The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (2002), as an outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), called for the development of a 10-year framework of programmes in support of regional and national initiatives to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns that will promote social and economic development within the carrying capacity of ecosystems.
As part of the Global process on facilitating the development of a 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10-YFP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been supporting the development of the African 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10-YFP on SCP) through a series of consultations at both technical and policy level. The following are the major outcomes that resulted from this African 10-YFP process:
- The African Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ARSCP) was established in May 2004 as a regional networking institution that facilitates the promotion of SCP in Africa.
- The African 10-YFP on SCP, which has been developed through a series of technical and policy-level consultations were approved by the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) in March 2005.
- The German Ministry of Environment took the lead to launch the Marrakech Task Force on Co-operation with Africa in September 2005, in recognition to the effort that was being made by the region and in response to the call made by AMCEN through its Dakar Declaration (March 2005).
- The African 10-YFP on SCP was officially launched at a high-level session that was jointly organised by the African Union Commission, UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and UNEP, which was held in May 2006 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the presence of the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
The Marrakech Process is a voluntary initiative led by governments, which - in co-operation with various other partners from the North and the South - commit themselves to carrying out a set of concrete activities at a national or regional level that promote a shift to SCP patterns. The Marrakech Task Forces are supporting the implementation of SCP projects such as:
- Eco-labelling in Africa
- National action plans on SCP
- Developing tools and supporting capacity building in the areas of sustainable public procurement
- Sustainable tourism projects
- Networks on product policy to encourage more innovation in product eco-design and performance
- Sharing best policy practices on energy efficiency in buildings, and
Promoting sustainable lifestyles and education
The seven Task Forces are:
- Co-operation with Africa
- Education for Sustainable Consumption
- Sustainable Buildings & Construction
- Sustainable Lifestyles
- Sustainable Products
- Sustainable Public Procurement
- Sustainable Tourism
Based on the outcomes around the 10-YFP, UNEP - in collaboration with the Marrakech Task Force on Co-operation with Africa - developed an activity that is aimed at providing support to selected pilot cities and countries from the region by developing their national or city-level sustainable consumption and production programmes. The first phase of support covered Mauritius and Tanzania at the national level and Cairo (Egypt) and Maputo (Mozambique) at the local level.
The development of the National and Local SCP Programmes in Africa was spearheaded by a national steering committee that was chaired by the competent Environmental agency, while institutions such as NCPCs took the technical responsibility of developing the programme document. The programme development process was guided through a methodology and technical support provided by UNEP which took existing national and/or local policy and strategy documents as the basis to identify the national/local needs and priorities from sustainable consumption and production perspective.
The experience and outcomes from the development of the national and local SCP programmes in the pilot countries and cities were presented during the Fifth African Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ARSCP-5) that was held from 4th to 6th June 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The consensus reached at ARSCP-5 was that the overall approach followed in the piloting exercise and the lessons obtained from this exercise were recognized as very useful and participants made a number of suggestions aimed at further strengthening this exercise.
The ICLEI Africa SCP programme will support the initiatives mentioned above and will work with Local Authorities in Africa to address their needs in this thematic area.
