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THEMES OF RIO +20

1. A green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication;

2. The institutional framework for sustainable development.

GREEN ECONOMY – No agreed upon definition but some descriptions:

• Concept of green economy primarily intersection between environment and economy (in 1992 – Earth Summit)

• UNEP’s working definition:• A system of economic activities related to the

production, distribution and consumption of goods and services that result in improved human well-being over the long term, while not exposing future generations to significant environmental risks and ecological scarcities

• green economy is an economy that stays within the bounds of our planet’s resources and links its decisions to both social and environmental needs.

THEMES OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Poverty Eradication

2. Social Integration

3. Decent Work

HUMAN RIGHTS-BASEDPEOPLE-CENTERED

WHAT QUESTIONS CAN WE ASK RELATIVE TO THE SOCIAL PILLAR?UNRISD October 2011 conference

What are the social impacts of the green economy ?

health, education, work, food, energy, climate change, relationships

What are the distributional consequences of policies and processes associated with green economy?

Who wins and who loses? Or do we all win? Or all lose?

What are the potential and limits of structural and institutional change?

What are the agency and social mobilization for institutional and policy change.

WHO OR WHAT IS BEING COMMODIFIED?

SOCIAL IMPACTS AND DISTRIBUTIONAL CONSEQUENCES. Social impacts and distributional consequences

of policies and processes associated with green economy. 

What are the consequences of the restructuring of production, services, finance and consumption patterns associated with green economy for the employment, livelihood security and cultural identity of different social groups, across geographic locations and scales?

Do different patterns of green economy transition constitute win-win outcomes, or are there winners and losers? What role can social policy, in association with economic and environmental policy, play in minimizing costs, maximizing benefits and building resilience, especially for vulnerable groups? How does the green economy agenda connect with other sustainable development objectives, such as food security, health, social protection, human rights, gender equality, decent work, poverty reduction and climate justice?

POTENTIAL AND LIMITS OF STRUCTURAL INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE What do green economy policies, as well as different

models of transition, imply for the continuity or transformation of structures, institutions and social relations that reproduce or reinforce inequality and vulnerability? Conversely, how do existing patterns of inequality and vulnerability obstruct or facilitate the potential for different approaches to green economy to contribute to sustainable development and poverty eradication? Are macroeconomic frameworks and conditionalities changing in ways that are conducive to structural reform and sustainable development?

AGENCY AND SOCIAL MOBILIZATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL AND POLICY CHANGEHow is the notion of green economy itself, and the

consideration of social dimensions, being framed by diverse social actors (such as states, business and civil society), and with what effects in terms of influencing policy agendas? What forms of participation, contestation, coalitions, alliances and compromises are emerging—or might need to emerge—to promote green economy approaches that contribute to sustainable development and poverty eradication? Are disadvantaged groups and countries able to gain voice and influence through processes of social dialogue and decision making associated with green economy transition?

WHAT IS BEING PROPOSED FOR GREEN ECONOMY AND WHAT CONCERNS MIGHT THEY RAISE REGARDING THE SOCIAL PILLAR?Technology transfer: (ETC Group – Pat

Mooney director)

BIOECONOMY???

1. Biomass as a solution? Instead of using fossil fuels as a source of energy, transferred technologies would shift to biomass as a source of electricity, fuels for cars and planes, plastics

COMPARE TWO BIOECONOMIES

BIOMASS-BASED

Homogenous

Monoculture

Market driven

High tech

Reductionist

BIODIVERSITY - BASED

Heterogenous

Diverse

Subsistence driven

Appropriate tech

Holistic

BiomassAll plants defined same way – so competition between food and energyOrganized to favor large-scale monoculture cropsBased on induectrial transformation of biomass into bulk commodities for global marketUses proprietary capital-intensive technologiesNature viewed in terms of commercial value and profit

BiodiversityDifferentiates individual specials with specific properties and use

Small scale cultivation of diverse crops

Based on community or individual transformation for personal or community use

Uses human-scale technologies to transform plants –drying, cooking

Nature imbued with cultural and spiritual values

SOCIAL IMPACT???

ISSUE OF CONTROL: DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH? ??Same transnational companies that

fostered dependence on petroleum economy in the 20th century:

Forestry and agribusiness giants

High tech companies

Pharma, chemical and enery majors

Financial services and investment banks

Consumer products and food companies

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 2: AT STAKE THE INTERNATIONAL CONTROL OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS – WATER, LANDS, AIRGeoengineering (ETC Group)

1. Solar Radiation Management

2. Carbon dioxide removal and sequestration

3. Weather modification

Examples

1. Ocean fertilization

2. Artifical volcanoes – Reflective particles in the stratosphere

3. Cloud Whitening

4. Burn and bury biochar

GOVERNING GEOENGINEERING/GEOENGINEERING GOVERNANCE

1. Research – UK and US

2. Experimenting with Mother Earth: Small scale geoengineering????

3. Military

4. Gender bias

Sugestion: An international Convention for the Evaluation of New Technologies

EVALUATION

SOCIAL IMPACTDISTRIBUTIONAL CONSEQUENCES

Language:: enabling environment for technology transferEnvironmentally-sound technologiesInnovative technologies

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 3: NANOTECHNOLOGYDefinition: a suite of technologies used to manipulate matter

on the scale of atoms and molecules.

Examples of changes made through nanotechnology:

Carbon as graphite is soft and malleable: at nanoscale it can be stronger tan steel

Nanoscale copper is elastic at room temperature

Aluminum can spontaneously combust at- the nanoscale.

- Potential to mean multiple raw material options for industry, destroy existing commodity markets and destroy livelihoods dependent on traditional commodities

- Danger to health of living beings and the planet

GREEN ECONOMY CENTRAL TO POVERTY ALLEVIATION?Green economy seeks to provide diverse opportunities for

economis development and poverty alleviation without liquidating or eroding a country’s natural assets.

Greening small farmer sector– promotion and dissemination of sustainable practices to make more food available: how: geoengineered seeds?

increased carbon sequestration: how: biochar and bury?

access growing international markets for green products: how?

KEY FINDINGS: TOWARDS A GREEN ECONOMY1. Greening not only generates increases in wealth, in particular a

gain in ecological commons or natural capital but also (over six years) produces a higher rate a GDP growth – a classical measure of economic performance.

2. The inextricable link between poverty eradication and better maintenance and conservation of the ecological commons, arising from the benefit flows from natural capital that are received directly by the poor

3. In a transition to a green economy, new jobs are created which, over time exceed the losses in “brown economy” jobs. … But there is a period of job losses in transition, which requires investment in re-skilling and re-educating the workforce. The

role of natural capital and especially “living” natural capital (the planet’s ecosystems and biodiversity) cannot be overstated….

Towards a GREEN economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication: A Synthesis for Policy Makers. UNEP

SOCIAL IMPACTS

Health

Food Security

Decent work

Education

Social protection

Other….

RIO: FROM EARTH SUMMIT TO EARTH GRAB?GREEN GOVERNANCEAN EARTH GRAB

Construct a more centralized, pseudo-UN ‘green governance’ mechanism that privileges the private sector and the BWI while disenfranchising much of the global South as it commandeers control over the environment, natural resources (incl. agriculture) and climate change;

EARTH AGENDA

Creates a new, broad, participatory and transparent UN environmental network within which South governments and civil society can address the full range of climate and environmental issues now managed by 500 agreements and institutionsWelcomes the reformed UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) for foor, agriculture and rural development policies and programs

GREEN ECONOMIES

EARTH GRAB

Implicit entrenchment of a suite of untested, “clean technologies” as basis for “Green Economy” (synthetic biology, nanotechnology, genomics and geoengineering) that will dominate the South’s natural resources (including agriculture)

EARTH AGENDA

Commits UN in 2012 – as a central element in the development of sustainable societies and socially, economically and culturally appropriate and diverse green economis to an international technology evaluation and information mechanism that strengthens national sovereignty and technology policy sources

CLIMATE CHANGE STRATEGIES

EARTH GRAB

Acquiescence to a technology transfer regime (probably finalized in Durban or Rio) that will impose industry’s monopoly control over the deployment of untried technologies – especially geoengineering

EARTH AGENDA

Asserts the integrity of the multilateral community and the priority of the precautionary principle as being at the core of technology regulation and transferAffirms UN control over all technologies intended to impact climate change by establishing a legally-binding prohibition of geo-engineering;