EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner signed a wide-ranging new partnership agreement yesterday (23 February) "aimed at furthering sustainable development in the 21st Century".
As global discussions on greening the economy intensify, the joint EC-UN statement on a new 2011-2013 strategy signals a novel approach for more strategic international programming, rather than cooperation on individual projects on a case-by-case basis.
The European Commission's new approach is "a pilot test" for environmental funding where the EU executive will pass a financial envelope to UNEP. An agreement on the amounts should be reached by mid-2011.
The strategy has three priority areas for cooperation: environment for development, strengthening environmental governance and climate change.
'Leapfrog' green development
One of the main objectives of the two bodies is to assist developing countries in preventing environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and unsustainable use of natural resources. This is supposed to improve the resource-efficiency of their economies and reduce pollution.
Many fear that the "green economy" concept could constrain growth in developing countries, but Commissioner Potočnik argued the contrary.
Speaking at the global ministerial environment forum in Nairobi on Tuesday (22 February), he said the green economy "can boost the livelihoods of millions of people and reduce poverty" by turning good stewardship of natural resources such as water, forests and soils, into a good business.
"What's more, by making the right choices early, countries at the earlier stages of development can 'leapfrog' in terms of production and consumption patterns and avoid being locked into unsustainable practices, for instance in terms of infrastructure for energy and transport," he added.
Nature economics
Potočnik also stressed that green economy strategies should not be the sole responsibility of the environmental community. "We need to move from protecting the environment from business to using business to protect the environment," he said.
The new Commission-UNEP strategy foresees assistance for developing countries to promote the integration of the value of biodiversity into national plans and accounting by applying the findings of the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report.
TEEB argues that the cost of nature conservation is by far outweighed by societal and economic benefits and suggests adopting market-based instruments, such as additional levies, to enforce sustainable use of nature.
Commissioner Potočnik insisted that a green economy strategy can only succeed if it puts the management of natural capital – valuing natural assets and accounting for their use – at the centre of policies.
