BIOFIN Webinar: Reforming and Greening Harmful Subsidies

BIOFIN organized on 29th of March 2017 a webinar in collaboration with GIZ and OECD on Greening and Reforming Harmful Subsidies you will find in this news all the necessary information as well as the recordings and presentations. 

Public subsidies, direct or indirect, may produce unintended consequences to the environment and biodiversity. Subsidies can take many forms from construction and development tax breaks to the provision of free chemical/damaging fertilizers in agriculture. While there is evidence and sound economic arguments on the rationale of reforming these economic and fiscal measures, there is still limited evidence and guidance on the environmental damage of subsidies and on the financial savings that can be obtained by reallocating public resources to more effective spending. The Webinar looks at emerging trends and responses to the challenge of reforming subsidies harmful to biodiversity.

The webinar comprise three different parts:

1. GIZ outlines the relevance of harmful subsidies for sustainable development; elaborates how to overcome the different obstacles. Then develops few experiences from German bilateral cooperation. 
2. The OECD presentation covers insights and experiences with the reform of harmful subsidies, and describes how the OECD measures government support to agriculture and to fisheries.
3. Q&A and discussion session.

Facilitator:   Massimiliano Riva (UNDP)
Speakers:  - Eike Meyer (GIZ)
                  - Katia Karouzakis (OECD)
                  - Dimitris Diakosavvas (OECD)
                  - Roger Martini (OECD)

Recording and Presentations