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Friends of PAGE Briefing
International Environment House (IEH 1), Room 5Geneva, Wednesday 6th November 2013
08:30-10:30 am
Minutes of the Meeting
An informal briefing for the Friends of PAGE was held on 6 November 2013 in Geneva. Participants included representatives of Ministries of Environment, Foreign Affairs and other Government Directorates from Germany, Finland, Mongolia, Norway, Switzerland, Republic of Korea, Sweden and the European Commission as well as UNEP, ILO and UNITAR.
The objective of this meeting was to provide an update and receive feedback on the progress made since the last joint meeting on 27 March 2013, including an overview of key accomplishments at country and global level including the status of resource mobilization and upcoming activities, specifically the first global PAGE Conference in Dubai scheduled to take place in early 2014.
The UNEP, UNITAR and ILO provided an overview on the key achievements up to date, outlining how PAGE has become operational over the last months with activities at country as well as at global level. They shared firsthand insights on the preparation of the national level inception workshop taking place in Mongolia in the week of 11 November and on the results of a recent scoping mission to Peru. The meeting also benefited from the presence of a Senior Advisor to the Mongolian Government who shared his views on the first months of PAGE inception in Mongolia.
Main points highlighted in this overview include:
PAGE is now operational, providing support to countries, starting with Mongolia and Peru this year. A third country, probably from Africa, is expected to receive support soon.
The PAGE management board has agreed on the first year work plan for the use of the 2013/2014 “jump start” funds. New resources are being mobilized for PAGE, increasing its ability to meet country demand using a modular approach.
The PAGE Trust Fund has been established. Initial contributions of about USD 1.5 million have been provided by the Governments of Norway, Korea and Sweden for use in 2013 and early 2014. In addition, Finland announced its approval of a contribution of Euros 1.3 million to PAGE. Further discussions are underway with Switzerland, EC, UAE and Germany.
In Peru, after a joint mission by PAGE partners in July 2013, including a workshop with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Labour, and the Secretary of Planning and a series of bilateral meetings with other stakeholders, a work plan is being discussed with the government for a mobilization workshop, a stocktaking study, initial trainings and a quantitative assessment.
Mongolia was announced as the first PAGE country on the World Environment Day in June 2013. A joint mission by PAGE partners was completed in October 2013. In the week of 11 November 2013, a series of
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PAGE inception events, including a planning meeting and high-level forum are scheduled in Mongolia, jointly with UNDP. A stock tacking analysis on existing policy frameworks, targets, etc. has been commissioned to a national institute to feed into the inception phase.
At global level, PAGE has already implemented 2 online trainings on green economy (in spring and fall 2013), a workshop on employment and social inclusion in a green economy (Turin, Italy, March 2013), an international workshop on modelling (Bergen, Norway, May 2013), and a side-event at the UN General Assembly on “Rio+20: From Outcome to Action – Partnering for Action on Green Economy” (New York, September 2013). Just very recently, on 30 October 2013, a Partnership Forum on PAGE was held at the Global South-South Development Expo (GSSDE) in Nairobi.
At the GSSDE, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced its offer to host the first global PAGE conference, which is scheduled to take place in March 2014, under the patronage of HH Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE.
Future PAGE global products will focus on further development of introductory green economy trainings, a Green Economy Academy, a green economy assessment manual, a green economy compendium on modelling, a green job assessment guide for policymakers and practitioners and a guide on national PAGE project planning.
In the discussion, the Friends of PAGE showed appreciation for the progress made so far and at this point some participants emphasized specifically that they are happy to see the initiative being country driven, linking closely to UNDP at the country level and addressing the relationship between economic and social priorities with environmental degradation. Clarifications were requested on five main issues: 1) the criteria and selection process for PAGE countries, 2) the involvement of non-government actors in PAGE (e.g. private sector, social actors, and research institutes), 3) the in-kind contributions provided by the agencies to PAGE, 4) the linkages to other initiatives and actions at country level, and 5) the future scope of PAGE. In a final discussion, a number of suggestions were offered for the design of the upcoming PAGE Conference in UAE.
1) Selection and criteria for PAGE countries: There are currently five selection criteria for PAGE countries: high-level support, presence of the agencies in the country, regional balance, attention to special development conditions (such as land-locked countries, small island states or similar), and the linkages to national planning processes. For PAGE countries, a starting point will be a strong political commitment translated, for instance, in the form of a request from the country’s Prime Minister Office or one of the key ministries (e.g. Peru made a statement at the GC to show interest in PAGE). In addition, PAGE partners will look for government ownership expressed, for example, by a solid support to the country application by three or four ministries that have a leadership and coordination role in the country green economy policymaking and strategic planning. For a PAGE country, the four agencies will work together from the very beginning to plan a joint intervention.
2) Involvement of non-government actors in PAGE
PAGE is taking a very comprehensive approach trying to bring together actors from many different backgrounds since the inception phase, including from private sector, NGOs, social groups and research institutes. For example in Mongolia, research institutes are already actively involved in the stocktaking study and initial discussions have taken place with the Chamber of Trade and Commerce. The inception workshop will include 80 participants. For groups that could not be involved in the workshop, due to practical reasons, there will be opportunities to engage at a later stage in the planning and implementation. PAGE is also reaching out to the ministries in the countries addressing social issues and ILO is mobilizing its constituencies, including employers and workers organizations. The private sector, both at country and international levels,
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was mentioned as powerful ally of PAGE as it could potentially contribute to the partnership through in-kind support or sponsoring, for example, PAGE activities or events.
3) Linkages to other global initiative and actions
PAGE puts emphasis on comprehensive stocktaking at the beginning of the inception phase to identify all relevant initiatives in a country that PAGE activities could build on and should not duplicate. For example, in Mongolia, PAGE can build on the focused analysis that GGGI has already done for specific sectors (e.g. in transport and renewable energy sectors) and can take those into consideration in the planning phase. In both, Mongolia and Peru, UNDP is becoming an active partner in implementation, supporting high-level coordination with the government and activity planning with sectorial ministries. Beyond GGGI, PAGE foresees that linkages with other UN agencies at country level will expand with a growing number of PAGE countries. Over the next months, PAGE will further develop its partnership strategy.
4) Contributions by PAGE agencies
Currently the four agencies are already dedicating a significant amount of staff time (senior, technical and administrative staff funded by core budgets) to the design and implementation of PAGE activities. These contributions will continue into the future as PAGE ramps up. Funds for activities that can be provided in the future will still depend on overall funding situation of the agencies and internal allocations. But prospects are positive and PAGE is seen as an important initiative within the different agencies. It is expected that in-kind contributions would be in the range of 20% of the total budgets. ILO received USD 450,000 from the institution’s regular budget for PAGE activities, mainly to support the work on green jobs assessment and implementation.
5) Future scope of PAGE
Currently PAGE is focused primarily in providing support to developing countries and emphasizes the possible contribution of PAGE to generating new jobs, income and reducing poverty. While this is critical and a good starting point, it was recommended that PAGE should also consider its function as a platform for policy dialogue between countries engaging in a green economy transition, regardless of their level of income and development. In this regard, the Conference in UAE will provide an opportunity to address a broad group of countries, initiate exchange among them and to further build a community of PAGE countries that goes beyond the ones directly receiving support from the current PAGE programme.
PAGE Conference hosted by UAE in March 2013
There was broad support and interest in the UAE Conference. The timing of this conference was considered critical by the Friends of PAGE as it could assess the progress made since the Rio+20 Conference and possibly feed its outcomes into the first UNEA, scheduled for June 2014. A recommendation was to put emphasis on a high-level segment to generate political buy-in from the highest level. In this context at the same time concerns were voiced about timing. If ministerial presence is sought invitations would need to go out very quickly. For the possible outcome of the meeting, FoP suggested to focus on a set of general recommendations and principles for guiding policy on green economy rather than a declaration. The general feeling was that a declaration was already provided by the Rio+20 Conference and the PAGE Conference could follow-up with a more applied outcome on how to move towards green economy, which could then feed into UNEA, without putting countries back into negotiation mode. The dates are confirmed for 4 to 5 March 2013
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and FoP can start planning with these days. Friends of PAGE would be interested to have another meeting before the end of the year to jointly prepare the Conference.
Next Steps
PAGE partners to schedule a follow up meeting with Friends of PAGE in preparation for the UAE Conference to further discuss desired outcomes.
Prior to the next Friends of PAGE meeting, PAGE partners to circulate a draft agenda for the Conference
The Agenda and list of participants of the meeting are included below.
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Friends of PAGE Briefing
International Environment House (IEH 1), Room 5Geneva, Wednesday 6th November 2013
08:30-10:30 am
Draft Agenda
8h30 Welcome (Including a tour de table for introduction of participants)
8h45 PAGE – Key Accomplishments to Date Facilitated by Steven Stone, Chief, Economics and Trade Branch, UNEP
9h15 Focus on PAGE Country DeliveryFacilitated by Achim Halpaap, Associate Director, UNITAR
9h45 Focus on PAGE Global Products and Activities Facilitated by Moustapha Kamal GuèyeSenior Policy Specialist, Green Jobs Programme, ILO
10h15 Conclusions Oscar Garcia, Head of Advisory Services, UNEP
– Coffee and Croissants will be served –
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Provisional List of Participants (4th of November)
Name Country/Organization
Title Contact Information
1. Ms. Gunilla Blomquist
Sweden Deputy Director, Swedish Ministry of the Environment
2. Ms. Marjaana Kokkonen
Finland Programme Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
3. Ms. Annika Lindblom
Finland Ministerial Adviser, International Affairs, Ministry of the Environment
4. Mr. David Huberman Switzerland Collaborateur scientifique, économie et environnement Département fédéral des affaires étrangères, DFAE
5. Mr. Nicolas Guigas Switzerland Programme Manager, Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, EAER, SECO
6. Ms. Nadia Lamhandaz*
European Commission
DG EuropeAid DEVCO, Climate Change and Green Economy
7. Ms. Alena White Germany Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation & Nuclear Safety, Division - UN Institutions, Cooperation with Developing Countries and Newly Industrialised Countries
8. Mr. Lee Chang Heum Rep. of Korea Councilor, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the UN Secretariat and International Organizations in Geneva
9. Ms. Helena Vuskko Finland First Secretary, DPR to UNEP, Embassy of Finland, Nairobi
10.M
Ms. Anna Huttunen Finland Senior Advisor, Ministry of Environment
11. Mr. Bent Arne Satner Norway Specialist Director, Ministry of Environment
12. Mr. Chuluun Togtokh Mongolia Special Adviser to the Minister of Environment and Green Development
13. Mr. Moustapha Kamal Guèye
ILO Policy Specialist, Green Jobs [email protected]
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14. Mr. Achim Halpaap UNITAR Associate Director, Training Department, Head, Environment Unit
15. Mr. Steven Stone UNEP Chief, Economics and Trade Branch (ETB)
16. Ms. Vera Weick UNEP Programme Officer, Economics and Trade Branch
17. Mr. Oscar Garcia UNEP Head, Advisory Services, ETB
18. Mr. Mamadou Moussa Diakhité
UNEP Partnership for Action on Green Economy, ETB
* Via audio-conference/only partial participation as had to disconnect during meeting.
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