Social finance is often discussed on a domestic level. However, it could and should play a role in a global sustainable development context as well. It is urgently needed to tackle some of the most basic challenges for sustainable development: fighting hunger, reducing the need for fossil energy and creating a knowledge-based democracy.

I recently had the opportunity to hear Klaus Toepfer, former Director of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), speak about sustainable development at the 17th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference held in May. Toepfer, who now heads the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Research in Germany, mentioned several tasks that need to be achieved in order to foster sustainable development including reducing the externalization of cost (especially in the energy sector) and the creation of a knowledge-based democracy where civil society plays an active role in sustainable development.

However, it is quite clear that developing countries are not the only ones who have a part to play. Industrialized countries like Canada and others have a development task as well. Given that 30 to 40 per cent of all food products in developed countries go to waste and that obesity levels are on the rise despite the deaths of thousands from starvation in other parts of the world, the social finance community has a great opportunity to contribute to sustainable development.

Initiatives are needed to create knowledge and consciousness about the use of food and energy. Education is needed to make people aware about the extreme amount of energy that is being consumed and its consequences, such as in the global food situation. According to Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute and another distinguished speaker at the conference, 35 per cent of crop harvests in the U.S. are used for producing gas to run cars. The consequence of this is deforestation because of the pressure to grow crops for ethanol.

From my point of view, social finance could contribute in providing capital for education, training and capacity building in developed countries like Canada to increase knowledge about these challenges. It may be the step needed to change behaviour towards a more sustainable direction. Social finance could contribute to both fostering a knowledge-based democracy that is based on informed and transparent decision making and to global sustainable development.

What I learned from the conference is that we have to concentrate on where we want to go with social finance. We have to define our goals in a way that is measurable and shows how much progress we are doing in the way to sustainable development. I would be happy to learn about social finance initiatives inside and outside of Canada that try to contribute to the solutions of these challenges.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pro-soil/4881668804/

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•