During June, Environment Month in South Africa, PAGE participated in two key national events – Sustainability Week and the Sustainable Industrialisation Forum. These events provided opportunities to reinforce institutional collaboration for improved green economy analysis and implementation, and to share the work of PAGE in the country.
PAGE was one of 40 exhibitors at Sustainability Week, South Africa’s key sustainability platform devised as a multi-sectoral and cross-cutting forum for knowledge exchange, which was held at the CSIR International Convention Centre 13 – 15 June 2017. The event is reported to have attracted more than 1000 delegates and featured over 23 sustainability-oriented events. The PAGE exhibition presented key information through reports and videos, as well as a PAGE South Africa country brochure shared with delegates.
The exhibition brought together a broad range of stakeholders from public sector institutions, the private sector, and civil society, both from South Africa and other African countries. There was a marked interest in PAGE as an inter-agency UN programme, as well as in the country assessment, training, and capacity building opportunities PAGE provides. While a great opportunity to showcase the work of PAGE in South Africa, interactions at Sustainability Week also highlighted the need to expand communication around the work of PAGE in South Africa.
Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS), in partnership with the South African Research Chair in Industrial Development, based at the University of Johannesburg, and in association with the Green Economy Coalition (GEC), convened its 2017 Annual Forum from 13-14 June 2017 under the theme, Industrialisation and Sustainable Growth. The Forum is a platform for researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders to present research and engage in dialogue on policy-relevant issues.
The event, hosted at the Development Bank of Southern Africa, attracted more than 170 delegates from government, business, civil society, labour, research and academia and included high-level representation from the Department of Trade and Industry. During the programme, there were two presentations which shared findings of the South Africa Green Economy Industry and Trade Assessment (SA-GEITA), being undertaken by TIPS under the auspices of PAGE.
TIPS researcher, Christopher Wood delivered a presentation entitled, A Green Industry and Trade Analysis for South Africa while Bhavna Deonarain and Kelello Mashiane from TIPS drew on the SA-GEITA for their presentation, Transforming South Africa’s Transport Sector for Sustainable Development.
Both presentations gathered interest and delegates requested access to the SA-GEITA once completed. There was also an affirmation from the audience that the level of green technological and industrial change presented an opportunity for expanding South Africa’s technical base for manufacturing green goods, and that the assessment assisted in identifying opportunities for developing priority green industrial segments.