consumption

Forests, Consumption and Trade

Addressing unsustainable consumption and related trade as a major underlying cause of deforestation and forest degradation

Report on a Workshop organized by Friends of the Earth International parallel to the 8th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development

New York, 2 May 2000

1. Sustainable Forest Production and Consumption Introduction by Janet Abramovitz, Worldwatch Institute, USA

Forest Product Consumption and Equity
The world's forests are in trouble. Half of the world's forests are gone, deforestation continues unabated and the health of the remaining forests is declining. Annually, on a global scale, 10 times more forest is being lost than what is being gained through regrowth. Until now, most attention has been focused on tropical forest loss. There is less awareness that Northern forests have also been severely degraded.

When we lose forests, we lose more than timber, we also lose all the other goods and services forests provide, such as livelihoods, watershed protection, flood control, etc. The last 2 years we have seen some vivid examples of the consequences of extensive forest loss, including the "unnatural disasters" of flooding in the Yangtze riverbasin, the impact of Hurricane Mitch in Central America, and the landslides in Venezuela.

There are many pressures on forests, but one of the greatest threats is the growing production and trade of forest products fueled by rising consumption, especially in the wealthier countries. To outline some of the basic trends: Since 1961, overall wood harvest has grown by 50% worldwide. About half of this is fuelwood, which includes fuelwood used by industries. The other half of the wood harvest is "industrial" wood, and of this, about half ends up in paper. By 2010, overall wood consumption is expected to increase by 20% if current trends continue. Paper consumption is expected to increase by a third.

Forest products trade has grown even faster than production itself, it has tripled since 1970 alone. Paper, pulp and panels (plywood etc.) are the fastest growing commodities and make up the lion's share of the global forest trade in terms of value. Paper products alone make up almost 45% of the total value of world forest products trade. The volume of paper trade has risen five-fold since the 1960s.

The top ten exporters of forest products in terms of value are Canada, the US, Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia and Brazil. Together, these countries account for 70% of world exports. The exports from many developing countries have grown rapidly, but Canada and the US still dominate exports, accounting for one third of the world total.

On the import side, the top ten is formed by the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, Belgium and Luxembourg and Hong Kong.

Wood consumption is far from evenly distributed. More than half of the industrial timber and 72% of the world's paper is consumed by the 22% of the world's population which lives in the US, Europe and Japan. While developing countries consume almost 2 times more fuelwood per person than industrialized countries, mainly due to lack of alternatives, industrialized countries consume 12 times more industrial wood per person than developing countries.

Paper consumption is even more inequitably distributed. Since 1961 world paper use has grown almost 6-fold and per capita consumption of paper has doubled. Paper consumption is expected to increase by one third in the next 10 years. Despite this explosive growth, there are vast inequities in paper use. Some 80% of the world population uses less than 40 kilo per person per year for basic literacy, communication and sanitation purposes. The global average is 51 kilo per person per year, but industrialized countries consume around 164 kilo per person per year while developing countries consume only 18 kilo per person per year. To compare a few countries:

Turning the Trends
There is an overall expectation that these trends will continue. But trends and forecasts are no destiny, we can turn the situation around. We can increase efficiency at every level of production and consumption, in the forests, in the mills, at the retailers, at the construction site, and with individual consumers. To give an example: Brazil could produce the same amount of timber while exploiting only a third of the forests it is currently exploiting if it wasted less of the wood that was cut during logging and milling operations. FAO has estimated that if developing countries increased their industrial efficiency to the current level of industrialized countries the projected growth in demand could be satisfied without increasing the harvest. And even in the US, 25% of the wood that is cut never enters the commercial flow.

As far as paper is concerned, there are many ways to use paper more efficiently by down-sizing packaging, double-sided copying, increased recycling, etc. Half of the world's paper is turned into packaging, in many cases this consumption can be reduced or even eliminated. A huge, largely untapped fiber supply for making paper is the majority of old paper that is still not recycled: each year the US sends more paper to landfills than China consumes. The demand for wood for paper could be cut in half if fiber supply shifted to use more recovered paper and non-wood fiber.

As far as construction is concerned, it should be noted that in the US and other wealthy countries, the size and number of homes has skyrocketed since 1950, while the number of occupants has declined. By using more efficient building methods we could reduce wood use by 20%, cut costs, and lessen the footprint of our homes on the land, without sacrificing quality of life.

However...in all areas of forest products, gains in efficiency will be cancelled out unless we couple it with reduced demand in high consuming countries.

Reducing the Demand side of Deforestation
The high consumption levels in wealthy countries are not only a concern because of their direct footprint upon the world´s ecosystems, but also because these lifestyles and technologies are adopted by other countries. If wood use in developing countries accelerates to the point where everyone in the world consumes as much as the average person in North America, Europe or Japan, the world will consume twice as much wood as it consumes today. If everyone in the world used as much paper as the average North American the world would use more than 7 times as much paper.
If, on the other hand, the per capita consumption of paper in industrial countries was trimmed by one third, which is largely possible through simple "good housekeeping", global consumption would fall, and developing country consumption could rise to meet basic needs.

Luckily, some consumers and retailers are beginning to become part of the solution. They want their buying habits to be part of the solution to deforestation rather than contributing to further deforestation. They, REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE and when they buy products they choose RECLAIMED, RECYCLED AND CERTIFIED materials. There is thus a growing market for recycled and chlorine free paper and certified forest products. In fact, the current demand exceeds the supply. So far, most of this demand comes from Europe and the US.

The new generation of information technologies (Internet, intranet, business to business data interchange) can save paper and money. Documents like phone directories, manuals, company reports can be put online or on CD saving millions of dollars and tns of paper. The Bank of America succeeded to cut paper use with 25% through such measures.

Just one company, Procter and Gamble, succeeded to cut the amount of paper needed for packaging per kilo produce by 24% in just 4 years. Since about half of all paper goes to packaging, such reductions are important. It also saves on the costs of shipping and handling the products.

Publishers have proven it is possible to use lighter weight papers, reducing the size by a fraction and to use computer assisted lay out to maximize printing efficiency. There are also easy ways to audit and reduce paper use by 20% or more through good housekeeping, copying, and eliminating needless copies. We can thus reduce waste and excessive consumption without sacrificing the quality of life.

Shifting to sustainable production and consumption patterns also requires the elimination of subsidies and giveaway concessions that hurt forests and economies. A clear example of such perverse subsidies can be found in Canada. Canada is the world´s largest timber exporter andhttp://www.foei.org/en/publications/forests/consumption.html/edit liquidation of primary forests is official government policy. The government awards timber leases to a handful of companies at highly subsidized prices and with very lax regulations, with the predictable outcome that some of the world´s best forests are being logged and exported at unsustainable rates

Another requirement is the establishment or restoration of the rule of law governing forests, and the elimination of corruption. Moreover, there is a need to strengthen the monitoring of forest conditions and threats at both a national and a global scale.

There are many pressures on forests, but the production and consumption of forest products is a major driving force of forest loss and one that is most amenable to change. One where individuals, business and governments have a direct role and where we can see results quickly. It can be concluded that the next few years are critical to forging a new and sustainable relationship with the world´s forests.

2. Forests in between Cattle, the CSD and the WTO
Introduction by Simone Lovera, Sobrevivencia/ Friends of the Earth-Paraguay

Changing consumption of non-forest products which impact upon forests.
Changing unsustainable consumption patterns of forest products is critical, but the role of non-forest products in forest loss should not be underestimated either: 70 to 80% of global deforestation is caused by conversion of forests into agricultural land. Agricultural products responsible for this conversion include meat, soy, palmoil, pulp (of tree plantations), bananas, coca, cacao, etc. They thus vary from food crops which fulfill basic nutrition needs, to products which are mainly produced for excessive demand of wealthy northern consumers, to clearly unsustainable products like coca and tobacco.

For most agricultural products, however, it is hard to establish sound criteria as far as their sustainability is concerned. The production method can form one basis for determining sustainability, using regular criteria for sustainable agriculture like ecological sustainability (water use, pesticide use, etc.) and social sustainability (employment, income and sustainable livelihood of farmers). On top of that, there are specific criteria related to forest conversion, the most important of which is the efficiency of land use in terms of providing employment. The labor-intensity of land use is a dominating factor in deforestation as labor is a limiting factor in most farming families, particularly in developing countries. Thus, farmers and the rural population in general will continue to convert forest land into agricultural land until their need for productive employment has been fulfilled. Agricultural products like meat, soy, palmoil and pulp, and large-scale agriculture in general, score low if this criterion is used as they occupy vast areas of land but provide little employment per hectare of land. In Brazil, for example, where the expansion of the agricultural frontier has been and continues to be by far the main cause of deforestation, soy production provides more than 12 times less jobs per hectare than small-scale traditional agriculture. Cattle ranching scores even worse in terms of labor intensity and eucalyptus pulp plantations provide up to 800 times less jobs per hectare than traditional small-scale agriculture. The production of these crops thus contributes to rural unemployment and migration of farmers to the forest frontier.

Taking the example of meat and soy (of which the great majority is produced as fodder for livestock in Europe and other Northern countries), several strategies to change unsustainable consumption and production patterns could be undertaken. Eco-efficiency strategies could include the sustainable intensification of land use through soil conservation and integrated systems. On the consumption side, eating soy instead of meat could classify as an eco-efficiency strategy as, on average, 5 kilo of soy is needed to produce 1 kilo of meat. Full or partial vegetarianism also classifies as an eco-sufficiency strategy, that is, a strategy to reduce unsustainable consumption through changing lifestyles.

Governments can play an important role in implementing these strategies through providing sound information about the impacts of meat production upon forests and reducing perverse subsidies to the meat industry. They can also play a positive role in providing subsidies and other incentives to promote the production of alternative agricultural crops, which play a more beneficial role in combating rural unemployment and malnutrition. However, as long as unsustainable production seems to be the role rather than the exception in the world economy, trade barriers will remain necessary to give more sustainable forms of production, and the forests and forest peoples which depend on them, a chance.

The Vicious Circle of Consumption, Trade and Production
Consumption and production form part of a circle. Once a certain supply is created, companies will use marketing tools like advertisement, certification or labeling to ensure that their products are sold to consumers. Such marketing increases consumption and consumption creates demand. Demand on its turn triggers private or public investments in certain levels of production, thus leading to a vicious circle of ever increasing consumption and production.

	Information - Marketing/ Publicity - Certification/ Labeling
Production		Consumption
	Investments - private - public (subsidies and other incentives)

Consumption and trade are inseparable. Trade is nothing more and nothing less than the bridge, which links sustainable production with sustainable consumption, or unsustainable production with unsustainable consumption. If production is socially and environmentally sustainable, it should be ensured that there is market access to allow these products to reach sustainable consumers. If production is unsustainable, however, trade barriers might form one of the tools to avoid such products to reach unsustainable consumers. Public investments like subsidies and certification and labeling schemes can also be used to stimulate sustainable consumption and production or decrease unsustainable consumption and production. However, too often such tools and mechanisms to change unsustainable consumption and production patterns have been qualified as trade barriers by the World Trade Organization and other trade organizations, like the European Union.

	Information Marketing/ Publicity Certification/ Labeling Non-Tariff Barriers
Sustainable Production Unsustainable		Access Trade Tariff Barriers		Sustainable Consumption Unsustainable
	Investments private public (subsidies and other incentives) Non Tariff-Barriers

The policies and mechanisms marked in red are the ones that are currently under attack by the World Trade Organization as barriers to trade. Typically, they are the policies and mechanisms that have a potentially important role to play in either reducing unsustainable consumption and production patterns, such as trade barriers, or promoting sustainable consumption and production, such as certification and labeling.

The Work of the CSD and the UNGA on Changing Consumption Patterns
Changing consumption patterns" is the subject of Chapter 4 of Agenda 21. At its third session, in 1995, the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) adopted an International Work Programme on Changing Consumption and Production Patterns, which includes five elements:
1. Trends in Consumption and Production Patterns
2. Impacts on Developing Countries of Changes in Consumption Patterns in Developed Countries
3. Policy Measures to Change Consumption and Production Patterns
4. Voluntary Commitments from Countries/Indicators for Measuring Changes in Consumption and Production Patterns
5. Revision of the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection

Since 1992, many discussions on chapter 4 have taken place at the national and international levels, both within and outside the framework of the CSD. These debates have covered definitions and concepts (e.g. eco-space, ecological footprints), policy strategies (e.g. eco-efficiency, Factor 4 and 10), and appropriate policy instruments. Participants in the discussions have come from business and industry, governments at all levels, international organisations, the academic community and NGOs. "Changing consumption and production patterns" has been the subject of discussion by the CSD itself at its first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh session. In the context of the multi-year programme of work adopted by the General Assembly for the Commission on Sustainable Development in 1997, it will continue to appear, as an "overriding issue" in future sessions of the CSD.

All these meetings of the CSD and the UN General Assembly Special Session of 1997 have generated a wealth of intergovernmental policy recommendations in the field of changing consumption and production patterns. Recommendations, which are regretfully all too often neglected in the international policy debate on consumption patterns in specific sectors such as the forestry sector. To mention a few of the most interesting recommendations from a forest perspective:
"Governments, in cooperation with relevant international organizations and in partnership with major groups, should:
.... Further develop and implement policies for promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns, including affordable, more eco-efficient consumption and production, through disincentives for unsustainable practices and incentives for more sustainable practices. A policy mix for this purpose could include regulations, economic and social instruments, procurement policies and voluntary agreements and initiatives to be applied in the light of country-specific conditions....
.... Governments should consider shifting the burden of taxation onto unsustainable patterns of production and consumption; it is of vital importance to achieve such an internalization of environmental costs. Such tax reforms should include a socially responsible process of reduction and elimination of subsidies to environmentally harmful activities;...
.... Work to increase understanding of the role of advertising and mass media and marketing forces in shaping consumption and production patterns;...
.... Develop and implement public awareness programs with a focus on consumer education and access to information;...
.... Improve the quality of information regarding the environmental impact of products and services, and to that end encourage the voluntary and transparent use of eco-labelling;...
....Study the benefits of traditional values and local cultures in promoting sustainable consumption....
....Cooperate in developing waste collection systems and disposal facilities, and developing programs for prevention, minimization and recycling of waste" (Program for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, UNGASS, 1997). See also annex 1.

These resolutions form a firm multilateral consensus supporting the many policies and measures suggested in the first presentation.

The WTO has often stated that it feels that its policies should be compatible with sustainable development policies, and most decision makers are of the opinion that WTO rules and policies should not interfere with multilateral environmental agreements. Whether these multilateral environmental agreements have to be legally binding has never been clarified. But the emphasis within WTO discussions has always been on the multilateral aspect, that is, that environmental policies are the result of a clear consensus between more than two states.

Resolutions by the UN General Assembly are clearly multilateral agreements. In fact, it should be emphasized that the UN General Assembly has more than twice the membership of the World Trade Organization. It would severely undermine the work of the UNGA, its Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary bodies like the Commission on Sustainable Development if their recommendations and resolutions did not have any status at all vis-a-vis the rulings of the WTO. It should thus be ensured that the policies and measures of governments to implement these resolutions, which already face the challenge of going against major vested interests, are not being frustrated by the rulings of the WTO.

3. Forests, Trade and Consumption from an Indigenous Peoples´ perspective
Introduction by Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Tebtebba, the Philippines

Indigenous Peoples are amongst the major groups in society that are most severely affected by overconsumption and trade liberalization. Globalization, increasing consumption and the paradigm of competitiveness which forms the basis of trade liberalization are increasingly marginalizing Indigenous Peoples and threatening their livelihoods.
In the Philippines, a number of Indigenous Peoples had succeeded to reclaim their old territory, but even though they had put the land under production they saw themselves expelled again by a logging company. Such trends are triggered by the staggering demand for wood products described before.

Tree plantations form an even larger problem. Increasingly lands are being taken away from Indigenous Peoples for tree plantation development. The government formally opposes such trends. Indigenous Peoples have a lot of sustainable agroforestry practices, and since recently, the government recognizes this and promotes such sustainable practices. But they can do little if all market forces and the very paradigm upon which their economic model is based work against Indigenous Peoples.

Moreover, without debt relief, nothing is going to change. Bilateral and multilateral donors like the World Bank only give money to the government if it these loans can be repaid. So the activities that are funded have to be profitable. This is why the Government and bilateral and multilateral donors heavily subsidize tree plantations. Fast-growing, monoculture tree plantations make a lot of money in the short term, and this money is needed to pay back the debts. The entire economic model is based upon a paradigm of competitiveness and profits.

The main burden of changing consumption patterns is really on the North. In a country like the Philippines, the consumption of wood and paper is still below the level of basic needs. As paper is scarce and people do not have the money to waste, they will make sure they use it in an efficient manner. However, there still is a need to exchange more information and experiences on how to reduce, reuse and recycle paper and other wood products. Alliances with other groups to campaign against the paradigm of trade liberalization and consumerism are very important for Indigenous Peoples. After all, changing consumption and production patterns is one of the most important paths to a more sustainable paradigm.

4. Discussion: Certification, Corruption, Carbon, and Conclusions

Some people doubted whether certification by the Forest Stewardship Council was really a step into the right direction. It was responded that the political impact of the work of the Forest Stewardship Council had been important, as it had shown timber producers that there is a large and expanding market for sustainably produced timber. Certification can be an important tool in scrutinizing and penalizing companies. It also forms an important tool to reward producers who are doing the right thing. It provides them with an important incentive and it is an important educational tool

However, it should be emphasized that the most sustainable consumption is no consumption. Especially in construction and furniture, there is a lot of scope to reduce consumption, for example by not throwing away new pieces of furniture after a few years because a new trend prescribes a new model. There are also severe problems with some of the FSC criteria, in particular the criterion which allows timber from tree plantations to be certified. This criteria denies the fact that sustainable forest management criteria, including those on the protection of biodiversity, should be applied upon each management level. There also is a clear risk of cheating, especially in countries where there is a lack of independent monitoring capacity.

Other participants emphasized the relationship between government corruption and unsustainable forest products consumption. In 1990, citizens' groups in New York actively campaigned for recyclable and reusable packaging. It first seemed as if the proposal would be accepted. However, the paperboard industry, the incinerator companies and newspapers like the New York Times strongly opposed it and in the end the New York Assembly only listened to these companies and not to the numerous citizens' groups.

People wondered whether the Kyoto Protocol of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) would provide additional incentives for forest management. However, if the FCCC parties would establish a system in which countries get a credit for planting trees but not a debit for deforestation, the Kyoto Protocol would lead to a rapid replacement of existing forests by fast-growing tree plantations. In Costa Rica, for example, the credit farmers receive for tree plantations is much higher than the credit they receive for forest conservation. Even though these tree plantations may not directly replace old forests, this system has lead to rapid deforestation, as farmers simply move their agricultural fields to forest area and develop tree plantations on the old agricultural field.

In general, it was stated that a new ethics for consumers was needed. The global campaign of young people to quite consumerism, which UNEP is implementing in cooperation with youth groups is trying to create such a new ethics amongst young consumers through the dissemination of questionnaires on sustainable consumption and other activities. The concepts of ecological footprint, the basket of needs and upshifting and downshifting also play a useful role in changing consumption patterns. The latter concept implies that the 20% most wealthy people in global population should reduce their consumption, the 40% middle class should choose more sustainable alternatives, while the 40% poorest people needs to increase their consumption in order to reach a sustainable consumption level. The social aspects of consumption reduction are very important. One needs analyze carefully who is being targeted by certain policies and measures.

It is possible to envision and achieve a forest products economy that provides all the things people need from forests - goods, livelihoods and services - and ensure that healthy forest ecosystems survive into the next millenium. Those of us in wealthy industrial countries with high consumption patterns have a special obligation and role to play in turning around the unsustainable trends. We can make the changes necessary while ensuring our quality of life - and that of future generations.

Annex 1, Recommendations by the UN General Assembly
on Changing Consumption and Production Patterns:

Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21,
UN General Assembly Special Session 1997

States have common but differentiated responsibilities: The principal goals of changing consumption and production patterns should be pursued by all countries, with the developed countries taking the lead.

Developing countries' priorities are to eradicate poverty, with international support for achieving poverty reduction targets as agreed in United Nations conferences and summits, and improve standards of living, including meeting basic needs and lessening the burden of external debt, while taking all possible steps to avoid environmental damage and social inequity, for the furtherance of sustainable development. Countries with economies in transition face the challenge of integrating policies to make consumption and production patterns more sustainable into the reform process

Special attention should be paid to unsustainable consumption patterns among the richer segments in all countries, in particular in developed countries.

Recognizes that the implementation of sustainable consumption and production approaches suited to country-specific conditions can lead to reduced costs and improved competitiveness as well as reduced environmental impacts.

In addition, the implementation of the international work program will incorporate the following four priority areas:
(a) effective policy development and implementation;
(b) natural resource management and cleaner production;
(c) globalization and its impacts on consumption and production patterns; and
(d) urbanization and its impacts on consumption and production patterns.

On A)
7. Governments, in cooperation with relevant international organizations and in partnership with major groups, should:

(a) Further develop and implement policies for promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns, including affordable, more eco-efficient consumption and production, through disincentives for unsustainable practices and incentives for more sustainable practices. A policy mix for this purpose could include regulations, economic and social instruments, procurement policies and voluntary agreements and initiatives to be applied in the light of country-specific conditions;

Governments should consider shifting the burden of taxation onto unsustainable patterns of production and consumption; it is of vital importance to achieve such an internalization of environmental costs. Such tax reforms should include a socially responsible process of reduction and elimination of subsidies to environmentally harmful activities;

(c)Work to increase understanding of the role of advertising and mass media and marketing forces in shaping consumption and production patterns

(d) Develop and implement public awareness programs with a focus on consumer education and access to information

(e) Improve the quality of information regarding the environmental impact of products and services, and to that end encourage the voluntary and transparent use of eco-labelling;

g) Ensure that implementation of measures for the above do not result in disguised barriers to trade;

On B)
(a) Develop and apply policies to promote public and private investments in cleaner production and the sustainable use of natural resources, including the transfer of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries

(d) Further develop and implement, as appropriate, cleaner production and eco-efficiency policy approaches, through, inter alia, environmental management systems, integrated product policies, life-cycle management, labeling schemes and performance reporting, and in this context, taking fully into account the national circumstances and needs of the developing countries as well as the relevant ongoing deliberations of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade and the Committee on Trade and Environment of the World Trade Organization.

On C)
(c) Increase their efforts to make policies on trade and policies on environment, including those on sustainable consumption and production, mutually supportive, without creating disguised barriers to trade;

(d) Study the benefits of traditional values and local cultures in promoting sustainable consumption.

On D)
15. Governments at all levels, the private sector and other major groups as defined in Agenda 21 are urged to cooperate in developing waste collection systems and disposal facilities, and developing programs for prevention, minimization and recycling of waste

The United Nations guidelines for Consumer Protection, as expanded in 1999

(c) Access of consumers to adequate information to enable them to make informed choices according to individual wishes and needs;

(d) Consumer education, including education on the environmental, social and economic impacts of consumer choice;

4.Unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, particularly in industrialized countries, are the major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment. All countries should strive to promote sustainable consumption patterns; developed countries should take the lead in achieving sustainable consumption patterns; developing countries should seek to achieve sustainable consumption patterns in their development process, having due regard to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. The special situation and needs of developing countries in this regard should be fully taken into account.

5. Policies for promoting sustainable consumption should take into account the goals of eradicating poverty, satisfying the basic human needs of all members of society, and reducing inequality within and between countries.

10.In applying any procedures or regulations for consumer protection, due regard should be given to ensuring that they do not become barriers to international trade and that they are consistent with international trade obligations.

24.Consumer access to accurate information about the environmental impact of products and services should be encouraged through such means as product profiles, environmental reports by industry, information centers for consumers, voluntary and transparent eco-labelling programmes and product information hotlines.

25.Governments, in close collaboration with manufacturers, distributors and consumer organizations, should take measures regarding misleading environmental claims or information in advertising and other marketing activities. The development of appropriate advertising codes and standards for the regulation and verification of environmental claims should be encouraged.

35.Governments should develop or encourage the development of general consumer education and information programs, including information on the environmental impacts of consumer choices and behavior and the possible implications.

44.Governments, in partnership with business and relevant organizations of civil society, should develop and implement strategies that promote sustainable consumption through a mix of policies that could include regulations; economic and social instruments; sectoral policies in such areas as land use, transport, energy and housing; information programs to raise awareness of the impact of consumption patterns; removal of subsidies that promote unsustainable patterns of consumption and production; and promotion of sector-specific environmental-management best practices.

45.Governments should encourage the design, development and use of products and services that are safe and energy and resource efficient, considering their full life-cycle impacts. Governments should encourage recycling programs that encourage consumers to both recycle wastes and purchase recycled products.

49.Governments should promote awareness of the health-related benefits of sustainable consumption and production patterns, bearing in mind both direct effects on individual health and collective effects through environmental protection.

52.Governments should consider a range of economic instruments, such as fiscal instruments and internalization of environmental costs, to promote sustainable consumption, taking into account social needs, the need for disincentives for unsustainable practices and incentives for more sustainable practices, while avoiding potential negative effects for market access, in particular for developing countries.

54.Governments and international agencies should take the lead in introducing sustainable practices in their own operations, in particular through their procurement policies. Government procurement, as appropriate, should encourage development and use of environmentally sound products and services.