This week, the Green Growth Knowledge Platform was featured on the Geneva International Cooperation website through an interview with GGKP Head, Benjamin Simmons. As one of the latest multilateral initiatives to be launched in Geneva, the article explores the concept of green growth, the platform and its prospects. The original article can be access in both English and French.
The Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) has three main objectives: knowledge generation, knowledge management and knowledge sharing. It was established in early 2012 by the World Bank, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) to identify major knowledge gaps in green growth theory and practice, and work to address them by promoting collaboration and coordinated research. At the same time, the GGKP also aims to collect and faciliate access to the growing body of green growth knowledge being produced by numerous governments, international organizations, research institutes and think tanks. In the end, our goal is all about knowledge, providing practitioners and policymakers access to the knowledge necessary to support a green economy transition and helping to stimulate research in areas where knowledge is lacking.
On the knowledge generation side of our mission, we bring together the leading institutions and experts on green growth and have them work collaboratively to identify gaps in knowledge. We have set up research committees on a number of priority issues such as technology and innovation, fiscal instruments, indicators and measurement, and trade and competitiveness. On the knowledge management and sharing side, we have developed a web platform which was launched this past January. The web platform, which can be accessed atwww.greengrowthknowledge.org, brings together a wide range of policy analysis, research and data, all necessary to support a green economy transition. Through various entry points such as maps or thematic pages, and tools like the resource library or project database, we aim to make the information as easily accessible and searchable as possible. We are also actively working to share this knowledge beyond our web platform and stimulate discussions through our social media channels (Twitter and LinkedIn) and through a wide-variety of in-person meetings.
According to the most recent World Bank data, there are 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty. We cannot deny that there is an economic growth imperative for a large part of the world. At the same time, we know that human activities, such as the production and consumption of goods, is leading to unprecedented environmental degradation, including biodiversity loss, depleted fisheries, deforestation, and climate change. The challenge is to create economic growth pathways that do not degrade the environment on which we ultimately rely.
There is a trend towards developing knowledge platforms and information clearinghouses that draw together and synthesize knowledge for practitioners and others that can act on the knowledge. The information technology revolution allows us to do this much more efficiently and creates opportunities for these communities to collaborate in a way that they never were able to previously. Whereas before you may have focused your collaboration on colleagues from your own organization, the growth in web-based communication tools and networks allows experts to easily collaborate with experts from multiple organizations all around the world.
Each of the four founding partners was in the process of developing studies on green growth or green economy in the lead-up to the Rio+20 Summit when they decided to collaborate through the GGKP. They recognized that they could be more impactful if they worked together and aligned their thinking and analysis. Other international organizations quickly saw the benefit of this collaboration and today have over 30 knowledge partners, including most of the major international organizations, research institutes and think tanks focusing on green growth. These partners are all committed to sharing knowledge around green growth through the GGKP web platform and by participating in our research committees. Meanwhile, the four founding members continue to provide strategic oversight to the GGKP and have each dedicated staff time to GGKP implementation.
The GGKP is relatively new so it is still too early to assess the impact of our work but we do have some early successes.
One has certainly been our new web platform which we launched in January this year and provides access to over 700 green growth studies and analysis. The platform also includes 193 country pages that include country-specific data, policy analysis, project information, and links to relevant green growth policies. We have received extremely positive feedback on the new platform from professionals throughout the world who are using the information to support their own green growth project and activities.
Another concrete outcome from our work to date has been greater alignment among our partners on key green growth topics, such as indicators and measurement. Bringing the GGKP partners together around the same table has allowed them to move towards a common approach and set of indicators for measuring green growth at the national level, making it easier for national governments to use them in their own policymaking processes.
Yes, many of our knowledge partners are Geneva-based, including the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), and the Graduate Institute, to name a few. We collaborate with these partners both in terms of ensuring that their latest studies and analysis are made available to practitioners on the platform and to ensure their experts have an opportunity to participate on the GGKP research committees. In the future, we plan to organize events to bring together experts on green economy for the Geneva-based international community.
A few possible locations were considered as potential hosts for the GGKP office and in the end Geneva was chosen because of its unique role as an international hub for both economic and environmental policy making. The strong networks of actors already working on issues related to green growth made it a natural fit for the GGKP. Switzerland has also been one of the major supporters of the GGKP, particularly throughout its start-up phase, and a strong proponent of green growth more generally.
The position offers an opportunity to work at the intersection of a number of the defining challenges and opportunities of our generation. We have known for some time that the traditional economic development paths that largely ignore the planet's ecological thresholds are not sustainable. What I find most exciting about the GGKP is that we are working to address this challenge by tapping into a potentially game-changing trend - an increasing interest and willingness of people to share, connect and collaborate through on-line networks and platforms. Although GGKP is still in its infancy, we have seen unprecedented enthusiasm from top global experts and institutions to work together to address these challenges. It has been a great privilege to be a part of this effort.