The 20th anniversary of the RIO Earth Summit in 1992, was held recently in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and apparently from one who was there, they were unable to come to terms with a definition of a ‘Green Economy’, while stating it was part of the conference by-line: ‘The Future We Want’.

A beautiful Bolivian environmental activist and scientist, Nele Marien, cited the foreword from this author’s PhD thesis to describe a ‘Green Economy’, duly referencing the work in the Harvard style. It has been abbreviated in her blog, and here is what she said:

“On how this growth would be possible, without affecting the environment even further, no word is uttered. Well, supposedly the “green economy” would do so.  Even though it is not clear what green economy actually is, as there is no definition in the text. The closest description would be:

(…) we consider green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication as one of the important tools available for achieving sustainable development and that it could provide options for policy making but should not be a rigid set of rules.

So, green economy is considered a tool, but without further description of what it implies. What it is supposed to achieve is set out as follows:

(…) We emphasize that it should contribute to eradicating poverty as well as sustained economic growth, enhancing social inclusion, improving human welfare and creating opportunities for employment and decent work for all, while maintaining the healthy functioning of the Earth’s ecosystems.

The way of stating that “while maintaining the healthy functioning of the Earth’s ecosystems” doesn’t make environmental protection really an objective by itself, it sounds more like just something extra to take into account.

But then, what is the green economy tool? Those who have been promoting it are clear on it: It is the inclusion of the natural capital in the economy, so now:

“(…) a market for the formerly free goods and services provided by the environment could be readily envisaged, thus removing the last stumbling blocks to our placing a value on these goods and services. (…) So nature’s storehouse becomes big business. The stability and growth of the corporate investment becomes a function of ecosystem condition. Inventories of ecosystem goods and services form part of annual accounts for corporations as well as countries.(…)[1].

(1) Extract from “Valuing Ecosystem Services in a Green Economy”, Thesis submitted by Ian Arthur Curtis, PhD, James Cook University, April 2003.

Actual implementation of the concept, including the UNEP description, follow the same line. Follow this link to Nele Marien’s blog: www.nelemarien.info/