Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Vice Chancellor Dr Adil Najam is one of the contributing authors of the landmark United Nations (UN) report ‘Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication’, which was just released by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in Beijing, China.
The report, a result of a three-year global research effort involving hundreds of experts, underwent a three-month public review before being unveiled on Thursday. It confirmed that an investment of two percent of the global GDP across 10 key sectors was required to kick-start a shift from the current polluting and inefficient economy to an eco-friendly one.
The new UN report demonstrates that governments and businesses alike are taking steps to accelerate a global shift towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive green future. In a statement issued on the release of UNEP’s flagship report, Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said, “With the world looking ahead to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012, the UNEP Green Economy report challenges the myth that there is a trade-off between the economy and the environment. With smart public policies, governments can grow their economies, generate decent employment and accelerate social progress in a way that keeps humanity’s ecological footprint within the planet’s carrying capacity.”
Dr Adil Najam, who is a leading global expert on environmental policy and sustainable development, was one of the contributing authors to this landmark report, as part of the section on agriculture and the green economy. Najam was also a part of the author team for the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), work for which the IPCC was awarded the Noble Peace Prize. Speaking about the report, the LUMS vice chancellor highlighted the importance of ‘green jobs’ as a pathway to a sustainable future, especially for countries like Pakistan. He stressed that universities like LUMS had to be at the forefront of creating a ‘new economy’ that was not only ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ but which also met legitimate developmental needs and aspirations of current and future generations of Pakistan.
