Events

Workshop: Towards Sustainable
Production & Consumption in the ECE Region

Thursday, May 22, 3-5 PM
Environment for Europe Conference, Room 23
Kyiv, Ukraine
[Event announcement]

Summary excerpted from ECO Forum Newsletter, 22 May 2003, Kiev, Ukraine

This workshop began recalling how governments, over a decade ago at Rio, agreed that unsustainable production and consumption patterns are the major cause of environmental degradation and that the developed, industrialized countries are obligated to take the lead in changing this situation. As we all know, however, sustainable production and consuomption (SPAC) has been left behind in the exhaust of the speeding engine of modern development and consumer society, with worsening environmental and social trends the result.

Participants, from both Western Europe, the US and EECCA countries, explored a series of questions on their governments' progress towards SPAC policies. While all expressed a common disappointment with the lack of progress by their governments towards SPAC, they also identified a wide range of different obstacles blocking progress, illustrating the different situations and points of view of their countries, highlighting the importance of the Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities.

In light of the ECO Forum's proposal to the ECE for a pan-European regional strategy on production and consumption, participants explored the possible values in monitoring, assessing and reporting on their governments' progress, as well as how they might work together in the future to continue this exploration.

—By Jeffrey Barber, Integrative Strategies Forum