On Monday, February 21, the Minister of the MARM participated in the presentation of the report “Towards a green economy. Guide for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication”.

The appointment of Rosa Aguilar, Minister of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs (MARM) of Spain, as President of the Board of Directors and the World Forum of Ministers of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), took place on the morning of Monday, February 21, in Nairobi (Kenya).

Hours later, a press conference was held in which the report “Towards a green economy. Guide for sustainable development and poverty eradication”, in which he participated together with the executive director of UNEP, Achim Steiner. During her speech, the minister assured that in Spain the green economy means new opportunities from environmental, economic and social sustainability, since it absorbs 2.2 percent of employment, represents 2.4 percent of GDP at market prices and, therefore, is synonymous with sustainable development.

For Aguilar, this report is a “valuable tool” to extend the green economy around the world and confirms the need to articulate measures such as those proposed in the Sustainable Economy Law approved in Spain. On this point, the minister explained that this law marks the way for a “sustainable, stable and efficient” energy model and highlighted the fact that Spain has achieved an improvement in its energy intensity of 14.4 percent in the last six years and a reduction of more than 20 points in greenhouse gas emissions.

In the same way, Aguilar has assured that the Law proposes a series of reforms in the field of transport and sustainable mobility, promoting a transformation of the transport sector to increase its economic and environmental efficiency and competitiveness. “It establishes as principles of sustainable mobility policy,” he added, “the promotion of means of transport with lower social, environmental and energy costs”.

The head of the MARM has assured that the green economy in Spain also involves being more efficient in the consumption of natural resources and in the generation of waste. In this area, he stressed that a new Waste Law is being drafted in Spain that will update and modernise the regulation and incorporate new developments on plastic bags and environmental information, among other aspects. In this context, he also cited the National Plan for the Reuse of Reclaimed Water and Modernization of Irrigation in which the Ministry is working and the Empleaverde program, an instrument of the Biodiversity Foundation for the improvement of employment and the environment.

ENSURING CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION

In her declaration of acceptance of the presidency of the Governing Council and the Global Forum of Ministers of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for the next two years, Rosa Aguilar has pledged to work to ensure an “effective participation of civil society” in UNEP’s decision-making areas. what it is the main body within the United Nations system for the environment and its mission is “to direct and encourage participation in the care of the environment by inspiring, informing and giving nations and peoples the means to improve the quality of life without putting at risk those of future generations”.

In this context, Rosa Aguilar defended the need to “bring the notion of the environment as something intrinsically linked to the most intimate sphere, to life, to the rights and freedoms of the human being, to public opinion”. Along these lines, Aguilar considered that the best way to facilitate this rapprochement is “to guarantee the effective participation of civil society, in particular, NGOs, trade unions and young people are essential to win the future”. She also considered the participation of the private sector to be essential, while stressing the role of women and strengthening gender equality.

It is in this context that the minister underlined the important role that UNEP “can and should play” in the debates of the next United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in 2012, a horizon for which it will be especially important to advance in the debates already initiated on environmental governance and the green economy. The new meeting in Rio de Janeiro will be held 20 years after world leaders met in the Brazilian city to discuss the concept and implications of “sustainable development.”

With the good results in 2010 of the work at the Nagoya and Cancun summits on biodiversity and climate change, the MARM minister considered that the Nairobi meeting is presented as an “opportunity to be taken advantage of to show that it is possible to build a system of governance on global issues”.

Until 24 February, UNEP’s Governing Council and Global Ministers’ Forum will hold its 26th session in Nairobi to discuss the green economy and international environmental governance, while also developing its input to the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development.

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