Achim Steiner discusses UNEP’s work including on Green Economy and Sustainable Consumption and Production (Interview)

Image

International Innovation – Research Media Ltd

Cultivating awareness of Nature’s fundamental importance and the urgency with which its management must be dramatically improved is at the forefront of UNEP’s work. Achim Steiner highlights some of the Programme’s recent developments in its unrelenting quest to draw parallels between ecology and the economy, paving the way towards a greener future

 Could you offer a brief summary of your main duties within the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and explain what inspired your involvement?

It is my responsibility to manage the institution; advocate for environmental sustainability; support the aims and aspirations of the UN Secretary-General; and provide creativity, solutions and leadership within and beyond UNEP on the environmental opportunities and challenges of our time.

Working in countries such as Pakistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe in my early career, I was confronted with the fundamental disconnect between poverty, environment and economics. Ensuring environmentalists are more economically savvy, and economists understand the value of Nature and the externalities of many modern production and development processes, have been among the key drivers of my career.

Achieving sustainable patterns of consumption and production, as discussed at Rio+20, is of paramount importance. How is UNEP contributing to meeting the requirements of sustainable development and the delivery of ‘The Future We Want’?

UNEP was given the green light to host the secretariat of the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP), with themes ranging from consumer awareness and sustainable procurement to sustainable lifestyles and education. In the past 12 months, we have set up some key administrative requirements, including establishing an online clearinghouse for initiatives.

In support of the agri-food theme of the 10YFP, UNEP and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN, launched a campaign called Think. Eat. Save: Reduce Your Foodprint! (TES). The aim is to build global awareness of the absurdity that at least one-third of all food produced never makes it from the farm to the fork. This is emblematic of unsustainable production and consumption and is an ethical, economic and also environmental issue given the amount of land cleared, water used, forests lost and emissions caused by the sheer scale of food waste and loss. The TES campaign is mobilising governments, business, cities and communities everywhere, and will shortly evolve into guidelines that will assist countries and citizens in learning how best to scale-down their ‘foodprint’.

We are also working on the EU’s Food Use for Social Innovation by Optimising Waste Prevention Strategies (Fusions) initiative, which has similar resource efficiency aims and gains.

This is an excerpt from a longer discussion published in International Innovation. To access the interview in full, go to: http://www.research-europe.com/magazine/ENVIRONMENT/ENV20/index.html (pp. 6-8)