Goals of the SPAC Issue Group
World heads of state recently agreed that changing unsustainable production and consumption patterns is one of the three "overarching objectives of sustainable development" Yet after more than a decade of research, meetings, technological improvements, best practices and educational efforts, the ecological and social trends have not been reversed but instead worsened. Major political and economic obstacles lie before us and before the environmental ministers meeting through the UNECE * regional process.
Part of the follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development is to develop a ten-year plan of work. The impact of civil society on this plan and on national policies and strategies depends to a large degree on our ability to work together in advocating for SPAC priorities as well as government and corporate accountability.
The Bratislava Declaration laid out a list of policy priorities, with the main demand being to place sustainable production and consumption at the heart of the process.
The SPAC Issue Group, in participating in the
Kiev-2003 Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference, will
begin its work from those priorities.
* UNECE: The UN European Commission for Europe as a region encompasses both Europe and North America.