GREEN AFRICA: African Transition to Green Economy

If African nations go the green route to growing their economies, the continent could end up as the envy of the rest of the world, says Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director.  This is because Africa is rich in the kinds of natural resources that in many parts of the world have been over-exploited and diminished by centuries of unsustainable development.  Green Economy is not a substitute for sustainable development but a way of realizing it. Over the past few years, Green Economy has become relevant to developing economies and it is in developed ones: it is as central to more state-led economies as it is to more market-led ones. It is not a trend, nor is it prescriptive.

The Green Economy is about shaping public policy including market mechanisms and fiscal strategies in a way that unleashes the private sector into a more meaningful notion of wealth creation. More meaningful in the sense that it country helps to achieve the aims of improved human well-being and reduced inequalities over the long term, while not exposing future generations to significant environmental risks and ecological compromises.

Economists, academics, researchers, government and civil society representatives and media from Africa and other continents are saying that Africa has the largest potential for energy generation from renewable sources, but the problem is implementation.  The question is can Africa take a leadership role in Green Economy by setting an example for rest of the world so they can learn from Africa?

HOST: Ernest Kwabena Opong (Publisher of Amandla News)

See: www.africanviews.org/av-radio