June 2008: Costa Rica recently hosted the Fourth Meeting of the International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism Development, which is one element of the Marrakech Process, a global process to support the elaboration of a 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) on sustainable consumption and production, as called for by the World Summit on Sustainable Development’s Johannesburg Plan of Action.

The 8-12 June 2008 meeting in San Jose and Arenal, Costa Rica, discussed issues including the protection of natural resources, promotion of sustainable production and consumption patterns in the tourism industry, and best regional practices on sustainable tourism development. Labels, standards and certification processes for sustainable tourism, and integrated coastal zone management were also addressed. This was the first meeting of the sustainable tourism task force to take place outside France, the leading country for this task force.

In other Marrakech Process news, the first Advisory Committee of the Marrakech Process met on the sidelines of the sixteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), on 8 May 2008, in New York, US. The Advisory Committee is a body of experts drawn from all regions and key stakeholder groups to provide guidance to UNEP and UNDESA in developing and implementing the Marrakech Process on sustainable consumption and production. Among other agreements, Committee participants agreed that the Secretariat should prepare a first draft of the 10YFP, to be sent to the Committee members by the beginning of June 2008. The Marrakech Process website indicates that the first draft of the 10YFP will be made available on 1 July 2008. The Advisory Committee also agreed that its next meeting will take place on 22 October 2008, in Paris, France, on the margins of UNEP’s Annual Dialogue with Business and Industry. [Newswire Today, 9 June 2008] [The Marrakech Process website] [Minutes of the First Advisory Committee meeting]