December 2011: The meeting report of the 2011 World Resources Forum has been published. The report, titled “Shaping the Future of our Natural Resources – Towards a Green Economy,” notes that the Forum agreed on the need for a green economy, sustainable consumption and production (SCP), technology transfer, and stronger international governance structures for resource efficiency.

The report presents the Chair’s statement at the Forum, a report of all plenary sessions and highlights of selected workshops. The World Resources Forum, which was held in Davos, Switzerland, from 19-21 September 2011, focused on the following clusters: security of supply; growth, innovation, decoupling, efficiency and sufficiency; assessment methods, resource use indicators and targets; the social dimension of resources; and communication and education.

The Chair’s statement highlights key recommendations and next steps agreed by the Forum. These include the need to: take effective steps towards achieving a resource-efficient, climate-resilient green economy; make a radical change in developed countries and practice “leapfrogging” in developing countries, to change economies’ unsustainable consumption and production behavior; provide developing countries with technology transfer, access to resource-efficient technologies and financial support; improve data and indicators; recognize the importance of the housing, sanitation, mobility and food sectors; and strengthen international governance structures for resource efficiency, including for minerals and metals.

With regard to establishing a green, resource-efficient, circular economy, the Chair’s statement highlights that: resource productivity is expected to become a key driver for economic development in the next decades; new paradigms and ways of thinking, and more research to help achieve improvements of resource efficiency, are needed; circular economy approaches also require institutional changes and social innovation; a green economy can only be accomplished through the measurement of performance and transparency, as well as through partnerships between governments and businesses, and businesses and civil society; values, emotions, mindsets, and underlying driving forces for consumption must be taken into account; youth need to be equally involved in the discussions about the future of the world’s natural resources, and youth and young women in developing countries should be empowered to be part of the solution; and the implementation of activities should be accelerated and increasing demand for change should be transformed into action.

The statement ends with a call by the Forum for governments, businesses and civil society to take immediate action to double the current level of resource productivity by 2020, and reach at least a five-fold increase by 2050.

The report also provides an overview of all the workshops and side events held at the forum, as well as of the youth programme. [Publication: 2011 Meeting Report: Shaping the Future of our Natural Resources – Toward a Green Economy]