To add to the previous posting here (www.tigblog.org/group/otherwise/post/31866), here are some reflections and learnings from the 6th APRSCP by Cameron Neil.

Sustainability is not business or development as usual

* While we often hear about the impact of poverty in developing countries on the environment, it is the rich in both developed and developing countries who are having a MASSIVE IMPACT due to the production of they goods they consume and their consumption

* The imperative to eradicate poverty (which is MDG Goal One) brings overwhelming sustainability concerns in terms of increased (often rapidly) urbanisation, the creation of housing, industrialisation and consumption … therefore we need radically different models and processes for economic and parallel development that deliver poverty eradication and human rights while not pushing the planet beyond its ability to sustain life

* “Doing Sustainable Business in the Asia Pacific Region” is very much NOT business as usual!!!

* Frequent references to the Millennium Ecological Assessment (www.millenniumassessment.org) and other related research shows sustained and significant ecosystem services decline – with current and growing negative economic and social impacts

* We need production that at worst has low negative impact, and at best contributes positively to ecosystems and their regeneration

* We also need everyone to consume DIFFERENTLY, though some will consumer MORE or LESS depending on their current levels (e.g. rich urban vs. poor farmer)

* As an example, the conference showcased visions of buildings that put back to ecosystems, actually GENERATING clean air, water, energy that is put back in to the world

* “The Future Will Not Look Like It Used Too”

Consume DIFFERENT vs. LESS

* There are different schools of thought about whether sustainable consumption means consuming DIFFERENTLY vs. consuming LESS

* There are rich and poor across both developed and developing countries, and their situations are quite different re consumption (i.e. struggling to meet basic needs, having an insatiable desire for wants)

* Arguments, especially by Clive Hamilton (see www.iypf.org/Downloads/ECOS-August2005-affluenza.pdf), suggest overconsumption by ‘rich’ in developed countries is psychologically and materially different to other types of consumption, where people are suffering from ‘Affluenza’, an addiction to stuff and things and buying them

* Such ‘Affluenza’ has its own self-interested reasons for being addressed that are not about equity and moral issues – overconsumption and our addiction to ‘stuff and things’ is causing many problems for people in ‘the West’, including lifestyle diseases, obesity, mental illness … essentially its feeding a decay from within where overconsumption is killing us and our socities

* There is a compelling case to address this ‘affluenza’, though, in that it is these lifestyles that many ‘aspirationals’ in the emerging middle and upper classes in developing countries seek to emulate … if we can give them an alternate model that is better for us as humans and MUCH better for the planet, we can get a win

* Also, it is still the case that the richest quarter of the global population consume over three quarters of the resources

* There are also compelling equity and moral issues and reasons for consuming less – in terms of cross and intergenerational equity (e.g. across the planet right now, and the rights of future generations)

The role of government in promoting sustainable consumption and production

* There is good evidence that regulation can create drivers for innovation towards sustainability versus maintaining support for unsustainable practices, e.g. subsidising fossil fuel cf. investing in renewable energy)

* Examples of policy approaches to stimulating consumer choices were showcased, including the use of economic tools (e.g. see Easy Being Green www.easybeinggreen.com)

* There are clear government decisions that can be made along current economic lines that make sense and deliver payoffs, if they are willing to be courageous and break with tradition (and perhaps piss off vested interests), e.g. it is demonstrably cheaper to reduce energy consumption per household through a range of methods compared to building new energy infrastructure … which only serves to further stimulate demand!

* In the example of household energy use, it is possible, through government investment in widespread energy saving systems on the demand side, to both reduce ongoing government expenditure and put more in the pockets of households of an order far above the delivery of tax cuts … this takes a longer term view, a good understanding of the possibilities, and sufficient courage to do something different!

Some other ‘random’ reflections and learnings

* Pollution from factories plummeted through a focus on stopping pollution in the 1970s, and pollution prevention in the 1980s … there are demonstrable successes from a focus on cleaner production!

* HOWEVER, overall pollution has increased, driven by increased CONSUMPTION (i.e. less pollution per unit, but more units being consumed), and also the discarding of used goods (i.e. not at manufacture, but in waste pollution) – we need to see a much greater shift to Life Cycle Analysis and initiatives to reduce consumption

* Through a range of efforts that improve resource efficiency and effectiveness PLUS reduce consumption, major gains towards a more sustainable Asia Pacific can be achieved

Implications for IYPF

* Increased attention should be given to engaging Young Professionals in India and China, to assist them on their own personal journey towards consuming more sustainably, as well as enabling and engaging them as change agents in their communities and workplaces towards sustainable consumption and production

* The current Youth & Sustainable Consumption project is vitally important and needs to be scaled up in Australia and IYPF needs to work with its members in other countries to take similar approaches to their communities

* We need to more work on the ‘economics of sustainability’ and support the development of sound government policy and business practices that do not reflect ‘business as usual’ and that become ‘good practice examples’ of a different way of playing the game – the idea for a policy roundtable on the economics of sustainable consumption is a great way to start down this path (as part of the Youth & Sustainable Consumption initiative)

Cameron Neil, IYPF’s CEO, attended the 6th Asia Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP) in Melbourne, Australia from 10 – 12 October 2005 (www.6aprscp.com). Cameron was presenting on the IYPF’s Youth & Sustainable Consumption initiative and the report, Sustainable Consumption: Young People as Agents of Change’, prepared for the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (see www.iypf.org/IYPF-projects.htm#YouthSC for background information and a link to the report). Cameron was also presenting on Fairtrade certification as an example of how to link sustainable consumption and production, especially in agriculture. Cameron’s presentation on the Youth & Sustainable Consumption project is available here (www.iypf.org/Downloads/APRSCP-YSC-20050926.ppt) and the paper here (www.iypf.org/Downloads/APRTSCP-Fien-et-al.pdf). The Fairtrade certification presentation is online here (http://cgkd.anu.edu.au/menus/projects.php#implementing).

The theme of the 6th APRSCP was “Doing Sustainable Business in the Asia Pacific Region” to “provide a focus for business engagement, to encourage innovation as a solution to the issues of sustainability and to stimulate the implementation of cleaner production strategies and technologies”. Significantly this was the first Asia-Pacific Roundtable to formally discuss issues related to sustainable consumption as well as cleaner production (for more on this, see www.aprscp.org/cphelp/SeoulNov03.pdf). In Cameron’s observation, the 6th Roundtable demonstrated that this was an important and welcome development given the nature of the challenges facing us re sustainability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Some of the key topics for dialogue and discussion at the 6th APRSCP included:
· Policy, strategy and regulatory frameworks
· Cleaner production in small to medium enterprises
· Sustainability reporting and metrics
· Greening the supply chain
· Cleaner Production financing and environmental accounting
· The product lifecycle - product stewardship, design for environment and life cycle assessment
Energy efficiency and greenhouse programs
· Key sector programs such as the food industry

The APRSCP itself is a broad stakeholder forum (see www.aprscp.org) with open membership designed to accelerate progress towards are more sustainable future for the region. There is also a European Roundtable (see www.vito.be/erscp2005). A key feature is that the Roundtables bring together business, government, civil society and academia.

As with previous events, the final outcome documents from the 6th APRSCP will be made available from www.6aprscp.com in the near future. A complete program is available online, with links to abstracts for the various presentations. A great feature of the event is that it set out to ‘walk the talk’ in terms of more sustainable consumption, incorporating Green Power and Waste Wise initiatives, and serving Fairtrade coffee to delegates (click on Event Sustainability) – very similar to our own efforts with IYPS 2004! (see www.iyps.org/downloads/Sustainable_Summit.pdf). As part of achieving sustainability, conferences and workshops MUST do their best to implement and model what is possible!

Cameron reports that the event was very worthwhile, not only in terms of spreading the word and gaining interest on those topics and projects in his presentations, but also (more importantly) in terms of advancing the discourse and movement towards sustainability in the Asia-Pacific. Rapid economic development in India and China, with their massive populations, is even further straining ecosystem resources in the Asia-Pacific. Doing ‘Sustainable Business’ requires further advances in sustainable production, and rapid proliferation of sustainable consumption initiatives that transform prevailing economic models, consumer and citizen behaviour, and instil new values. The Roundtable demonstrated what a challenge this was, but also showed that there are many reasons for hope.

For more on Cameron’s learning from the Roundtable, see subsequent updates in this blog!

In great news for the Youth & Sustainable Consumption leadership initiative, IYPF’s partner in this project, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), has won an Australian Research Council (ARC) Grant to conduct more research to underpin the community capacity building project.

For more on the ARC Grants, see the media release for the current round of funding here: www.arc.gov.au/news/media/media_9Nov05.htm.

The official title of the research is ‘Enhancing Capacity for Change: Promoting Leadership in Sustainable Consumption amongst Australian Youth’, with RMIT as the administering institution, and the lead researchers being Prof Fien, Prof Bessant, and Dr Jolliet. The Grant provides AUD175 000 over 2006-2008 to support the research.

Here is an except from the project summary: “Building societal capacity for sustainable consumption is vital if the destructive impacts of current patterns of development and lifestyle choices are to be reversed. Directly relevant to the 'Sustainability' and 'Good Health' (Australian) National Research Priorities, this research will develop the change-agent potential of a significant, high spending consumer class - youth and young adults. The research will result in practical guidelines and program materials for youth organizations to use in capacity building for change leadership. The resultant modelling and encouragement of sustainable consumption through 'purchasing differently' will help stimulate the growth of sustainable products and services in Australia.”

For more on the Youth & Sustainable Consumption research project, see the following URL: www.iypf.org/IYPF-projects.htm#YouthSC.