A Sustainable Development Approach

Environmental challenges have to be addressed through a sustainable development approach, including also economic development and social justice. Issues such as poverty and population growth, over-exploitation of resources and excessive consumption, degradation of land, air and water, urbanization and industrialization, diversity of species, basic human and trade union rights and needs, good quality employment in safe working conditions, social security, freedom from discrimination, education, etc. have to be addressed in a way to ensure a more sustainable pattern of development.

ACTRAV’s work on environmental issues - including climate change and “green jobs” - highlights four elements as important for the ILO:

• Its Decent Work Agenda (DWA)
• Its tripartite structure and the issue of governance
• Its focus on “Just Transition”
• Its technical cooperation activities in relation to capacity building
  

ACTRAV promotes Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCPs) based on a balanced articulation of the ILO’s four strategic objectives and tripartite participation at country level also in relation to climate change issues and “green jobs”.

Capacity Building

ACTRAV is involved in capacity building on the issue of environment and climate change in training courses especially for representatives of trade union organizations, but also in courses which include the participation of representatives of employers’ organizations and governments.

Recent activities include:

• A352647: Trade Union Training on Climate Change Policies, Green Jobs and Decent Work, Bangkok, Thailand, 21-25.02.11
  
• A2-72655: Formación Sindical en Línea sobre el Desarrollo Sustentable y Empleo Decente, Online, 13.09-03.12.10
  
• Green Jobs: Linking Environment, Climate Change and the World of Work (ILC TURIN courses, 2009)
  
• A2-70049: Formación Sindical en Línea sobre el Desarrollo Sustentable y Empleo Decente, América Latina, Online, 04.05-10.07.09
  
• A2-72655: Formación Sindical en Línea sobre el Desarrollo Sustentable y Empleo Decente, Online, 13.09-03.12.10
• A3 –52099: Trade Union Training on Climate Change Policies, Green Jobs & Decent Work, Bangkok, Thailand, 30.11-01.12.09
  

Building on Experiences

During the 1990s ACTRAV implemented the project “Trade Unions and Environmentally Sustainable Development”. Much change has taken place since then. Environmentally sustainable development as a trade union issue has been widely recognized and accepted and today trade unions all over the world are also engaged nationally, regionally and globally in the climate change debate.

In order to provide information on earlier experiences and input to the historical development of trade union involvement in these issues, ACTRAV has also decided to provide a few links to publications developed under the above mentioned project.

• A set of 2 trade union manuals included the following booklets:
  
  I. Environmentally Sustainable Development
  
  Guide to the Booklets
• Environmental Indicators of Development
• Political Indicators of Development
• Social Development
• Equality of Opportunity and Treatment
• Using ILO Standards to Promote Environmentally Sustainable Development: 6. Equality of Opportunity and Treatment
• International Development
  
  
  II. Using ILO Standards to Promote Environmentally Sustainable Development
  
  The ILO and its Standards
• Environmental Indicators of Development
• Political Indicators of Development
• Economic Development and Security
• Social Development
• Equality of Opportunity and Treatment
• Education and Training
• International Development

The Project did also publish a case study booklet called: Trade Union Actions to Promote Environmentally Sustainable Development It describes different cases developed in Asia and Africa, and shows how environmentally sustainable development issues were integrated into trade union work.