experts opinion 41

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July 2012

Expert’s opinion Author: Ms. Slavica Nikolic, Center for Enterpreneurship and Economic Development (CEED)

Rio+20: Conference on ‘The Future We Want’

Montenegro in Rio

One of the most important global events regarding environmental protection is the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). This year the event took place in Rio de Janeiro from 20-22 June 2012. The main objectives of the conference were to define new policies in the context of promoting a green economy and poverty reduction, and also to introduce an institutional framework for sustainable development. The final document, The Future We Want, was adopted, by consensus, at the summit. It anticipates improvements and stability in the areas of energy, food and water supplies in poor countries. It also anticipates the gradual abandonment of subsidies on fossil fuels and envisages better protection of the oceans. Within this document a wide range of activities is planned; these are to be implemented by the governments of member states, the business sector, industry, civil society and a variety of others.

Delegations from 188 countries including Montenegro gathered at the conference in Rio. Key results of the analyses on the potential for the Montenegrin economy becoming greener were presented.

Activities include: - Strengthening the United Nations Environment Protection Program (UNEP); - Establishing goals for sustainable development; - Providing a detailed description of the way that a green economy can be used as a tool for achieving sustainable development; - Promoting measures for reporting on sustainable business; - Overcoming the use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the only measure of a country’s welfare; - Developing a strategy for financing sustainable development; - Adopting a framework for sustainable consumption and production; - Planting 100 million trees; - Recycling 800,000 tons of PVC (the most common type of plastic) per year etc. Member states also confirmed their commitment to sustainable development by promising to establish universal sustainable development goals; they also confirmed the importance of gender empowerment, rights regarding water and food, poverty reduction, the adoption of a ten-year framework for sustainable consumption and production; and the potential for a clean and green economy. One of the major results of the conference was that funds increased by over $513 billion, all of which was allocated to the area of sustainable development. These funds will be used in the areas of energy production, transport, green economy, mitigating the effects of natural disasters, desertification of water, forest and agriculture. Of the total amount, $323 billion will be allocated to the initiative Sustainable Energy For All. The main goal of this initiative is to ‘provide a global approach to modern energy services for every fifth person in the world; to reduce the wastage of energy by increasing energy efficiency, and to multiply available renewable energy resources on a global basis’. The first conference on sustainable development was held in 1992; at that event Agenda 21 was adopted together with an action plan to prevent global warming and to promote sustainable development. This document was of great importance for environmental protection. Twenty years later the results achieved were significantly lower than expected. During that time the world population increased by 30%, as did consumption per capita, gas emissions and the greenhouse effect, and the use of natural resources etc.

The aforementioned facts indicate the necessity for creating an action plan in order to stimulate the usage of green technology, to increase the percentage of renewable energy within the total production figures and to enable economic growth based on sustainable development rather than on the assumption that limited natural resources will last forever. One of the main reasons that people were against the activities mentioned above, including the development of a green economy, was the possibility that such action would decrease the GDP, employment, expenditure and earnings. Some studies have shown that green technology markets will reach at least $500 billion by 2050, i.e. in the next four years their growth rate will be 22% on an annual basis; this could, indeed, be considered the faster industrial revolution in history to date. In addition to the reduction of pollution resulting from gas emissions, one of the most positive results of moving towards green technology would be the new jobs that would be created by such an economy. This is one of the main incentives for further developing this concept. Some countries have already recognized the potential of a green economy and have invested significant financial assets in this area. The leaders in this area are China and Germany. Small countries, which are more flexible, may be particularly interested in basing their future development on the principles of sustainable development. However, the future will show to what extent opportunities are taken and used to enable people to live in a more environmentallyfriendly and sustainable way.

Representatives from Montenegro expressed their commitment to basing future development on the usage of sustainable natural resources; they also agreed to base tourism, agriculture and the energy sector on a sustainable green economy in the future. These three sectors were identified as being those with the greatest potential to create ‘green’ jobs and also to preserve natural resources. The conference delegates were brought up to date about the steps Montenegro has taken so far to stimulate a green economy; these include the inclusion of a new social and ecological component in the public procurement process and the creation of new credit lines to encourage female entrepreneurs in less developed areas. In addition to the above, in order to reinforce and support the concept of a green economy in Montenegro, future activities will be directed at improving knowledge and the capacity for strengthening links between education and the labor market, along with providing support for the adoption of the principles of sustainability in the national economy.

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