Future Perfect

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Green growth: the way to

achieve sustainable development

Young-sook Yoo, Minister of Environment, Republic of Korea

t is a common aspiration for all humanity to lead a happy

life. There are many elements that determine one’s happi-

ness, but of all things, creating a life of material sufficiency

is crucial. Humanity has pursued development and growth to

secure material prosperity, resulting in mass production and

excessive consumption. Economic growth during the 1970s

relied upon the use of fossil fuels, and the increase of green-

house gases in the atmosphere due to human activities further

led to the destruction of the ecosystem.

In 1992, leaders across the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to

come up with an all-round solution to address the major challenges

that humanity faces. In pursuit of a prosperous and sustainable

future, they adopted a strategy of sustainable development, which

encompasses economic development, environmental preservation

and social integration.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development

(Rio+20), which will be held in Rio in 2012, 20 years after the

Rio Summit, bears extremely meaningful significance as it looks

back on our past footpath, as well as looking ahead to our future

journey towards global sustainable development. If we are to make

significant progress, the whole of humanity needs to join this move

to safeguard our precious planet. If there are shortcomings in our

efforts, we would certainly need to do more to make up for them.

After the mid-1990s, developing countries underwent rapid

economic growth, and we witnessed vast international agreements

being signed in the areas of climate change, biodiversity,

and anti-desertification. Yet we still have a long way to

go. People across the world are still struggling to make

ends meet, and the challenges of climate change and

resource scarcity are adding to such difficulties. Recently,

extreme weather conditions as well as frequent droughts

and floods across the world are threatening the survival

of humanity. This is especially true for the poor and the

vulnerable in developing countries. Last winter saw very

unusual cold weather and heavy snowfall around the

world. China recently suffered the worst drought in 50

years, which is likely to hurt its crop production.

At a time when the international oil price has soared

to well over US$100 a barrel, a continuous rise in energy

prices not only puts a huge burden on production, but

also hampers consumption. Needless to say, the damage

is especially profound on the poor and vulnerable.

Today, environmental disasters and economic crises

are not challenges confined to a single country. They

are global phenomena, and need to be tackled by both

advanced and developing countries.

The main agenda for Rio+20 is ‘Green Economy in

the context of Sustainable Development and Poverty

Eradication’. This is a very important point for discus-

sion in dealing with the environmental, economic and

social challenges of today and tomorrow, and in achiev-

ing the goal of sustainable development. According

to the 2011 Green Economy report from the United

Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), green

economy refers to a low-carbon, resource-efficient,

socially integrated economy. It is an economy that deals

with environmental risks and bioresources scarcity, and

improves social equity. At the same time, it contributes

to poverty eradication through investment and innova-

tion in the environmental sector.

There is no single set of rules for implementing a green

economy. Each country needs to set its own strategy, taking

into account its socioeconomic conditions and national

priorities. And each of these national green economy strat-

egies must be able to create synergies to achieve the ultimate

goal of global sustainable development.

Korea has made tireless efforts to achieve sustainable

development and a green economy. Since the middle of

the twentieth century, Korea has achieved remarkable

economic growth and democracy through a system-

atic economic development plan. Since President Lee

ustainability

olicies

, P

rogrammes

and

their

conomic

mpact

Green Card encourages people to become greener in their daily lives. President Lee

became the first Green Card holder

Image: Min of Env. Rep of Korea