The Alpine Convention published the 6th Report on the State of the Alps on “Greening the economy in the Alpine region”. The Report identifies the opportunities, benefits and challenges for the development of a Green Economy in the Alpine area and how it can benefit the Alpine region and actors.
A Green Economy is defined as “an instrument to achieve sustainable development”. According to the report, the objective of greening the economy is to “avoid environmental damage by internalising external costs of environmental pollution”. By achieving a Green Economy, and so by reducing emissions from agriculture, transport, energy and industry sectors, the health and well-being of the residents could improve.
To achieve a Green Economy in the Alpine area, the implementation of policies and instruments that encourage sustainable production and consumption models is needed. These measures should, for instance, focus on the reduction of Greenhouse Gas, support the creation of new green jobs or promote the resource efficiency measures.
In addition, the Alpine Convention report presents 9 recommendations for a Green Economy in the region, including the importance to consider ecosystems and biodiversity as an economic asset and the necessity to turn the Alpine area into a resource-efficient, circular and cost-effective economy. Euromontana also considers that these points are important for the sustainable development of mountain areas. Euromontana organised, last year, a Workshop on ‘Innovation and Circular Economy in Mountain Forest Supply Chain’ and is currently involved in the European Project, Pegasus, on Public Ecosystem Goods and Services.
To implement these recommendations, the Alpine Convention is preparing an Action Programme for a Green Economy in the Alpine region by 2018, which will include the Report recommendations and involve stakeholders in the Alpine Convention area.
To read the Alpine Convention Report, click here
24 July 2017
