody if they didn't know that you were shot and almost died last year when there was a documentary being done -- being done. tell us about that. you look fine. [laughter] he has mental issues, by the way. [laughter] emmanuel: i'm very well, thank you. we go in phases, and last year was an intense period. we're in confrontation with a .ritish well company it's not over. they were trying to drill for oil in a world heritage site. ins an illegal activity

terms of international law. for us, it was a major problem. what you have to understand also is that this whole issue is the illegal exportation of natural resources, and it ties into the governance problems tony is trying to address across the continent. the issue of the illegal exploitation of natural shows profoundly poor governance over the way africa's resources are being used. it invariably leads to conflict. in the eastern congo, that conflict has led to the deaths of 6 million people. these are serious issues we are dealing with. just because it happens to be a british company doesn't make it , whether it's an armed militia or multinational -- judy: who shot you? emmanuel: we were dealing with this issue, and around that, a whole series of conflicts were

pting.ting -- eru i was perhaps not sufficiently prudent. i was coming back to the park after having submitted the inquiry report on the oil company, and some people were waiting for me at the side of the road. they opened fire on my vehicle. i wound up with a bullet in my chest and my stomach. i was able to get out of the car and into the forest, and some local farmers picked me up and got me out of that area. i was very lucky. a local hospital with some remarkably good surgeons. that was my lucky day. judy: very much so. wouldn't you say? ofhink we are all kind

silent hearing the story. -- it each one of you don't know how you move on from that, because it is such a horrendous thing. public servants, law enforcement officers all over the world are confronted with sadly, it's aand sign of our times that there is so much violence around us. when you sign up to be a public servant, law enforcement officer, that goes with the job. most of the people who do get injured continue their work. it would be wrong not to. i work on a team of 500 rangers protect the park.

140 of my colleagues have been since the war started. in the last three months, we've lost 12. the person who has the leadership position runs away from their responsibilities, what effect does that have on the rest of the team? it's natural to commit to your job and keep going. it's not something you question. howard: it is a condition that is worse today than it was a year ago. were two attacks, and in 1, 8 civilians were killed. it's a constant thing that emmanuel operates under. he doesn't have the resources or support that he should have. it's really frustrating, because it is something where the united states, with the same type of

advisory group that they put another activity -- on other activity, they could make a difference in eastern congo. force --a u.n. the u.n. force. they are basically they're collecting checks so they can keep somebody in the military from guatemala. that is what it is. they would don't want to talk don't want to talk about it. the truth is, we've got to do something different. this is a perfect place in time for the united states to show leadership. it doesn't take a lot. think about for a minute the adf, a group in north kivu. they would love to overthrow uganda. you would have the first radical islamic state in eastern africa,

and that would undermine everything. people can say, that might not happen. it might not, but it could happen. all they want to do is undermine rwanda. then you have all these other groups that are operating freely in several places. imagine what it's like to try to send your kid to school in that environment. imagine what it's like to walk to a field. if you talk to farmers in sierra leone, they would tell you stories about how they went out and allon their crop, of a sudden, here is this group of guys chopping off arms. it's not an environment that we can relate to or understand or even really imagine. if we can't take our principles and values and apply them in situations where we can make a difference, with minimal risk to

ourselves, what are we doing? i find it really frustrating that we picked these big fights we know we are going to lose, or we pick fights that make no sense, but there are places we can go in, and in an advisory capacity, assist in making some change. i think we could do that. judy: you mean the united states ? howard: the united states. judy: tony blair, what is your dream? we are talking about huge challenges you all are laying out. tony: that is what i was thinking when i was listening to .mmanuel this belgian prince had a british education. he has a wonderful sense of modest understatement. [laughter] very brave, very remarkable. my dream is very simple. i would like to see a new

generation of african leaders who are smart enough to know what should be done in their country and honest and decent enough to go and do it. where we are able to work alongside them and help them accelerate that process of development. happening,ws it is not in all quarters, not in all places. i think democratic power switched hands about once. in 20 years since then, it's happened about 30 times. nigeria recently had an election that was free and fair, and power was transferred for the first time in a peaceful way. the frustration is, a lot of what we do as an international community is devoted to improving the infrastructure of decision-making.

one of the interesting things we've learned in the work we've done, for example in rwanda, when we first went in and were working with the local people, and learning some of the basic things to be done, today, when i go back to rwanda, the quality of young public servants is so strong. there are people you would be delighted to have here or in the u.k. judy: why did that happen? tony: because people were there to show them how it's done. i know you think our bureaucracy doesn't function. believe me, you haven't been in a properly nonfunctioning system to realize the difference. it's partly that, and it's partly the will of the country and the leadership. africa, despite the problems, you do have a new prepared to take

responsibility, prepared to take the destiny of their own countries in their own hands. all we can ever do is help. it's for them to do. the exciting thing is they are capable of doing it today more than ever before. they are doing it more than ever before. that this is extended and extended, and what used to be abnormal and unusual becomes normal and conventional. judy: prime minister blair can only stay 10 minutes. if any of you have questions, raise your hand. i'm going to try to see you in the darkness. we will have a little more time .th howard and tony emmanuel: we've got microphones. i'm looking at hands. >> my question is for prime minister blair. in a movie, a woman says she's

getting on a train because there's no money. since central banking has come to dominate the world and our the borrowed into existence at usery, might it be time for a new redwoods kind of agreement where we restore an honest unit some money circulates in areas and people produce things? the credit, we reached point where we gamble on perceptions of whether there is value for production instead of producing things. do we need a new brentwoods agreement to bring prosperity everywhere in the world the echo -- in the world? [laughter] ?ony: is that for me judy: i think he said premised or blair. things i've the learned after being in office, you can be asked the question, and you can honestly say, i don't know.

what would you actually say to that question? howard: that he asked you? [laughter] tony: i honestly don't know. i'm sorry. judy: do you want to reframe your question and come back to the mic? in the meantime, we are going to keep moving. >> i would like to ask a question of all of you, which is the following. you are working in africa now. it's obviously a challenging environment, and i would like to look ahead 50 years. you hear the population is going to double. you hear the problems of global warming. how does that affect agriculture, conversation -- conservation, and governance? how does that affect the likelihood we are going to achieve success? tony: with climate change goals? as africa develops, their need for electricity is going to be

vast, and there's the possibility of developing sustainably. there are enormous possibilities for the responsible production of power. when you come to a country like liberia and they need a power station, it's hard for me to say if the coal-fired power station is the easiest thing to do, don't do it. the opportunities with things like hydro and seller for the future are enormous and can be developed. as those countries develop, there will be more opportunities to use them. howard: if we don't get agriculture right, you won't worry about conservation. a guy named dennis avery who told me in 1992 when all i did was focus on conservation -- he said, no one will starve to save a tree. i didn't quite get it at the

time, but when i started traveling to africa, instead of going and looking for cheetah or leopards or whatever it was, i took the time to go look at a village that was off to the side or -- whoever it was, wherever it was, you relies, here we are as tourists coming over and thinking it's great to see a cheetah make a kill in the serengeti. that's not helping these people. somebody who to has kids to feed, who has had children die because they can't feed them, it becomes a serious thing. they will use the resources that are at their disposal to survive . they are trying to go from day two weeks.k if that is your situation, you will have no conversation --

conservation to worry about in 50 years if you don't do something about taking care of people first. that's the lesson i've learned. it's a hard lesson sometimes. if you really want to learn it, you see some desperate people and hear some sad stories. >> my question is not completely unrelated, and it's for howard buffett and prime minister tony blair, although i do want to add how much i admire you, emmanuel: i am thatgrateful you are there. we are at 7 billion people. in 2050, we are at 10 billion. it's estimated we need one point three miles -- 1.3 kilometers square of additional agricultural land to feed those people, and most of that is going to come from the amazon basin and congo basin. northern countries are reducing the agricultural output, and most of it is going to come from southern countries. my question is, how do you

integrate the needs of local communities and governance in this increasing need for land for food for the world but with an agenda that is largely driven by industrial agriculture from northern countries and bric countries? how do we reconcile those different agendas? judy: prime minister blair, do you want to go first? tony: as these countries they have got huge ifortunities to develop they've formed of the right develop in ato sustainable way, including with respect to agriculture. the population of the world, the population of africa itself will grow enormously, but also as countries develop, all the

evidence is that the population comes under greater control -- a girlsple education is immensely important in this. this is a problem we can solve provided you have the quality of governance that is both making sure that the economy of the country grows in a way that is sustainable and balanced, where agriculture production is increasing but increasing in a way that pays attention to the needs of the local people, and i feel, as well, with the possibilities of technology and what it can do in agriculture, i think this is a problem that is solvable, but it's not a problem absent thatable quality of governance being there at the central level and in obedience to the interests of the local people.

others may disagree with this, but i think one of the opportunities that africa has is as a source of agricultural production, but it depends on the state of the country as a whole as to whether that production is developed in the right way and if what is produced is then used in the best way for the world. i think this is a problem we can solve. that's true, but i would also say that i think we have an opportunity -- i'm not hopeful we will do it right at all, but we have an opportunity to do something in africa that we didn't get right in some other places of the world, which is to embrace farmers as the solution rather than look at impose a problem, not to western thinking and western

mentality and western agricultural practices in a place where diversity is critical to living. our systems are the biggest mistake we could bring to a continent like africa. a few are fighting a really strong tide. the one thing about agriculture, and this is true everywhere in the world, if you want to get results fast, i can do that for you. your quarterly. in three years, you won't have what you need to have, what ever the timeframe is, and it depends on where you are starting and the different ingredients that go into that. if i try to teach you a way to farm that will help you retain your soil, build your soil, give you a biological activity critical for production, very

few of us think about it that way. if you want to do that, it's a long road. it's more difficult, but the results are long-term. and iook at africa today, look at what we call the headwinds, forget with the population is in 20 years. if we don't change the headwinds -- one of the biggest ones is corporate governance and rule of law -- africa won't be able to feed itself. people have this idea. my wife calls me the most pessimistic optimist she knows. don't think it helps people to tell a story that makes things sound really good when they are not really good, or you have to make some serious changes and sacrifices to get to where really good would be.

to talk about, africa has plenty of land, not unless you want to plow the serengeti and cut down the forests. africa does not have a lot of land. they are limited on land. they are limited on water. productivity is going to have to come from rebuilding soils, sustaining soils, being efficient with their water, and by saying,o that this is how we do it in america. that is the biggest mistake that could happen. primei want to thank minister tony blair who has to leave around now. [applause] you are welcome to stay if you want to. howard: now we can talk about tony. [laughter] all right. we want to take a couple more questions. right here? >> thank you.

once again, i wanted to express how appreciative i am to see people who are trying to do as much as they can in a region that most people tend to forget. you speak quite openly about economic development, but what about education, and what kind of commitment to education do you think it will take in order for these initiatives to be prosperous and for the economic development of these regions to be able to sustain a quality of life for the majority of their people? howard: that is a great question. my dad always told me, stay in your circle of competence, which is very small. i don't know much about health. i don't know much about education. emmanuel might have a comment. i can tell you that the initiatives we started in rwanda, the very first thing we've done this year is written a check for $22 million to one university to make sure we've

got 200 at a grid -- undergraduates. we are going to try to build a research facility. we have an agreement with 25-50 masters for and phd's. education in terms of trying to build agriculture is absolutely critical. in africa, the most important thing is it's a practical application of education. you don't need a whole bunch of people who can sit and theorize and do research plots that don't have any application. our goal is to include a different kind -- we have some kids -- anything younger than 25 is young -- we have some down in costa rica. we will look for opportunities to have more kids in more places

so they have a more diverse education. without research, education, and extension, agriculture fails. right now, you cannot find an african country -- we work in 44 of them -- you cannot find a country that has a strength in all three of those. until we get that right, until those countries get it right, my biggest fear is that you don't have governments who really leaders and- governments who don't understand that importance. when you have 70%, 80% of your population in one area, and you are spending 2% to 4% of your national budget on agriculture, you are missing something really big.

you can't feed a child. can't nurse a child. it doesn't matter where they go to school. i've seen that, too. it's difficult to pick one or the other. there are great foundations and government, working on health and education. that is also very critical. from the perspective of what we do, education is just as important as all the other pieces, but it is a piece by itself that won't get you to where you need to get. judy: quick question. how much education to the other wardens that work with you have, and what is the situation about education overall in the drc? for me, education holds a particular place. there was a british politician who is familiar to all of us, when he was first elected, his campaign cry was, education, education, education!

i think it's transversal. it covers everything. with respect to the earlier question by annette, i don't thek we can understate challenges that our generation are going to have to confront, and those are going to be compounded tenfold for our children. we are the first generation to understand what is ahead of us, and we are the last generation to be able to do anything about it. now.a very poignant moment i am no one to say what the solutions are, but they seem to lie in the three areas. one is technology. the second is behavior change.

the third is governance and organization. the only way we can have radical shifts in that is to prepare ourselves and our children. that can only be through education. howard: there is one little piece i would add. i hear people say all the time, take any country that has low productivity. i hear people say, ask the farmers what they want. there is a lot of truth to that. if you ask a farmer who doesn't know what opv is, doesn't know what a hybrid is, how can he tell you what he wants? he has to be educated to understand what those tools are, what they mean to him, how he .an change his productivity education can come in different ways. and agriculture is absolutely

the key to success. we have to have it. .e realize that we work on that to the degree we can, but it's difficult. >> first of all, thanks to the for doing this program. thank you for the conversation. my organization works on africa for food security and nutrition. something like 80% -- judy: what is your organization? >> it's the national cooperative business association. howard: 1-800 -- [laughter] >> something like 80% of the food in africa is being produced by smallholder farmers, and over 50% are women. the idea to link small farmers into the global economy is a big thing we focus on.

we find the cooperatives and farmers associations are a hugely important vehicle to not only do that but also aggregating, training, functional literacy, as well. what i wanted to ask you is, what kinds of investments are you putting into cooperatives and farmer associations as a way to bring smallholder farmers into the economies? are you willing to do even more around that area to strengthen local economies? howard: the first thing i did when i started figuring out how complicated the problem was with was --ture in the world i learned farmers are to the same.

how do you deal with that? i did a little triangle, and we not just on mych experience, but we had different people look into it. to goed our guy in ghana in and do his own research some of the different provinces in ghana. it comes back with the same answer however you do it. at the very tip top of this 5%, 6%e, you have maybe of commercial farmers. those are farmers who wouldn't look like commercial farmers .ere they have some access to fertilizer, some storage. they fit in the commercial

world. then you drop down, and then there are kind of market-ready -- you can call them whatever you want -- we called them "market ready." that's 10%. then there's a group -- i can't remember what you'd call them, but that's another 10%. the bottom 50% are subsistent farmers. these are farmers living day to day, week to week, and diversity is important to them. they have no credit. accessve little, if any, to fertilizer, unless a government program gives them some. a lot of them are planting on land. everybody talks about smallholder farmers, but there .re these big different groups everyone takes a different approach. i hate to say this, because it sounds bad, but the bottom 50%, i don't know what you do.

it's difficult. we have a hard time thinking about our money as charity. investments so people don't need us anymore when they've been successful and they do their own thing without us. that bottom part is a difficult part. we don't need to help the commercial guys. .e focus on these other areas we found a couple successful which iso about it, similar to how you work on it. in central america, we had a huge success because of the .o-ops in terms of crops in one case, we gave co-ops support for lawyers so they could get through the bureaucracy in their own country, and they began exporting. they couldn't get through the legal part of it to be able to

succeed. in other cases, our purchase for progress program, it was because of co-ops we were successful, but you have to train people on what is a contract. how do you honor a contract? how do you deliver when you say you are going to deliver? all these different things to think co-op's aren't important aspect to having success, but there are a lot of places in the world and in certain countries where co-ops are foreign and not trusted and difficult to put together. i think they are an important tool. were you going to say something? i think it's this whole notion of trying to promise collective action. together, we tried to develop this nation of overreliance. you've got a synergy between

people who were otherwise vulnerable, otherwise .isempowered we work on the organization of farmers as opposed to working with farmers solely as individuals. there is certainly a lot that can be achieved. judy: we've got one minute i thought i would let each one of -- one minute left. i thought i would let each one of you ask your question in an abbreviated form. >> my question is, how are you ensuring that the poorest of the par who need the assistance and food are receiving it rather than those with the biggest guns or most money? judy: the poorest of the poor. what is your question? >> my name is joseph. i am from ghana. i grew up in that region. i know very well the national park of the room got. i just came here for school.

i would like to thank you very much for what you are doing. i know it's very difficult. most importantly come if i can, i would like to apologize for what happened. quite friendly, imagine somebody who comes to help the country, and the people shoot at him. it doesn't make any sense. i'm sorry for that happening. . thank yo. -- emmanuel: thank you. [laughter] >> beyond that, i had a question for the prime minister, but he left. [laughter] that's ok. what you so much for are doing, and i'm looking forward to getting back. judy: thank you very much. [laughter] emmanuel: come spend some time with us. i would enjoy it. judy: thank you. we are glad that you stayed. the poorest of the poor. howard: what was the context

again? >> how are you ensuring that the poorest of the poor are receiving the assistance rather than those who have the biggest guns or most money? howard: you start, and i will finish. you might talk long enough so i won't have time. you are quite right. it's the hardest of questions. part of the reason why they are poor is because they are difficult to access in terms of ensuring that they are able to thess the benefits of wealth of the country. for me, it's very important to try to work out the simplest way of reaching them. part of the problem is, by virtue of being poor, there are many of them.

virunga national park, we have formally people who live within one day's walk 4 the parks boundary -- million people who live within one day's walk of the park's boundary. to reach 4 million people is not a simple thing. what you need to do is look at parsimonious, cost-effective way of delivering services to every single one of .hose 4 million people that really changes your perspective completely. a lot of the problems in transitional aid models is we are so riddled with failure, any success is wonderful. we tend to do token projects to demonstrate success. really success is only achieved when you reach everybody, and in particular, the poorest.

that makes it pretty tough. what we found -- it may or may not be the right solution, and we feel it is -- we should concentrate on certain sectors that have a higher chance of success, and what we feel to be the most important as a first step is a rural electrification. , buty not seem obvious what you find in eastern congo and in many other parts of the country andt the society is still stuck in what you would call a colonial .conomic model the congo gained its political independence in 1960. [laughter] howard: they are laughing at you, don't worry. emmanuel: it gained its political independence in 1960, but it never gained its economic independence. the reason for that is it only exports raw materials, and that

is what keeps people in poverty. one of the main reasons is that it has no industry. it's only through electrification that you can do it. by doing that, you can reach many more people. what we find is that for every megawatt of electricity you provide for rural communities, you can create 1000 jobs. that's a lot. virunga national park, from the rivers flowing out of it, can create 100 megawatts. that is 100,000 jobs. one million people would benefit from that. you are beginning to have an impact at that level. that is how we would do it. it's very straightforward. it's very simple. it does require a lot of investment, $160 million of investment to get 100 megawatts, but when you think about it, the international community has spent $90 billion in eastern since 2000.

it is all relative. i think that would be the most cost-effective way of reaching the poorest of the poor. judy: if i could just add before i turn to howard for the final comment -- yesterday, the world bank issued a statement they called "the best story in the world today." the number of people living in poverty in the world is likely to fall for the first time below 10% of the worlds population this year. they say -- howard, i know you are familiar -- using the new benchmark, the world bank projects 702 million people, or 9.6% of the world population, will be living in extreme poverty this year, down from 902 million people. howard: i'm going to answer that, and then i'm going to answer the question. i wrote your answers down. place -- idirty

don't know what you would call in congo one time, and we were looking at this cacao project. i had this farmer talking to me. i needed an interpreter for most of it. mesays, you know, they tell i used to live in poverty. i said, ok. he said, yes, they told me i was living on $1.25 a day. he says, i don't know what that means? dayn't know what $1.25 a is, but i couldn't send my kids to school. i couldn't do anything for my wife. sometimes, we couldn't eat for an entire day or sometimes more. now they tell me i'm not in making, and they said i seven dollars a day. he said, i don't know if i'm making seven dollars a day. i can't measure it that way.

my kids are going to school. i bought my wife a dress. my point is all these people who love to create numbers, i don't believe them. it's no different from our immigration issue. i don't know if there is 11 million illegals, 20 million illegals. you can make a number up. the truth is, if you look at the world population today and you look at who has access to clean --er, who has access to good based on international standards , and if youls a day start basing it on the kind of way we think about what is the bare minimum, you've got four or 5 billion people. you've got 4 billion people for sure. i don't care what the world bank says. they are not living the way they should live. [laughter] me, it's almost demeaning to

say, this is a good news story. go to eastern congo. that is not a good news story. you can go all over the world and find it. to me, it's very demeaning to the people who live the way they live in this world to think that somebody in some office can say, i calculated the number. here it is, folks. i think it's bullshit. i do. [applause] i'm glad i don't work for the world bank. i'd be fired. [laughter] true. i think these are people who need to go spend a little time in the field. to answer your question, i have my cheat notes -- on going to give you two answers. they are very different. in 2003, in south sudan outside -- i can't think of the town -- i went to visit

these farmers, this group, and i was sitting with the elders. it's kind of funny. something came out of this much later. i asked them what to their biggest problem was. i was expecting a couple different answers. they said the lra. i said, what do you mean? they come in. they burn our crops. then they steal some of our kids. i thought, wow. 10 years later, my good friend shannon who is here got is involved in counter-lra activity, which was a great learning experience. one day, i will tell you about that when we have time, but the point is, i went away thinking about that, not so much about how they burned their crops down. a great friend of mine who's an from texas, ed price and, i was talking to him about

that. they went and studied some different areas and different conflict zones, and you can kind of laugh at this, but they came up with conflict crops. if you grow peanuts or sweet potatoes, you can't burn them down, and i guarantee you, they are not taking time to pull them out of the ground. there are innovative ways of thinking about how people in conflict areas can try to protect themselves. they might not think about that, but the truth is a lot of them will figure it out, too. that was one story i wanted to tell you. the other story, i was sitting in south sudan -- it was a different trip but back around that time. i learned if you can get a couple beers in somebody, you can get a lot better information. i don't drink, so it makes sense. i can make somebody think that i drink. [laughter] i'm talking to this commander.

one of them on that -- ane nette knows. who lost hisnel leg. he started going off on the whole aid thing and what a joke it was and everything else. it, italked about realized, there is nothing black-and-white in this world. there is nothing black-and-white in conflict or poverty or anything else. he went on to tell us how they would have groups who would orchestrate so that they would take a village, and they would it on the outside. then they would make sure the world food program, the international community, they all knew, people can't walk into that village. they can't get food. they can't get timber.

they can't get water. then they would just sit back and wait. pretty soon, here come the airdrops. if you are making that decision -- he said, these guys are clever. but will take 30%, 35%, they will never take more than that. if they take more than that, they know they won't get it. they won't drop the food. i don't know how precise that is, but the concept is probably pretty right. food is power. when you are in a situation where you cannot eat, food is power, and people use it to that way. it's more important than currency. when you think about it to that way, there are all sorts of tricks you can use in war and conflict. that is just one of them. this guy just talked like that was no big deal. the reason i remember that, i got asked a different question

once, and it was about aid. i was trying to express, what if you are the person who has to make that decision? what if you know the rebels are going to get 30% of what you drop? if you don't drop it, you are going to have 600 people die. that's not an easy decision, but somebody has to make that. eventually, they figure out what is going on. when you look at agriculture and

servicesthe armed committee member loretta sanchez trainingut military and the strategic challenges the u.s. bases around the world. later, the conversation with -- with the about the diana about the housing market. you can join the conversation by phone and on facebook and twitter. >> all caps and long, c-span takes you on the road to the white house. unfettered access to the candidates. commentsking your