Regional Consultative Meeting: Asia-Pacific Civil Society Forum on Sustainable Development

Once a year, the Civil Society Unit together with all six Regional Offices convenes Regional Consultative Meetings (RCM) to facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogues on issues pertinent to the UN Environment.  These consultations will take place in 2016 and 2017 and are considered to be preparatory dialogues in the lead up to the 2017 UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-3) which will convene in December 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Consultative Meetings, which are often times organized back to back with Environmental Fora or Economic Commissions meetings or other relevant environmental consultations will provide an opportunity for Major Groups and Stakeholders to provide their inputs into the Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum (GMGSF) which will precede the UN Environment Assembly. The meetings also serve as a capacity-building and networking exercise for Major Groups and Stakeholders in the regions as they constitute a platform for Regional Offices to engage with civil society partners.

One of the main outcomes of the Regional Consultative meetings is the compilation of statements and recommendations by Major Groups and Stakeholders for consideration by the United Nations Environment Assembly.  Regional priorities, challenges and observations, are integrated into these statements, which will also provide regional perspectives on the Assembly’s theme. The outcome of the dialogues, which is usually in the form of a statement or key messages, will be shared as an informational document with the governing body of UN Environment and Ministers, and discussed at the high-level segment of UNEA-3. 

Asia-Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM) is a civil society platform aimed to enable stronger cross constituency coordination and ensure that voices of all sub-regions of Asia Pacific are heard in intergovernmental processes in regional and global level. The platform is initiated, owned and driven by the CSOs, and seeks to engage with UN agencies and Member States across the region on the issue of sustainable development. As an open, inclusive, and flexible mechanism, Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (RCEM) is designed to reach the broadest number of CSOs in the region, harness the voice of grassroots and peoples’ movements to advance development justice that address the inequalities of wealth, power, resources between countries, between rich and poor and between men and women.

Objective:

1. Inform and build  capacity of civil society participants on sustainable development at the global and regional levels, and on the opportunities and modalities for engaging these processes;  
2. Provide a space for dialogue on the structure and content of the APFSD with its’ theme “Eradicating Poverty and Promoting Prosperity in Changing Asia and Pacific” and upcoming UNEA-3  with the theme “Pollution Free Planet”. The CSO Forum will formulate joint civil society positions building on Asia-Pacific civil society messages on 2030 Agenda and Regional Roadmap, as well as strategize interventions at the APFSD
3. Facilitate sharing and exchange on critical issues faced by the various constituencies and discuss alignments and areas of partnership/cooperation;
4. Reflect on the work of Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism in 2015-2017. 
5. Agree on joint actions and follow up to civil society positions adopted.

26 - 28 March, 2017 Novou City Hotel, Samsen Road, Bangkok, Thailand

Agenda

Full Report of the Asia Pacific CSO Forum on Sustainable Development 2017

Participants List

The Report

Final Statement