As long as South Africa’s green economy initiative is driven by technocrats from plush air-conditioned offices, without the involvement of people at the grassroots level, it is not going to bear fruit.
Dr Amis, an environmentalist who is also the founder and director of the Cape Town based African Centre for a Green Economy laments about this situation in an article. He calls for those piloting the green economy programme to be inclusive when looking for solutions.
He notes: “It is important to provide an opportunity for groups to partake in identifying the solutions that works best for the local context.
“To achieve an inclusive green economy therefore requires a bottom-up approach to encourage meaningful participation in the process, backed by strong policy signals from the top.”
He blames the top-bottom approach for fueling climate change and the current crisis.
“Most of the discourse is still taking place at the macro-economic level and characterised by interventions at that level, whose effect on the most vulnerable people on the ground or pressing ecological crisis are limited at least in the short- to medium term.”
The obsession with “mega-projects”, whilst important for achieving change at a large scale, mirrors the same approaches used in the traditional economic system that led us into the climate crisis in the first place, says Dr. Amis.
“Prestigious schemes such as the Grand Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or the large scale procurement of renewal energy in South Africa, are all fraught with challenges, that if not well managed might negate the very purpose for which they were conceived — energy access.”
He believes the real opportunity of creating meaningful change is through activating local economies, to enable those at the frontline of climate risk to defend themselves. “This is because most of the climate-related risks inevitably translate into social problems or a local ecological crisis that need to be addressed at that level. Most importantly those who are faced by the prevalent risks must be at the forefront of devising solutions that are sustainable, through green entrepreneurship for example.”
Yes, the problem is: decisons taken in air-conditioned conferences never get public endorsement!