Transcript Green Economy, GDP - Economic Commission for Africa

Main outcomes of the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development:
Green Economy, GDP Plus, and SIDS
An ECA Presentation at the
Eighth Session of the Committee on Food Security
and Sustainable Development
and the
Africa Regional Implementation Meeting for the
Twentieth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 20 November 2012
Green Economy
Rio+20 agreed that:
A green economy is:
• One of several approaches, visions, models and tools
available to each country to achieve sustainable
development
It should contribute to:
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Eradicating poverty
Sustained inclusive economic growth and innovation
Enhancing social inclusion, improving human welfare
Creating opportunities for employment and decent work
for all
• Maintaining the healthy functioning of the Earth’s
ecosystem
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Green Economy…
Rio+20 also agreed that:
A green economy should:
• Be based on the Rio principles
• Respect national sovereignty on natural resources
• Be supported by an enabling environment and well
functioning institutions
• Take into account the needs of developing countries
• Effectively avoid conditionalities or constitute a barrier
to international trade
• Address the concern about inequality and promote social
inclusion
• Help bridge the technological gap and promote
sustainable consumption and production
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Green Economy…
Rio+20 requested:
UN system and others to provide information on:
• Matching interested countries with the partners
• Toolboxes and/or best practices in applying policies on green
economy
• Models or good examples of policies on green economy
• Methodologies for evaluation of policies on green economy
• Existing and emerging platforms
RCs and others support countries to achieve SD including
through GE policies
Business and industry as appropriate to develop
sustainability strategies that integrate green economy
policies
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Inclusive green growth…
Controversies still surround the concept – partners (e.g.
AfDB, OECD, ECA) advocating for the adoption of a stepwise approach – inclusive green growth (IGG)
African countries to:
Seek better understanding of green economy paradigm
Adopt step-wise approach, considering different stages of
development and country specificities
Case studies that allow for lesson learning to inform policies
Ensure inclusive job-creating growth that is resource efficient
Key requirements are technology, capacity and appropriate
investments
Need to strengthen existing partnerships and build new ones
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…Inclusive green growth
Partners to support African countries upon request to:
• Assess challenges and opportunities of IGG
• Develop IGG policies and strategies that contribute to poverty
reduction and sustainable development
• Establish mechanisms for sharing toolboxes and best practices
• Developing and applying methodologies for assessing policies
on IGG
Partners to establish experience sharing and knowledge
networking platforms
Development guidelines for IGG policy and practice
Document and disseminate best practices and lessons learnt
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Programme of work on broader measures to
complement GDP…
Rio+20
Recognized the need for broader measures of progress to
complement GDP to inform policy decision
Requested the UN Statistical Commission to launch a programme
of work on measures to complement GDP, in consultation with UN
system and other partners
The Programme of Work:
• Is aligned with Africa’s call for reference indicators to assess
the economic, social and environmental performance of their
economies for integrated policy making
• Provides countries with an opportunity for more accurate and
comprehensive assessment of the state of their economies
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…Programme of work on broader measures
to complement GDP
Suggested actions – African Countries to:
• Mobilize financial, technical, human resources to adopt,
implement and move towards international statistical
standards
• Ratify the African Charter
The African Statistical System to encourage the use of
harmonized and reliable statistics in all fields
The Statistical Commission for Africa to provide platform to
discuss and inform Africa’s position – 2014 next session
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…Programme of work on broader measures to
complement GDP
StatCom-Africa would build horizontal linkages with other ECA
Committees and vertical linkages with UN Statistics Commission
For comparability and compatibility of data across countries, member
States should move towards international statistical standards,
including the latest version of the SEEA and 2008 SNA
ECA, AfDB and AUC to include relevant indicators that take into
account the integration of the dimensions of sustainable development
in the African Statistical Yearbook to complement GDP
ECA, AfDB and AUC to develop a management framework for the
implementation of the African Charter of Statistics
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…Programme of work on broader measures
to complement GDP
Suggested actions – AUC, ECA, AfDB and others
• Provide required support Africa’s participation in the
global process - meeting early 2013
• Technical assistance and policy advice
• Help create and maintain strong linkages between
national and global processes
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Small Island Developing States
Rio+20:
Reaffirmed the special circumstances and needs of SIDS in the
context of sustainable development
Noted the limited progress made by SIDS, and the challenges,
such as climate change, that pose specific threats to the
sustainable development of SIDS
Called for continued and enhance efforts to support SIDS in
implementing the Barbados Programme of Action and the
Mauritius Strategy
Decided on the convening of the Third International Conference on
Small Island Developing States in 2014
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Small Island Developing States
Five SIDS in Africa: Cape Verde, Comoros, Mauritius, Sao
Tome and Principe, Seychelles.
Suggested actions:
• Reiterate the importance of the Conference in consolidating
and scaling up SIDS’s efforts to attain sustainable development
• Call for the conference to reach bold and ambitious outcomes,
building on previous processes including Rio+20 and the
Mauritius Strategy of Implementation+5
• Support national and regional preparations for the Conference
• Invite the UN and other partners to provide coordinated
support for the national and regional preparations
• Guide partners on the kind of support required
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Thank You
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