23 May 2012: The 7th African Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ARSCP-7) has concluded by calling on the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) to adopt the global 10-year framework programme on sustainable consumption and production (SCP).

The meeting was held from 21-23 May 2012, in Accra, Ghana, under the theme “African Ten Year Framework Programme on Sustainable Consumption and Production in the context of Sustainable Development and Poverty Alleviation and its Framework for Implementation.” The meeting reviewed Africa’s progress in implementing the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI), concluding that programmes are gradually being mainstreamed into regional, sub-regional, national and sub-national policies and development plans. It also called on the African region to fully implement the regional 10-year framework programme on SCP, which links SCP with the challenges of meeting basic needs.

Participants agreed on a series of key messages and recommendations to Rio+20, including on the 10-year framework programme on sustainable consumption and development, the green economy, and the institutional framework. Among other things, the meeting recommended that: efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) be intensified; the proposed sustainable development goals (SDGs) be differentiated to reflect African priorities and needs; a follow-up mechanism be created to track all agreements made at Rio+20 and provide monitoring and means of implementation; and the green economy be socially inclusive and serve as a tool for poverty eradication.

ARSCP is a regional coordinating institution established by a Charter adopted by the third African Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ARSCP-3) in Casablanca, Morocco, in 2004, and registered as a not-for-profit NGO under Tanzanian law. [IISD RS Sources] [ARSCP Website] [Publication: African 10 Year Framework Programme (10YFP) on Sustainable Consumption and Production]