SPAC Watch

NGOs need to monitor and assess governments' progress towards SPAC

Jeffrey Barber, SPAC Update, May 2003

Increases overrun gains

In 1992, governments signing Agenda 21 described sustainable production and consumption patterns as the "major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment... a matter of grave concern aggravating poverty and imbalances." A decade later (in the ECE Review of Progress in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development) ECE Ministers admitted that, despite changes in ecoefficiency, education and lifestyle changes, these improvements have been overrun by overall increases in production and consumption activities.

 

Although governments committed themselves in 1992 to developing national policy frameworks to address this need, overall political will and investment of resources has not been enoug h. In turn, during the various regional reviews of progress in preparation for the WSSD, participants cited dependence on old industrial models of development and lack of public awareness, as well as political and economic interests busily protecting their turf and privileges, as ma-jor obstacles. At the same time, global demands for greater human security, justice and accountability place greater pressure on world leaders, industry, and citizens to overcome those obstacles.

More public pressure needed

In turn, the actions of NGOs and public interest groups educating and advocating for these changes have not been sufficient in influencing governments and industry to move enough in the right directions. Clearly, broader and more effective public pressure needs to be mobilized to help move beyond these obstacles and constraints. Such pressure, however, requires knowledge and information about what is and what is not being accomplished. Civil society monitoring and assessment of progress to-wards sustainable production and consumption (SPAC) is vital to complement and improve development of policies and practices by government and industry.

 

This is especially important to the success of intergovernmental efforts to develop and implement a ten-year work programme on sustainable production and consumption. One NGO initiative, the SPAC Watch initiative, was explicitly created to provide that civil society monitoring and assessment function.

NGOs launch SPAC Watch

The SPAC Watch initiative, launched by NGOs in Soesterberg, Netherlands in 1999, aims to address the need for greater public knowledge and information about production and consumption trends, to encourage greater public awareness and advocacy, and to help mobilize pressure on government, business leaders, and institutions to promote and implement sustainable production and consumption policies and practices.

 

SPAC Watch operates through collaboration and communication among a number of NGO networks and organizations committed to a range of SPAC priorities. These networks and organizations constitute the International Coalition for Sustainable Production and Consumption (ICSPAC), a formal coalition that evolved through the NGO Caucus on Sustainable Production and Consumption at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Overall, both ICSPAC and the SPAC Watch initiative aim to help reverse the current negative environmental and social trends associated with unsustainable production and consumption.

 

The immediate goal of ICSPAC was to produce a global civil society assessment of progress on SPAC for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. However, given sufficient cooperation and support by the UN, other international organizations and member governments, ICSPAC can expand and deepen this monitoring and assessment function in order to encourage greater participation and input from NGOs in the WSSD follow-up, especially in furthering the implementation of the Chapter 4 objectives in Agenda 21.

 

The SPAC Watch action strategy encompasses three basic goals:

• Encourage governments to implement their commitments to eliminate unsustainable production and consumption patterns.
• Strengthen capacity of NGOs promoting sustainable production & consumption, especially through exchange of information and knowledge.
• Raise public awareness and engagement on SPAC issues, trends, and policies.

 

To realize these goals calls for an approach involving the following objectives and activities:

• Identify and expand ties with and among public interest organizations and networks in different global region s, especially those NGOs already monitoring and assessing progress by government and industry in implementing Agenda 21 commitments to promote sustainable production and consumption policies and practices.
• Regularly gather observations and assessments of progress in a select number of issue areas, examining . policy instruments, as applied within different sectors and regions. NGOs in a number of countries have volunteered to act as focal points for national NGO monitoring and assessment of their government's progress integrating SPAC into their national sustainable development strategies, policies and practices.
• Produce progress reports and presentations on results from the above activities, with special comprehensive assessments and reports as contributions to global UN and regional review sessions in the follow up to WSSD. These can be regional NGO assessments targeting upcoming Regional Implementation Fora, and global reports focusing on the specific sectoral issues identified for the CSD's Multi-year Programme of Work (e.g., water and sanitation, energy, transport, chemicals, forests, biotechnology, tourism).
• Maximize the multiplier effects of collaboration among NGOs in efforts encouraging governments and industry to achieve stronger performance in low-result areas.

 

As a part of the SPAC Watch Campaign, a series of four WSSD-focused side events were held at the PrepComs to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Summit itself, and at CSD11. Each of the side events featured panel discussions on the progress towards sustainable production in a variety of sectors and fields. The side event held at the WSSD focused on the proposal for a 10-year plan to achieve production and consumption.

 

The side event also marked the release of the ICSPAC report - Waiting for Delivery: A Civil Society Assessment of Progress Toward Sustainable Production and Consumption (2002). This report offers a civil society perspective on progress since 1992 in different sectors, regions, tools, and practices.

If you are interested in participating or learning more about the SPAC Watch Campaign, please contact Veena Ramani at vramani@isforum.org or look at the latest developments on the ICSPAC website at www.icspac.net