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At the opening session of the seminar, Mr. Michael T. Defensor,
Minister of Environment, Philippines, gave a keynote speech
highlighting the importance of sustainable consumption. He mentioned
that sustainable consumption is an important area to address as it is
linked to other national priorities such as deforestation, which is of
high concern in the Philippines. Mr. Frank Hess, European Commission,
(First Secretary, EC Delegation to Philippines) stressed the need to
identify the most appropriate policy tools to promote sustainable
consumption, including advertising and marketing with a positive and
cool message. Mrs. Wei Zhao (UNEP ROAP) gave the welcome remarks and
Ms. Adriana Zacarias (UNEP DTIE) made a presentation on the UN
Guidelines and the SC.Asia project.
Over 80 participants from 13
Asian countries and 4 European countries took part in this Asian
Cross-learning Seminar on Sustainable Consumption, in Manila,
Philippines from 15-17 March, as part of the "SC.Asia Project" focus on
Capacity building for Implementation of the UN Guidelines on
Sustainable Consumption.
During the meeting, the project
partners, Center for Environment and Development (CED), Consumers
International (CI) and the Danish Consumer Council, presented the
results of the Asian and European reviews on the implementation of the
UN Guidelines on Sustainable Consumption. Participants presented some
national case studies and best practices on SC: Thailand presented a
successful project on education on energy efficiency that was
implemented in more than 50 schools in the country. The Philippines
presented their experience with eco-labelling, and India presented a
project on Impartial Product Testing.
The second day focussed on
training on specific SC tools, such as awareness and education
campaigns, and public green procurement. The third day was built around
an exercise on the National Action Plans on Sustainable Consumption.
UNEP presented the model that was developed to assist countries to
design and implement National Action Plans (NAP) on sustainable
consumption. Based on this model, each country prepared a mock-up
national NAP, which focussed on specific sectors or products. The aim
of the exercise was to get the country teams started on thinking how to
draft real NAP’s. During the meeting, UNEP invited countries to
consider how UNEP and partners can assist the countries in adopting
real action plans. The participants also provided important feedback to
the exercise, as well to the whole seminar. Based on the outcome from
the seminar, SC.Asia will develop a guidance manual on NAP on
Sustainable Consumption. For more information, contact SC@unep.fr
SC.Asia
is the short name for the project “Capacity Building for Implementation
of UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection (sustainable consumption) in
Asia”. This two-year project is financially supported by the European
Union, through its Asia Pro Eco programme, and is a collaborative
effort between the United Nations Environment Programme, Consumers
International, the Center for Environment and Development and the
Danish Consumer Council. The project was proposed as a means to respond
to the call from governments in Asia to strengthen the capacity of
Governments and other stakeholders to implement the UN Guidelines on
sustainable consumption, and to share experiences regionally
(Asia-Asia) and inter-regionally (Europe-Asia) on sustainable
consumption practices. The project involves six European countries
(Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden) and 12 Asian
countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, P.R. China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR,
Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam).
For
more information about the project please contact Ms. Adriana Zacarias
Farah and/or Mr. Niclas Svenningsen through sc@unep.fr. |
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