Bangkok--8 Nov--UNEP
Representatives from more than 50 countries met today in Bangkok to craft a regional roadmap that will set consumption and production in the Asia-Pacific region on a more sustainable path. Representatives of governments, private sector, civil society and academia participated in the First Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting of 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP), to develop joint actions to advance sustainable consumption and production in the region.
With over half the world’s population—increasing at a rate of 1.2 percent annually—and nearly 30 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Asia Pacific currently accounts for more than half of the world’s total resource use. By 2030, the region’s consumers will constitute the world’s largest group of consumers, with spending predicted to reach USD $32 trillion.
“The speed and magnitude with which new infrastructure and productive capacity is being established in the Asia-Pacific region is a huge challenge but it also provides a great opportunity for innovative solutions that move us to greener growth and more sustainablelifestyles,” said Mr. Chote Trachu, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Thailand. “The choices being made now will have long lasting effects, for decades to come,” he added.
The 10YFP is a global framework of action that was adopted at Rio+20 "The 10YFP will help put countries on track for more sustainable patterns of consumption and production. It is a global framework for action, something that will be sorely needed to reduce our impact on the environment, in a world, which is expected to have nine billion people by 2050. Working together in the 10YFP, we can have a collective impact to both improve the lives and sustain the livelihoods of the 1.2 billion people who live in extreme poverty around the world,” said Mr. Charles Arden-Clarke, Acting Head of the 10YFP Secretariat at UNEP.
The Regional Meeting on the 10-YFP was organized by the United Nations Environment Programme in conjunction with the Governmentof Thailand, the Board members of the 10YFP, namely the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of Korea, and had the financial support of the European Union.
The meeting was preceded by the Regional SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component (PSC) networking event and Technical Advisory Committee Meeting. The SWITCH-Asia PSC is implemented by UNEP with the financial support of the European Commission.
Notes for Editors:
For the Global Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Clearinghouse click here: www.scpclearinghouse.org
For more information about the Rio+20 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption (10YFP) visit the online website: www.unep.org/10yfp