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Having established itself as one of West Africa’s economic hubs, Senegal has, in tandem, made significant strides towards improving the well-being of its population through its commitment to sustainable development. In that effort, Senegal adopted the “Plan Senegal Emergent” (PSE) in 2014, outlining a new development model designed to accelerate its progress towards emerging market status and facilitate its transition to a green economy in the mid to long-term. In addition, the country also adopted the National Strategy for Sustainable Development in 2015.

PAGE intervention has focused on the operationalization of the PSE and its  five-year Priority Action Plan (PAP 2014-2018), specifically two pillars integral to green economy transition: “Structural Transformation of the Economy and Growth” and “Human Capital, Social Protection and Sustainable Development”. 

Now entering its final year of PAGE support, 11 and 12 February saw key actors and stakeholders across sectors gather in Dakar for the third edition of the National Green Economy Days, aiming to "Reinforce achievements and ensure the sustainability of the green economy in Senegal".   

Organized by the Government of Senegal, under the leadership of the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, and in collaboration with United Nations agencies and national partners involved in the implementation of the PAGE in Senegal, the Green Economy Days were a platform to present the strategy to sustain action on green economy, beyond the work of PAGE, and further anchor sustainable development in Senegal. Involving partners from government, private sector, academia and civil society discussion has covered national green employment policies; the updated version of the Green Economy Assessment; recent studies on green skills and green jobs, along with a methodology for the statistical estimation of green jobs; circular economy; social and solidarity economy; training modules on IGE developed for government excecutives; and programmes for future skill development — all with a view to develop a roadmap for the continuation of green economy activities in the years to come.

Partners: The Secretary of State for Family Agriculture (Seaf-MT) and the Centro de Vida Institute Alta Floresta Chamber of Store Managers (CDL)

As Brazil’s leading producer of food resources, family agriculture in Mato Grosso is part of a wider debate on economic and environmental sustainability, where efforts are encouraged towards educating on agriculture impacts in the area.

The Secretary of State for Family Agriculture (Seaf-MT) for the State Government of Mato Grosso and with financial support from PAGE, established the State Council for Sustainable Rural Development (CEDRS), the first series of regional workshops promoting the Integrated State System for Family Agriculture. The workshops provided guidance and gave programme information on how municipalities can take the lead. The workshop also demonstrated the electronic tool (e-SEIAF), a smart tool that utilises primary data collection for family agriculture. The new tool can be used to set measurable goals in order to strengthen the sector as a whole.

The series of workshops involved five regional meetings, which had participation from representatives in municipal, state and federal agencies including: the Municipal Council for Sustainable Rural Development (CMDRS), representatives of the State Council for Sustainable Rural Development (CEDRS), and representatives of the Intermunicipal Consortia for Economic Development, Social and Environmental, academic, research and extension institutions, social movements in the countryside, associations, cooperatives, Workers' and Rural Workers' Union (STTR), Empresa Mato-grossense de Pesquisa, Assistência e Extensão Rural (EMPAER), political class, third sector and private initiatives.

The SEIAF initiative, with PAGE financial support, expressed in the workshops that the System is one of the main instruments for the implementation of the State Policy and the Plan for Family Agriculture. During the regional workshops, subsidies were collected for the improvement of the SEIAF proposal and its subsequent institutionalisation.

Did you know Small and Medium-Size Enterprises (SMEs) in Mauritius account for up to 50% of the workforce and play a major role in national economic development? Adversely, this makes them vulnerable to economic fluctuations and market pressure as a result of lack of support in fast-production, technologically advanced, and more efficient foreign competitors.

Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE), Mauritius
11 — 29 November 2019
National partners: Government of Mauritius and the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NPCC).

In partnership with ILO’s, PAGE supported the "Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE)" pilot training in Mauritius. SCORE is an ILO global capacity development program for SMEs, which provides tools for world class manufacturing best practices to ensure that SMEs in national and global supply chains have improved working conditions. The pilot training was targeted towards improving workplace cooperation in optimising operational efficiency, productivity, cleaner production and competitiveness. To ensure long-term sustainability of this initiative, SCORE ‘trained the trainers’ at the NPCC office for best methodology delivery. The event provided an opportunity for SCORE and local SMEs to network, emphasising the need to build capacities that will improve overall competitiveness and productivity at the national and international levels.

In the +20 countries with SMEs involved in the SCORE pilot training, they have experienced more advanced sustainable production processes and working conditions.

In June 2019, PAGE and the Decent Work for Youth Network of Mongolia held a training on green entrepreneurship in Ulliastai, Zavkhan. Among the trained stakeholders were 143 participants from the Mongolian Bar Association, the Mongolia Youth Association, trade unions, employers and government authorities, including labour & welfare department, labour inspection department, social insurance department, Agency for Family, Children and Youth Development. 

During the training, participants developed green entrepreneurship action plans and problem tree analysis of the Green Economy transition for nine aimags in the Western region of Mongolia, including Gobi-Altai, Bayan-Ulgii, Uvs, Khuvsgul, Khovd, Arkhangai, Bayankhongor, Uvurkhangai and Zavkhan.

On 13-14 November, as a follow up to the initial training, PAGE Mongolia held a workshop on “Youth Green Entrepreneurship for the Circular Economy” to discuss the implementation progress and mainstream circular economy concepts into the logframes that had been developed by aimag constituents during the green entrepreneurship training in June.  40 participants from the 9 aimags, the Decent Work for Youth Network, startups and incubator centers joined the workshop. The workshop included a presentation on Circular Economy entrepreneurship opportunities and business models, together with presentations from a number of entrepreneurs in Mongolia on how they are applying Circular Economic principles into their business activities, and how the projects have progressed since June. For instance, Gobi-Altai’s proposal of a project on waste management, developed during the June workshop - obtained funding for implementation from “EcoAltaqi”. Bayan-Ulgii aimag built a fence around the local dumpsite and trees will be planted at the site. Khovd aimag initiated the waste sorting at household level.

This workshop is the second of its kind to discuss business models for the circular economy. Among other, it allowed for follow-up on the progress of the Zavkhan aimag project “Decent Work for a green future - Youth Network strategy for Mongolia” as well as on financing green entrepreneurship.

The second day of the event featured an exhibition of green enterprises and green projects for youth and by youth — for example the ‘Change the Toilet’ campaign that aims to break the taboo about discussing sanitation in Mongolia. The project consists on an affordable toilet that meets the needs of households living off-grid in Mongolia (i.e. does not require connection to central water and sewerage systems and will not freeze over in winter). Other entrepreneurs discussed their businesses including recycling and reuse of plastics into fencing and outdoor furniture, food waste processing with worm farms and developing charcoal from wood waste.

Each of these presentations emphasised circular economy principles including the importance of working up and down the supply chain, designing out waste at the source, structuring businesses to take advantage of social, environmental and economic opportunities and the importance of not just developing a product, but also the market behaviours, supply chain and funding models around that product or service.

Leveraging Mongolia’s experiences as a PAGE graduating country, some training products will be developed from this workshop. These include a video-clip that will be produced and disseminated by the Decent Work Youth Network to its members in all regions in Mongolia — and a training module suitable for train-the-trainer activities, which will contain the materials that have been used in the Mongolian context.

“-- I moved to a village near to Bishkek because of several reasons. My mom has been coughing a lot. We lived right in the city centre. We felt the dust, noise of the street. With the deterioration of air quality, I decided to move from Bishkek to ensure better life quality for my mom and my family. Now when I drive from my new place into Bishkek, I can see this grey and sometimes black veil over the Bishkek”, said Gulaiym Ailchy.

The veil that Gulaiym sees is smog, caused by industrial pollution, thousands of coal-fired residential houses warming systems, and large-scale coal-fired power plants. Most of the heating energy in Bishkek comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which causes extreme health hazards to humans through green-house gasses resulting from the burning.

Today Kyrgyzstan faces many environmental challenges. Many people pay a high price for the so-called “brown” economic growth causing side effects, including the degradation of natural resources due to over-exploitation and ineffective management of natural resources, changing climate, air and water pollution, poor waste management, and inefficient agriculture, water and energy systems. A recent global assessment found that about 60% of the world’s ecosystem services – which provide us with food, water, fuel, shelter, and medicine and sustain our broader societies and economies – are either degraded or used unsustainably. Conservation and related remediation efforts are not yet keeping up with unsustainable economic activities.

These factors affect the lives and livelihoods of people and communities, especially more vulnerable groups. Environmental determinants of health are having a significant and increasing impact on disease and illness in many countries. According to the World Bank’s global assessment of the level of health, the Kyrgyz Republic is ranked 101st out of 145 countries.

Air and water pollution have become the greatest environmental threat to people’s health. According to the Health and Pollution Action Plan of 2019, air and water pollution causes 4,500 premature deaths each year, representing almost 14% of all annual deaths. The economic cost is significant, causing annual productivity losses estimated between $24m and $31m. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, acute lower respiratory tract disease and lung cancer are all caused to a large degree by air and water pollution.

Environmental degradation and pollution can also have a negative impact on the country’s economic development over the medium to longer-term as sustainable growth depends to a large degree on the way natural resources are managed. There are many reasons why current economic growth patterns need to be decoupled from such environmental degradation.

·         Land degradation in Kyrgyzstan is largely a result of unsustainable use and management of agricultural land, over-grazing, and inefficient irrigation and water management systems. Today, about one-quarter of all pastures are moderately or severely degraded.

·         Deforestation is another main cause of the loss in biological diversity. The country has seen a steady increase in livestock numbers as a result of efforts to increase herd size. Unregulated and unsystematic grazing, however, have devastated pasture ecosystems, which make up 40% of the total territory of the country and 85% of all agricultural land.

·         Soil fertility is deteriorating as a result of excessive land use, lack of crop rotation, and insufficient remediation activities. More than 160,000 hectares, or nearly 14% of the land faces varying degrees of salinization, while some 714,000 ha, or 59.3% of the total arable land area, are subject to water erosion.

·         Water resources are threatened by chemical and organic pollution, which is mainly associated with mismanaged landfills and waste from mining enterprises. Compared to other countries, the pollution caused by CO2 from Kyrgyzstan’s manufacturing sector and it material resource consumption is relatively high.

·         Air pollution in the country’s major cities is an acute issue. In 2017, air pollution from stationary sources was 49 thousand tons, which is 36% higher than air pollution generated in 2011. The largest pollutant emissions come from thermal power plants (67%), the manufacturing sector (27%), and the mining sector (6%). These three sectors together emit about 94.4% of all pollutants into the atmosphere. The main sources of air pollution in Bishkek and Osh are thermal power plants and transport systems.

Many of these environmental challenges will also be exacerbated by the impact of the changing climate in Kyrgyzstan and the region. As global temperatures increase, Kyrgyzstan and its neighbors will face more extreme weather events and climate change that have the potential to affect all economic sectors. For these reasons, greater efforts are also need to mitigate harmful green-house gas emissions and adapt to the short-and long-term changes that are unavoidable.

A New Road to Greater Human Development and more Inclusive, Environmentally Sustainable Economic Growth

At the same time, the solutions needed to respond to these environmental, social and economic challenges offer an opportunity for Kyrgyzstan to chart a course along a more sustainable pathway of development that delivers benefits to all social groups and economic sectors. The transition to a more inclusive, green economy offers an opportunity not only to reverse negative environmental trends; it can also be used to generate new employment options, reduce household and corporate costs, while driving new forms of investments and environmentally sustainable forms of growth. Inclusive green economy approaches are designed to shift policies and incentives in ways that redirect public and private financing towards economic activities that reduce environmental degradation, help to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and ensure a just transition for workers and business  engaged in “browner” economic activities. For the reasons, green economy approaches are key to achieving the SDGs and Paris Agreement.

Kyrgyzstan has expressed its commitment to use inclusive green economy approaches to leverage these opportunities as it implements the country’s National 2040 Sustainable Development Vision and at the same time accelerates progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It has already emerged as a leader in Central Asia by establishing a strong national policy framework for its transition to a more inclusive green economy (IGE). In June 2018 the Concept “Kyrgyzstan is a country of the green economy” was adopted by the Jogorku Kenesh. This Concept serves as the IGE roadmap for the country and lays the foundation for reforms and innovations in several critical IGE sectors. These include the following priorities and cross-cutting themes: green agriculture, green industry, green energy, low carbon and environmentally friendly transport, sustainable tourism, green cities, municipal waste management, sustainable finance, fiscal incentives, and sustainable public procurement.

IGE principles have already been integrated in to the substance and monitoring system of the country’s long-term 2040 Vision. Just this week the Kyrgyzstan’s President has also signed the Law ratifying the Paris Agreement within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. And the National Green Economy Programme is expected to be approved shortly.

The country’s success in establishing such as strong policy framework has been made possible in part with support provided by UNDP together with UNEP, UNDIO, ILO and UNITAR through the global One-UN Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) and complementary programmes such as the UNDP Biodiversity Finance initiative.

Policies for Green Jobs and Regional Development

PAGE is one of the UN System’s principal responses to the Rio+20 Conference calling for the international community to assist interested countries in developing, adopting and implementing IGE policies and strategies. It is designed to support countries to transform their economies to eradicate poverty, increase jobs and social equity, strengthen livelihoods and environmental stewardship, and sustain growth in line with SDG-aligned national priorities. These include SDG 8 on sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, and SDG 12 on sustainable consumption and production.

With the financial and technical support of the European Commission, Germany, Finland, Norway, South Korea, Sweden and Switzerland, PAGE has been working closely with the Government of Kyrgyzstan and other national and international partners since 2016. In addition to the IGE policy frameworks described above, PAGE continues to work with such institutions as GIZ, OECD, OSCE, IFC, WB and funding partners to strengthen priorities such as long-term economic planning through advanced IGE modeling; innovative sustainable financing with the banking sector; green jobs and green industry strategies; agricultural subsidies; training and capacity building for civil society and the public and private sectors; and exchanges with IGE experts from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China;

This week, the Ministry of Economy is organizing the fifth annual Green Economy Week to discuss achievements, challenges, lessons learned and new opportunities for implementing the country’s IGE priorities, with a concluding Forum on “Green Economy - Strong Regions - Sustainable Development”. More than 300 representatives, including high level officials and policy makers will discuss the government’s IGE policies and practices, including a focus on small and medium-size business and initiatives designed to strengthen IGE at the regional level.

To conclude, let me share a quote from the UN Secretary-General: "The green economy is the future. It fosters prosperity, creates decent work, addresses root causes of conflict and contributes to the full enjoyment of all human rights”. Through the collective support provided to Kyrgyzstan by UNDP, sister UN agencies and our partners we are working to fully leverage the transformational potential of IGE approaches that the Secretary General has described. By working together through innovative partnerships such as PAGE we are helping to ensure that everyone benefits from the transition to a greener economy - including Gulaiym, her mother and all families and communities in Kyrgyzstan.

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The 2019 Green Economy Academy took place in Turin from 14 to 18 October. The event was very successful in delivering individual and institutional capacity development for Inclusive Green Economies.

Among the series of side events, the 2019 academy featured a knowledge fair. In this space, PAGE country partners, PAGE Agencies, Development Cooperation Agencies, Civil Society Organizations and Academic Institutions discussed on the practices from on-going country initiatives and learned from each other’s efforts and contributions to shape Inclusive Green Economies.

The presentations highlighted the innovative actions taken, among other, on SMME development, the collaboration of policy, industry and finance for transformative green growth, on the monitoring and evaluation processes in the Inclusive Green Economy, as well as on how people and movements are organizing to engage high-level agendas to tackle the climate crisis.

PAGE country partners took the opportunity to share their action plans and the way forward on several issues.  The Department of Environment Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa presented on the innovative and systemic approach to creating a virtuous cycle of community, environmental and financial benefit through SMME development, public and private collaboration, harvesting and beneficiation — all, important elements that establish a truly sustainable relationship between communities, land and water.

 Uruguay shared the challenges and opportunities to design and implement inclusive green economy policies.  Burkina Faso shared experiences on non-timber forest products and Mato Grosso presented  the actions taken to improve the environment, especially on their experience in reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation.Guyana, on its side, provided an in depth explanation of its Green State Development Strategy Vision 2040, a visionary national development policy that reflects the guiding principles of the green agenda.

UN partner agencies actively participated in the knowledge fair. UNITAR’s presentation centered on green economy learning, displaying its global learning products and the most successful South-South and triangular Cooperation approaches used by national learning institutions to learn from each other. The ILO presented on the potentials for green job creation to achieve sustainable cities.

UN Environment share the policy tools and services developed to contribute to the overall PAGE outcomes, including services such as policy guidance, measurement frameworks and training programmes that support the development of policies and strategies for inclusive green economy. In partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit  (GIZ), they also presented the Green fiscal Policy Network, in particular, the experiences from their work in Peru, South Africa and Uruguay.

The Green Economy Coalition centered its presentation on inclusion, people and movements, and on how they are mobilizing around the climate crisis to engage high-level agendas. The Green Growth Knowledge Platform, a key PAGE partner, provided an overview of the tools they have developed to support collaboration for transformative green growth among policy, industry and finance.

All participants to the Academy were invited to present their work and to learn from other initiatives. The knowledge fair represented a unique opportunity to openly interact with representatives from PAGE countries. The conversations contributed to spread greater understanding of innovative policies, strategies and tools, and more importantly, on the different ways in which these are being shaped, adopted and implemented.