This week’s SoroptiVoice Blog comes from SI UN Representative Sina Stiffler. She is based in Geneva. Here she writes about the importance of the green economy and the need to ‘do things differently’. Sorry for the late posting this week -normal blog posting to resume this Friday!

At the UNCTAD
(United Nation Conference on Trade and Development) Symposium, held from June 22- 24, making trade and finance work for people and the planet and making the transition to
a green economy fair and equitable were the main topics. It soon became clear that it will be
difficult to reach set goals. Mark Halle, one of a series of experts addressing
UNCTAD´s third Public Symposium, said it best: "a green economy that´s not
fair and equitable isn´t a green economy."

"A crisis
should be used to learn lessons and do things differently”, UNCTAD
Secretary-General Supachay Panitchpakdi told the meeting. He argued that this hasn’t been
happening. We need a system that really takes the needs of developing countries
into account. Speakers stressed from the perspective of developing countries that
the recession is not over. The debt burden of many poor nations is
unsustainable which makes sustinable and equitable growth very difficult to achieve.   

As a
result of the crises of 2008, 119 million of people had to go to bed hungry!  One speaker put it very well: “Very few gamblers have a great impact on
millions of people“, e.g. the prices of maize, wheat and soybeans rose because
of speculation and excessive risk. The impact of the food crises has a long
impact on people in the underdeveloped world: people have to take loans to pay
for housing and food and then pay interest for loans. Even worse, they have to take
children out of school.

The price
of food is intertwined with the oil price. Chandran Nair from the Global Institute of
Tomorrow, in Hong Kong made it clear:  Most
of our food is from hydro carbons (fertilizer, processing, transport); on the
other hand Global Warming has increased more than predicted – because of higher
consumption of hydro carbons. The world population is increasing and more and
more people striving for progress drive cars. They can’t be blamed. Speakers
noted that economic and other sacrifices are necessary for addressing environmental
concerns and this should not include denying the developing world´s basic right to
achieving better living standards.

Managing
to accomplish people’s wish for a better economy and environmental concerns
will not be easy. "We´re in denial about limits," announced Chandran
Nair: "If we have 5 billion Asians consuming like Americans or Europeans
in 30 years or so, the game is over. We need to recognize that we have limits
and constraints”.

The role
of women was not in the forefront at the 2011 UNCTAD conference. But very
recently the “Women Rio+20 Steering Committee” , in a position paper in preparation
for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, claimed: 

“Women
are key agents of change. Their contributions to new ‘green’ economic
activities are essential for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and
responding to global and local environmental
threats. Throughout the world, women are already engaged at all levels of the
economy, from providing basic necessities for their families – food, water,
fuel, homes and health care, to building communities and running businesses.
They are forest stewards, farmers, land managers, community leaders,
researchers, political leaders, technology designers, and entrepreneurs. Women
re-invest a much higher portion of their earnings in their communities and make
important investments and purchase decisions. Yet due to societal gender
inequality, in many countries women’s skills and contributions remain
unrecognized and undervalued”.

Soroptimist International supported and signed this statement.

Sina
Stiffler

SI UN Rep to Geneva