Growing demand for green collar jobs

Charumini de Silva

Fact Box

* Introduction of sustainability concepts to the education system vital

* Young people interested in green collar jobs

* Green collar jobs available in wide variety of sectors

There will be a huge demand for green collar jobs in Sri Lanka in the future.

“There are no specific sectors for green collar jobs because the environment is a part of everything we do. The jobs referred as green collar jobs have to do with those people that would be responsible for protecting the environment and using it in a more sustainable manner than the traditional approach of exploiting it for human use and profit only,” EDEX Think Green Campaign Deputy Director, Praveen Abhayaratne told Daily News Business.

However, there is a growing demand for these jobs emerging rapidly in the building industry, tourism, agriculture, and development sectors, he said.

He said, the most prominent green collar jobs in the private sector are to do with CSR programs, water and sanitation, tourism, architecture, agriculture, building services and environmental consulting firms. Some of these are not recognized as such or are still emerging.

Environmental architects, water management specialists, environmental scientists and researchers, energy efficiency and management experts, renewable energy engineers, wildlife experts/naturists (for hotels) and conservation specialists are some of the specific job titles that are currently available in the market. Unfortunately, the demands for such jobs are still low and as a result, there are only a few opportunities at present, but this will definitely begin to show signs of growing very fast.

The demand for various green collar jobs mentioned covers a wide variety of sectors in the developed countries. In developed countries, environmental protection laws have become very stringent in the past two decades and the demand for qualified personnel is higher than in other fields, because these laws are implemented to meet international obligations as well as local needs.

There is demand for qualified people and opportunities are available in every field from food, household cleaning chemicals, automobile engineering, town planning and printing, Abhayaratne said.

He said the Sri Lankan trend is growing but awareness of the need for this change is vital. The importance of change and allocation of resources for change is very low. Until mind-sets change, the trend will be limited to those that can gain either financially or to comply with international standards and demands.

It is important to include sustainability concepts into the education system from a young age so that the public will think about it in a holistic manner.

Then, eventually children will begin to integrate action into their day-to-day work as they grow up. The progressing thinking of principals and teachers has helped many schools to integrate the sustainable concepts into the education system, he said.

Abhayaratne said, that in the tertiary education system, most importantly sustainability needs to be included in mainstream subjects such as business management, agriculture and engineering. Subjects related to sustainability need to be offered to students as then they could be eligible for suitable green collar jobs as demand increase. For this concept to be a reality adults must take the initiative and recognize the importance of thinking green.

“From the think green community feedback and the exhibition, we see young people being very excited and interested in green collar jobs. Older generations are still learning unfortunately, but they are the progressive few that continue to inspire us all,” he said.