UNEP in the Regions
Regional Office for West Asia
The West Asia region, particularly the GCC sub-region is characterized by extremely high levels of consumption. To address this issue ROWA is taking two approaches:
Working closely with UNEP YouthXchange Project to promote sustainable consumption among the youth of the region; and working with national governments, National Cleaner Production Centres and other stakeholders on a Sustainable Consumption and Production Strategy for the region. In terms of the YouthXchange, a number of national and sub-regional activities have taken place or are planned to work with youth and also their advisers, through specifically targeted training courses on how to promote more sustainable consumption in the region.
With CAMRE and other partners, a Regional Round Table on Sustainable Consumption and Production has been convened, building on earlier activities and focusing on developing a strategy for the region. The round table involved 75 participants and established a working group, comprising ESCWA, LAS and ROWA, with the draft action plan presented at the CAMRE session in December 2008. This meeting also recognized the importance of sustainable public procurement, with capacity building activities planned for 2009.
Regional Office for Europe
Sustainable consumption and production/renewable energy
In response to calls at the international level and to country-specific requests for assistance, UNEP has continued to support mainstreaming sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in European government policies and to enhance the development and implementation of a 10-year framework of programmes for SCP.
Through its project Sustainable Consumption Opportunities for Europe, UNEP also supports agenda setting and implementation of SCP priorities at the national and local levels. Furthermore, to support and advance wise, future-oriented transport policy-making, UNEP developed an Environment and Transport clearing house – EST goes EAST - in collaboration with the national focal points in Central European countries, and with support from the Austrian government. UNEP will continue to develop the work on transport as Europe is one of the biggest emitters of CO2 and this issue needs to be further addressed beyond the already established EST goes EAST platform. Paragraph 24 of the Belgrade Ministerial Declarationcalls for the development of national programmes, strategies implementation plans, sub-regional and regional partnerships for the promotion of SCP patterns. In addition, UNEP has been invited to explore the development of a pan-European SCP initiative.
In late October 2008, UNEP participated in the European Regional Meeting on Sustainable Consumption and Production in Prague, Czech Republic. The meeting was organized by the European Commission and the Czech Ministry of the Environment as a contribution to the Marrakech Process. UNEP was requested to act as Secretariat to the meeting and, until December 2009, also to the Platform for Sustainable Consumption and Production in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), launched by the Czech Ministry of the Environment jointly with UNEP and the CEE network, a partnership of 28 non-governmental consumer organizations from 16 countries in the Central and Eastern European region.
In the framework of the Carpathian Convention, a regional workshop on Renewable Energy in the Carpathians was co-organized by UNIDO and UNEP in May 2008 in Lviv, Ukraine. The main aim of the workshop was to promote a network between EU and non-EU countries involved in harnessing the vast potential of renewable sources of energy in the region in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. A regional programme for renewable energy in the Carpathians was drafted.
Regional Office for North America
The first North American Workshop on Sustainable Consumption and Production was held in Washington in November 2008. It was attended by more than 70 senior [United States of America (USA)] and Canadian experts from government, academia and think tanks, industry and trade associations, and NGOs. As a result of the workshop, the U.S. and Canada have joined efforts to engage in dialogue on this very important issue. Concrete follow up steps include proposing a North American-hosted Task Force on sustainable agriculture; creating an interactive online forum for collaboration to allow SCP conversations to continue; working on developing a vision for North America to be discussed at a future meeting, and developing inputs to the Marrakech Process and meetings of the Commission on Sustainable Development in 2010 and 2011.
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
UNEP partnered with the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority and the Thai Mall Group for ‘Think Green’, a public awareness campaign that began in August 2008 and goes through to 2009. The campaign is aimed at raising awareness of climate change and its impacts to the 500,000 customers who patronize Mall Group’s chain of stores daily, and inform them of actions that they can take. At the request of the Mall Group, UNEP conducted a half-day seminar for senior level managers aimed at sharing knowledge on linkages between retailing business and sustainable development, and options and practices for improving the sustainability performance of the retailing sector. Forty top-level executives from the Mall Group participated in the seminar.
Regional Office for Africa
The African 10-Year Framework Programme (10-YFP) on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) had been developed in order to facilitate the active participation of Africa as a region in the Marrakech Process for the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on SCP which has been initiated as a follow-up to the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The development and implementation of the African 10-Year Framework Programme has been closely coordinated with the Secretariat of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) and other regional and national partners.
The Marrakech Taskforce on Cooperation with Africa was launched under the lead facilitation of the German Federal Ministry of Environment as part of the Global Implementation Mechanism for the Marrakech Process on 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production. The further development and implementation of the African 10-YFP was facilitated through the support from the Marrakech Taskforce on Cooperation with Africa and the following are the key activities that have been carried out.
- National and City (local) SCP programmes development:
- A pilot activity on the development of an SCP Programme at the national and local level was developed and assistance has been provided to four African countries as pilot. The pilot cities and countries are Maputo in Mozambique and Cairo in Egypt at the city level and Tanzania and Mauritius at the national level.
- A modality of support for the pilot implementation of the SCP Programmes has been developed and technical support is being provided to those countries which have completed the development of the programme document.
- Development of an African Eco-labelling Mechanism (AEM):
- A detailed assessment of existing eco-labelling initiatives that are relevant to the region has been conducted and a summary report has been produced and circulated to regional policy forums including the Council of African Ministers of industries (CAMI) and AMCEN).
- A detailed strategy document describing the key functions and institutional structures of the AEM has been developed through a broad consultation with key stakeholders including the African Union Commission and the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO).
- A framework programme document for the launching of the AEM has been developed and preparation is under way for the convening of the first meeting of the executive board.
- Support to regional processes:The Fifth African Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ARSCP-5) was organized as a pre-session to the 12th Session of AMCEN held in June 2008. The ARSCP-5 reviewed the progress made on the African 10 YFP and identified the key follow-ups and future directions which were endorsed by the 12th Ministerial session of AMCEN. International participants to ARSCP-5 recognized the regional process under the African 10 Year Framework Programme as a useful model within the Global Marrakech Process.
Focus of follow-up activities
The following are the key activities that have been identified as a focus of the follow-up for the years 2009-10.
- Promotion of the development and implementation of national and local sustainable consumption and production programmes within the framework of the Regional Framework of Programmes.
- Facilitating consolidated regional contribution to the 18th and 19th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development on the basis of the progress on the African 10 Year Framework of Programmes.
- Providing technical and institutional support to the effective launching and operationalization of the African Ecolabelling Mechanism under the auspices of the Trade and Industry Department of the African Union (AU).
Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean have seen an increased understanding and implementation of sustainable consumption and production ( P) patterns by public and private sector decision makers, including in sectors such as construction and tourism, as well as an increase in the number of voluntary initiatives promoting corporate environmental responsibility and prevention of and response to environmental emergencies, thereby giving due consideration to gender equality issues.
Relevant results include: 28 countries in the region have identified SCP as one of the main areas of work at governmental level; Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay have adopted National SCP Policies; youthXchange Guidelines have been developed for Ecuador and Argentina; a demonstration project on Integrated Waste Management and SCP is being implemented in the region of Lima, Peru.
In line with the priorities of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of LAC, the region has had a significant start up with regard to Sustainable Public Procurement, the main results being the development of a proposal for inclusion of criteria in the MERCOSUR Procurement Protocol, the development of a Training Manual, a proposed Information Campaign and a training workshop for the four member countries. Furthermore, a training workshop on sustainable purchases was conducted in Costa Rica for the sub-region of Central America, in cooperation with the Central American Commission for Environment and Development - Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo (CCAD) and the Organization of American States (OAS), including presenting recommendations to the Ministers of the Environment. The projects have been undertaken with the support and cooperation of Mexico, thereby enhancing South-South Cooperation. As a further result, it was agreed with the Government of Chile and the InternationalMarrakechTask Force onSustainable Public Procurement, to conduct a Training for Trainers in the field in early 2009. Similarly, a Training for Trainers for UN agencies in the region and specifically for Central America will be conducted next year. In addition, the request and formal acceptance of Costa Rica and Mexico as Pilot Countries for the implementation of Sustainable Procurement was confirmed, with the support of the Task Force and in coordination with UNEP.
Lastly, an SCP Information Center was created for the Caribbean subregion in collaboration with CARICOM and CEHI, and an increased number of companies are introducing sustainable business and finance initiatives, policies and practices based on principles promoted by UNEP in the region.