Report from Kyiv 2003
18-24 May 2003
The ECO-Forum Issue Group on Sustainable Production and Consumption (SPAC IG) organized two events at the ECO-Forum International Conference in Kyiv, Ukraine. These events included a workshop and strategy meeting. The Group has re-started, after being on hold for more than a year. Thus, the Group did not play a major role in negotiations during the coinciding Environment for Europe process, but established a solid framework for future advocacy, education and organizing efforts promoting sustainable production and consumption priorities.
Background
Picking up after a break of more than a year when the SPAC Issue Group was coordinated by Iza Kruschevska (ANPED), the Group re-started based on the NGO priorities on SPAC defined in the Bratislava Declaration by ECO-Forum (December 2002) as well as the ECO-Forum proposal to the ECE to establish a pan-European regional strategy on SPAC. After over a year of discussions with different ECO-Forum Board members, Jeffrey Barber, Executive Director of the Integrative Strategies Forum in the U.S. (see www.isforum.org) and also a board member of ANPED (see www.anped.org), agreed to help coordinate the group.
SPAC workshop
On 22 May, we held a workshop to discuss the situation and strategy for this issue, first looking at some historical background on the discussion over the past decade, beginning with the agreement by heads of state at Rio of the importance of the industrialized, developed countries to "take the lead" in promoting sustainable production and consumption. We then briefly discussed the outcomes on SPAC in the World Summit on Sustainable Development (as part of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation), particularly the ten-year framework of programs to support national and regional initiatives on SPAC. We then talked about NGO efforts to develop national and regional campaigns promoting different aspects of SPAC.
A more detailed report on the workshop appeared in the ECO-Forum Newsletter 22 May; see SPAC IG Workshop
SPAC Issue Group meeting
On 23 May, the Issue Group met to discuss priorities and plans. The discussion began with viewpoints on the common but differentiated situations and priorities of different countries and NGOs regarding SPAC and strategies for changing behavior, institutions and their policies. We then discussed ways for mutually supporting each other in advancing SPAC policies and practices in our respective countries and regionally. The conclusions from this discussion were:
- There is a need to develop an effective communications network
among SPAC NGOs in the ECE region to share information, experience
and discuss strategy. We agreed to:
- Establish a listserver on the internet dedicated to this strategy discussion,
- Explore possibilities for a regionally-based website for exchanging knowledge on SPAC, and
- Build ties with other NGO networks focusing on SPAC, such as ANPED's SPAC Working Group, the NGO SPAC Caucus at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, and the International Coalition for Sustainable Production and Consumption (ICSPAC)
- In each of our countries, to develop campaigns promoting SPAC in national sustainable development strategies. In particular, we will:
- Explore possibilities to monitor, assess and report on national progress towards SPAC,
- Develop our analysis of the obstacles (political, economic, institutional, etc.) blocking progress,
- Develop recommendations, nationally and regionally, on actions to overcome those blocks, and
- Create NGO assessments/reports on national progress towards SPAC.
- Regionally, we would also promote the ECO-Forum proposal for a pan-European strategy on SPAC. This effort would be done in coordination with the larger ECO-Forum network, with special attention to future meetings of the ECE and the next Environment for Europe process.
- The Issue Group will also focus attention on development of the ten year framework of programmes on SPAC, a process initiated by the World Summit on Sustainable Development which is being discussed in a series of regional and global meetings organized by UNEP and the CSD's Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). One key meeting on the framework is being held in Marrakech (16-19 June), to which only a handful of NGOs were invited. We are in contact with the NGOs attending this meeting and who will report back on the results. The next key events in this process, which we will engage in, are UNEP's Governing Council meeting (January 2004) and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, 12th Session (spring 2004). Communications and collaboration with NGOs in other regions will be important in analyzing the significance and contributing to shaping the results of this process.
- We also agreed to monitor and assess national SPAC trends and policy development and to provide inputs to a report on regional progress towards SPAC. This report can then be presented as part of NGO inputs to discussion of SPAC policy within the ECE process, as well as the WSSD's ten year framework on SPAC. Upcoming opportunities for interventions include meetings of ECE, OECD, UNEP and the CSD.
For more information, contact Jeffrey Barber, Integrative Strategies Forum at jbarber@isforum.org.