Published: December 2013

Publisher: Southasiadisasters.net

Issue No. 102, December 2013

Theme: Climate Smart Disaster Risk Management in Action

The transition to a green economy has reached a crossroads: while multilateral global initiatives have been long-running and complex, the idea of a green economy still seems fragile and achieving it far from certain. In the face of the ravages of the global economic crisis that has raged since 2007/2008, countries are now trying to roll back their green pledges or slow the pace of transition.

This exposes a dilemma: a perception that a green economy is in conflict with economic growth, prosperity and the advance of human development, particularly in developing countries seeking to make rapid gains in reducing poverty and building a middle class, consumer society.

Three things need to be foremost in the minds of those who care about creating a global green economy in the 21st century: innovation in design, in market prices and in business models. I think these three factors will be the deciding elements in whether green technologies are taken up quickly and used by large numbers of people to improve their lives.

The green option needs to always be the more appealing, cheaper option that also improves living standards. Happily, many people are doing this all around the world - you just may not have heard of them yet (unless you are reading Southern Innovator magazine that is).

As editor of the magazine Southern Innovator since 2011, I have had the
privilege to meet, interview and see first-hand green economy innovators
across the global South and profile them in the magazine. What has stood
out for me is this: the ones who have achieved sustainable success have put
a great deal of effort into design - how the technology is made, what it looks like and how it is used, how efficiently it is made and distributed - while also
thinking through the business case for their work and how to make it appealing to others.

We have tried to apply this thinking to the magazine as well, by using clear
and modern design with bright, eye pleasing colours, and by choosing to
use 100 per cent renewable energy (much of it from geothermal sources)
for the magazine's design and layout and to have it printed on paper from
sustainable forest sources.

The fourth issue of Southern Innovator (www.southerninnovator.org),
on cities and urbanization, launched in October at the Global South-South
Development Expo 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya. It profiles many practical initiatives and innovators that are currently building green homes, communities and even whole cities.The magazine's fifth issue will focus on the theme of waste and recycling and hopes to be a one-stop source of inspiration to better use the finite resources of planet earth.


– David South, Editor,
Southern Innovator, UK

Further Resources:

1. Southern Innovator Magazine Issue
4: Cities and Urbanization http://
www.scribd.com/doc/133622315/
Southern-Innovator-Magazine-Issue-
4-Cities-and-Urbanization

2. Development Challenges, South-
South Solutions e-newsletter
www.southerninnovator.org

3. Mongolian Green Book http://
tinyurl.com/p4szr9l

4. Environmental Public Awareness
Handbook: Case Studies and
Lessons Learned in Mongolia http://
tinyurl.com/obuf2xz

Issue 5 of Southern Innovator on the theme of waste and recycling.