10 year framework of programmes on SPAC
From work programme to a framework of programmes..
During the preparatory process to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the European Union proposed the formulation of a "10 year programme of work on sustainable production and consumption"
As initially proposed, this idea, represented to many a solid commitment by governments to an institutional vehicle which could deliver the necessary timelines, monitoring and assessment process missing from the text, providing at least one concrete implementation mechanism.
- Jeffrey Barber, Production, Consumption and the World Summit on Sustainable Development
Following this proposal, much attention was focused on this topic, and the 10 year work programme was the subject of many conferences and papers. Some relevant links that detail the growth in the understanding of this topic are given below:
Elements for an International Work Programme on Sustainable Production and Consumption,
Report of the Oslo Ministerial Roundtable: Conference on Sustainable Production and Consumption
1995
Proposal for a work programme on promoting sustainable production and consumption patterns,
UNEP 2002
Achieving Sustainable Production and Consumption: Establishing a 10 year work programme
Report from the ICSPAC Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2002
Speech
by Minister of the Environment Hans Chr. Schmidt on Sustainable
Consumption and Production, delivered at WSSD, 2002
Unfortunately, the work programme did not survive the World Summit on Sustainable Development and a much watered down version found its way to the text.
The text on promoting sustainable production and consumption is weak, and puts very little pressure on developed countries to change their environmentally harmful lifestyles. The EU had proposed a 10-year work programme for all countries to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production. Opposition from G77 and Japan, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand diluted this proposal, and countries now merely have to ‘encourage and promote the development’ of 10-year ‘framework of programmes’ towards sustainable consumption and production. Among other things, this section of the plan calls on countries to encourage cleaner production and eco-efficiency, promote the internalisation of environmental costs, enhance corporate environmental and social responsibility; and aim to have a global system of classification and labeling of chemicals in place by 2008.
- Down to Earth, September 30th 2002
Some important links that focus on the 10 year framework of programmes are:
Talking
points for Hans Christian Schmidt, Danish minister for the Environment
at the UNEP Governing Council, Nairobi 5 - 7 February 2003.
Workshops organized by GRIP - The foundation for Sustainable production and consumption for developing ideas for projects that could be incorporated into the "10-year framework of programmes", 2003
Side events on the 10 year framework at CSD - 11
Marrakech process
An "International Expert Meeting on the 10 year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Production and Consumption" was held in Marrakech, Morocco between June 16th - 19th 2003. This meeting was organized by UN DESA (Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) in order to "work towards the development of a 10 year framework in support of national and regional initiatives to promote sustainable production and consumption" (SPAC). Over 100 participants from 54 countries attended the meeting. This meeting heralded the initiation of the "Marrakech process" - which would involve a series of regional and international processes to develop SPAC frameworks.