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76. For further details of the conference and the declaration, which was
shared with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in October 2011, see http://
enu=27
77. Including the Norwegian School of Life Sciences, the Ministry of
Environment and Development (ref. the Future Cities Project), the Nor-
wegian Central Statistics Office (SSB), the University of Bodø (ref. the
Masters Programme in Ecological Economics), “Kunnskapshaven” in
Arendal and Klimapartnere (“Climate Partners”) in Kristiansand.
78.
Following the launch of the Green Economy report UNEP
invited GRID-Arendal to manage the production of the
Green Economy in a Blue World report as well as Green
Economy in Small Island Development States (SIDS), as
mentioned under the Marine Programme. At the same
time, important inroads were made with other internation-
al actors and with Norwegian organizations. For instance,
in September 2011 GRID-Arendal participated in the First
Global Sustainable Financing Conference in Karlsruhe,
Germany, endorsed by the UNEP Finance Initiative. Un-
der the auspices of the World Federation of Development
Financing Institutions (WFDFI) the event explored the
theme ‘greening financial institutions’. GRID-Arendal, to-
gether with The World Bank and the event organizer, Etech
Germany, contributed substantially to the formulation of
the Karlsruhe Declaration as an output of the conference
and a message to Rio+20.76
i Anecdotal evidence (web search on direct referenc-
es; unsolicited, positive responses from partners;
enquiries) suggests that the declaration has contributed
to growing awareness, in particular about the need for
greater integration of economic, social and environmen-
tal concerns and consensus among key international fi-
nancial institutions on metrics for promoting, measuring
and incentivizing ‘green growth’ models for economic
development. GRID-Arendal intends to exploit this en-
hanced awareness – specifically in the context of the
Rio+20 Conference in June 2012 – through an active pro-
gramme of outreach in collaboration with UNEP and
other partners.
At home, GRID-Arendal’s objective to expand its domestic
network of viable partners in this critical field was largely
achieved in 2011. Involvement in UNEP’s Green Economy
report resulted in an invitation by Yrkesorganisasjonenes
Sentralforbund (YS), the Norwegian union for employee
organisations, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nor-
way to contribute substantively to the preparation of a
green economy report for Norway. This engagement has
provided the organization with an effective, credible entry
point for further, incremental engagement with a broad ar-
ray of academic, private and public sector actors, which is
a prerequisite for GRID-Arendal’s communications man-
date.77 Two new volumes in the Vital Graphics series were
prepared during 2011 to increase understanding of Green
Economy issues and opportunities centred on payments
for ecosystems services and biofuels:
The Payments for Ecosystems Services Vital Graphics
aims to highlight the potential benefit of ecosystems-
based economic development through a visual explora-
tion of the Ecosystems Services concept and Payments
for Ecosystems Services (PES) markets segments, to-
gether with a brief analysis, supported by visuals, of the
challenges and opportunities related to PES and poverty
alleviation. PES Vital Graphics will be published in the
first quarter of 2012.
Under the Biofuels Initiative, GRID-Arendal and UNEP’s
Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE)
developed Biofuels Vital Graphics: Powering a Green
Economy78 to visualize the options, opportunities, and
safeguards needed to make biofuels a cornerstone of the
Green Economy. The report will be launched by UNEP
DTIE in January 2012 at the 5 th World Future Energy Sum-
mit in Abu Dhabi.
Other Green Economy activities were clustered around
the Mitigation and Adaptation Information Network for
sustainable living (MAIN), and on Linking Tourism and
Conservation (LT&C).
UNEP initiated the Mitigation and Adaptation Information
Network (MAIN)project in 2008, in support of its capacity
building work under the Climate Change sub-programme.
Energy Efficiency of fuels – how many kilometres can we drive?