Oslo Rountable on Sustainable Production and Consumption
Part 2 SHARING RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION
The main focus of this document is on the end-use of goods and services. It aims at tackling environmental problems associated with high levels of consumption, found mainly in developed countries, but increasingly also in developing countries and economies in transition. These high consuming groups have a special responsibility as they have the option to choose more sustainable consumption patterns.
The end-use focus offers a tool to identify the strategies, instruments and facilities necessary to empower consumers to act sustainably. Strategies to promote sustainable consumption should share responsibility between governments, business and labour, NGOs and citizens. Governments have a particular responsibility to stimulate the development of a long-term vision for sustainable consumption and set the framework for action by other social groups. Building partnerships is central to progress on sustainable consumption, and the need for new forms of collaborative action runs through all the specific recommendations addressed to particular actors.
This document contains a menu of recommendations. The recommendations aim to be affordable, achievable, assessable and attractive. They are for immediate action, and are intended to generate a dynamic in favour of more structural changes over the long-term. For each actor, whether an individual, corporation or government, there will be multiple roles to fulfill as consumers, producers and shapers of consumption patterns. In most cases, three different types of action will be required:
- - improving understanding and analysis as a basis for priority and target setting,
- - applying tools for modifying behaviour,
- - monitoring, evaluating and reviewing performance.
To assist the implementation of these recommendations, the exchange of information on local, national and international activities and experiences needs to be improved, with a special emphasis on developing countries and countries in transition.
DOCUMENT WINDOW - CHANGING HIGH CONSUMPTION HOUSEHOLD PATTERNS