sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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(a)
Implement mechanisms such as public investment, regulation and public-private partnerships
to expand services that can contribute to simultaneously overcoming social and environmental
deficits, adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction, with an emphasis on the
creation of decent jobs
Examples include:
(i) expanding and improving the quality of public transport;
(ii) implementing formal systems for the collection, sorting, recycling and treatment of waste. In
Brazil, for example, the recycling of aluminium cans provides employment for nearly 170,000
people and 28,000 formal jobs are associated with paper recycling (United Nations, <strong>20</strong>10);
(iii) investing in the implementation of strategies for disaster risk reduction and adaptation to
climate change;
(iv) research and <strong>development</strong> of alternatives to polluting technologies and the use of biological
resources;
(v) using environmental conditional transfers following the examples in the social sphere;
(vi) capacity-building for monitoring resource management and compliance with regulations.
Investment is also needed to break the cycle of poverty, vulnerability and the effects of
environmental degradation. The links between these three factors need to be analysed to ensure optimum
allocation of public resources and promote cooperation, including South-South cooperation, with a view
to replicating successful strategies. Examples of these links include:
(i) air pollution and respiratory diseases (including the costs for public health-care systems) (see
chapter I);
(ii) the treatment of wastewater and gastrointestinal diseases (including the costs for public
health-care systems) (see chapter I);
(iii) the expansion and upgrading of public transport and its effects on pollutant emissions and
labour market access (see chapter I);
(iv) the impact on the environment and on the incomes of the poorest of programmes on energy
efficiency and access to clean energy sources (such as the “Electricity for all” programme in
Brazil) and on access to drinking water (such as the “Water for all” programme in Peru) (see
chapter I);
(v) the impact of family farming policies on the environment and food security (see chapter III).
Government budgets should reflect the analytical soundness of these “triple dividend” solutions
(improved economic performance, greater social inclusion and enhanced quality of life, and reduced
environmental impact of production activities).