Seminar
Achieving Green Growth for North Korea

While the debate on growing environmental degradation in the face of economic growth dates back several decades, the related concepts of green growth, green economy and low-carbon development have received increasing international attention in recent years. Many countries and international organizations, such as the OECD and the United Nations, have developed strategies on green growth; others, such as the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), specifically dedicate their work to the issue. Exacerbated by the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, green growth has increasingly gained popularity as an approach for economic recovery from the pandemic-induced recession, often framed as a green recovery.

The two-day event, which was jointly organized with the Ministry of Land and Environment Protection (MoLEP) of the DPRK, was conducted as two separate lectures. On the first day, Mr. Craig Boljkovac, senior advisor and lecturer at Tsinghua University, provided a comprehensive introduction of Green Growth and the Green Economy, and further discussed the OECD set of Green Indicators. On the second day, Dr. Sonam Wangyel Wang, founder and CEO of the Bhutan Institute of Himalayan Studies, gave a very detailed presentation on the case of Bhutan, especially focusing on Gross National Happiness and Ecological Tourism in the country. Over 30 experts from the DPRK were attentive listeners who actively asked  questions at the end of the presentations.