UN unveils vision for global green economy

The United Nations yesterday unveiled a strategy to ensure a sustainable future for the planet by investing two percent of wealth generated by the global economy, or some $1.3 trillion annually, in 10 key sectors.

This paradigm shift toward a "green economy" would also help alleviate chronic poverty, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said in a report.
Under the UN strategy, individual incomes would outstrip trajectories forecast by traditional economic models while halving humanity's per capita ecological footprint by 2050.
Reshuffling the global economic mix will challenge vested interests and disrupt employment, UNEP acknowledged.

However, the plan promises to generate growth rates equal to or higher than a business-as-usual approach, which slowly erodes Earth’s capacity to cope.
"We must continue to develop and grow our economies," UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said.
"But this development cannot come at the expense of the very life support systems on land, in the oceans or in our atmosphere that sustain our economies and thus the lives of each and every one of us."


The report notes that long-simmering crises erupted into plain view during the first decade of the 21st century.
Accelerating climate change, the dramatic loss of biodiversity, flaring food shortages, a growing gap between demand and supply for fresh water and the destruction of life-giving tropical forests were reminders that Earth’s balance and its bounties cannot be taken for granted, it said.




AFP