Towards Green Growth in the Mediterranean Region Environmental assets for job creation in the Mediterranean Side event of the 6th World Water Forum Marseille, March 13, 2012 8:30 – 11:30 AM
The consultation on the overview of the Center for Integration in the Mediterranean (CMI) 2012 MED Report « Towards green growth in the Mediterranean countries » took place on March 13, 2012. About 100 people attended the event. It was co-organized by the CMI and the Office of Economic Cooperation for the Mediterranean and the Middle East (OCEMO) and their partners Plan Bleu, Femise and the City of Marseille. The event was a side-event of the 6th World Water Forum, which was held from March 12 - 17, as part of the build up to the upcoming Rio+20 Summit. One of the two themes of Rio+20 is the green economy. M. Brice Lalonde, the UN Executive Coordinator for RIO + 20, was one of the keynote speakers at the side-event. He said that that green economy and green growth are still not familiar ideas, a lot of work and studies still needs to be done. Moreover, M. Lalonde expressed the need to find an “Adam Smith” of the green economy. Several recent reports present the opportunities of the green economy; such as those by the OECD, UNEP, or the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED). The latter “advocates a development model rooted in a green economy.” The speakers were M. Jose Luis Irigoyen, Director (WB/SDN); M. Stephane Hallegatte; economist (part of team for the ongoing World Bank Green Growth report), M. Jean-Pascal Bassino World Bank consultant and M. Frédéric Blanc, Director of Femise, who both worked on the CMI 2012 MED Report. Mediterranean Southern countries were represented by Dr. Mohamed Abd Al-Motaleb, First Undersecretary of the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation; Dr. Wafik Grais, Egyptian senior economist and independent advisor; M. Rida Lamrini, President of the Moroccan Young Entrepreneur Foundation. Finally M. Christian Averous, senior economist, provided recommendations as President of a working group on
green economy created by the organizers of the side-event. The objective of the side-event was twofold: to consult on the draft 2012 MED Report and introduce the concept of green growth. The CMI 2012 Med Report: “Towards Green Growth in the Mediterranean countries” is produced by the CMI and the World Bank in collaboration with the European Investment Bank, the French Development Agency, Plan Bleu and Femise. It aims to show that green growth is a substantive way forward for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries in order to face the employment issues with short-term results. A presentation and a debate were organized on the perspectives given by the draft overview of the report. The report will be followed by a broader discussion on green economy in the Mediterranean region; the discussion will contribute in a significant way to create jobs and economic opportunities for public and private actors. M. Susini, Deputy Mayor of the City of Marseille, gave the opening remarks of the side-event. He presented examples of the successful actions local authorities can take. Marseille, as many Mediterranean cities, has been suffering from poverty and environment degradation. The City of Marseille took action to address these priorities by: (i) tackling unemployment through sustainable urban integration and creating the living conditions that enable economic activities and poverty alleviation; (ii) tackling environmental issues by developing and promoting solar energy and efficient energy use. The City of Marseille adopted a convention with building enterprises to establish quality standards including environmental quality, and the efficient use of water and energy. Specific expectations are mandatory in public works contracts. Thus, M. Susini gave a thoughtful presentation on local authorities’ opportunities to develop green policies and confront employment issues. He stressed the need for the upkeep? of public properties, new technologies and communication, financing of engineering projects to fill the gap between public and private sectors, and territorial governance. The idea of “green growth” was discussed in detail, including the phrase itself. Most of the speakers agreed on the relevance of “green growth”, much more than “sustainable development” which does not reflect the growth priorities of all Southern countries. Green growth does not place employment and environment in opposition; countries can invest in both sectors at the same time. In “green growth”, growth is as important as green. The protection of the environment is not done at the expense of employment as some in the audience feared. Green growth may reveal itself as a way of development with social equity. Natural resources are the new wealth of countries, said M. Lalonde quoting a World Bank report form Kirk Hamilton “Environment Matters at the World Bank: Annual Review 2011”. All speakers and participants agreed on the fact that green growth is one of the solutions for the future.
M. Irigoyen introduced green growth as efficient and clean, M. Hallegatte added that green growth is “Necessary, efficient and thus affordable but challenging�. M. Hallegatte put green growth into perspective and made a brief statement regarding economic dynamics and environment. He presented a large panorama? and he said it is clear that something needs to be done urgently.
M. Hallegatte had a clear and optimistic message and without pre-conceived ideas.
The CMI 2012 MED Report presentation included a special focus on employment, which was one of the key aspects of the consultation. The report emphasizes the economic dimension of
implementing green growth policies. Thus, environmental degradations are a cost and green policies create benefits. The report has a case studies approach, and includes an analysis of best practices and the identification of strengths, weaknesses and priorities. The report ends with policy recommendations.
Southern representatives made several suggestions for the report: - It should fit the specificities of the Mediterranean countries, and particularly the Southern Mediterranean countries. Accordingly M. Irigoyen stressed the importance of making different policies dependent on the countries and their development. Moreover, some national and regional studies could be used as inputs for the report, such as the AFED report. The AFED is a
not-for-profit international non-governmental organization and in November 2011 published a Green Economy report entitled “Sustainable Transition in a Changing Arab World”. They argue that “transitioning to the Green Economy is not only an option for the Arab region, rather it is an obligation to secure a proper path to sustainable development”. The report includes “enabling public policies, business models, green investment opportunities, innovative approaches, and case studies, and addresses eight sectors: agriculture, water, energy, industry, cities and buildings, transportation, tourism and waste management.” They focus their results on job creation (millions jobs by 2020) and/or economic returns ($ millions per year and/or percentage of GDP). There is also a report produced by the Economical and Social Council of the Kingdom of Morocco. They focus on green job creation in four sectors: renewable energy; energy efficiency; sewage and liquid waste management; and urban solid waste management. In these sectors, they expect the creation of around 100 000 jobs in Morocco by 2025. M. Lamrini made a short presentation of this study highlighting the great efforts that have been made in Morocco. Morocco is strongly committed and willing to switch, to a certain extent, to green economy. -It should include more examples and case studies. The more concrete the report, the more it will be easily understandable and convincing. The audience also asked for more examples of success stories. - It should more comprehensively explain the dual-benefits of green growth, so that governments do not think they have to choose between jobs and growth and green approaches. The financing of green economic policies is a recurrent issue. M. Grais suggested to do cost effectiveness analyses. This would lead to an “efficient economy” (as he defined green economy). He recommended focusing on SMEs to start with, because while they do pollute they are also are able to reduce it. They would also create employments and are likely to be the actors which are most able to contribute efficiently, and with short–term results, to the green economy. According to M. Lalonde, green economy is inevitable; without natural resources, there can be no economy. M. Lalonde stressed the necessity of using indicators for the green economy. The OECD report is a model to follow. It is important to invest in research to make innovations. Policies regarding consumption, use and reuse of natural resources are keys. At the end of the event, a dedicated working group on green economy introduced its recommendations to the audience. This working group gathers 17 persons from Mediterranean countries and works in total independence to produce detailed and specific recommendation to empower southern countries to implement policies and actions of the green economy.
Five themes were identified around which the recommendations will be organized. The recommendations will be presented during a conference scheduled to take place on May 23-24 in Marseille.