On August 3, GGGI and the City of Balikpapan organized a workshop on understanding green growth concept to support the process of regional development plan.

The workshop was led by the Mayor of Balikpapan with head of EK Bappeda and GGGI as key resource persons. The head of EK Bappeda gave an overview on current EK economic growth, the development plan of EK and future expectation from the district in the context of mainstreaming green growth in the RPJMD. The workshop was attended by more than 70 participants from across agencies at Balikpapan.

Overall, the meeting was an excellent opportunity to introduce Bappeda Balikpapan to green growth concepts. GGGI gave an overview on:  the principles of sustainable development and its connection with green growth; the relevance of the green growth assessment process for district and sector plans;  the importance of green growth indicators in developing  development plans; and  an overview on how eCBA tool works in the regional and sector development plan process.

The Q/A session collected some thoughts from participants particularly on how green growth works compared to business as usual; how it will deliver green growth benefits to the many small medium enterprises in Balikpapan; and whether is any proven evidence of the successful application of green growth plans in other countries. There was a question from the legislative that applying green growth will slower or reduce the economic growth.

In general, the Balikpapan municipality considered the green growth and green economy concepts are important to guarantee sustainable development outcomes. There were no  objections to mainstreaming green growth into future Balikpapan development plan.