Getting the Goods

Regional News

April 2004

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Asia and the Pacific

Regional SPAC meetings in Asia and the Pacific

May and November 2003

2003 witnessed a lot of regional activity on SPAC in Asia and the Pacific. Indonesia and Korea hosted regional expert meetings on sustainable production and consumption in May and November 2003 respectively, which were primarily attended by government officials. The first meeting called for a need for coherence and integration between day-to-day economic activities and long-term strategy making. Participants also called for the implementation of the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection and the implementation of environmental laws and regulations. In the field of corporate responsibility and accountability, attendees recommended that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) incorporate SPAC practices into their operations and that all businesses carry out self-assessments. Finally, the meeting called for an international declaration on sustainable production and consumption. Outcomes of the Korea meeting called for establishing a secretariat or network that could assist national initiatives on sustainable production and consumption.

The meeting reports can be found at www.icspac.net/AsiaPacific.aspx.

International SPAC Forum in China

December 2003

Sustainable production and consumption policies and the concept of a circular economy were key priorities in China's development. These were some of the conclusions made at the first International Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption at Changsha, Hunan Province of China on Dec. 6-8, 2003. The meeting was organized by UNEP, along with the Government of China and the China Science and Technology Association. Consumers International and Integrative Strategies Forum were among the international NGOs who made presentations at the Forum.

The forum report is available at www.icspac.net/documents/ChangshaSPAC.pdf.

Sustainable consumption & life cycle analysis workshops in Japan

March and December 2003

Japan hosted two international workshops that examined the linkages between life cycle analysis and sustainable consumption in March and December 2003. These workshops were organized by the Society for Non Traditional Technology (SNTT) and the National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology of Japan. The workshops explored ways to reduce environmental loads (e.g., CO₂ emissions) from the point of view of consumption, in addition to the current focus on production patterns.

The meeting reports can be found at unit.aist.go.jp/lca-center/english/symposium.htm .

Sustainable consumption knowledge transfer

February 2004

Increasing consumerism in Asia and its negative fallout is the focus of a new project called Sustainable Consumption Asia or SC.Asia. Pioneered by Consumers International, Center for Environment and Development (Sri Lanka), the Danish Consumers Council and UNEP, the project is premised on the fact that Asia would face an ecological disaster if consumption levels reached those currently seen in Europe and North America. The US$500,000 SC.Asia project aims to identify existing "best practices" for promoting sustainable consumption in Europe and Asia, and then build knowledge and capacity in government agencies for their implementation.

Read UNEP's Press Release at www.roap.unep.org/html/nr/nr04-01.htm.

Europe

UK releases SPAC strategy

September 2003

The United Kingdom released its national strategy on sustainable production and consumption in September 2003, becoming the first country to fulfill its commitments in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The strat
egy, entitled Changing Patterns: The UK Government Framework on Sustainable Production and Consumption, deals with delinking economic growth and pollution, improving resource efficiency, life cycle analysis, consumer awareness, and other tools and policies.

The strategy is available at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/scp/changing-patterns.pdf .

German dialogue on SPAC

Feb. 2004

Germany is restarting the dialogue on sustainable consumption and production to face the challenge of fleshing out the ten-year framework of programmes. To this end, the German government hosted a conference titled "Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns—National Dialogue on the Follow-up of the World Summit for Sustainable Development" in Berlin to develop "perspectives and new impetus for the promotion of sustainable consumption and production patterns".

EU stakeholder consultation

Mar. 2004

Sustainable consumption and production and the development of the ten-year framework are some of the key priorities of the European Union in the follow up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Therefore, the EU has developed a report entitled Sustainable consumption and production: An inventory of relevant policies, activities and instruments at the European Community level to provide an overall view of overall view of the EU's current activities and best practices on the issue. On March 22nd 2003, the EU will be conducting a stakeholder consultation on the inventory.

The inventory report is available at www.icspac.net/documents/EU-SCPInventory.doc .

Upcoming events

9^th European Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption

12_14 May 2004

The 9^th European Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption, a continuation of previous roundtables on cleaner production, will be held in Bilbao between 12_14 May 2004. The roundtable will provide a platform to stimulate, develop, and disseminate new initiatives to foster the implementation of sustainable consumption and production concepts and approaches within local and regional sustainable development initiatives.

More details are available at www.erscp2004.net.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Regional meetings on SPAC

April and October 2003

A regional Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption has been established in Latin America and the Caribbean to develop a ten-year framework of programmes on SPAC for the region. This is the result the mandate given by two expert meetings on SPAC held in the region in 2003. The meetings, which were hosted by the governments of Argentina and Nicaragua, in cooperation with UNEP and other organizations, were primarily attended by government officials. The first meeting, which attempted to construct a regional platform on sustainable production and consumption, called for the incorporation of SPAC tools and policies in national regulatory frameworks on sustainable production and consumption. In the second meeting, the government experts prioritized action items and recommended incorporating them in a regional SPAC strategy.

For details, visit www.icspac.net/LatinAmericaCaribbean.aspx.

North America

EGA Funders guide

March 2003

The Funders Working Group on Sustainable Consumption and Production of the Environmental Grantmakers Association came out with a briefing guide for grantmakers titled Sustainable Consumption and Production: Strategies for Accelerating Positive Change. The guide highlights "five key action areas that grantmakers can target to accelerate meaningful change in the area of sustainable production and consumption".

The briefing guide is available at www.ega.org/resources/egasustain.pdf.

Sustainable consumption database

December 2003

The North American Sustainable Consumption Alliance has launched a sustainable consumption and production database
that contains information about sustainable consumption and production initiatives throughout North America. The database is also intended as a resource for citizens to learn about projects or initiatives that they can support, join, or replicate in their own community.

The database can be accessed at www.p2win.org/main/ns/7/doc/89/lang/EN.

NASCA workshop

January 2004

The Worldwatch Institute and North American Sustainable Consumption Alliance (NASCA) organized an experts workshop on "Strategic Priorities for Promoting Sustainable Consumption in North America" in Washington, DC on 27 January 2004. The workshop aimed to advance the process of developing a concrete, constructive, and collaborative strategy for promoting sustainable consumption in North America. The participants, including both NGOs and charitable foundations, discussed possible initiatives in the fields of government initiatives, industry-targeted activities, purchasing, communicating, and promoting sustainable consumption. As a next step, the participants suggested further building upon the sustainable consumption database created by NASCA.

Overconsumption in Canada

Feb. 2004

"Overconsumption is the main reason for Canada's woes" states a report published by the David Suzuki Foundation. Entitled Sustainability Within a Generation: A New Vision for Canada, the report identifies nine critical challenges that Canada should concentrate upon. It calls for a generation of environmental laws and policies that "must embody fundamental principles including intergenerational equity, polluter pays, user pays, pollution prevention, ecological design, extended producer responsibility, and adaptive management."

The report is available at www.davidsuzuki.org/WOL/Sustainability.