14 January 2011: The high-level intersessional meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) on a 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) convened from 13-14 January 2011, in Panama City, Panama.

The CSD will be deliberating on the 10YFP on SCP, as mandated by the 2002 Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, at its 19th session in New York, US, from 2-13 May 2011. The intersessional meeting was jointly organized by the Government of Panama, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development (UN DESA-DSD), and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) as a contribution to the CSD 19 discussions. It sought to provide a non-negotiating space for representatives from member States, Major Groups and UN Agencies to discuss potential programmes to be included in the 10YFP on SCP to support regional and national initiatives, the structure the 10YFP could take, and the possible visions and objectives it could serve.

With regard to elements of an institutional structure, participants noted that, inter alia: cleaner local and regional production centres could serve as knowledge hubs and focal points for national and regional SCP networks; regional and national civil society focal points on SCP could foster and support Major Group engagement; better coordination and coherence among different organizations’ work on SCP is necessary; and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) and Marrakech Process provide models for building the 10YFP. On means of implementation, developing countries emphasized that new resource mobilization needs to be given proper attention, while developed countries emphasized better use, leveraging and realignment of existing resources to address new priorities such as SCP. [10YFP on SCP Webpage]