Report from Sustainable Production and Consumption Caucus:

Report from

Sustainable Production and Consumption Caucus:

Preparations for UNGASS +5

June 9, 1997

1 EVALUATION OF CSD-5

2 SPAC PRIORITIES FOR UNGASS

2.1 National Policy Priorities

2.2 Implementation Priorities

2.3 Caucus Priorities

3 CAUCUS ACTIVITIES AT UNGASS

3.1 Lobbying at UNGASS

3.2 Pre-UNGASS Lobbying

3.3 Text Recommendations

3.4 Position Paper

3.5 SPAC Meetings/Workshops

3.6 Proposed SPAC Exhibit

3.7 SPAC Booth

3.8 Other Events at UNGASS

4 LOOKING AHEAD: SPAC STRATEGY FOR 5-YEAR WORK PROGRAM

1 EVALUATION OF CSD-5

Applause to Ewa Charkiewicz for her helpful evaluation of CSD-5, "Forward to the Past." If you don't have a copy, I suggest you let her know at echsvb@euronet.nl. Ewa highlighted the disappointment most of us experienced at CSD-5 re: the governments' resistance to moving much beyond commitments to marketing green technologies, greater efficiency (overtaken by the volume of production) and better rhetoric.

Overall, we still have a long way to go to reach our Caucus aim of getting governments "to place sustainable production and consumption at the heart of economic policy." While there is more acknowledgment by governments of the importance of achieving sustainable consumption and production patterns, there continues to be great resistance to implementation or developing national plans.

As Ewa pointed out, none of the national governments have yet developed a comprehensive national policy framework on consumption and production. While the topic of TARGETS was initially raised, the resistance (especially from the US) kept most of these out of the text -- even the reference to targets (bracketed in 22f). Our Caucus has been promoting the adoption of sectoral and overall national targets for the past three years, and will obviously need to continue pushing for these as they are essential for any standardized capacity to monitor, evaluate and report on progress.

At the same time, we NGOs need to begin developing our own proposed sectoral and global targets and timelines for achieving sustainable production and consumption. If the governments are reluctant to do this, then we should take the initiative and build cross-sectoral NGO alliances to develop and promote such targets and plans. (For example, we could establish linkages with research organizations like Worldwatch and others which collect trend data, as well as explore indicators needed to measure concepts such as "sufficiency," as Iza pointed out. )

We were also disappointed in not seeing the governments adopt Manus van Brakel's proposal for NATIONAL DIALOGUES on consumption & production. Again, if the governments are unwilling to initiate such dialogues, we NGOs will need to start initiating these and invite the government representatives to participate. If leadership will not come from above, then it must come from the bottom.

We did succeed in getting one section introduced into the text, in 22b: in getting business to "publish ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL AUDITS on its activities," although this is still in brackets and needs more lobbying efforts to keep it in (as well as a strategy for promoting transparency and adequate company reporting).

Ewa's valid complaint about the lack of progress towards "environmentally sound pricing" calls for a greater effort for mechanisms to identify and account for full costs (both environmental and social), general and specific economic strategies and actions for successfully moving to implement such pricing, as well as ways to protect the poor, elderly, and other sectors of the population from bearing the negative brunt of these prices (since companies will automatically attempt to re-externalize these costs in other ways).

This issue of full cost accounting and the goal of internalizing externalities leads us to the problem of two competing economic worldviews and ideas about wealth and progress, which are ultimately creating the unsurprising political stalemate -- despite Agenda 21's calls for "redefining the concept of economic growth." The problem is not a consequence of post-war globalization, but the continuation of the Bretton Woods model and ideology of "development" which puts economic growth ( qualified not by social development but financial profitability) ahead of everything.

The stalemate is often explained as being a struggle between the G77 and G7 over resources and commitment to sustainable development. This struggle has the appearance of also being an ideological struggle: there APPEARS to be an ideological conflict between the G77's more overt need for more economic growth and the G7's promotion of "sustainable development" (which ultimately continues to hold growth re: corporate profitability above environmental protection and social development). With some exceptions, both north and south continue to cling to the old Bretton Wood values. Thus, there is more rhetoric about sustainability than action and commitment. Thus, we continue down the road to global economic, social, and environmental breakdown (although not necessarily in our generation's lifetime).

So, if it is so bad, what are we NGOs still doing there? The UN and the CSD in particular remains the primary place for global civil society and the governments of the world to address each other and the dilemma of trying to respond to our constituencies' demand to create a better quality of life for all and to make sure we do not destroy our planet. We place our hopes with the more enlightened members of the delegations with which we have been working and try to build appropriate partnerships with them and with each other. We continue to hope and work for wider and deepening awareness among the public as well as the decision makers of the issues. We continue to develop and communicate our understanding of what is needed beyond adjustments here -- the need to transform the economic system so that the living system can sustain itself.

2 SPAC PRIORITIES FOR UNGASS

2.1 National Policy Priorities

Following is a brief summary of the eight general NATIONAL POLICY PRIORITIES we identified in our Caucus Statement (see the statement for the longer version):

1. Overcoming the gap between rich and poor.

2. Equitable access to resources while accounting for ecological limits.

3. Reporting on externalized costs.

4. Recognition and defense of sustainable practices by indigenous cultures

5. Instituting clean production.

6. Moving beyond efficiency to sufficiency, promoting sustainable lifestyles and livelihoods for all.

7. Promoting both corporate responsibility and corporate accountability.

8. Providing adequate response to negative impacts of economic globalization.

2.2 Implementation Priorities

As to IMPLEMENTATION, we have focused our attention on:

1. GLOBAL TARGETS AND MONITORING: CSD consultations with governments and major groups leading to definition of time-bound, measurable global production and consumption targets by sector, to be followed by regular monitoring, evaluation and reporting on international progress.

2. NATIONAL DIALOGUES LEADING TO TARGETS AND PLANS: National public dialogues on goals and strategies for achieving sustainable production and consumption, leading to national SPAC plans with time-bound, measurable targets.

3. NATIONAL ACTION PROGRAMS: Including (a) the right and means to knowledge about products and production processes (e.g., right to know, education on CAP; regulation of advertising); (b) Extended Producer Responsibility; (c) ecological tax reform and elimination of destructive subsidies; (d) support for youth initiatives; (e) model programs addressing industrial "hot spots;" (f) microcredit initiatives to promote sustainable livelihoods; and (g) externalized costs on product labels.

2.3 Caucus Priorities

In addition to the above national policy and program priorities, we have agreed on two CAUCUS PRIORITIES: (1) put more effort into building Caucus membership among southern NGOs, and (2) develop more efficient communications and strategizing among Caucus members and partners over the coming years.

I'm sure that you can probably think of many other priorities and issues to add to the above, which we may wish to spend some time on when we come together in New York. However, we do not want to spend all our time achieving the perfect statement of what we want to achieve, while the opportunity to do something about it slips by! Rather, WE NEED TO IDENTIFY THE TWO OR THREE MOST STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT LOBBYING AND ORGANIZING OBJECTIVES AND PLAN OUR ACTIONS SO WE CAN ACHIEVE THESE. If we try to spread ourselves too broadly we will dissipate our energies and not achieve anything.

For some priorities, we should divide up responsibilities or take turns (e.g., in monitoring and reporting back on negotiations). For others (e.g., lobbying specific points) we need to bring together our collective strength and focus. However, though we will be unable to address the broad range of issues and concerns, these need to be included in our Position Paper and long-range strategy beyond UNGASS.

3 CAUCUS ACTIVITIES AT UNGASS

As to Caucus activities, we have discussed the following :

1. Lobbying at UNGASS

2. Pre-UNGASS lobbying

3. Additional improvements to the Caucus Recommended Amendments

4. Developing and circulating the Caucus Position Paper

5. Organizing Caucus meetings and panels or workshops

6. Developing the SPAC exhibit (Pieter and Sasha's "Tunnel of Consumption")

7. Planning and running a Caucus display table/booth at the NGO Global Gathering

8. Participating in other events (e.g., the UNCHS symposium on CAP

9. Developing our long-range Caucus strategy re: the 5-year CSD program

3.1 LOBBYING AT UNGASS

As many of you know, much of the text negotiated at CSD-5 has already been agreed upon by the delegations and is no longer up for discussion or changes. What IS up for negotiation is (1) the text which remains in brackets [ ] and (2) the political declaration. You should all have a copy of the SPAC CAUCUS RECOMMENDATIONS (re: bracketed text) we sent to Felix, which he compiled and distributed to government delegations. This was distributed a few weeks ago on the CSD list server. I will send along a separate version of this. We should use this set of Caucus recommendations as one foundation stone in building our lobbying strategy for UNGASS.

We may wish to continue discussing this set of recommended amendments in order to further refine our points and priorities. If we are to be effective in lobbying, we need to choose only a few of these items and work together to highlight these to the delegations during the first week (June 16-20). Only some of us will be there, so we need to agree ahead of time on what those priorities will be. If we want to accomplish more than posturing, our lobbying agenda should not simply focus on what is "most important" overall, but what we can realistically expect to influence. Thus, we should make sure we are informed especially about the EU, US and G-77 positions, where there is room to move, and what language will work.

We should also try to put some stepping stones in place to build upon -- some small advances in language that may not necessarily be major achievements to celebrate but that set precedents which pragmatically help us move ahead in the future.

My suggested three lobbying points:

(1) Adopt bracketed text in 22.f on "targets, goals or action."

(2) After "improve energy and material efficiency" add "sufficiency."

(3) Adopt bracketed text in 22b on "publishing environmental and social audits" - the text we introduced at CSD.

3.2 PRE-UNGASS LOBBYING

Hopefully you have all had a chance to meet with your government delegations or representatives to let them know your concerns and priorities and to get their perspective and priorities re: UNGASS. If you could report back to us on what you see as the strategic opportunities as well as the deadends re: your national delegation or what you know of other delegations or groups (e.g., EU or G77), this would give the Caucus a chance to begin working out our lobbying strategy before we all arrive in New York. Four areas to address: (1) heads of state speeches, (2) the bracketed text and our Caucus recommendations, (3) the political declaration, and (4) what is known overall of national commitments and plans for the coming years.

In my own case here in the US, we have emphasized the need for President Clinton to address not only the questions of U.S. arrears and increased ODA, but also to talk about consumption and production and poverty (since they have been acknowledged to be the overriding cross-sectoral issues) as going beyond efficiency to SUFFICIENCY - the necessity of providing a sustainable quality of life for everyone (noting that quality of life, not "development" or "growth" are agreed to be the goals and end result of sustainable development).

The US delegation is well aware of US NGO annoyance at their resistance to concrete targets and will be expecting our criticism of their failure to make concrete commitments to sustainable development. We have also made the point that statements about protecting the environment without also attempting to eradicate global poverty will be seen as contributing to the political stalemate. While we understand the problem with our conservative Congress, which will not approve increased ODA, we NGOs insist that this continues to be a priority political goal for the Administration to pursue.

3.3 TEXT RECOMMENDATIONS

The most recent draft of our Caucus recommended amendments will accompany this report. Please make sure your country delegation and others get a copy of this. The recommendations do not cover all our various concerns and priorities, but do address many of our priorities there in the bracketed text on production and consumption as well as the political declaration.

Some recommendations are more strategically important than others. For example, the recommendation to adopt the bracketed text on companies "publishing environmental and social audits;" this was text which we successfully lobbied to be included, which through the help of Krishna and the Norwegian delegation was added. We need to continue to support this intervention by gaining further support by other delegations, especially G77 delegations, to get the brackets taken off. If we achieve this objective we can later return to the issue of what such audits may mean and how they may be institutionalized. If we are serious about moving towards full-cost accounting and pricing, we need to build on such agreements (assuming we can get this finalized).

Let us know your particular view on what you believe are the most strategically important amendments or support around which we should lobby. We need to be clear about this and plan how we can coordinate our efforts.

3.4 POSITION PAPER

One thing we discussed at the Intersessional and CSD was the need to develop a Caucus Position Paper that would go into more depth our collective views on achieving sustainable production and consumption. For example, one thing we talked about is identifying a set of global SPAC targets to promote - based on and highlighting the targets identified by other NGO Caucuses such as Energy, Fresh Water, Transportation, Sustainable Agriculture, etc. While this paper should not take priority over our other activities (since it will probably continue be open-ended and developmental over the coming year), we need to deepen the statement we wrote for the NGO Steering Committee Statement.

3.5 SPAC MEETINGS/WORKSHOPS

We will want to schedule a series of SPAC Caucus strategy meetings to discuss and coordinate our activities at UNGASS. Dates and place for these meetings have yet to be determined. One difficulty is setting up a schedule that does not conflict with other events in which we need to be present. This was sometimes a problem at CSD.

We had also discussed organizing a panel or workshop highlighting regional perspectives on production and consumption, especially hoping to narrow some of the north-south conflicts in getting to a global NGO action strategy and position.

3.6 PROPOSED SPAC EXHIBIT

At CSD, Sasha and Pieter proposed replicating an exhibit on consumption which a Spanish NGO had successfully produced, involving a multimedia maze or tunnel beginning with glitzy advertizing on the promised joys of overconsumption paradise and ending with the real world consequences of waste, pollution and alienated, broken communities. Pieter followed through on his commitment to explore the feasibility of having the SPAC Caucus replicate this project for UNGASS. After some research and supportive responses from the Center for the New American Dream, Adbusters and discussion with other ANPED members, we came to the conclusion that there would not be enough time to successfully design and produce such an exhibit for UNGASS.

However, we all agreed that this kind of project has great potential for gaining media attention and getting across ideas more effectively than the standard papers and speeches permeating CSD. Thus, we are now discussing the idea of pursuing this as a two-year project, targeting the 1999 CSD, with its central thematic focus on consumption and production.

The development process for this exhibit, with the necessary debates on content plus the accumulation of images and quotes/soundbites, could feed directly into a long-range media strategy. If one of the goals of this project is to communicate a number of key points to the public, policymakers, and other NGOs, then this goal should shape our criteria for the design, construction and promotion of the exhibit. In turn, the development process during the next two years can generate a wealth of materials for our overall public education efforts.

These ideas need to be explored further. We can discuss these at UNGASS and afterward.

3.7 SPAC BOOTH

Although we are unable to construct the "Tunnel of Consumption" exhibit, we will be able to organize a table and booth to help further some of our aims (although we need to somehow raise $200 to pay for this, so any help will be greatly appreciated!)

We can use the booth to accomplish several objectives: (1) be a focal point for anyone (NGOs, delegates, media) interested in CAP issues; (2) collectively disseminate or display Caucus members' literature on CAP as well as highlight other classic books, etc.; (3) promote and solicit ideas and volunteer support for the proposed SPAC Exhibit. One suggestion is to have an "Idea Book" at our booth in the NGO Global Gathering to collect ideas, quotes, images, etc. (4) interview people about their ideas on CAP and record these comments on audio or video; these could be compiled and edited for later use; (5) display key concepts and images (e.g., using posters or slides. The booth could be a good educational and organizing medium.

WE WILL NEED VOLUNTEERS TO HELP PUT TOGETHER AND RUN THE SPAC BOOTH, SO PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU OR SOMEONE IN YOUR ORGANIZING ARE WILLING TO HELP.

3.8 RELATED EVENTS AT UNGASS

On Tuesday, June 24, from 2:00-5:00 pm, the UN Centre for Human Settlements will present a symposium on Changing Consumption Patterns in Human Settlements, featuring Klaus Toepfer, Maurice Strong, Nitin Desai, Ismail Serageldin, Wally N'Dow, among others. This event will take place at the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium at the UN.

4 LOOKING AHEAD: SPAC STRATEGY FOR 5-YEAR WORK PROGRAM

Note that both poverty and CAP will be addressed as cross-cutting issues at each of the CSD sessions in the five year program. However, 1999 will especially focus on CAP as one of the main themes. This session will be strategically important for us to target and gives us two years in which to prepare.

CSD-6, in 1998, will provide us an opportunity to more thoroughly evaluate the advances, stalemates, and backtracking by governments and the UN in addressing production & consumption issues.

Following are some proposed actions we can take in order to have a greater impact on next year's activities:

(1) IDENTIFY TARGETS: Identify a list of time-bound, measurable targets (if the CSD will not do this, we need to show our initiative in moving this task forward). Such targets should cover energy, transportation, food, chemicals, weapons, education, health, government procurement). This list should derive from and highlight the work of the NGO issue-based caucuses working specifically in these areas. Thus, we need to establish liaisons between us and focal points within each of these caucuses.

(2) MONITOR & ASSESS PROGRESS: (a) Develop and agree on a CHECKLIST of areas for us to monitor, nationally and internationally - either based on our identified targets or established commitments; (b) work out our agreed methods and commitments to do this monitoring and assessment in the coming year; (c) develop a collaborative NGO REPORT on international progress towards achieving sustainable production and consumption, published sufficiently in advance of the CSD session (e.g., by January or February)?

(3) DEVELOP PUBLIC EDUCATION/MEDIA CAMPAIGN: (a) push for a formal CSD "partners dialogue" in 1998 on developing national dialogues; (b) promote or initiate a series of national public dialogues on sustainable production & consumption goals and strategies (i.e., for a comprehensive policy framework and instruments for transition) in each of our respective countries -- reporting back on each; (c) developing our thinking and a written piece we can circulate on priorities and strategies for education on sustainable consumption and production -- to be tied into the discussion at CSD-6 on the theme of education; and (d) begin the design and production of the proposed SPAC exhibit for 1999.

(4) BEGIN DIALOGUE ON ADVERTISING REFORM: At CSD we talked about a number of ideas focusing on critique and reform/regulation of the advertising industry. This discussion needs to be expanded beyond our Caucus and joined with other voices into a broader international dialogue on reform and regulation of advertising.