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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was adopted in 2015 by the global development community. This called for actions to promote prosperity and human development, while safeguarding our planet.
Thus, taking cognizance of the fact that economic growth would be as a result of investments in the areas of education, health, social protection, among others, while protecting the environment.
Over the past decades, the green economy has been acknowledged to have enormous and long-term prospects for our environmental stability and economic growth. In effect, the transition could pose challenges that would require governments and businesses to address. Among the best alternatives to this phenomenon is cultivation and adoption of untapped green skills.
Background/Definitions
With climate change conceivably being the greatest threat to sustainable development of the 21st century, economies are encouraged to adopt green and circular principles across all sectors. These two, offer varied measures to address economic, social and ecological goals, thus, suggesting diverse paths for sustainability.
Consequently, there should be a coordinated and harmonized approach to diverse initiatives. Recognizing this, education, training and capacity building are critical to the overall human development required to facilitate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Accordingly, green skills development cannot be overemphasized in our quest to attain a green and circular economy.
Training and education, which can be considered as fundamental for sustainable development are central to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. Arguably, accurate skills are essential for any society to transition to a green or greener economy (Kamis et al., 2016). Undoubtedly, skills are vital for industries and workforces to adjust to changes due to the uptake of environmental policies.
Green skills are therefore a prerequisite in the discus of what is required to meaningfully enable economies to achieve their sustainable development agenda.
According to (Thirupathy & Mustapha, 2020) “green skills are the knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society”.
Green skills are thus expected to ensure employment in various sectors contribute to conserving or restoring value of the environment while facilitating decent work desires: suitable wages, safe conditions, right of workers, social dialogue and protection.
Green skills is also defined as “skills needed to adapt one’s self, product, service and process for climate change and a related environment according to the specific requirements” (Kamis et al., 2016).
In general, green skills are regarded as “skills for sustainability which are related to the technical skills, knowledge, values and attitudes needed in the workforce to develop and support sustainable social, economic and environmental outcomes in business, industry and the community” (Sern et al., 2018).
It is therefore worth mentioning that green skills would facilitate environmental sustainability of economic actions, including skills for mitigation and adaptation, waste reduction and management, sustainable procurement, advancing sustainable energy and management.
Prospects of Green Skills Development
Considering education as the most effective approach in our quest for sustainable development, and possessing the right abilities and qualities is our best hope to solve today’s problems, economies are striving to deliver effective and efficient education through the adoption of best policies and practices.
The role of green skills development is to increase learners’ awareness of sustainability issues and also develop capacities that enable habits that widely support sustainable development.
In the context of developed economies where growth and development has been accompanied by various levels of pollution and emission of toxic substances into the environment, developing as well as developed economies need to nurture green skills that contribute to understanding and acting in environmentally friendly behaviors that accelerate green initiatives.
Admittedly, Ho Chi Minh once mentioned that “to reap a return in ten years, plant trees. To reap a return in hundred, cultivate the people”. This assertion, thus, supports the notion that green skills education and development are important to attaining inclusive growth and sustainable green growth.
Most importantly, it becomes a key requirement for developing countries to become knowledge-based economies (Phale et al., 2021).
It is further important to note that developing economies such as Ghana are seeking to employ Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to advance development of productive human resources by connecting the training and learning systems to the needs of the economy.
Accordingly, green skills would be required to develop and support the quest for social, economic and environmental results in business, industry and the community at large (Sern et al., 2018).
In recognition of the fact that these green skills can be imbued into learning curricular for students to have an all-inclusive perspective of sustainability, the quest for changes in attitude and behaviors over the long-term can be achieved.
In effect, a lot more teachers would be trained to appreciate real ecological concerns and eventually train students in skills, knowledge and attitudes related to sustainability.
In view of the above, it is evident that green skills are needed in areas including construction and general building services, engineering, building products, coatings and property management; extractive and mineral processing; chemicals; oil and gas; food and beverage production; renewables; transport industry; biomass/biofuel; anaerobic digestion; carbon capture and storage; water and sanitation; energy supply and utilities; freight logistics industry; automotive (manufacturing and retail); land management; and other sectors.
Recommendations
As an initial step, students should be encouraged to adopt the use of recycled materials and recyclable materials while undertaking educational projects. By this, they become more aware of the resources available and being able to utilize them in innovative ways: recycling knowledge and practices is nurtured in students.
A critical concern will be for governments and relevant authorities to develop and implement policies that call for a shift from the usual curricular to one that advances training in green skills that produces the human resource required to advance sustainability. Consequently, green growth strategy would promote “quality of growth, strengthen food supply, and save water and energy while reducing environmental risks and ecological destruction” (Kamis et al., 2017).
It is worth indicating that educational and training institutions should adopt innovative approaches to build awareness amongst youth concerning the importance and relevance of fostering healthy environmental consciousness that benefits the wellbeing of everyone.
Conclusion
The perspective of green economy as “one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities” (UNEP,2022), requires every human group to possess green skills.
For this reason, the benefits associated with developing a country’s green skills is key to advancing sustainability issues. Consequently, stakeholders – government, community, businesses, development partners – would have to support the operationalization of green strategies in addressing environmental issues at all levels: global, regional, national and community.
More importantly, the role of schools should not end with providing training for students to acquire needed skills and achieve their career goals, but collaborate with industry players to ensure implementation towards the sustainability of the environment.
Writer : Dennis Apreku
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