ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

News

ASIA-PACIFIC ECO FOOTPRINT REPORT

Dec. 2005: The WWF report Asia Pacific 2005: Ecological Footprint and Ecological Wealth shows that the region has tripled its consumption of resources over the last 40 years, and is consuming at a rate which is nearly twice what the region can support. At the same time, the footprint is 7 times smaller than that of a North American and 3 times smaller than the average European.
Press release

ASIAN ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK 2005
Oct. 2005: The 2005 Asian Environment Outlook, released by the Asian Development Bank focused on corporate responsibility for environmental performance in the Asia and Pacific region. Mr. Nessim Ahmad, Director of ADB's Environment and Social Safeguards Division presented the findings and conclusions of the report during a keynote address at the 6th Asia-Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production, in Melbourne.
Press release from the ADB

MALAYSIAN CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABILITY
Jun. 2005: NGOs attending Malaysia's First Conference on sustainability (SM2005) from June 6 - 8 2005 reiterated that Malaysia was falling behind on many of its commitments related to sustainability - particularly production and consumption trends including pollution, waste management, recycling, etc. (Details)
The conference was organized by the Malaysian Environmental NGO association (MENGO).

MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON 3R INITIATIVE

Apr. 2005: The Japanese government organized the Ministerial Conference on the 3R Initiative on April 28-30, 2005 in Tokyo with the participation of twenty countries and four international organizations. The participants called for the formulation and implementation of "visions and/or strategies leading to a sound material-cycle society". The meeting outcomes would be submitted to the 2005 G-8 meeting at Scotland.
Details.

5th MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
Mar. 2005: The 5th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development (MCED-5), held on March 28 - 29 in Seoul, Korea adopted the Ministerial Declaration on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific.The declaration acknowledged that "increasing consumption and production resulting from unsustainable economic growth is placing increasing stress on the carrying capacity of the region, as well as elsewhere in the world,"
The 2005 Civil Society Forum, held parallel to the Ministerial Sessions, focused on "Sustainable Consumption and Production and the role of Civil Society: Achieving Environmentally Sustainable Development".
Read more.
Read article from the Korea Times.
Read Press Release from the ESCAP News Service.

SC MEETING IN MANILA

Mar. 2005: As a part of its SC.Net project, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is organizing an international meeting in Manila in order to review ways and means to reduce the impacts of growing unsustainable patterns of consumption in Asia on one hand, and ensuring that the region's poor have access to goods and services on the other. More details are available here.

UPCOMING EVENT: ASIA PACIFIC ROUNDTABLE

Jan. 2005:The 6th Asia Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption & Production will be held in Melbourne, Australia between Oct 10 - 12 2005. Details are available here.

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION: YOUNG AUSTRALIANS AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Nov. 2004: Commissioned by the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS), this study about youth consumption patterns in Australia, sustainability and the processes of social change explores how youth could be encouraged to make personal consumption changes, as well as being catalysts for wider social change.
The project report is available here.

THIRD INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

Oct. 2004: This workshop was organized by the Society for Non Traditional Technology (SNTT) and the Research Center for Life Cycle Assessment as a part of its three year project " "Research on the Development and Utilization of Indicators for Sustainable Consumption. The workshop was held on Oct 22- 23 at Tokyo.
Read more

PRODUCTION-CONSUMPTION SYSTEMS: RESEARCH FRONTIERS

Oct. 2004: The Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), Chiang Mai University organized an international workshop titled "Sustainable Production-Consumption Systems: Research Frontiers" Between October 1- 3 2004. The purpose of this workshop is to arrive at an improved framework and agenda for research on the sustainability of production-consumption systems that increasingly stretch across disparate parts of the globe.
Read more

YOUTH AND SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION IN AUSTRALIA

May 2004:Australia is playing host to a project targeting sustainable consumption and harnessing the power of the youth. Titled "Sustainable Consumption: Young Australians as agents of change", this project is being conducted by Griffith University and International Young Professionals Foundation. As a part of the project, capacity building workshops were conducted throughout Australia. The focus is now on supporting action to be taken by the young people who participated in the workshops, and those who participated in the train the trainer workshops running more youth workshops to involve more young people.
Read online resource accompanying the project.

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Feb. 2004:Increasing consumerism in Asia and its negative fallout of the same 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

FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION

Dec. 2003: UNEP, along with the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) of China, the People's Government of Hunan Province (PGHP), and the China Science and Technology Association (CSTA) organized the first International Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption at Changsha, Hunan Province of China on Dec. 6-8, 2003. The Forum focused on:

1) introducing current situation of sustainable production and consumption in the world;
2) discussing environmentally sound technologies, products and services and exploring a new industrialization mode;
3) advocating for more sustainable consumption

REGIONAL EXPERT MEETINGS ON

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION

Asia-Pacific has hosted two expert meetings on promoting sustainable production and consumption.

The first meeting was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia between 21 and 23 May 2003. The meeting was sponsored by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the government of Indonesia. The meeting called for a need for coherence and integration between day-to-day economic activities and long-term strategy making. The meeting 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, the meeting 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.

Relevant Links -

1st Asia Pacific Expert Meeting on Promoting SPAC patterns - background document

1st Asia Pacific Expert Meeting on Promoting SPAC patterns - outcome report

UNEP's report on 1st Asia-Pacific meeting

The second meeting was held in Seoul, Korea on November 6 - 7 2003. The meeting emphasized the need for a secretariat or network that could assist national initiatives on sustainable production and consumption.

2nd Asia Pacific SPAC meeting report

REVISITING KITAKYUSHU

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the pacific is organizing several meetings as follow up to the Kitakyushu Declaration ( Vision for the 21 st Century: Ministerial Declaration on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific , 2000). These meetings are very important to the SPAC community for two reasons.

First, the Regional Action Programme for Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development , which was approved by the Ministerial Declaration contains strategies and priorities on globalization & policy integration, climate change and sustainable energy development for the Asia Pacific region for the period 2001-2005. National governments have committed to incorporating these strategies in their domestic legislations and policies; and NGOs must make sure that the governments are reminded of these obligations.

Second, the Kitakyushu Initiative for a Clean Environment lays down a plan of action to combat urban environmental pollution. This plan uses various SPAC tools and strategies (like clean production techniques, socially responsible investments, corporate social responsibility) in order to achieve environmental goals. The Initiative is especially relevant in light of the subject matter of the first thematic cycle of the Commission on Sustainable Development - Water and Human Settlements.

Relevant Links:

Regional Action Programme for Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development 2001 - 2005

Vision for the 21st Century: Ministerial Declaration on Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development

Kitakyushu Initiative for Clean Environment