COP17 – Green growth in focus as failure to manage climate change seen as danger to future generations
The concept known as the green growth has gained new grounds at the ongoing COP17 climate change conference in Durban, South Africa.
Experts at the conference agree that if the world community fails to effectively manage climate change, that failure would create an environment too hostile for future generations to live in, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has said in a press statement.
Lord Nicholas Stern, author of the famous Stern Report on the economics of climate change, was cited in the statement as saying that climate change and environmental protection are inextricably intertwined.
“Development, adaptation and mitigation and climate change is not a diversion from the environment”, he explained, adding that the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) will continue to work to enhance the conceptual understanding of the challenges posed by the different realities.
Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, the United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the ECA, strongly suggested that building green economies in Africa will be an important element in preserving the environment and humanity’s common heritage, according to the statement.
It also cited the opening session of the 2011 African Economic Conference where Mr. Janneh defined the green economy as a concept for improving economic and social wellbeing that also ensures that production processes and consumption patterns do not further damage the environment.
The ECA, according to the statement, hosted the 2011 session of the African Economic Conference from 25th October this year, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ECA’s Economic Development and NEPAD Division (EDND) runs a service which has a vibrant component on the green economy, it added.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi