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Greening

the world economy

Shaping a sustainable futureIUCN Programme 2009-2012

In recent years, the global economy has confronted many challenges; climate change, volatile food and fuel

markets, and the crumbling of the nancial system stand out as particularly daunting threats to the well-

being of societies around the world. The current vulnerability of human welfare can be interpreted as the

result of widespread application of an unsustainable model of economic development. As highlighted by the

recent crises, there is an urgent need to re-align our economies with the basic principles of sustainability

and to bring our political representatives and society at large to understand that true prosperity is only pos-

sible if economies effectively support and do not undermine environmental systems.

As is increasingly apparent from effects of climate change, the resilience of the global economy is funda-

mentally determined by environmental factors and the capacity of societies to understand, manage and

adapt to natural processes. Unfortunately, the full values of wild nature and the benets of sound environ-

mental management are still poorly recognized and largely excluded from economic thinking. An important

step in the transition to a more sustainable global economy is the fuller integration of ecosystem values in

economic policy, nance, and markets.

What do we do about it?

Armed with its unique combination of scientic expertise and convening power, IUCN has a critical role to

play in providing decision makers with the knowledge and tools needed to embark on the path towards

a greener economy. By reaching out to its broad constituency and mobilizing its membership, IUCN will

The IUCN Programme 2009-2012, Shaping a sustainable future, is articulated around one core programme area, Conserving biodiversity, and

four thematic programme areas: Changing the climate forecast, Naturally energizing the future, Managing ecosystems for human well-being and

Greening the world economy. It is entirely result-based for greater accountability and transparency.

International Union for Conservation of Nature

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International Union for Conservation of Nature

Greening the world economy

What more is needed?

In order to scale up its role in facilitating the transi-

tion to a more sustainable economy, an initial prior-

ity for IUCN is to enhance its in-house capacity to

inuence relevant policy processes and business

decisions. Internal capacity building goes hand-in-

hand with enhanced communication and coordina-

tion across the Union, to ensure that the conserva-

tion community is well-equipped to support the

greening of economic systems from local to global

levels.

It will be important to ensure that the knowledgegenerated across the Union is continually im-

proved. Thus, IUCN will work on developing and

rening appropriate tools, guidelines, and related

capacity building efforts. For instance, robust

sustainability standards in key economic sectors

such as tourism, agriculture, and extractives

need to be continually tested and rened. Moreo-

ver, IUCN will have a key role to play in pooling

experiences and reaching beyond specic industry

sectors to generate a more profound change in

current ways of doing business. The assessment of

the environmental implications of macro-economicpolicies and trends also needs to be supported

through the application of the appropriate and up-

to-date knowledge and analytical tools.

IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world nd pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and

development challenges. IUCN is the worlds oldest and largest global environmental network - a democratic membership union of more than

1000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries. programme@iucn.org.

www.iucn.org.

enhance the capacity of the conservation commu-

nity to effectively engage with and inuence eco-

nomic decisions and policies. These efforts will be

complemented by targeted interventions in a range

of key economic and business forums, such as

through the development of new green markets or

by engaging with leading companies.

What do we do about it?

Armed with its unique combination of scientic

expertise and convening power, IUCN has a critical

role to play in providing decision makers with the

knowledge and tools needed to embark on the path

towards a greener economy. By reaching out to its

broad constituency and mobilizing its membership,

IUCN will enhance the capacity of the conservationcommunity to effectively engage with and inuence

economic decisions and policies. These efforts will

be complemented by targeted interventions in a

range of key economic and business forums, such

as through the development of new green markets

or by engaging with leading companies.

What has been done so far?

With a leading role in The Economics of Ecosys-

tems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study, IUCN is at the

forefront of global efforts to generate knowledge

and raise awareness of the economic values ofwild nature. IUCNs work at the international level

also involves the identication and elaboration of

innovative opportunities, approaches, tools, and

sources of nancing for sustainable development.

Current work on a Green Development Mechanism

(GDM) and International Payments for Ecosystem

Services (IPES) are two examples of how IUCN is

playing a leading role in exploring the frontiers of

conservation nance.

Another example of relevant eld-based work is

found in Ghana, where IUCN is leading a collabora-tive process to develop standards for the sustain-

able management of the supply chain of an increas-

ingly important forest commodity: the Allanblackia

nut with the support of the State Secretariat for

Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO). The guid-

ance resulting from this project on the sustainable

exploitation of forest-based resources in the tropics

offers useful insights into the greening of trade and

markets.

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