The Northern Alliance for Sustainability, ANPED works to empower Northern civil society in creating and protecting sustainable communities and societies world-wide.
ANPED’s main focus is on sustainable consumption and production, the use of goods and services responding to basic human needs and bringing a better quality of life, while minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations.
We build capacity among Northern civil society organizations through information, knowledge and skill-sharing, and enable their participation in local, national, regional and international decision-making processes on sustainable development. Whereas our network has a worldwide reach, our member organizations are mainly located in the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) regions. More...
ANPED LATEST NEWS
October 2008: The Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED), together with the Moscow office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Ecodefense Group, is organizing a workshop for Russian NGOs in Moscow on 15 October 2008, entitled NGO Consultations on Issues of the 17th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.
Agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa - these are the issues for the 16th and 17th Sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). CSD-16 took place in New York in May 2008 and was devoted to the REVIEW of the problems and achievements in the above-mentioned fields. CSD-17 will take place in May 2009 and will elaborate on POLICY.
Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) take part in the UN CSD work. In 2007, during a Consultations process, NGOs from Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine agreed on a common position on Energy and issues concerning GMOs. This position was presented both at CSD-15 and CSD-16.
To ensure effective NGO participation in the UN CSD process, ANPED, together with Moscow office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Ecodefense! Group will hold a workshop for NGO representatives from Russia. A similar event for NGOs from Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine will be held in Kiev later this year.
The aims of the consultations are:
1. To elaborate an NGO Position on the CSD-17 issues in the context of climate change;
2. To involve more NGOs in discussions on sustainable development and the work of the UN CSD, both this year as well as for the longer term, by providing information and training on participation in UN processes and lobbying;
3. To discuss and agree on a common position on the adoption of a Russian National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS).
We invite NGO representatives from Russia who work on Sustainable Development, in particular on CSD 16/17 issues. The workshop will also discuss Sustainable Consumption and Production issues.
The organizers have a limited budget available to cover the expenses for some of the participants. The decision on financial support will be taken on the basis of application forms. Preference will be given to ANPED members and active participants previous CSD related activity.
Detailed information and application forms can be received from the ANPED Nuclear Issues - Sustainable Energy Working Group coordinator, Andrey Ozharovskiy, email address idc.moscow@gmail.com; mobile phone: +7-905-5771240.
August 2008: Unsustainable consumption and production patterns have brought human civilisation to the brink of a global disaster. Alteration of these patterns in order to minimise their adverse environmental impacts has now become the key question for survival, a question relevant for any country and any citizen.
However, the principle of common but differential responsibility stipulates that every country has the right to economic development; the less economically developed a country is, the higher the destructive environmental effect it may generate in the course of its industrialisation and economic growth. To address these destructive trends, numerous international assistance mechanisms were instituted to support countries in environmentally sound reforming of their economies by transfer of knowledge and technologies that may accelerate transition to sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns.
Transition economies have a special role to play in this process as they have not completely gotten rid of their inherited Soviet-style management practices; and their environmental policy – in its modern understanding – is still very young, similar to the market economy and the process of democratic transformation of their political systems. Where are these countries in terms of understanding and implementation of SCP patterns? How are key SCP instruments reflected in their policies and legislation? May NGOs of their countries become driving forces to accelerate greening of their economies?
The
SCP Policy Review of Western and South Caucasus EECCA Countries seeks to answer the above questions from the NGO point of view and draw the picture of current progress on the environmental policy integration, sustainable development agenda and sustainable consumption and production concept implementation in countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. Having many common roots from the legacy of the past, these countries also have differences and specific features, which are important to know and understand.
July 2008: The European Commission this month adopted
proposals to expand the scope of existing eco design and labelling requirements to all products that impact on energy consumption. The Commission’s strategy was presented by Industry Commissioner Gunther Verheugen and Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.
In the proposals, ‘energy-related’ products like windows and shower heads are to fall under the scope of existing rules for energy-using items as set out by the 2005 Eco-design requirements for energy-using products (EuP) Directive. The continued energy focus reveals the heavy control of DG Enterprise, whose sustainable industrial policy focuses purely on energy and climate change. Narrowing the scope of the Directive’s extension to only ‘energy-related’ products means that products with major environmental impacts such as paper, packaging, or furniture are not included.
The Action Plan urges industry to develop benchmarks and voluntary standards for the various products that would be affected by the plans. The Commission would step in and regulate specific standards in cases where industry initiatives are deemed insufficient. The dominance of the voluntary approach, however, sends the wrong signal to companies and investors.
The take-up of more sustainable products through public procurement is promoted, with 10 priority sectors highlighted. For many of these sectors, a European Ecolabel already exists, providing a key area of synergy between ‘environmental benchmark’ products and their more systematic purchase. The European Ecolabel is given a stronger position as a ‘beacon’ of environmental excellence. However, the proposed simplifications to the Ecolabel Regulation would counteract any of the benefits of this synergy and potentially put the label’s credibility into question.
Also, a Retailer Forum will be set up to identify key areas for the sector to improve its own ecological footprint and supply chain, while also making more sustainable products and sustainability information available to consumers. However, an unmonitored, voluntary approach as has been taken, has not proven effective in Europe in the past. There is also no reflection on introducing the producer responsibility principle to the retail or industry sectors.
The Commission will present the legislative proposals to the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. The proposals will go through the co-decision procedure, in which the European Parliament adopts legislation jointly with the Council.
July 2008: The Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) is a new function of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) mandated by Heads of State and Government at the 2005 World Summit. Its purpose is to assess progress made towards the MDGs and the implementation of the other goals and targets agreed at the major UN conferences and summits over the past 15 years, which constitute the United Nations Development Agenda (UNDA); and contribute to scaling-up and accelerating action to realize the development agenda, by serving as global high-level forum with broad-based participation, where lessons learned are exchanged and successful practices and approaches that merit scaling-up are identified.
The AMR forms one part of the ECOSOC High Level Segment which every year brings together member States, UN organizations and other stakeholders, including business, NGOs and academia. The High Level Segment comprises: High Level Policy Dialogue, Development Cooperation Forum, the Annual Ministerial Review, Thematic Debate and an Innovation Fair.
ANPED and Stakeholder Forum have produced two issues of Outreach at the AMR. [ 2 July 2008 ] [ 3 July 2008 ]
June 2008: The
CSD-16 Matrix is an information tool developed by the CSD Secretariat at the request of the CSD-16 Bureau. It aims to provide user-friendly information on practical experiences in implementation in the thematic areas of agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa. It is based on information submitted by Governments, including through national reports; by UN agencies, international and regional organizations, as well as by Major Groups. It takes into account information contained in Secretary-General's reports and Partnerships for Sustainable Development registered with the CSD Secretariat, as well as information emerging from the regional implementation meetings.
The Matrix seeks to provide the user with a convenient overview of concrete experiences in addressing barriers and constraints identified in the areas of agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa.
May 2008: The report of the
9th UNEP Global Civil Society Forum (GCSF) is now available. The GSCF is a platform for exchange and consultation on key environmental issues to be addressed during the UNEP Governing Council / Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC/GMEF), and to facilitate the contribution of Major Groups to the GC/GMEF and other international environmental forums.
May 2008: The Sustainable Development Issues Network (SDIN) is a collaborative effort of three large international networks - TWN, ELCI and ANPED - to form a global NGO network whose purpose is to promote good governance, and enhanced awareness and knowledge about environmental and sustainable development processes and to ensure global quality NGO participation in these global processes within the intergovernmental systems, primarily within the United Nations.
SDIN and Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future present Outreach Issues, the daily civil society newsletter at the CSD. Outreach Issues aims to report with attitude, from the global scene of sustainability.
26 March 2008: A new report by Chris Church, Co-Chair of the Northern Alliance for Sustainability, ANPED, and Tamara Malkova, Director of Green Dossier, looks at the role of NGOs in tackling climate change. The report, Action on Climate Change: From a Divided Europe to a Common Purpose, is based on a survey carried out by NGOs within the ANPED Network in autumn 2007. It looked first at government action on climate change across Europe. It became clear early on that Europe is divided on this issue. Nations that are part of the EU and that have clear targets under the Kyoto protocol are mostly moving in the right direction (often slowly). But in the eastern part of the pan-European region there are very variable approaches. The survey also looked at NGO activity, asked whether and how the NGO was active on climate change. Again there were big differences between east and west.
10 - 11 March 2008: Sustainable Consumption and Production: Framework for Action. This conference is organized by the Sustainable Consumption Research Exchange (SCORE!) Network. SCORE! is an EC-funded network project that supports the development of the UN's 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP). For the present conference, a group of scientists and NGO’s teamed up to develop and launch a ‘Framework of Action on SCP’ for consideration of policy makers world wide. The conference also will mark the launch of the structure of the permanent SCORE spin off that has the ambition to be the ‘Science dialogue‘ in support of the UN’s 10 Year Framework of Programs
.
March 2008: The
Proposed Organization of Work for UN CSD 16 is now available, with a draft
timetable. By the decision of CSD-11, subsequently approved by the Economic and Social Council, the review session of the CSD in the two-year implementation cycle will focus on identifying barriers and constraints in implementation, as well as lessons learned and best practices in relation to its thematic cluster.
UN CSD 16’s thematic issues are agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa. It will be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, from 5 to 16 May 2008.
Insights are drawn from recent studies on stakeholder involvement in the international political process and a series of surveys and semi-structured interviews. The authors identify four challenges. Effort should: be planned more strategically; link sustainable consumption to current priorities; ensure better links between global and local; and NGOs have to better link to other interest groups.
February 2008: How to ensure that products are produced and consumed in a sustainable manner is a challenge the European Commission has sought to address in its 2003 Integrated Product Policy (IPP) proposal. But the IPP has been criticised since the policy contains no legislative provisions to ensure the sustainability of products. In response to this criticism, the Commission consulted stakeholders and has begun formulating action plans on sustainable consumption and production (SCP), prepared by DG Environment, and on a sustainable industrial policy (SIP), prepared by DG Enterprise.
Originally scheduled for publication in December 2007, the Commission's SCP and SIP strategies may now be published in the middle of April, although no definite date has been set, according to a Commission spokersperson.
Below you can find links to further information on the SCP Action Plan:
January 2008: At the Europe and North America Regional Implementation Meeting in preparation of the 16th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UN CSD 16), ANPED Board Members Andrey Ozharovskiy and Janis Brizga delivered the statements on behalf of NGOs.
Andrey Ozharovskiy presented the findings on the issue of land degradation and pollution, which include contamination from obsolete pesticides storages, military and space activities, and nuclear contamination. He recommended the establishment of an international policy on contaminated land management; the mapping and marking on site of all the dangerous areas, and the restriction of any agricultural and other activity in those areas.
In his intervention, Janis Brizga stressed there needs to be focus on the underlying causes of the problems we face; that we need to move beyond gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of wellbeing; and that we need to use the instrument of National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) in a participatory manner.
UN CSD 16 will focus on agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa.
January 2008: What biodiversity implies for sustainable consumption and thus what sustainable consumption can do for biodiversity is an issue neglected so far in both, the biodiversity and the sustainable consumption discourses.
A new publication by the Northern Alliance for Sustainability, ANPED, Biodiversity and Sustainable Consumption: A Qualified Analysis and Unqualified Suggestions, written by Dr. Joachim Spangenberg, compares the place biodiversity and consumption hold in the overall sustainable development discourse, and focuses on the known reasons for biodiversity loss, asking how they could be influenced, in particular by sustainable consumption.
ANPED News Archive ...
