Colombian magazine Dinero interviewed EfD Senior Researcher Francisco Alpizar about Green Growth as the New Key to Global Development, with a special focus on Colombia.
‘When we talk about natural resources, I think that Colombia's main problem is a decreasing forest cover and more recently, that the ongoing peace process is being associated with increases in the rate of deforestation’ says Alpízar.
According to Alpizar, the Colombians love for their country can be used to design policies that have a behavior component. For example recycling in homes; reduce the use of private transport and more efficient using of water in both production and consumption are interventions that can make Colombians feel proud of their Country.
On the global scale, Alpízar highlighted that growth has brought us good things such as improved quality of life over the last 20 years, but it has come at an expense of very intensive use of natural resources and the environment.
This use was partly meaningful when the population of the planet was low. Now the use of natural resources and the production derived from them has a clear and strong impact on the planet, which several years ago, led the world leaders to rethink the dynamics of consumption.
This is where the concept of green growth was born, based on four fundamental pillars: efficient use of existing resources; sustainable use of natural resources; adapted growth to climate and inclusive growth.
Alpízar explains that production and growth cannot be called efficient when large amounts of emissions are generated, production is based on energies that are not clean, or fossil fuels and coal are not being used in the best possible way.
Dinero Magazine is a portal specialized in news of Economy, Financial News, Economic Indicators, Trade and Business in Colombia and the World.
To read the article clik here (Spanish only)