Israel, ‘superpower of sustainability,’ shares its expertise in green economic
growth with 30 policy-makers from 20 countriesBy Avigayil Kadesh
Thirty senior government officials, NGO heads and private-sector executives
from 20 countries came to Israel this past summer to share ideas on how to grow
national economies without depleting natural resources. They were hosted by MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International
Development Cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The month-long course, “Green Economy – Policy Measures and Implementation
of Green Growth,” was held at the Weitz Center for Development Studies, one of the MASHAV extension centers in
Rehovot, and was co-sponsored by the World Bank Institute, the United Nations
Environment Program and UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization.
d professionals from
developing countries for training programs and visits to Israel or by sending
our experts to train people or implement projects in those countries in need. We
work with them to develop appropriate solutions according to their local needs
and challenges,” says Fluss.
Wei
tz Managing Director Adi Dishon says the course offered a unique
opportunity for policy-makers from Africa, Southeast Asia, China, India, Sri
Lanka, the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Europe to reap the benefits of
Israel’s experience, and each other’s, regarding sustainable development.
“Their disciplines are diverse because that’s the whole point of green
economy,” Dishon says. “The recent rebranding of environmental issues means
expanding the discussion from environmental officials to those involved in
economics and infrastructure.”
Green Economy, taught in English from July 22 to August 15, 2013, was
offered at the request of the United Nations, says Daniel Meron, head of the
Foreign Ministry’s Division for the United Nations and International
Organizations.
It comes down to empowerment
“Israel sees itself as an important player in promoting sustainability,
especially water-tech and agro-tech, and has been recognized as a ‘superpower of
sustainability’ by UN leaders,” Meron says. “We also are very involved in
putting together the UN’s new SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals].”
Participants attended lectures and on-site conferences, and met with
Israeli policy-makers and experts in relevant areas.
“Throughout the course, we touched upon many aspects of developing a
sustainable green economy, including innovative tools for agriculture and water
management, cutting-edge renewable energy technology, green building,
sustainable waste management, eco-tourism, corporate social responsibility, and
the utilization of green projects to engage all members of society,” says Weitz
Program Officer Jeremy Ben-Shalom.
UNIDO sent a speaker to talk about clean production, and the World Bank
contributed an e-learning course and a mentoring session on green economy. Also
included were lessons on public speaking and personal career
development.
“When you combine that with seeing how Bedouin settlements provide for the
basic needs of water, energy and waste, and then meeting with the mayor of
Ra’anana and hearing how it strives to be a sustainable city -- everything links
together and comes down to empowerment,” says Ben-Shalom.
“The whole goal was to empower the people, and in Israel, with our diverse
multicultural population, we feel we have something unique to offer and share
with other countries.”
More mouths to feed
Creating a shift towards a “green economy” entails promoting simultaneous
investments in new sectors and technologies as well as in human capital to
increase environmental knowledge and management.
“The previous economic assumption was that economic growth goes along with
a decrease in natural resources such as oil -- two graphs with a negative
correlation,” explains Dishon.
“Now the world is trying to achieve a decoupling of these trend lines, so
we can have continued economic growth while keeping resources constant. We have
more mouths to feed in the world, but we have to do this with the same quantity
of natural resources: fertilizers, land, water, energy.”
Israel’s own green growth strategy (“GG Plan”) for the years 2012 to 2023
was approved in October 2011 and aims to use past and future Israeli advances to
formulate green licensing policies, knowledge centers of green growth, green
procurement tenders, grants and assistance to green industrial plants, green
training for employment and support for eco-innovat
ion
Meron points out that Israel is the world’s leader in water re-use,
recycling and desalination, and has considerable innovation in forestry and
renewable energy. His Facebook page Green Israel, which brings the latest news from Israel on green
technologies and sustainable development, has close to 5,000 followers around
the world
.
Sharing expertise
“We are sharing our expertise,” says Meron. “One of the participants told
me that he goes to many places in the world where people try to teach them, but
this is the first country that is sharing rather than teaching. He appreciated
that.”
“Green growth is a rather new topic and agenda in the world,” says Dishon.
“At Weitz, we try to introduce new topics because the developing world needs to
keep up with trends as they confront their development challenges.”
Participants were chosen by MASHAV, with the help and coordination of
Israel’s embassies, through a screening process five months in advance of the
course. More than 100 applications were received, while MASHAV assumed the cost
of the train
ing
Fluss added that the sharing doesn’t end when everyone goes home. MASHAV
believes in long-term partnerships and continues to support graduates of its
programs.
“
At Weitz, we are in constant contact with alumni and try to
team them up with Israeli companies and knowhow in order to develop projects
together,” Dishon says. “We also work through social networks, and have an LED
-- local economic development -- platform to organize alumni to share their
experiences with each other by uploading a clip of a TED-style talk.”
Since 1958, MASHAV has initiated partnerships and implemented development
cooperation programs in more than 130 countries and given training to over
275,000 professionals from around the world. The issues and topics change over
time. “Today we are dealing with global issues such as climate change,
sustainable development, food security, innovation, women empowerment and green
growth,” says Fluss, “but we discuss them in a very pragmatic way, searching for
real solutions.”
The alumni of MASHAV courses are organized within their countries in Shalom
Clubs, where they can get together in their home countries for follow-up
sessions and implement activities and initiatives to benefit the
community.