Coverage of Selected Side Events at the First UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) of the
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

Doug Cress, GRASP Coordinator, moderated the event, which centered on sustainable palm oil production for development and biodiversity protection. 

Sri Parwati Murwani Budisusanti, Indonesia, explained initiatives to promote sustainability in palm oil. She gave examples of some of the principles, criteria and indicators relating to efforts to increase the international competiveness of Indonesian sustainable palm oil, including permit systems, plantation management strategies, and environmental management and monitoring. She also expounded on “proper criteria” to encourage compliance. Budisusanti indicated that the next aim will be to increase yields from three to four tonnes per hectare to five tonnes by 2020.

Darrel Webber, RSPO, highlighted that palm oil is “one of the few crops which bring rural populations out of poverty, if done in an effective way.” He indicated that if palm oil would be taken out of the edible oil equation, the world would need 4-10 times more land to grow the other options. On improving the work of the RSPO, Webber called upon: scientific communities to provide a scientific basis for sustainable palm oil production on the ground; governments to provide information of high conservation value (HCV) areas on a landscape level; buyer countries to address procurement; and consumers to buy responsibly.

Elizabeth Clarke, ZSL, offered solutions to balancing biodiversity conservation needs and productivity of palm oil. These included: policy level strategic spatial planning; multi-stakeholder landscape planning; development of best practice guidance and tools; data analysis techniques through monitoring and management systems; and development of a transparency toolkit.

Participants discussed questions about forest conversion, including the role of secondary forests in HCV areas. Cress explained that HCV includes secondary forests. They also sought clarification on synthetic biological alternatives such as algal oil. In closing participants shared information about lessons learnt in Asia which can be passed on to Africa, and decided that “getting the framework right” is the key.

Silvester Kasuku, Lapsset Corridor Development Authority, Kenya, moderated the session. He said the session aimed to raise awareness of the impacts of air pollution and support the upcoming decision at UNEA to strengthen UNEP’s focus on air quality.

Bahijjahtu Abubakar, Ministry of Environment, Nigeria, emphasized air pollution challenges faced by rural women in Africa, including health and safety concerns. She introduced Nigeria’s Rural Women Energy Security Initiative to empower women and address energy security.  She pointed to the need for capacity building and education, cleaner cook stoves that use methane capture, and the need for affordable clean technologies.

Assane Diop, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Senegal, introduced the Air Quality Monitoring Centre in Dakar, including its air quality measurement stations and activities to inform the public. 

Geoffrey Wahungu, Director General, National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), Kenya, referred to a draft regulation on air quality in Kenya expected in 2014, which will prioritize tackling air pollutants, set ambient air quality tolerance limits and identify air pollutant measurement methods.   

Responding to the moderator’s invitation, John Thompson, US Department of State, introduced a US proposal on ‘Strengthening UNEP’s Role in Promoting Air Quality,’ which will be presented as a draft decision in the UNEA plenary. He recommended introducing higher prioritization of air quality issues at UNEP and working with partner organizations, and invited delegates to discuss this before it is addressed at UNEA.

Participants discussed several issues, including: methods to ensure compliance; infrastructure maintenance; the merits of rail versus road transport; communication and data sharing across Africa; economic tools to support community engagement; and the need for national and local governments to work together on air quality.

Mounkaila Goumandakoye, Director, UNEP Regional Office for Africa, closed the session underscoring the importance of air quality concerns in Africa, noting that Africa is the fastest urbanizing continent. He urged African leaders to “prepare now” and not wait for the air quality situation to escalate. 

This side event addressed the possibilities for integrating sustainable consumption and production (SCP) under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the role of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) as a means of implementation of the SDGs.

Elliott Harris, UNEP, moderated the session. He highlighted the need to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, highlighting that the UN International Resource Panel has proposed possible targets for decoupling in the areas of energy, water, land use, and materials.

Elena Dumitru, Minister Plenipotentiary, Romania, shared her experience of green public procurement in Romania, where policy currently requires 5% of all public procurement to comply with green procurement standards, with further multi-year targets to be met and monitored in the future. She said this move is supporting the green markets that are emerging in Romania.

Tlou Ramaru, Ministry of Environment, South Africa, outlined the benefits of treating sustainable consumption and production (SCP) as a cross-cutting issue in the sustainable development goals (SDGs). He said that SCP targets embedded in different sectors could be mutually reinforcing, and that SCP can be a catalyst for improving societal wellbeing as well as supporting a trajectory toward resource efficiency.

Freya Seath, global NGO focal point in the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on SCP (10YFP), and representing the entrepreneurial charity BioRegional, stressed that existing targets and standards on SCP should not be undermined. She called for: implementation of Aichi target 4a on the adoption of SCP plans by 2020; adoption of a life-cycle approach on use and disposal of chemicals; green public procurement; and public education to ensure responsible levels of consumption and reduction of demand for unsustainable products and services.

Antonio Otávio Sá Ricarte, Minister Counsellor, Brazil, said the concept of decoupling represents an unfair burden on developing countries that now bear the burden of production, which developed countries did not face during their period of industrialization.

Sofie From-Emmesberger, Ambassador of Finland, agreed that developed countries and those with high material consumption should provide leadership in promoting a shift in SCP patterns. She expressed concern that contributions to the 10YFP trust fund are still insufficient, and requested UNEP to provide a fundraising strategy.

Participants raised questions about including sustainable transport in the 10YFP; financing to accelerate the transition to SCP; and promoting courses on sustainability at the undergraduate level.

A WWF representative said that achieving resource efficiency is insufficient, and that deeper structural transformation is needed to address subsidy issues and unsustainable supply chains.

A business and industry delegate agreed that regulatory elements will be needed to reinforce the directions set by the 10YFP. He noted that many companies are becoming actively engaged with all three dimensions of sustainability.

A representative of Uganda said that initial discussions of SCP had previously not gone well due to suspicion from developing countries, and stressed that financing and technology are the drivers of change.

From-Emmesberger concurred that structural change is needed to reduce environmental impacts in absolute terms.

Ricarte said that technology transfer can help ensure that new production models do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Other comments touched on promoting SCP through regional processes, building up ‘the sharing economy,’ and the need to address the prevailing culture of consumerism. Participants discussed whether or not the concept of planetary boundaries could be the basis for the 10YFP, also mentioning the value of other concepts including ecological carrying capacity, and natural capital accounting.

The session covered initiatives that foster financial and technical support in integrating poverty eradication and environmental sustainability. Mette Wilkie, Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, UNEP, moderated the discussion.
 
Nik Sekhran, Environment and Energy Group, UN Development Programme (UNDP), pointed out challenges in dealing with poverty eradication and reversing environment decline, observing that even in countries with rising economic growth rates, “sticky poverty” still existed, with large percentages of the population still living under the poverty line. He contended that the world cannot resolve these issues by “tinkering at the margin” or working in silos, but instead must operationalize a paradigm shift in addressing environmental management. Sekhran congratulated the PEI on its pioneering of best practice, with UNEP and UNDP ‘delivering as one’ at the country level.

Laura Martin Murillo, Sustainlabour, explained that historically the labour and environmental spheres have been on opposite sides, with workers thinking they have to choose between jobs and the environment. She outlined that in Peru, instead of dealing with poverty eradication first before attending to environment concerns, they had to address both at the same time by streamlining mining, forestry, water and waste management towards sustainability.

Salifou Ouedraogo, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Burkina Faso, lamented that green economy, being a new concept, was proving difficult for people on the ground to internalize. He outlined the steps Burkina Faso has taken to integrate poverty eradication and environmental planning into sectors such as economics and finance, which included adopting these into law in 2013. He drew attention to his country’s work with Green Africa and the green economy, stating that the two areas Burkina Faso wants to focus on are tourism and water management. He called for proposals to put in place funding mechanisms for this purpose. 

Oyun Sanjaasuren, Minister for Environment and Green Development, Mongolia, introduced her country’s challenges and successes in addressing environmental problems. She asserted that as gross domestic product (GDP) has grown tenfold, Mongolia now has a responsibility to adopt green economy in various sectors. Drawing attention to global warming in Mongolia being three times that of the global average, she explained her country’s involvement in the Partnership for Activities on Green Economy (PAGE.) She called upon PAGE to transfer ‘green knowledge’, capacity and information to allow both private and public sectors to conform to green economy principles.