South-South Cooperation for
Green Development and Green Jobs
 

Development issues in developing countries span the full spectrum of environmental, social and economic fields and each one is seldom unique to one place. Problems of lack of shelter, water shortage, soil degradation and unemployment - to name but a few - are common to a more or lesser extent throughout the developing world. What better partners, therefore, to cooperate with in tackling these issues than other countries who find themselves in the same situation and are striving for the same outcomes? Sharing of experiences and solutions from different parts of the global south that are relevant to the development context of poorer countries is an invaluable source of information for policy makers, civil society and empowered individuals alike.

The idea of actively promoting South-South Cooperation is not new; as far back as 1979, the United Nations established the unit for south-south cooperation. However, as UNIDO (2009) notes, the ‘traditional model has now evolved into a more dynamic one’, where relationships between countries of the global South have widened and deepened and their economies have become interdependent more than any point in the past. This interdependency brings with it not only an added scope for cooperation on matters such as trade but also added responsibility to ensure that all countries benefit and develop in an equitable and sustainable way.

The ‘Green’ Agenda

Two of the most impending issues of the present and no doubt the foreseeable future are environmental degradation, especially the releasing of greenhouse gases causing climate change; and persistent, widespread poverty due to insufficient income and high levels of unemployment. There is an enormous international need to address both of these issues simultaneously. This has resulted in the emergence of urgent calls for a ‘Green New Deal’ to instigate the evolution to a global ‘Green Economy’, one which protects and restores environmental quality while providing decent and dignified work for all. This would be a marked shift away from current economic trends that tend to cause environmental degradation and exclusion of the marginalised from the formal economy. Essentially, so-called ‘Green Jobs’ in sectors such as waste recycling, energy efficient buildings and small-scale renewable energy projects are viewed by many as having the potential to bring millions from developing countries out of poverty while simultaneously performing important environmental and social benefits.

However, one very significant impediment standing in the way of widespread green development in the developing world is lack of investment in and access to appropriate green technology. This is where better South-South Cooperation could reap dividends.

Sharing Green Solutions

Technology is a key aspect of successful green development in developing countries but it should also be appropriate to the circumstances for which it is intended; high tech and expensive green technology solutions from developed countries rarely fall into this bracket. They are useful for large-scale projects with a high technical content but these do little to fulfil the aim of creating large numbers of green jobs. Moreover, the jobs created are highly skilled and do nothing to alleviate poverty or provide decent work to poor people who would not otherwise have it. Prime examples of these low employment, high tech solutions are demonstrated in the majority of projects implemented under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, an international scheme to encourage green development and participation in climate change mitigation in poorer countries. Of the 1500 or so projects validated so far, 877 are considered large scale and of the remaining small-scale projects; 225 are in hydroelectric power, a highly skilled employment sector (IGES, 2009). The nature of these projects means that not only is there negligible green job generation where the projects are feasible, but also that some smaller countries are excluded altogether because they don’t have the capacity to accommodate investments of this scale.

So, the evidence shows that the South cannot and should not rely on the North for the green solutions that are required to prevent global social and environment catastrophe. Therefore, the answer lies in South-South Cooperation to facilitate the generation and dissemination of suitable green technology. Indeed, the ILO and UNEP (2008) recognise that ‘south-south cooperation can play a major role in transferring proven technology and know how about implementation’. But then, cooperation towards green development can play a much more fundamental role in establishing solidarity and collaboration between nations with mutual interests because, in the long run, only this will empower the South to help itself tackle the challenges that lie ahead.

Green Leaders

Larger countries in the developing world will need to be the leaders in this cooperation as these are the countries that have the capacity and resources to make change happen. China and India in Asia, South Africa in Africa and Brazil in Latin America should lead the green development of their respective regions and also cooperate among themselves on issues of trade and investment in environmental products and services. This leadership should span all levels - including government, civil society, academia and the private sector - in order to facilitate the empowerment of all developing countries to adopt green development as an effective strategy.

Not only is the technology produced in these larger developing countries cheaper than that produced in developed countries - thus more affordable for fellow developing countries - it is also appropriate to the skill levels and economic conditions of other developing countries because it was designed and shaped to meet similar skills and conditions.

The South-South Cooperation with a strong leadership can also help towards widespread green development and green jobs through collective and determined policy advocacy at international negotiations. When the content of the successor to the Kyoto Protocol is debated, a strong alliance of developing countries will help to create an alternative Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that encourages investment in the types of small-scale, high employment sectors that can perform the duel environmental and social functions involved in true green development. This would constitute what could be hailed as a ‘Green’ Development Mechanism, based on certified green jobs created as well as Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) achieved.

The technology is out there, all that stands in the way is cooperation and the will to succeed. After all, the difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems. q

David Wright
david.wright1985@hotmail.com

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