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http://mediaglobal.org/article/2010-10-16/how_to_feed_9_billion_people_in_40_years
How to feed 9 billion people in 40 years
By Nosh Nalavala
15 October 2010 [MediaGlobal]: Away from the rounds of discussions on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) along with Pavan Sukhdev, Project Leader for the Green Economy Initiative, met with UN Correspondents recently to underscore how investing in clean energy and sustainable transport to forests and environmentally-friendly forms of agriculture could help meet the MDGs.
“ How are we going to feed 9 billion people in 40 years?” asked Steiner. “The answer,” he continued, “is by transitioning to a green economy. A green thread runs through all the MDGs, and when we talk of the green economy, we are talking of the poor today, not of the poor in the future.”
Steiner launched a brief for policymakers on the Green Economy, which sharply indicated that environmental degradation is aggravating the challenge of improving maternal health and the provision of safe drinking water to combating hunger and disease.
The report spotlights China’s energy policy: China is now the second biggest wind power country in the world and the biggest exporter of photo-voltaics; 10 percent of households have solar water heaters.
“Green economy is a new kind of economy — an economy that allows human well-being without increasing environmental risks,” Sukhdev explained. He discussed fresh water, sanitation and agriculture as the three important components of a successful green economy initiative.
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