Green Jobs

Green Jobs

In other cases, direct employment is needed in various sectors of the economy and through related activities, thereby reducing the environmental impact of those sectors and activities, ultimately bringing them to sustainable levels. That means jobs are created that are less burdensome or not burdensome at all on the environment, are less dependent on weather conditions and which produce products that contribute to climate sustainability.31 Green Jobs, for example, focuses on promoting innovative and more efficient technologies in various production chains. Due to climate change, it often happens that farmers can no longer live on the yield of their land. By creating these new jobs and offering retraining programmes, people will once again have a chance to earn their own income. This might mean planting forests, connecting various electrically powered machines to solar energy or making wood stoves with a longer duration of burning.

By focusing on things like innovation in the firewood and charcoal supply chain, people can earn an income in a new way. This approach enables people to avoid deforestation and reduce its negative environmental impacts, while still earning an income from biomass fuels. People are trained in making and using “Casamance Ovens,” which are used for making charcoal. Charcoal is then made by slowly burning logs under an earthen mound. When the wood burns, less air escapes and less fuel is wasted. Fuel-saving stoves have also been made, in which wood and charcoal have a longer heating time and produce less smoke, benefiting health and air quality. Also, charcoal is being replaced by briquettes.32

Photo: Solar-powered water pump in Uganda

31 A. Jarvis, A. Varma and J. Ram (2011). 32 ZOA project description “UGD2202 - Green Energy West Nile - Biomass.”