The Tunza International Conference for Children and Young was recently held at Bandung, Indonesia. The conference was attended by over 1,400 young participants. The opening day of conference focused on the subject of global Green Economy. It was claimed that it is highly essential to bridge the skills gap among young people through improved education and training in order to deliver a global Green Economy.
About 40 percent of the world’s unemployed people today are in the age group of 15 and 24. The population of such young unemployed persons is over 80 million. According to the latest estimates, more than 36 million of them live in Asia and the Pacific.
Accessing “Green Jobs”—that are good for the environment and good for business — will be critical for achieving sustainable development goals ranging from eradicating poverty to accelerated growth in sectors such as sustainable agriculture to renewable energies, which are also part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Indonesia could become a model on how to achieve broad sustainability goals that include ‘green jobs’ for young people as a result of a new initiative with the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The initiative, which is getting underway, has been inspired by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of Indonesia, during his address to the 100th session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva in June 2011.
“In Indonesia, we intend to advance a national green skills development strategy. We plan to pursue a decentralized youth apprenticeship programme for green jobs and take measures to foster entrepreneurship and self employment in the green sector,” he said.
The initiative builds on new research by UNEP and the ILO that indicates that while jobs in high-emission ‘brown’ industries, or in currently unsustainable sectors such as many of the world’s fisheries, will be redefined and some of them lost in the transition to a Green Economy, millions of new ‘green’ jobs will be catalyzed to support sustainable agriculture, construction, energy, forestry, tourism, transportation and waste management and recycling sectors.
However, the educational and vocational training that will prepare youth for these jobs and bring the skills needed to grow sustainable economic sectors is currently inadequate, new research by the ILO shows.
“From Asia to the Middle East and Europe, and from North America to Latin America and the small island developing states, the issue of youth employment is emerging as a challenge to the global economy and to social stability in countries and communities. Some governments are now factoring youth into green employment and green development strategies and launching the vital green entrepreneurial initiative as well as education and skills initiatives to support this,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director.
“The Rio+20 meeting in June next year represents a central opportunity to adopt far more wide-ranging policies and smart instruments to scale-up and accelerate such transitions. The Bandung Declaration at this week’s conference offers a moment and a vehicle for the children and youth to send a clear and unequivocal message to world leaders meeting 20 years after the Rio Earth Summit that this is what they want and the future they deserve,” he added.
There are already a growing number of new or redefined jobs in the transition to the Green Economy. While some need engineering and technical skills in new green technologies like ‘hybrid’ car engines, solar panels, or LED lighting, others simply require retraining in more sustainable industries such as organic farming, biomass or green construction.
The report is the first comprehensive and authoritative overview which addresses the complexity and policy relevance of global environmental challenges and employment.
