Green Growth: The Way Forward for Asia and the Pacific

In the Asian and Pacific region, facing ever-increasing demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services and economic and human security, how will we cope with all these added pressures?

How will we meet the difficult global challenges before us, while simultaneously improving people’s lives and conserving our natural resources?

The Governments in the Asian and Pacific region have unanimously agreed to respond to these challenges through the promising path of environmentally sustainable economic growth, or “Green Growth”.

In March 2005, at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific, 2005,3 held at Seoul, Republic of Korea, approximately 340 delegates, including representatives from 52 members and associate members of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) embraced the approach of environmentally sustainable economic growth (Green Growth).

The Conference endorsed Green Growth as a policy focus and a powerful strategy to promote “winwin” approaches to reconciling the conflict between current pathways for the achievement of two important Millennium Development Goals: MDG 1 (on poverty reduction) and MDG 7 (on environmental sustainability).

In this sense, the conference were milestones of strategy for regional cooperation for sustainable development for the period 2005-2010, which were reflected in three major documents adopted at the meeting: the Ministerial Declaration on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific, 2005; Regional Implementation Plan for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific 2006-2010 and the Seoul Initiative on Environmentally Sustainable Economic Growth (Green Growth).

Read the UNESCAP's book: "Green Growth at a Glance"

Source:
UN-ESCAP,Green Growth at a Glance; ttp://www.unescap.org/esd/water/publications/sd/GGBrochure.pdf, downloaded: 10 April 2010.