Ministerul Mediului şi Pădurilor Programul Naţiunilor Unite pentru Dezvoltare România PROCEEDINGS Green Economy Roundtable 22 Nov 2011, UNDP Romania Background information The holistic approach to global environmental issues was the paramount of the Eart Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. This milestone event led to the adoption of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the three Rio Conventions (UNFCCC, CBD and UNCCD), Agenda 21 and Forest Principles, that is, programmatic documents of crucial importance for the efforts made by the international community over the last decades for the integration of environmental issues in the development agenda. The forthcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro, June 2012) will provide the international community with the opportunity to assess its progress towards sustainable development and reconsider the actions needed in order to place it more firmly on the path governments committed themselves to 20 years ago. The two major themes of the Rio+20 Summit in June 2012, Rio de Janeiro, will be i) Green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication and ii) institutional framework for sustainable development. In the context of the lead role of UNDP in preparing the Inter-Agency report for the Rio+20 Summit and the broader framework of cooperation between UNDP Romania and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the organization of the national roundtable on the subject of Green Economy was seen as a good opportunity to stir the public interest on this crucial developmental issue and facilitate the preparation of Romania to the Summit. This event was thought and organized as a public debate and pragmatic analysis of what Romania can offer in particular to the Rio+20 proceedings, national experience in this field, as well as concrete steps in preparation for the even. The roundtable on the subject of Green Economy in the context of Rio +20 Summit 2012 was coorganized by UNDP Romania and the Ministry of Environment and Forests on 22 November 2011 at the UN House. National authorities, academia, private sector representatives, civil society organisations and media participated in the debate. The background document and the agenda of the meeting (Romanian) are herewith attached.
Proceedings At the inception of the meeting, Ms. Yesim Oruc, Resident Representative of UNDP Romania thanked Minister Borbély for the very good cooperation between UNDP and the Ministry on jointly implemented development projects. Ms. Oruc also commended Minister Borbély for his leadership in the difficult negotiations within the 19th session of the UN-DESA Commission of Sustainable Development in May 2011, leading to the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns. HE also proposed Minister Borbély to act as regional spokesperson and opinion leader advancing the concept of green economy and sustainability in the regional meetings organized by UNDP and partner agencies in preparation for Rio+20. Furthermore, HE invited the distinguished representatives of governmental institutions to consider a multisectoral participation in the Rio+20 preparatory meetings, including the forthcoming Durban Conference on Climate Change, and the Rio+20 Summit 2012. Mr. László Borbély also welcomed the participants to the event and stressed that sustainable development advancing the concept of green economy represent top priorities of the Ministry of Environment and Forests since the beginning of the current mandate, best substantiated by the Romanian Presidency of CSD 19. HE also emphasised the need for a clear vision on behalf of the policy makers, on a 5-10-20 year horizon, which need to be followed from one government to another. Irrespective of the mid-long term goals, there is real need of enhanced research and technological development to back-up policy making process, institutional capacity at the central administration level, and due observation to the commitments made at European and international level, such as those related to GHG emission reduction (20-30% at the EU level), management of Natura 200 sites, etc. Returning to the international process preparing the Rio+20 Summit in 2012, HE mentioned the still prevailing discrepancy between the developed and developing World, which still have antagonistic interests with regard to this and the interrelated processes, such as the negotiations on the international climate change regime post-2012, even though the traditional divide North-South is continuously reshaping (e.g., China lately became the country with the greatest share of GDP allocation for green economy), and that such divide exists even between socio-economic regional integration organisations, such as the EU. HE pointed out that global environmental problems are many and severe, and that the burden of costs should be balanced distributed globally, according to the countries share to GDP, C footprint, and other relevant parameters. In conclusion, HE mentioned briefly some efforts made at national level for advancing sustainability and green economy concept, such as the re-establishment of the inter-ministerial committee for mainstreaming environment in sectoral policies and of the dedicated Unit in charge with sustainable development issues, and the increase of funding availability for specific environment-related measures, such as the afforestation of degraded lands. Mr. Cosmin Boiangiu expressed concern for the likely new failure to achieve an agreement on the international climate change regime post-2012 to be experienced during the following weeks as the COP of UNFCCC in Durban. He pointed out that environmental consequences of this failure are most likely to affect the humankind on mid-long term, while the economic consequences are visible instantaneously. In addition, he mentioned that the apparently antagonistic concepts of energy
efficiency and green technology, on the one hand, and economic production and energy security on the other, may be well accommodated under the green economy concept, which is the product of the society, but needs to be managed by the state, even though it now confronts with institutional capacity challenges. Mr. Calin Georgescu then make reference to the difficult application in practice of the economic general concept of sustained growth on a limited planet, highlighting the current global crisis, which is firstly political (i.e., a matter of trust) and secondly financial (i.e., banking). He also pointed out two general problems the governments are now confronted with: 1) lack of dialogue with labour/trade unions and civil society organisations; and 2) lack of control on the banking system, whose decisions on reorganisation or bankruptcy affect severely the economy as a whole. He then mentioned the EU Strategy Energy 2020, which express the political willingness on the matter and is based on two sound economic principles: 1) large added value in the economy; and 2) capitalisation of the natural capital of EU member states. Romania s economy has serious deficiency on both, and a good example is the forestry sector. Additional problems Romania is confronted with when dealing with sustainable development on mid-long term are the dramatic change to the population structure and the underdevelopment of science and education sectors. Mr. Silvian Ionescu then make a brief presentation of the efforts made by the Garda Nationala de Mediu to ensure compliance with environmental norms and regulations, that is, prerequisite for advancing the sustainable development principles. The footage of the first session of the Meeting is available at: http://www.privesc.eu/arhiva/7623/conferinta-economia-verde---noua-provocare-a-lumii- Contemporane--participa-ministrul-mediului-si-padurilor--Laszlo-Borbely- *** During the ensuring press conference, asking to the questions raised by the Press, Minister Borbély referred to the inter-sectoral, cross-cutting character of issues and debates on sustainable developments, the efforts made to allocate additional public funding (including EU programmes) for energy efficiency projects, in particular for the building sector, the challenges posed by the current lack of agreement at the international level to substitute the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, in spite of the agreement existent at the EU level which entails serious investments needs for Romania, as well as the current situation with the suspension of the country to trade emission reduction units within the KP flexible mechanisms, and the efforts made for reinstatement, as well as the latest meeting of the Inter-ministerial committee which recently resumed its activity by involving a number of 12 ministers and 12 additional organisations. ***
The second session of the meeting started with a brief presentation by Ms. Luminita Ghita on the CSD 19 proceedings, the preparation activities and the thematic areas of the Rio+20 Summit in June 2012. Prof. Angheluta Vadineanu made the first core presentation of the Event, highlighting the international process that led to the adoption of the Bruntland Report and its follow up at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, where Agenda 21 and the three Rio Conventions were adopted. The main challenges of sustainability as the reported stated back in 1987 are biodioversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable use of non-renewabe resources and sustainable consumption patterns. Reference was then made to WSSD in Johannesburg in 2002, which also emphasised the three main pillars of sustainability (economic, social, ecologic), the concept of social-ecologic complexes representing the foundations of sustainable development, as well as the decision making process based on modelling and scenarios on social capacity, temporal-spatial development and flux of natural resources. In conclusion, sustainable development depends on the conservation of the Earth s natural potential, sustainable use of ecosystem goods and services, biodiversity conservation and stabilisation of climatic system. Prof. Costel Negrei made the second core presentation of the event, called green economy alternatives for development of socio-economic system. He mentioned that the debate should start with the analysis of the baseline socio-economic system, that is, the human and social capital and the natural capital, which needs to be completed by the analysis of the so-called transition systems, including property rights, production and spatial relationships. The new public discourse on green economy concentrates on the negative externalities of socio-economic activities, often ignored in the past, reduction of ecological footprint, decoupling of waste production from GDP, and of economic growth from the consumption of raw materials and energy. Some important assumptions decision making process should rely on are that markets alone do not solve social and environmental problems, investments on social and human capital are usually on long term/with long return rates, the needs for a thorough revision of the economic approach to global issues, existence of an international market for the green economy, and the reform of the international institutional framework on sustainable development. Specific proposals for Romania s position in the negotiations and preparation for Rio+20 Summit include the mitigation of risk for transfer of old, non-performing technologies from developed to developing countries, the repositioning and restructuring of the agriculture, which may devolve from the current large-scale enterprises to smaller farms, where environmental-friendly practices are more likely and social dimension is better captured, and the creation of novel mechanisms for the financing of biodiversity management, including payments for ecosystem services. Ms. Mariana Stanciu referred in her presentation to the conceptual changes to economic approach of global issues from the 1970 s to present, foremost due to the gradual degradation of environment and exhaustion of natural resources, which made that the calculated ecological footprint to decrease bellow value 1 in 1985 already, that is, more resources are consumed than are actually produced. The policies made and measures taken toward sustainable use and management of natural resources led to the decrease of the ecological footprint at the EU level during the last 20
years, but it is still high compared to other regions of the World. Notably, Romania also did not increase the ecological footprint in the last decades, but compared to other EU countries it remained pauper (at present, some ½ of the population live out of credit). The practice of crediting for daily expenses that was institutionalised by state and adopted at all levels produced visible consequences in the economy today, which require urgent, fundamental reform. The state austerity measures should be complemented by measures toward to education of acquisition needs of the humankind, which cannot live endlessly out of consumerism, and the transition from consumerism to sustainable development should be at the forefront of the political discourse. Prof. Vladimir Rojanschi acknowledged the sustainable partnership with the UNDP for joint implementation of essential developmental projects, such as the one concluded with the elaboration and promotion of the National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan, then referred to the life cycle analysis as crucial component of the green economy concept. This analysis should be better implemented in the environmental impact assessment in Romania, for example for the projects of hydro-energy, which have large impacts on biodiversity and microclimates, or the projects financed from POS Mediu for the rehabilitation or new construction of sewage water management stations, resulting in the transfer of pollutants from water to soil, by mud landfill. Similar examples may be found in the waste management, agriculture and other sectors of socioeconomic activity. Prof. Radu Rey presented, in the conclusion of the morning session, the economy of mountains as integrated part of green economy, on the basis of its low level of GHG emissions, cattle and sheep pasturing activity that is not competing with cereals and other food stuff production, very low ecologic footprint and above average landscape and biodiversity value. He argued that the Romanian Mountains are being in a continuous degradation of the landscape and economy, due to agriculture abandonment, migration from mountains/rural areas to cities, lack of cash and investments, unfavourable institutional framework, protectionist policies with regard to milk production, insufficient subsidies for the unfavoured regions in the mountains, lack of dedicated research and others. Addressing the needs of the Mountains should therefore represent an important avenue of transition to the desired green economy. *** The last session of the Event commenced with a brief introduction by Ms. Luminita Ghita on its scope and structure, followed by a short intervention by Mr. Doru Leonard Irimie, Programme Assistant UNDP Romania, highlighting the ongoing projects and activities of the Country Office which are responding to the sustainable development issues referred to before, emphasising those related to environmental sustainability. The discussions within this session concentrated on the presentations and interventions made in the morning sessions, and consisted of substantive comments and exchanges with regard to the main developmental issues in the national, European and international agenda. The main conclusions drawn out of the ensuing discussions are summarised as follows:
The sustainable development is not a mere slogan but a guiding principle for political and economic thought, and there is a continuous need to further define and operationalize the concept. This can be supported by a working group consisting of representatives from Academia, research and education, which can develop models and scenarios of action for the national implementation of sustainable development objectives; In addition to the working group, there is need of a forum of debate on specific themes related to sustainable development, which will include the Academia, research institutes, governmental institutions, and civil society organisations; Green Economy concept should be regarded as prerequisite for the stimulation of sustainable consumption and investments in technologies with reduced ecologic footprint, which is not detrimental to socio-economic development; The Implementation of the objectives adopted through the National Strategy for Sustainable Development should become a governance priority, and the follow-up on this needs to be achieved by means of relevant, traceable criteria and indicators; The national strategy and policies for sustainable development should concentrate on the avenues that limit the impacts of anthropogenic actions, and that sustainable patterns of production and consumption may concentrate on renewable resources, such as flora and fauna and capitalize on the humankind. As such, Romania should invest in the restoration and consolidation of its natural capital and restructure the fluxes of resources; The representation of Romania to the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in June 2012 should support and strengthen its active role in this political process at the global level.
Annex ECONOMIA VERDE NOUA PROVOCARE A LUMII CONTEMPORANE Conferință națională pe temele Conferinței ONU privind Dezvoltarea Durabilă (Rio+20) Bucureşti, Casa ONU (Bd. Primăverii 48 A) 22 noiembrie 2011 - Concept paper - După 20 de ani de la Summit-ul Pământului ( Conferinţa ONU privind Mediul şi Dezvoltarea ) de la Rio de Janeiro (1992), când au fost stabilite principiile de bază pentru includerea în ecuaţia dezvoltării, pe lângă aspectele economice şi sociale, a problematicii mediului comunitatea internaţională pregăteşte anul viitor (4-6 iunie 2012), tot la Rio, o nouă conferinţă la nivel înalt - cu participarea şefilor de stat şi de guverne pentru a evalua progresele înregistrate până în prezent în atingerea obiectivelor de dezvoltare durabilă şi pentru a decide asupra liniilor viitoare pe care omenirea trebuie să le urmeze pentru a veni în întâmpinarea noilor provocări. Cele două teme ale Conferinţei Rio+20 sunt: (a) Economia verde în contextul dezvoltării durabile şi a eradicării sărăciei; (b) Cadrul instituţional pentru dezvoltare durabilă. Noul concept privind Economia verde este amplu dezbătut în plan internaţional., În 2009, OECD a lansat iniţiativa Green Growth ; în februarie 2011 Programul Naţiunilor Unite pentru Mediu a lansat raportul Green Economy ; în martie 2011, Comisia Europeană a lansat Foaia de parcurs pentru trecerea la o economie competitivă scăzută în emisii de carbon, orizont 2050, iar în iunie 2011, a publicat Comunicarea privind Rio+20,; cel mai recent, pe 10 octombrie 2011, Consiliul Uniunii Europene a adoptat concluziile privind Rio+20: către asigurarea unei dezvoltări durabile prin înverzirea economiei și îmbunătăţirea guvernanţei. Dezvoltarea, de către statele parte la acordurile internaţionale de mediu, a strategiilor de dezvoltare bazate pe amprentă redusă de carbon, (low emission climate resilient development strategies LECRDS), reprezintă una din condiţiile pentru tranziţia spre economia verde şi dezvoltarea durabilă. Aceasta va implica, în principal, dezvoltarea socio-economică care să includă şi categoriile sociale marginalizate, identificarea tehnologiilor pentru înlocuirea resurselor naturale convenţionale şi o mai bună producţie şi utilizare a bunurilor bazate tocmai pe aceste resurse. Pornind de la prezentarea conceptelor dezbătute pe plan internaţional, evenimentul va cuprinde o dezbatere, o analiză pragmatică asupra a ceea ce poate oferi România, în mod specific,conferinţei Rio+20, experienţele naţionale în domeniu, dar şi paşii concreţi de acţiune în domeniul dezvoltării durabile în perioada imediat următoare.
Pe lângă discuţiile care vor fi sintetizate într-un document de sinteză, evenimentul îşi propune constituirea unui Consiliu Naţional pentru Economie Verde, sub directa coordonare a ministrului mediului şi pădurilor, reunind reprezentanţi ai instituţiilor publice, mediului universitar, mediului de afaceri, organizaţiilor neguvernamentale/societăţii civile, mass media, ca principal for de consultare în domeniul politicii de mediu şi dezvoltare durabilă din România. Premisele dezbaterii: România are o Strategie Naţională pentru Dezvoltare Durabilă orizont 2030 (SNDD), elaborată în cadrul unui proiect implementat în colaborare cu UNDP în anul 2008, ce oferă o viziune de dezvoltare pe termen lung. Aceasta este menţionată în actualul Program de Guvernare ca direcţie de acţiune prioritară la capitolul privind protecţia mediului, însă încă nu a fost iniţiat un proces coordonat de implementarea acestei Strategii. Unul dintre obstacolele în implementare l-a reprezentat criza economică apărută imediat după adoptarea Strategiei, iar limitările provocate de aceasta nu au fost incluse în Strategie, astfel încât unele obiective şi ţinte vor trebui revizuite conform noilor realităţi. În 2010, Institutul Naţional de Statistică a finalizat elaborarea primului set naţional de indicatori de dezvoltare durabilă care vor monitoriza obiectivele din SNDD, în prezent fiind în derulare un proiect privind implementarea indicatorilor de dezvoltare durabila la nivel teritorial-local. România, prin ministrul mediului şi pădurilor, a deţinut anul trecut funcţia celui mai înalt for internaţional de dezvoltare durabilă - Comisia ONU pentru Dezvoltare Durabilă (UN-CSD), organism însărcinat cu urmărirea modului de implementare a Agendei 21. În ciuda dificultăţilor întâmpinate în negocierile pe documentele supuse dezbaterii, în cadrul acestei sesiuni s-a obţinut un consens asupra unor capitole importante printre care Cadrul decenal al programelor privind Consumul şi producţia durabile, acesta reprezentând structura de bază pe care se poate construi o economie verde. Experienţa în negocierile internaţionale în domeniul dezvoltării durabile, al lidershipului de nivel înalt de care a dat dovadă ministrul român, vor fi valorificate în continuare, România putând fi o voce puternică din partea regiunii în negocierile privind Summit-ul Rio+20. Ca Preşedinte CSD19, ministrul mediului şi pădurilor se poate implica în apropierea punctelor de vedere divergente privind Rio+20, atât din capitală prin întâlniri cu ambasadori şi alte părţi implicate, dar şi la evenimentele internaţionale la care participă. Temele conferinţei fiind centrate pe temele Conferinţei Rio+20 Economia verde în contextul dezvoltării durabile și eradicării sărăciei și Cadrul instituţional pentru dezvoltare durabilă, Conferinţa va fi deschisă de Ministrul Mediului și Pădurilor, Ministrul Afacerilor Externe, Ministrul Muncii, Familiei şi Protecţiei Sociale, Ministrul Dezvoltării Regionale şi Turismului, Reprezentantul Rezident PNUD România. Vor participa reprezentanţi ai instituţiilor publice, misiunilor diplomatice, mediului de afaceri, organizaţiilor neguvernamentale /reprezentanţi ai societăţii civile, învăţământului superior-mediului academic, şi nu în ultimul rând mass media.
ECONOMIA VERDE NOUA PROVOCARE A LUMII CONTEMPORANE Conferință națională pe temele Conferinței ONU privind Dezvoltarea Durabilă (Rio+20) Bucureşti, Casa ONU (Bd. Primăverii 48 A) 22 noiembrie 2011 - Agenda - 09.30 10.00 Înregistrarea participanţilor la conferinţă, cafea. 10.00 10:30 Alocuţiuni László Borbély, Ministrul Mediului și Pădurilor, Yesim Oruc, Reprezentant Rezident PNUD România Cosmin Boiangiu, Director DONUISF, Ministerul Afacerilor Externe Călin Georgescu, Expert dezvoltare durabilă, Directorul CNDD Silvian Ionescu, Comisar General Garda de Mediu 10:30-10:45 Conferinţă de Presă 11:00 13:00 Prezentarea premiselor dezbaterii Luminiţa Ghiţă, coordonator Compartiment Politici și Strategii pentru Dezvoltare Durabilă, Ministerul Mediului și Pădurilor Dezvoltarea durabilă - Prof. Univ. Dr. Angheluţă Vădineanu, Universitatea București Economia ecologică/verde - Prof. Univ. Dr. Costel Negrei, Academia de Studii Economice Consideraţii asupra consumului ecologic din România Dr. Mariana Stanciu, Coordonatorul Programului Modele de Consum, Institutul de Cercetare a Calităţii Vieţii al Academiei Române Aplicarea analizei ciclului de viaţă în economia verde - Prof Univ. Dr. Vladimir Rojanschi, Universitatea Ecologică Bucureşti Dezvoltarea durabilă a zonelor montane o provocare a secolului XXI Prof. Univ. Dr. Radu Rey, Președintele Forumului Montan din România 13.30 13:30 Buffet 13:30 14:50 Dezbatere. Moderator Luminiţa Ghiţă, Ministerul Mediului și Pădurilor 14:50 15:00 Concluziile Conferinţei - Prof. Univ. Dr. Costel Negrei, Prof. Univ. Dr. Angheluţă Vădineanu, Luminiţa Ghiţă