Biography:

Professor Tawfik, throughout his 49-year career (since he graduated from university), had acquired multidisciplinary experience at national, regional, and international arenas in the fields of academic/action research, systems analysis/design, policy, standards setting, and strategic planning/execution/monitoring/evaluation of sustainable development multidisciplinary programs. He had acquired extensive experience in the fields of bilateral and multilateral relations and negotiation.

He accomplished, since 1998, more than 70 UN � Regional Organizations Missions to about 50 countries all over the world with the purpose of: advising Member States on strategic planning of development and policy setting (UNESCO fields of competence: education, science, culture, communication and information); establishing regional/national programs/networks as well as organizing, chairing, participating and delivering keynote speeches at international and regional conferences.

He had occupied (besides being a tenured university professor) leading posts at national and international levels: Dean founder (1986-1994) of the Institute of Environmental Studies and Research at Ain Shams University, Director founder of Education Research Centers, Cultural counselor (Moscow, 1981-1986), and Ambassador (to UNESCO-Paris 1994-1997), and top international posts: UN/UNESCO Representative, Senior UNESCO Director (Headquarters in Paris, 1998-2001)) and UNESCO Regional Director of Asia-Pacific (New Delhi, 2001-2006).

He is the Initiator and founder of: a university post graduate multidisciplinary institute, two education research/reform centers (in Egypt), group G77 "Think Tank" in Paris, co-founder of the intellectual international initiative "Building the Scientific Mind" in the USA, France, the Netherland, Canada, India, Egypt, South Africa, and Indonesia and the initiative on reform of UNESCO Executive Board.

He was Leading a school of research and implementation of system approach to different developmental fields and future studies. He represented Egypt, UN, and Regional Organizations in tens of international and world summit events and governing boards. He chaired, managed and evaluated many international/national programs. He is the author/co-author of 7 books, scientific papers, more the 200 studies and articles published in Arabic, English, Russian and French. He is an editor and chief editor of world reports and national plans.

He has worked in different environments that representing the world major blocks: essentially in Cairo, 8.5 years in Moscow, 7 years (+5 years partial residence) in Paris and more than 4 years in New Delhi. Visited more than 70 countries around the world for work as well as cultural exchange.

Abstract:

Green Economy as a System Approach to Realize Sustainable Development

This paper suggests a novel conceptual, systemic and scientific approach to check and show the viability of Green Economy to realize sustainable development, where economy is considered a living system. The paper deals with this approach while elaborating the following methodology.

During the last decades, realizing sustainable development has been identified as the main quest in life. This requires synchronous sustainable performance of both social and economic systems along with the preservation of the biosphere with its resources and life-supporting services.

However, economy has proved to be a nonlinear complex dynamic system, which is not far from instability every now and then. To get it operate sustainably it should realize the main concept of sustainable development mentioned above. Green economy, by definition, through its systemic approach should conceptually attain sustainable development, since it considers the sustainability of economy, society and environment at the same time.

What are the criteria required to sustain a green economy system. The characteristics of an economy system (being nonlinear, complex, dynamic and open to its environment) are, almost, similar to those of living systems. In turn, lessons could be drawn from the latter as they enabled life on Earth to sustain and develop throughout the last 3 billion years.

The properties of living/ecological systems that enable them to sustain and develop life are identified by being self-organizing, operationally closed, autopoietic (at its basic levels), could emerge new orders/creative, self-generating, resilient, of stable consumption-generation pattern, recycling, and cognitive. Examining possible properties that could be attributed to Green Economy versus those of living systems shows its viability to be a genuine system approach to realize sustainable development.