Ministry of Water and Environment & Royal Netherlands Embassy organized First Round-table Meeting [Archives:2005/869/Local News]

By Dr. Lia Sieghart and
Mr. Marc Mazairac
The 1st Round-table Meeting on Business Potentials in Environmental Technologies jointly organized by the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Sana'a and the Ministry of Water and Environment, was held on August 15 in the residence of the Charge d'Affaires of the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Mr. Roelof Buffinga. The event took place under the Auspices of HE Dr. Mohammed L. Al-Eryani, Minister of Water and Environment.

Representatives of the private sector active in environmental technologies and the public sector were invited to learn more about Dutch grants for companies in the environmental sector (e.g., waste recycling, eco-tourism, renewable energy production) and in sectors whose performance is strongly dependent on sound environmental management (such as agriculture and water supply and sanitation).

The meeting acquires special importance, particularly in view of the fact that no other region like the Middle East and North Africa has experienced a magnitude and persistence of labor market pressures. With unemployment above 15 percent, the pressing need of absorbing unemployed workers in addition to the new labor force entrants implies the need to create close to 100 million jobs by the end of the next decade, more than doubling the number of jobs in the region. Therefore, the most important development challenge is to create enough jobs for the rapidly growing work force.

However, on the global level job creation in the environmental sector is large and expanding. Global expenditures on the environment are in the range of US$525 billion per year. They are expected to surpass $600 billion by the end of this year.

For example the European Union estimates that its environmental “industry” generates 54 billion Euros per year. Yet other issues are spill-over effects to other markets: Jobs created in the environmental sector frequently trigger the creation of jobs in other, related sectors up and downstream in the supply chain.

In addition, it has to be stressed that a large number of jobs depend on a well managed environment, as for example in eco-tourism and sustainable agriculture, as the success of these industries is heavily contingent on efforts to conserve and protect natural resources.

Very important, as pointed out by HE the Minister of Water and Environment, Dr. Mohammed Lutf Al-Eryani, is to realize that progress in clean, environmentally-sound technologies should not alone depend on their immediate beneficiary effect on employment and job creation. He said: “Many examples of cleaner technologies may not be economically feasible from the beginning, as these technologies face higher initial learning costs than traditional technologies.

Technological development is a path-dependent process, where new developments depend on the inventions of the past. To change to the right path, therefore, requires active support, not least through funding and cooperation.”

This consideration can be an argument for initial and temporarily limited support mechanisms as provided through foreign grants schemes like the PSOM or the ORET. These grant schemes are funded by the Dutch government to support commercial and non-commercial ventures.

The Dutch government has since long been a staunch advocate of developing environmentally sound businesses and projects. The application of the Dutch grants not only provides financial means for realizing this goal, but also provides an opportunity to share and exchange know-how and experience in the efficient use of natural resources.

This could eventually give Yemeni manufacturers a competitive advantage over their competitors. Team building with European companies should surely provide added value for mainstreaming sustainable cleaner production.

It is worth pointing out that the Ministry of Water and Environment is already engaging its Taiz Water Supply and Sanitation Corporation in a negotiation process with the leading water supply utility in the Netherlands.

This will lead to a partnership which will be funded under the Dutch grants schemes. The objective is to improve the provision of water supply and sanitation services in the city of Taiz.
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