Ecology

Large-scale wind farms and solar power plants are springing up everywhere one looks. That’s good for the climate, but small-scale farmers and the poor are becoming the pawns of hard-nosed business interests around the world.

The idea of growth as the way to end poverty and escape economic and financial crisis remains largely undisputed and is currently reflected in the concept of the green economy. But not everything that is “green” and efficient is also environmentally sustainable and socially equitable. This essay outlines a policy of less, of wealth in moderation, to enable the Earth’s resources to make a life of dignity and without need possible for all.

Barbara Unmüßig, president of the Heinrich Böll Foundation argues that because of the limited nature of our planet and the ecological challenges facing us, the fundamentals of our economy have to be reconsidered. In that respect, she thinks, the existing blueprints for a green economy do not go far enough.

This Guidebook has been developed to provide and overview of National Solar Energy Generation Programs within the umbrella Mission for the solar energy development in India i.e. the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) under the National Action Plan for Climate Change.

In this essay, the president of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Barbara Unmuessig, critically reflects on the opportunities for and the shortcomings of the concept of a "Green Economy" to influence economic policy making globally, its relationship to the paradigm of sustainable development and the need to rethink our understanding and focus on growth

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE - New Delhi) and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI - Islamabad), with the support of Heinrich Böll Stiftung India and Pakistan offices, organized a 3-days dialogue “Climate Change for Peace - Track II” in the Best Western Hotel, Islamabad, on 13th to 15th February 2012