African Economic Conference Opens with Call for Green Growth in African Countries

By Staff Writer

Addis Ababa- - United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, said building green economies in Africa will be an important element in preserving the environment and humanity’s common heritage.

Mr. Janneh made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the African Economic Conference on Tuesday 25th October in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The four-day conference is an annual event organised by ECA, in collaboration with the African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.

The opening ceremony, which was chaired by Mr. Emmanuel Nnadozie, director of ECA’s Economic Development and NEPAD Division; was also addressed by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Meles Zenawi, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr. Jean Ping and the director of UNDP’s regional bureau for Africa, Mr. Tegegnework Getu.

Mr. Janneh defined the green economy as improving economic and social wellbeing while ensuring that production processes and consumption patterns do not further damage the environment.

“It is now evident to all concerned that mankind needs to move from old resource-intense methods of growth in which progress has been at the expense of the environment to one in which productivity is boosted by using and managing natural resources more efficiently and effectively,” he said.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Meles Zenawi, stressed that green growth is of utmost importance to Africa due to its abundant renewable energy sources. He said that since African economies are largely agrarian-based, any action on green growth must first target the agriculture sector.

“The main reason why we have to embark on such a green path of agricultural development is because that is the only way we can sustain a meaningful agricultural sector in the current global environment and because that is the only means we have to preserve the source base of our agriculture so that we can then transform it,” he said.

He also stated that structural transformation can only take place with a massive increase the production of energy in Africa, from renewable sources. And added that Ethiopia had already embarked on such a programme, that will increase energy generation five-fold in the next five years.

“By 2025, when we expect to be a middle-income country, we will have close to zero net emissions of carbon in our economy,” he said.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr. Jean Ping, said the theme of the meeting was very timely and will help Africa’s preparations for the CoP17 negotiations later this year in Durban, South Africa; and the Rio + 20 meeting in Brazil in June 2012.

Mr. Ping quoted the famous political economist, Thomas Malthus, who once said: “The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.” He made it clear that he was not a Malthusian, and said green economic growth would be the solution to population pressures.

He also noted that the 2011 Economic Report on Africa, jointly published by the African Union Commission and the Economic Commission for Africa, calls on the state to intervene in economic activities to guide development, and said the developmental state would be central to progress in Africa.

In his remarks, Mr. Tegegnework Getu of UNDP noted that although African countries had achieved impressive growth rates in recent years, this had not led to a significant improvement in the lives of Africans. This therefore calls for a new economic development model such as green growth.

“African countries must achieve much-needed advances in human development without replicating the unsustainable practices of those already there. And they need to improve the utilisation of their natural resources, including the new discoveries of minerals and hydro-carbons, such that critical environmental systems functions that are preserved and so that the human development of current and future generations is maximised,” Mr. Getu said.

Mthuli Ncube, Vice President and Chief Economist of the African Development Bank, pointed to the difficulties that the global economy is currently facing and the dangers this can pose to African economic prospects. He said African policy-makers therefore have a responsibility to manage African economies to shield it against external shocks and to promote global growth.

He said the continent also needs to access more funds available for climate change adaptation and called for the creation of a climate change fund that is specific to Africa.

“This African Green Fund, as we are calling it, would provide the financial leverage that is needed if we are to develop a low–carbon and climate13 resilient economy in Africa,” he said.