Green economy: what are the stakes?

By Vusumuzi Sifile

Could the “green economy” be the answer to food insecurity that still reigns supreme in most parts  of Sub-Saharan Africa? With slightly over a month before the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, “green economy” has become a buzz word. Well, in my professional circles.

The Rio+20 Conference, scheduled for 20 to 22 June, will focus on the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty, and also on institutional development for sustainable development.

On 9 and 10 May, I was part of a team of professionals that gathered in Lusaka, Zambia, to help craft messages which are expected to feed into the discussions at the conference. These consultations will continue through the month of May.

As I followed through the presentations and participated in the discussions, one thing was clear to me: there are still some grey areas about the concept of green economy and how it will benefit ordinary citizens in Zambia and the rest of sub Saharan Africa.

On paper, the benefits of a green economy appear lucrative. That a green economy will improve livelihoods and bring about social equity, while significantly reducing environmental degradation is not questionable. But at what cost will this need to be done? There are still some grey areas that need to be addressed before we get carried away.  They mostly relate to the benefits that will accrue to the poor and marginalised.

Commendable it may be, the concept of a green economy does not seem to adequately address key questions on how it will fit into the unique social, cultural and environmental circumstances of the different African countries. To what extent is it going to blend with the various traditional agricultural practices, most of which have been around for centuries.

While the concept of a green economy presents a lot of good opportunities that may propel millions of Africa’s poor out of poverty and food insecurity, failure to address some of these key issues may turn the whole discussion  into a meaningless talkshow. Each country participating in these discussions needs to take into account its unique circumstances and devise ways of tackling them. The discussions should come up with ways of ensuring people a people driven “green economy”.  I noticed during our discussions over  the last two days that there is always a huge temptation to just lump together different groups of people. That may not work.

It is however still not clear what the benefits of the green economy will be, especially for the poor and marginalised in developing countries. Expectations are very high that this conference will make a number of far reaching decisions that are going to influence some changes, and challenge the current “business and usual” approach.

Rio+20 presents a great opportunity to define ways of enhancing sustainable development and food security, and eventually eradicate poverty. The conference presents a great opportunity for collective action in the fight against poverty, but most of the aspects may come to naught if the interests of different stakeholders are not taken on board, right from the onset.Whatever direction the discussions take before, during and after Rio+20, a green economy can only be deemed successful if it is driven by the poor and marginalised.