The Panel

According to the sustainable development discourse, nature and human wellbeing are at stake. In this context, green jobs turn up as pivotal policy implementation of the Green Economy, promising decent work with dignity and honor. Thus, green jobs and decent working conditions are on the table at Rio+20. The roundtable program “Decent Work and Social Protection Floors for Sustainable Development”, organized by ILO, IMF and UNEP, addresses social inclusion and social dialogue for greener, fairer and more sustainable job opportunities. ILO defines green jobs as jobs that reduce the environmental impact of enterprises and the economic sectors, ultimately to reach sustainable degrees.

In the Green Economy, social behaviors and economic patterns have to be set on an eco-friendly pathway. However, countries are already suffering from economic crises and as a consequence struggle with rising underemployment or unemployment, especially in relation to booming population growth. Therefore, it is a challenging moment to both put nature conservation as well as job demand into consideration. ILO and other UN agencies, with the patronage of member states, are working to establish the policy dialogue to alleviate current economic and social burdens and to improve environmental protection. Therefore, these actors are actively promoting investment in “green” economic activities, building up skills for green jobs, and enhancing speed of the green transformation.

The panel was represented by high level delegations from UN agencies and governments. The Director General of ILO, Juan Somavia, pointed out the Rio+20 commitment to decent work under green economic conditions. In order to reach this, an empowering social dialogue in the policy arena is most important to creating an integrated policy discussion on a national level.

H.E Heikki Holmås, who is the Minister of International Development of Norway, emphasized that there was a significant growth of inequalities within the last 20 years. Thus, increase of economic growth is not widening up the imbalance among people. He further showed that multinational companies and developed countries have moved production to developing countries labor markets because of low taxation and low wage conditions there. This is a really pathetic situation which creates non-decent work conditions and leads to poverty.

H.E Tereza Campello explained that Brazil, as an emerging economy, has identified the social and economic issues in greening its job market. By introducing progressive social initiatives, Brazil has introduced a social security network aimed at promoting decent work condition. Brazil has a high Gini-coefficient. Therefore, it is the target to overcome social inequalities and implement social inclusiveness to a higher degree.

Achim Steiner, the UNEP Executive Director, pointed out that green jobs should not be equated with people working in recycling or waste separation areas, without any hygiene instructions and with their bare hands. He added that children and women are toiling as slave laborers in many waste separation facilities in a number of countries. This is a disgusting situation. Therefore governments are to be more vigilant to ensure dignified working conditions in the job market. He finally pointed out that implementation of “energy for all” does not include the fossil fuel energy industry. Countries have to move towards renewable energy production while abolishing without fossil fuel subsidies.

Zhu Min, who is the Deputy Managing Director of IMF, emphasized that improving education is the drive for establishing green and decent works in the future.

In the panel discussion, participants of the roundtable discussion presented some important points, namely the need to

1. Establishing decent working condition in fishing industry
2. Promoting fair and decent working condition for women in the agricultural sector