Green Growth: A New Model for Development in the Asian and Pacific Region

Green Growth is a policy focus for Asia and the Pacific that emphasizes ecologically sustainable economic progress to foster low-carbon, socially inclusive development.

Nearly a decade into the new Millennium, Asia and the Pacific’s development has been tested on multiple fronts: erratic price fluctuations of natural resources, an ongoing food/fuel/financial crisis, depleting ecosystems, water scarcities, and increased climate vulnerability. These challenges have diminished progress made towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly regarding environmental sustainability and poverty reduction, across both middle and lower income countries. In efforts to design a coordinated, regional response, government officials convened at the 5th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development (MCED) in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 2005.  At this time Green Growth was adopted by 52 Member States of the United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) as a common path for achieving environmentally sustainable economic growth.

As a follow up to the 5th MCED, ESCAP has been focusing on advocacy and capacity building for the application of important policy tools that can be used to enhance the environmental sustainability of economic growth, manage resource scarcity and to adapt to climate change.

Based upon a needs assessment of the Asian-Pacific region, ESCAP has proposed these key focus areas for achieving Green Growth:

• Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP)
• Greening Business and Markets
• Development of Sustainable Infrastructure
• Green Tax and Budget Reform (GTBR)
• Investment in Natural Capital
• Monitoring Eco-efficiency Indicators

While strides have been made towards greening the growth of the region, meeting emerging development challenges will require profound structural reform, with greater cooperation from governments, the private sector, and civil society to enhance environmental stewardship. Given the increased demand for natural resources, maximizing resource use efficiency is crucially important for ensuring long-term economic sustainability, energy security and maintaining international competitiveness, while improving the overall well-being of society.

Sustainable Livelihoods Approach: The Social Link to Green Growth
In developing these focus areas, UNESCAP’s Green Growth Programme has evolved to emphasize the Sustainable Livelihoods approach(SLA), a rights-based approach that recognizes the poor as a key stakeholder in the development process.  To this end Green Growth encourages the use of participatory assessments, designed to include the concerns of vulnerable members of society in the policy planning and implementation cycle.  Adopting this approach allows Green Growth to work towards win-win solutions: promoting the more efficient use of natural resources in ways that foster opportunities for inclusive, sustainable development.

Capacity Development for Green Growth
Navigating towards sustainable development remains an enormous challenge. As a result there has been an increasing number of requests for capacity development assistance from governments in the region.  To meet such needs UNESCAP has designed a unique training package on Green Growth policy tools for Asia and the Pacific.  

The Green Growth Capacity Development Programme is the only course of its kind which takes an integrative, multidisciplinary approach towards promoting environmentally-sustainable economic growth. Building on UNESCAP’s longstanding development experience in the region, the programme emphasizes policies, tools, and techniques tailored to the Asia-Pacific context.

Recognizing that capacity development is a process in itself, UNESCAP’s Training of Trainers (TOT) Program me works to assist building individual and organizational capabilities to ensure Green Growth goals can be defined and realized at the national level. By engaging internal and external expertise in trainings, the Programme increases its value added.  Training is targeted towards middle-level government managers, ministerial officials, private-sector decision makers, NGO’s, academics and other actors, i.e. all stakeholders involved in the country’s transition to Green Growth.

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Objectives of the Programme:

The Programme seeks to:

• To introduce Green Growth as a solution for addressing the development challenges facing countries in Asia and the Pacific.
• To familiarize participants with appropriate assessment tools to measure emerging environmental/economic/social issues in the region.
• To assist with the integration of Green Growth concepts into socio-economic policy planning.

UNESCAP’s Capacity Development Programme is designed to educate participants about the most innovative, cost-effective approaches to Green Growth.  Structured around a series of interactive training modules, the curriculum encourages participants to actively reflect on the ways a Green Growth strategy can be adapted to their home country.

Approach to Capacity Development
The Green Growth Training Programme can be characterized as follows:

• Collaborative. The Programme promotes dialogue between multiple stakeholders to facilitate a critical examination of issues and opportunities involved in implementing Green Growth.  This approach supports a cross-fertilization of ideas, reinforcing institutional partnerships and enhancing participants’ capacities to conduct future trainings.
• Inclusive and Participatory.  The training aims to build capacity towards the design of strategies that accurately reflect the needs of vulnerable groups:  encouraging participation that adds value to the decision-making process.
• Integrated.  Capacity development is viewed as the process through which policy frameworks are strengthened for Green Growth.  Accordingly, training is structured to address mutually supporting goals such as skills development, resource mobilization, and good governance, among others.
• Holistic.  The curriculum encourages participants to identify specific obstacles to sustainability and policy implementation with a view to develop coordinated, multi-stakeholder interventions for Green Growth.

Varying situations merit different learning approaches. Recognizing this, the Programme works to accommodate diverse learning styles to maximize training effectiveness. In addition to conventional techniques such as lectures, presentations, “chalk and walk” exercises, etc. the Programme incorporates a variety of interactive activities aimed at encouraging dynamic, experiential learning.

Teaching methods emphasized:

• Group exercises
• Questions/Quizzing
• Brainstorming
• Discussion/Negotiation
• Case studies
• Role playing
• Guided visualizations
• Participatory mapping and analysis
• Future problem solving

During the training seminars the aim is to work in interdisciplinary teams with stakeholders from various ministries, human resource training officers and other stakeholders on cross-cutting environmental and social issues related to the greening of economic growth.

In addition to the regional seminars, ESCAP has received requests for national training workshops from Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand. Depending on availability of funds, these countries will receive introductory training, and if requested, ESCAP is ready to provide more in-depth seminars on the actual policy tools that can facilitate a shift towards Green Growth.

For information on how to get started on the path to Green Growth, please contact the Green Growth Team:

Environment and Development Division, UNESCAP
UN Building, Radjadamnernok Avenue
10200 Bangkok, Thailand
Tel.: +66-2-2882459
Fax: +66-2-2881025
E-mail: nikolova@un.org