Green Jobs at micro level in Africa

As occasional guest blogger (after a bit of a break), I wish to share a few links I have come across recently about Green Jobs in Africa on a micro level, triggered by coming across this interesting company merging green jobs with low-impact design and living: touchingtheearthlightly.com

and a pre-announcement for the Green Economics Conference in Cape Town in January 2011.

While at a macro level the topic of Green Jobs is widely debated (see previous entries on Sustainable Options and some information from UNEP), others simply get on with the job of creating green jobs at the micro or local level.

Some interesting examples of creating local green jobs in Africa, include:

• an innovative take on clean energy in Kenya,
• a drinking water solution from South Africa,
• recycling for job creation in Ghana
• and revisiting tourism as a natural, yet often under-performing green job creator.

Gerhard Buttner

H/T planeta.com video, Afrika Tourism

Another view on green jobs

With the emergence of a Global Green New Deal, the question whether government investments and stimulus packages in greenery will pay off is very prominent (see also earlier post on a damning report by the Institute of Energy Research in the US on green jobs for example). 

A study by the Pew Centre emphasised that jobs in the clean energy economy were growing faster then overall jobs, as  reported in an article on SocialFunds.Com:

Despite a lack of sustained government support between 1998 and 2007, the number of jobs in the emerging clean energy economy grew nearly two and a half times faster than the overall job market during that time. According to a report by the Pew Center on the States, jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a rate of 9.1% during that time, compared to a rate of 3.7% in traditional jobs.

and, what is more intriguing is that 

...job growth in the clean energy economy occurred without significant government engagement. However, recent developments such as funds for clean energy provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) show promise for rapid growth in the field. The stimulus bill provides $85 billion in spending for energy and transportation, and includes $21 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy, as well as more than $30 billion for spending on a variety of clean energy programs. 

The net costs of these jobs over time remains an important question (see also here for an experience with renewable energy in Spain).