Monitoring the Marrakech Process

The Marrakech Process refers to the activities and procedures involved in giving   effect to the "10 year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production", that was begun at the International Expert Meeting on Sustainable Consumption and Production held in Marrakech, Morocco in June 2003. The meeting report held:

The Marrakech Process on sustainable consumption and production, in which a number of priorities were identified, is a basic step towards the development of a 10-year framework of programmes, which needs to be further encouraged and promoted in order to ensure effective support to national and regional initiatives to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production to promote social and economic development within the carrying capacity of the ecosystems.

(Source: Summary of the Meeting, International Expert Meeting on Sustainable consumption and production)

The Marrakech Process currently consists of international and regional "expert" meetings on sustainable consumption and production being held throughout the world. The aim of these meetings appears to be to create regional strategies and provide expertise that countries can draw upon when formulating national plans on sustainable consumption and production.

The mandate to create a 10 year framework of programmes was given at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Paragraph 15 of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation holds that the States must:

"Encourage and promote the development of a 10-year framework of programmes in support of regional and national initiatives to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production to accelerate social and economic development within the carrying capacity of ecosystems by addressing, and where appropriate, delinking economic growth and environmental degradation through improving efficiency and sustainability in use of resources and production processes and reducing resource degradation, pollution and waste."

(Source: Chapter III of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation)

From work programme to framework of programmes

A review of the history of the sustainable production and consumption, shows that the issue has been considerably diluted through the sessions of the CSD, and especially in the run up to the WSSD.

In May 1994, as a result of lobbying by the European Union and some other countries, the Secretary-General was called upon "to request the views of Governments in order to formulate elements of a possible work programme for sustainable consumption and production patterns by the third session of the Commission on Sustainable Development." (CSD).

(Source: Report of the Commission on Sustainable Development on its 2nd session, 1994)

In making its recommendation, the Commission considered Norway's verbal note on the Symposium on sustainable consumption held in Norway on January 1994. According to the note, the symposium highlighted the following issues (a) Examining SPAC trends and damages caused as a result (b)effects of SPAC patterns (c) setting priorities (d) preserving good practice and infrastructure (e) studying the effectiveness of a spectrum of instruments (f) increasing green taxes and user charges (g) using voluntary quality control and user charges (h) renewable energy (i) education and outreach (j) pilot projects and publicity thereof (k) indicators (l) periodic reports by the Government.

(Sources:

Note verbale dated 7th April 1994 from the permanent representative of the republic of Norway to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary General

The Soria Moria Symposium: Sustainable Consumption and Production, 19-20 January 1994, Oslo, Norway)

In February 1995, Ministers of the Environment met at Oslo, Norway at a roundtable which aimed to prepare elements for an international work programme on sustainable production and consumption (SPAC) as mandated by the 2nd session of the CSD. The meeting report proposed a "range of specific actions to encourage greater efficiency and equity in the use of energy, land, water and other resources and minimize and avoid pollution and waste." Particular emphasis was placed on (i)building partnerships for sustainable consumption (ii) establishing a policy framework (iii) Extended Producer Responsibility (iv) Public procurement and administration and (v) empowering individuals and households. The report of the Oslo roundtable fed into the 3rd session of the CSD.

(Source: Oslo Ministerial Roundtable: Conference on sustainable production and consumption)

The international work programme was considered with greater focus and coherence during the 3rd session of the CSD in May 1995. Section 4 of the report dealt exclusively with SPAC, particularly as a result of "the recent increase in activities and efforts at the local, national, and international levels aimed at changing the prevailing unsustainable production and consumption patterns." The Commission touched upon imbalances in development, reducing resource intensities in production and consumption, the importance of life cycle analysis, procurement, internalization of environmental costs, natural resources accounting etc. More importantly, the Commission adopted for itself an international work programme on sustainable production and consumption with the following agenda -

(i) Identifying the policy implications of projected trends in consumption and production patterns; (ii) Assessing the impact on developing countries, especially the least developed countries and small island developing States, of changes in consumption and production in developed countries; (iii) Evaluating the effectiveness of policy measures intended to change consumption and production
patterns, such as command-and-control, economic and social instruments, and government procurement policies and guidelines; (iv) Eliciting time-bound voluntary commitment from countries to make measurable progress on those sustainable development goals that have an especially high priority at the national level; and (v) Revising the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection. (UN CSD 1995)

(Source: Report of the Commission on Sustainable Development on its 3rd session, May 1995)

In the years following CSD-3 and leading up to the CSD-7 - which was to focus on consumption and production patterns, there was much activity in the SPAC field, spearheaded by intergovernmental agencies and international NGOs. The General assembly report on the programme for the further implementation of Agenda 21 singled out for praise the initiatives of the governments of Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Norway and the republic of Korea, OECD, UNEP, UNCTAD and the UNDP, the World Business Council on Sustainable Dev elopement, Consumers International, Friends of the Earth and the Global Action Plan.

(Source: Programme for the further implementation of Agenda 21, 1997)

CSD-7, with a special focus on production and consumption patterns mandated that the activities under the international work programme should continue. The Commission added four priority areas to the work programme (i) effective policy development and implementation (ii) natural resource management and cleaner production (iii) globalization and its impact on consumption and production patterns (iv) urbanization and its impact on consumption and production patterns. The session also included a comprehensive review of progress in the workprogramme elements identified in CSD -3

(Sources:

Report of the Commission on Sustainable Development on its 7th session, 1999

Comprehensive review of changing consumption and production patterns, 1999)

However, after CSD-7, much of the energy for sustainable production and consumption in general, and for the international work programme in particular was lost. The Secretary General report "Changing Consumption Patterns" released during the 1st Prep Com to the WSSD did not mention the international programme at all. A very watered down version of the original proposal found its way to Paragraph 15 of the final WSSD document - a call to develop an international work programme was a call to encourage and promote the development of an international framework of programmes.

Why?

John Manoochehri argues that one of the reasons for the downturn in the work on sustainable consumption and the international work programme is a lack of coherence about what sustainable consumption meant, and an inability to draw a strict distinction between sustainable development on the one hand, and sustainable production and consumption on the other. Jeffrey Barber and Irina Danada point at the steady decline in political will over doing anything positive or constructive about this issue - the final language of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation removed all responsibility to positive action from the governments.

(Sources:

Manoochehri, J, Post Rio Sustainable Consumption: Establishing coherence and a common platform

Barber & Danada, Sustainable production and consumption lose out at the summit

Barber, J, Production, consumption and the World Summit on Sustainable Development