The Lima Declaration is outlining the country’s plans to promote environmental sustainability, decent jobs, poverty reduction and human well-being.
Emphasizing the link that will strengthen relations between the Peruvian State, international cooperation agencies , private enterprise and civil society, Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal and the Minister of Labour Ana Jara signed the Declaration “Towards a Green Economy with Growth,” which formalizes the start of the PAGE initiative in Peru.
With the presence of representatives of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), both Ministers stressed the importance of Peru being selected along with 29 other pilot countries to promote the transition to a green economy. The announcement was first made in March at a global Conference on the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), which was held in Dubai.
“We must recognize that the world, with initiatives such as PAGE, begins to harvest and consolidate a process of more than 40 years, which have generated incremental changes to be able to convince you that it is intrinsic to the development of sustainability resources,” said Minister Pulgar-Vidal. He noted that 25 years ago, the term Sustainable Development was first coined and today it is a concept increasingly rooted in both the public and private sector.
In turn, Minister Jara stressed that in the first year of operation, the PAGE initiative will seek to identify gaps and opportunities for learning, and to connect key sectors to the most appropriate partners to show the value of the green economy. “Peru has enjoyed high economic growth, but there are still ecological threats that can reverse these results,” she said. To avoid this happening, decent employment and retraining of job skills are needed, she said.
In conclusion, the Environment Minister recalled that the UN climate talks, set to take place later this year in Lima, will be a platform to promote this type of discussions. ” The climate issue is increasingly present as a result of the financial and economic crisis, which is also ideological . Therefore, PAGE opens the door to debate about what we should consider as green growth, and it is an element of our new vision for development as well, “he concluded.
As a designated PAGE country, Peru will be supported through four components: i ) applied research and knowledge creation ; ii ) policy dialogue with government officials and other high-level stakeholders; iii ) capacity building , education and training ; and iv ) advisory services to countries on issues of green economy.