"Towards Green Economy and Poverty Reduction"

Friday’s side event, “Vision for Rio+20: Global Consensus for System Change towards Green Economy and Poverty Reduction,” discussed Green Economy, one of two themes for next year’s CSD. The speaker was Rae Kwon Chung, Division Chief of the Environment and Development Division United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

Mr. Chung contrasted the current “Brown Economy,” in which we do not pay for ecosystem services, with the vision for a “Green Economy.” He argues the Brown Economy cannot continue because it leads to global climate change and higher oil and food prices. These outcomes have a disproportionate effect on the poor; resolving these problems creates a win-win synergy between poverty reduction and the Green Economy. In spite of this, many less developed countries resist sustainable development as conditions on their development rather than embrace it as a method to reduce vulnerabilities for the poor.

“Roadmap for Green Growth” is an upcoming UNESCAP report outlining how to transition toward a Green Economy. Mr. Chung shared the five main points of the report: shifting emphasis from quantity to quality of economic growth; internalizing ecosystem services in market prices; investing in sustainable infrastructure; greening the economy through tax reform; and creating incentives for low carbon economies. Such initiatives could close the Green Economy “price gap” by internalizing the costs of environmental externalities and the “time gap” for achieving “green growth” by investing in the Green Economy today, but perhaps the most pertinent question for Rio+20 is how to close the political gap preventing governments from adopting these policies in the first place. Mr. Chung said the UNESCAP report contains case studies of countries shifting to a Green Economy; such concrete examples of success may be a first step in closing the political gap.
 

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SSB