United Nations Secretary-General told the UN Environment Programme “When the environment is neglected, poverty and instability follow.  When it is nurtured, well-being and prosperity flourish.”  He urged ministers present at the meeting “You have a responsibility to articulate these truths and to help craft the policies and programmes that will benefit all people – and especially those most at risk from environmental degradation and climate change.”

At the same meeting four UN agencies launched a new Green Economy initiative, designed to support 30 countries over the next seven years to build green economy strategies that will generate jobs, promote clean technologies and reduce environmental risk. The initiative, known as the Partnership for Action on Green Economy, will work with countries to catalyze change at the national level, assisting  them with targeted economic and policy instruments and training that will accelerate their green economy transition across sectors ranging from clean energy to sustainable agriculture. The participating countries have not yet been named. The initiative is one of the outcomes of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held last year.

The full text of the Secretary-General’s message is available at http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=6610 with a UN press release at http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44172&Cr=environment&Cr1=human+rights#.USYgf6L4WSo

The release announcing the Partnership for Action on Green Economy is at http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44169&Cr=sustainable+development&Cr1=#.USYi_aL4WSp with a UN Green Economy website at http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/