|
The
21st Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
held in Nairobi in February 2001 adopted Decision 21/14 on Trade and Environment
emphasising the need to inter alia assist
developing countries and countries with economies in transition to enhance their
capacities to develop and implement mutually supportive trade and environmental
policies.
The
4th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development for Asia
and the Pacific, held in Kitakyushu, Japan endorsed a five-year Regional Action
Programme (2001-2005) including a substantive programme element on Globalisation
and Policy Integration, which inter alia
calls for the initiation of activities at national level which “identify and
promote green trade and production opportunities”.
Following
a series of subsequent consultations with government and civil society
representatives in the region, particularly in the South and Southeast Asian
sub-regions, it has been suggested that UNEP facilitate the development of
policy-oriented country case studies to identify Barriers
and Opportunities for Promoting Trade in Environmentally preferableProducts (EPPs).
UNEP,
through the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) will supervise the
preparation of the aforementioned case studies, in close consultation with the
Economics and Trade Unit (ETU) and the Production and Consumption Unit (P&C)
of the Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics (DTIE), through the
establishment of a core Task Team with designated focal points in DTIE and ROAP.
This will ensure the optimal utilisation and integration of information,
technical expertise, and policy guidance from UNEP as a whole. Moreover, by
instituting such a modality, the proposed activities will not duplicate, but
rather, will add value to and complement the existing work being carried
out/planned under the aegis of UNEP or its partners.
On
the basis of its longstanding and well-recognised work in policy-oriented
research on social, economic, trade, and environmental issues at national,
regional, and international level, including prior experience in successfully
collaborating with UNEP (DTIE), Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) has
been selected to be the overall coordinator for the preparation of the case
studies project. In developing the case studies, however, CUTS is engaging WWF,
Malaysia for preparation of the sector study on tropical timber.
In
accordance with the understanding between UNEP and CUTS on this subject, UNEP is
providing assistance towards the preparation of Sectoral Country Case Studies based on the common theme of
“Barriers and Opportunities for Promoting Trade in Environmentally preferableProducts
(EPPs)”, initially focussing on the following sectors and countries:
·
Leather: India
·
Tropical timber and timber-based products:Malaysia
Each
of the Case Studies are expected to comprise the following components, which are
subject to modification and refinement, following further detailed
consultations:
·
Survey/assessment of consumer preferences (including willingness to pay)
for EPPs and to estimate the potential (untapped) economic value of marketing
such products mainly in developed country but also developing country and
domestic markets;
·
Analysis of the informational, technological, institutional, financial,
regulatory, and other barriers which hinder the production and trade in EPPs from the selected Asian country to developed and other (non-OECD) markets;
·
Identification of best practice examples, innovative adaptations,
including the potential of the development of EPPs, through inter
alia the application of cleaner production, renewable energy, and
indigenous/appropriate technologies, for example; and
·
Concrete policy recommendations to overcome the barriers and promote
greater replicability of best practice examples towards increased trade and
sustainable development.
Based
upon the results of the case studies, CUTS will prepare a synthesis document
summarising the major issues across the selected sectors with regard to
opportunities, constraints, and policy recommendations. The first draft of
Indian case study on Leather Sector
is now available for comments.
Under
the project one stakeholders meeting in each of the country i.e. India and
Malaysia would be organised. The Meeting in India to discuss the first draft of
the study on leather sector was held on 13th June 2002 at India Habitat
Centre, New Delhi. (Click here for Draft
Agenda) while the one on
tropical timber would be held in Malaysia in last week of June 2002.
Mr.
Sandeep Singh
Researcher
(Trade and Environment)
|
