4° meeting of experts on scp for latin america and the caribbean

		United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean PROGRAMA DE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS PARA EL MEDIO AMBIENTE PROGRAMME DES NATIONS UNIES POUR L’ENVIRONNEMENT
	Sixteenth Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 27^th January to 1^st February 2008 A. PREPARATORY MEETING OF EXPERTS 27^th to 29^th January 2008		Distribution: Limited UNEP/LAC-IG.XV/Ref.6/Rev.1 Monday 28^th January 2008 Original: Spanish

Final Report of the
Fourth Government Experts Meeting on Sustainable Consumption and production for Latin America and the Caribbean

Sao Paulo, Brazil
18 and 19 October 2007

Table of Contents

Table of Contents i

Summary 1

Background 2

Participation 3

I. Opening of the Meeting 3

II. Progress and Activities in the Marrakech Process 4

III. Key actors’ Initiatives on Sustainable
Consumption and Production 6

IV. Regional Activities and Progress
on the Marrakech Process 6

Review of the Regional Strategy on SCP and the
Building up of the Action Plan for a 10 year period 7

VI. Proposals to strengthen the
Council of Experts on SCP 11

VII. Regional Proposals for the 10 Year
Framework Programme on SCP (10YFP) 12

VIII. Conclusions 15

Annex I
Recommendations of the Fourth Meeting of Experts on Sustainable Consumption and Production to the Sixteenth Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean 17

Annex II
Agenda of the Meeting 19

Annex III
List of Participants and Working Groups 22

Annex IV
Regional Action Plan on
Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) 32

Annex V
Regional proposals for the 10YFP 45



Summary

1. The Fourth Meeting of the Regional Council of Government Experts on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) for Latin America and the Caribbean took place on the 18 and 19 of October 2007, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was organized as part of the Marrakech Process and the Johannesburg Implementation Plan.

2. It was the first time that the meeting received representations from NGO’s, National centers for Cleaner Production, companies, labor unions, cooperation agencies, and academies, in addition to government delegates as members of the Council. This means that 24 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean were present through their members of the Council of Experts on SCP, 12 NGO’s from 6 countries; 5 National Centers for Cleaner Production, members of the network of Cleaner Production Centers of the region; 6 representatives of the industry and the union sector; 7 representatives of Academia and research centers; 2 regional banks and/or cooperation agencies; 7 representatives of local organizations; and 10 members of international agencies.

3. This opportunity has strengthened the bond and cooperation among the actors, for it is necessary to work cohesively toward the change in patterns and more sustainable life styles and the strengthening of the Marrakech Process. The participants have made valuable contributions to prepare the action plans, the identification of regional priorities in order to organize the 10 year framework programme on SCP, and the recommendation to the Forum of Ministers of the Environment which will submit it to the Government Experts Council as its advisory organization in this matter. All this was given with the idea of the next meeting to be held in the Dominican Republic, from January 27th to February 1^st, 2008.

4. The main objectives of the meeting were the preparation of the four sub-regional action plans on SCP- the Caribbean, Mesoamerica, The Andes and the Southern Tip; the strengthening of the Experts Council, and the identification of regional priorities to be included in the 10 year framework program (10YFP) on SCP, and others.

5. Several presentations took place. They were presented in panels with different participants: NGO’s, companies, sub-regional groups, and the United Nations agencies, responsible for the Marrakech Process (UNEP-UNDESA). The first panel was about Advancement and Activities in the Marrakech Process and was presented by Adriana Zacarias (from the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics of UNEP - UNEP-DTIE, and Mohan Peck (from the Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Affairs – UNDESA-; Christopher Browne (from the Environmental Agency of the United Kingdom), and Graciela Scavone (on behalf of the Government of Argentina).

6. The second panel was about key actors initiatives on SCP, which was presented by Elisa Tonda (from The United Nations for Industrial Development – ONUDI); Ricardo Young ( from an NGO), and Marcelo Kos ( from ABIQUIM). The third panel on Marrakech Process Activities and the achievements at a regional level was presented by Victoria Beláustegui (from the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean), Irma Suarez (The Andes Community of Nations – CAN), and Giselle Beja, MERCOSUR.

7. Luciano Ramírez, Council member designated by the Government of Panama, presented the Experts Council, its role, functions and responsibilities and organized the proposals on the strengthening and its revival, submitted at the Plenary Session.

8. UNDESA and UNEP representatives presented the fifth panel: The 10YFP on CSP. Finally, the whole group discussed and approved the recommendations that the Council will present to the Forum of Ministries (see Annex I to the present document).

9. Most of the time was spent working in four sessions during which they discussed the organization of the action plans for each sub region and the definition of regional priorities to be included in the 10YFP. Six groups were formed for the sessions 1 to 3, one for each sub region, one for the companies and one for the NGOs. The last two also participated in the discussion of the sub regional groups and the work of session 4.

10. The main achievements of the 4° meeting were:

a) To strengthen communication among governments and civil organizations, industry and other actors. The dynamics and interest in the topic shown by the NGO’s as well as by the companies call to work in depth in communication and cooperation among all sectors at a national and sub regional level.

b) Each sub region designed and approved its action plans on SCP, identifying priority areas, the achievements to expect, activities and cooperation needs. Thus, the region has given an important step for the implementation of the Regional Strategy on SCP approved by the Forum of Ministries of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean.

c) With the aim of strengthening the Regional Council of Government Experts on SCP, some specific actions were defined. At the same time, the members of a new Executive Committee were elected.

d) New proposals were presented in order to include priority programs in the regions with the purpose of including them in the 10YFP on SCP, taking into account the following common areas: (1) National Communication Group, (2) Small and Medium Enterprises, (3) Sustainable public purchases , (4) National policies and strategies on SCP , and (5) Regional Information Network on SCP.

e) The audience agreed to the creation of a new working group on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises for the region within the framework of the Marrakech Process, and the Brazilian government has given the first steps to make it possible.

f) The group also prepared the recommendation of the Fourth Meeting of the Experts Council to the Forum of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean to be submitted at its Sixteenth Meeting to be held in Santiago, Dominican Republic, from January 27^th to February 1st, 2008.

11. This report covers eight sections, involving the five panels presented and the achievements of the working groups. Annex I presents the recommendation to the Sixteenth Meeting of the Forum of Ministers approved at the meeting, and section VIII offers the conclusions reached at the end of the meeting. The approved action plans and the achievements of the work groups, along with the list of participants appear in the Annex, on the last pages of the document.

Background

12. The Johannesburg Implementation Plan, approved by all governments at the United Nations World Summit for the Sustainable Development (2002), made a strong call to the whole world in order to change its unsustainable consumption and production patterns (Chapter III). This plan also encourages the governments to promote the grounding for a ten-year framework programme to support and strengthen the regional and national proposals and step up toward more sustainable consumption and production patterns, which is identified as 10YFP.

13. The world process that supports the implementation of national and regional policies and pilot projects on SCP for the development of a 10- year framework programme is called the Marrakech Process, which started at the first international meeting that dealt with Chapter III that took place in Marrakech, in 2003. The United Nations Sustainable Development Committee will examine the proposal of 10YFP during the two-year period 2010–2011, where they expect the governments to review and approve it and commit themselves to take actions to adopt the SCP patterns.

14. Continuing with the regional process on consumption and production set off in 2003, the Regional Council of Government Experts on Sustainable Consumption and Production organized its Fourth Meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on the 18 and 19 of October, 2007. The Meeting Agenda is attached as Annex II to the present document.

15. The meeting was backed up by the regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-ROLAC), along with UNEP-DTIE and UNDESA and with the collaboration of Sao Paulo Environmental Agency (CETESB), the National Industry Confederation (CNI), Sao Paulo Industry Federation (FIESP), Brazil Chemical Industry Association (ABIQUIM), and Brazil Chemical Producer Union (SINPROQUIM).

16. The objectives of the meeting were:

a) To review, evaluate and strengthen the Regional Strategy on Sustainable Consumption and Production;

b) To prepare an Action Plan involving short, medium and large terms.

c) To strengthen the Regional Governments Experts Council on Sustainable Consumption and Production.

d) To encourage cooperation between Latin America and the Caribbean and the Marrakech Process (MRK) actors, work groups, NGO’s, companies and donors.

e) To identify relevant regional features to be taken into consideration while preparing the 10YFP on sustainable consumption and production.

f) To prepare a report about the SCP situation in Latin America and the Caribbean to be submitted at the next meeting of the Forum of Ministries of the Environment of LAC.