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Oslo Rountable on Sustainable Production and Consumption
Part 1 - THE IMPERATIVE OF SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION
1.3 Laying the foundations for action

An international consensus for change is clearly emerging. Further effort within the context of an international work programme is required to establish firm foundations to underpin policy decisions on sustainable production and consumption patterns, particularly in the following areas:

- Greater precision in the definition of key concepts, as well as a delineation between levels, patterns and distribution of consumption.

- Clarification of the global, regional, national and local constraints to consumption and production such as ecological carrying capacity. The nature and scale of environmental problems that are generated by particular patterns or levels of consumption should be defined.

- Greater understanding of the social, demographic, economic, ethical, cultural and technological driving forces of consumption patterns.

- Linking action at the micro-level (for example on life cycle approaches to product management) with macro-level analyses of carrying capacity.

DOCUMENT WINDOW - ENVIRONMENTAL SPACE

  • - Clarifying the relationship between sustainable consumption and other policy issues (notably trade and environment and international legal instruments).
  • - Addressing global imbalances in income and consumption, and sharing the burden of change fairly among developed and developing countries.
  • - Assessing the effectiveness of regulatory, economic and social instruments used to promote sustainable consumption and production.
  • - Identifying potential positive and negative effects of the move to sustainable consumption, so that appropriate measures can be designed and implemented.
  • - Evaluating the economic and social benefits of changed values and behaviour to the major stakeholders in sustainable consumption.
  • - Sharing approaches to lifestyles, quality of life and consumption across cultures.

This foundation work must lead to the setting of time-bounded targets for action by governments, industry and NGOs, as well as the development of the necessary capacities to make the changes.

DOCUMENT WINDOW - UBUNTU - AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE ON LIFESTYLES [Go to start of Document]