Francisco Noguera

Is the Green-Base of the Pyramid Nexus Kicking In?

A couple of months ago, after reading an excellent Brookings report, I suggested here that a growing interest in the cross-implications of poverty and of climate change was set to become the new hot topic in ours and the traditional development space. A couple of events I’ve recently come across signal that this is actually beginning to happen. Climate change adaptaion, it seems, is quickly becoming the new buzz word in the development and BoP spheres.

To begin with, the Ateneo School of Government in the Philippines and the iBoP Asia program hosted a discussion on entrepreneurial approaces to cope with the effects of climate change, just over a month ago. Jenara interviewed iBoP’s Tony LaVina and NextBillion.net ally Niti Bhan pointed us to the proceedings from this interesting gathering which you can read here.

Back in the U.S., New York will see a major conference this summer whose area of focus will be the intersection between entrepreneurial solutions to poverty and environmental sustainability. Put together by Cornell’s Johnson School of Business, the Global Forum on Sustainable Enterprise will convene thought leaders like Stuart Hart, Al Gore, and practitioners like Ratan Tata.

Finally, and along the same lines, the Wold Bank’s Development Marketplace has recently started to gather applications for its 2009 competition, which will focus on grassroot solutions to, again, climate change adaptation.

It’s promising to see this nexus between BoP and green starting to go mainstream. For more information on what climate change adaptation actually is and how it’s being discussed at the international climate negotiations, I encourage you to read Heather McGray’s recent posting on WRI.org, part of a larger series that seeks to build broader understanding about these issues as we move closer to Copenhagen this next December.

Stay tuned for more coverage from these and other events and ventures that are decidedly tackling it.

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