From APEC HRDWG Wiki

Introduction

The transition toward a sustainable “green” economy is urgent to address both high unemployment and the increasing environmental costs of current patterns of resource utilization. As the world seeks to replace unsustainable patterns of resource utilization, efforts to put in place sustainable technologies represents a broadly distributed set of opportunities for economic development and employment generation. To establish sustainable economic approaches as the next frontier for economic development in APEC economies will require supportive policies at many levels, in particular quality education and training policies.

By placing sustainability at the center of solutions to overriding economic development challenges, APEC economies avoid the shortcomings of past approaches where the environment is an overlay, generally put in place after economic policies and thinking are mostly set—thus the environment is always in second place, and always viewed as a drag on the course of growth and employment, however necessary it may be. This leads to the construction “how much environmental protection can we afford?” This construction is always a looser for the consideration of ecosystems.  The term “sustainability” evokes systems thinking, life-cycle thinking, and the internalization of what is treated as externalities in short-sighted development. Pollution and misuse of scare resources represent a form of inefficiency, inevitable when ecosystems and human social systems are not part of the cost equation.  

Project description

The proposed APEC project should take into account what we already know about both effective models for economic development and the introduction of newer technologies and related training needs. The proposed project will examine the status of policies within APEC economies to adjust training, education, and development policies in line with the following baseline understandings through a survey of member economies to see what they are doing with respect to each of these understandings. In addition, a project symposium was held in the spring of 2012 for further discussion of these understandings particularly as they relate to energy efficiency in developing economies.

1. At its heart “development” means promoting human abilities to create value. The central investment to building the economy around sustainable approaches lies in the spectrum of education and training to prepare people in two ways—through education about sustainable systems and the need for such systems in elementary and middle-school, and through education and training in secondary and postsecondary settings to give people the skills and knowledge they need to participate in careers in the emerging green economy. Questions arise in two areas.
   1. First, how is STEM education being advanced overall to meet the needs of the economies to manage new technologies? What is being done to introduce the concept of sustainability and the functioning of ecosystems as part of the basic science curriculum in primary grades in school?
   2. Second, how are APEC economies seeking to foster pathways for students that yield the broad mid-level workforce of technicians and specialists needed to produce and operate new technologies to be introduced, e.g., alternative energy technologies such as building retrofit for energy efficiency?
   3. Third, what are the human capital policy implications for women and vulnerable populations in green growth?
2. Economic growth must be conceived regionally. This is not a proposition based on theory, but rather stems from the actual operation of the economy. Economic specialization is built on advantages within an area based on the natural resources and shared human capital, which varies by region. Regions develop around ecosystems and shared human history; they often have little to do with political boundaries. For businesses to build long-term successful approaches, they must start by doing reconnaissance on the economic advantages within a region, e.g., bio-tech may be the next “big thing” but not everyone is positioned to lead in this industry. The question for the APEC economies is, therefore—
   1. What is being done within and among APEC economies to assure that each viable economic region has the reconnaissance needed in order to select economic opportunities within the emerging green economy that are likely to succeed by taking advantage of the comparative advantages within the region?
   2. What are APEC economies doing to foster regional approaches to develop such advantageous industries?
   3. What strategies are economies employing to ensure that they have a ready and capable workforce?
3. To exploit the advantages within a region, human capital must match the regional strategy. Where firms exist within a regional that are pursuing promising expansion in the green economy, careful and ongoing consultation with business and industry is essential to define the training and education needs of the workforce. In a fast-evolving economy, where technologies change rapidly, the curriculum must efficiently assist students to acquire the knowledge and abilities to enter jobs ready to perform. This does not happen by itself, and does not happen efficiently through haphazard approaches. Quality models of the competencies needed by industry must be defined; such models must be continuously updated and signaled to the postsecondary and secondary systems.
   1. How have APEC economies sought to define the competencies needed to succeed in occupations where a demand for workers is projected?
   2. How have APEC economies sought to assure credentialing of the competencies needed?
   3. How have APEC economies sought to assure the accreditation of programs to deliver training to attain such competencies?
4. Efficient education and training systems require the articulation of coursework and educational goals at all levels. Such well-conceived systems that move students to the next level of education and training, then transitioning from the education and training system to employment are often termed “career pathways ” in the US. Hence, the human capital side of sustainable economic development can be termed the development of career pathways for a sustainable economy.
   1. How have APEC economies sought to assure the alignment of the curriculum at the primary level to assure students are prepared to pursue a rigorous secondary education program, particularly in fields demanded by the emerging green economy?
   2. How have APEC economies sought to align and articulate effective course sequences in secondary programs that extend into postsecondary training and certificate programs, assuring the successful transition of students into training and education programs for high-demand occupations?
5. Tight cooperation between schools and colleges and between education and training systems and employers may require that new relationships be established and existing relationships evolve. Such relationships include governments at all levels through their workforce development systems, public investments of all sorts, and regulatory approaches.
   1. How have APEC economies sought to foster the relationships necessary for ongoing collaboration between relevant institutions within functional economic regions? What role have governments played in fostering close collaborations among sectors?
6. Research and development drives and guides innovation, whether high-tech or not. The institutional base of research universities and laboratories must be closely integrated into any partnership approach or innovation cluster that fosters new development.
   1. How have APEC economies sought to align research and development investments with regional development and related education policies?
7. Bilateral and multilateral assistance organizations and NGOs are often active in APEC economies, and can play a variety of roles in the broad coalition of actors needed to open the door to new sustainable economic growth opportunities.
   1. How have APEC economies sought to engage NGOs and assistance organizations of all kinds in supporting regional development approaches that align with targeted growth in the green economy and in general?
8. Since sustainable development is intensive on partnerships and collaboration, vision and leadership are inestimably important. Intermediaries are generally essential to support or provide leadership to ensure smooth functioning of any broad partnership or collaborative.
   1. How have APEC economies sought to assure that capable intermediaries are in place within regions to assure the alignment and coordination needed to successfully maintain the relationships that maintain a synthesis between economic opportunity, investment, research, business and industry’s goals, and the training and education systems?
      b. How are intermediaries facilitating relationships that foster economic opportunity, especially within the training and education systems?

See Also

APEC Symposium on Human Capital Policies for Green Growth and Employment