..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date: 26 June 2009
Press Release No. G/45/2009

SEMINAR TEACHES GREEN GROWTH POLICY FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Bangkok (UN/ESCAP Information Services) -- ESCAP and partner organizations are leading efforts to help the region’s policy makers achieve sustainable development through low-carbon and green-growth means.

The first “training of trainers” seminar was held from 22 to 27 June 2009, and introduced 25 participants from Cambodia and Kazakhstan to a range of policy tools developed by the ESCAP Green Growth Capacity Development Team along with the Regional Helpdesk on Sustainable Consumption and Production for Asia and the Pacific, the China Standard Certification Centre and support from KOICA.

As part of the learning process, participants attended a tree planting field trip to support “School Greening Projects” at Chalermphakiat Phrasri Nakarintra School in Rayong Province.

Masakazu Ichimura, Chief of the Environment and Development Policy Section of the Environment and Development Division, noted that the training aimed to assist the countries to, in the long-term, “shift to a low-carbon development path, which is crucial for the common well-being of all, developed and developing countries.”

The four integrated paths to the greening of economic growth include sustainable consumption and production, the underlying philosophy of environmentally-friendly growth, and greening business through mutually beneficial cooperation between the private sector and government.

It also encompasses sustainable infrastructure, economically efficient, environmentally sustainable systems that provide citizens with safe and reliable access to shelter, energy, transportation, water, proper sanitation and disposal of wastes; and finally “green tax” and budget reform, a basket of fiscal policy tools with the potential to raise revenue, foster green growth, improve traffic congestion and road safety, as well as lessen the effects of climate change – all without jeopardizing long-term economic growth and the livelihoods of the poor.

The green growth approach was formally adopted in March 2005 at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development (MCED) in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Eventually the Regional Capacity Development Programme for Green Growth Policy Tools was developed by ESCAP and its partners as a response to numerous requests from countries in the region.

For further queries, please contact:

Ms. Aneta Nikolova, D. Eng, Environmental Affairs Officer, EDPS/EDD, ESCAP
UN Building, Radjadamnoenok Avenue, Bangkok, Thailand
Tel.: +66-2-2882459; Fax: +66-2-2881025, E-mail: nikolova@un.org