MISSION: The North American Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption (NARSPAC) seeks to promote dialogue, understanding and collaboration among different stakeholder groups within North America and with other regions, with the goal of catalyzing the transformation of society towards sustainable production and consumption patterns.
Context
At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, Heads of State agreed that the “major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized countries, which is a matter of grave concern, aggravating poverty and imbalances” (Agenda 21, 4.3). Today, the world faces daunting challenges as ecological and social trends have become significantly worse over the last 20+ years, with resulting impacts that include climate change, the loss of biodiversity, growing economic insecurity, migration, and geopolitical instability over access to increasingly scarce and expensive natural resources.
Making the transition toward sustainable production & consumption patterns
The idea behind a North American Roundtable
The Roundtable focuses on sustainable production and consumption in North America. In other parts of the world, similar Roundtables have been formed, especially in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Roundtables typically aim to bring together multiple stakeholders to create dialogue and deeper understanding of each others’ perspectives.
The North American Roundtable is a vehicle to support discussions and collaborations between civil society, academia, and other groups including government and business in North America around sustainable consumption and production. This process-led partnership builds on the discussions and exchanges already taking place formally and informally at the regional level, and seeks to provide input into, inter alia, the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption & Production, the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the North American Workshops on Sustainable Consumption and Production, the Rio+20 process and follow-up, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), and the development of national sustainable development strategies.
The North American Roundtable is a vehicle to support discussions and collaborations between civil society, academia, and other groups including government and business in North America around sustainable consumption and production. This process-led partnership builds on the discussions and exchanges already taking place formally and informally at the regional level, and seeks to provide input into, inter alia, the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption & Production, the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the North American Workshops on Sustainable Consumption and Production, the Rio+20 process and follow-up, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), and the development of national sustainable development strategies.
History of the North American Roundtable
NARSPAC was created partially as a follow-up to the North American Workshop on Sustainable Consumption and Production held in November 2008 in Washington, D.C., that was organized by the governments of the United States and Canada. In 2009, NARSPAC's founding four networks—the North American Sustainable Consumption Alliance (NASCA), the Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI), the Canadian Environmental Network (RCEN), and the Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet)—established an informal relationship and agreed to work together to develop regional dialogue on sustainable production and consumption, an initiative officially announced in a statement delivered at the December 2009 UNECE 4th Regional Implementation Meeting on Sustainable Development, in Geneva, Switzerland.
As a next step, the Roundtable was officially registered as a UN Commission on Sustainable Development Partnership, and was launched at the UN Headquarters on May 5, 2010, at a Partnership Fair event under the title “Building North American Dialogue on Sustainable Consumption and Production”.
As a next step, the Roundtable was officially registered as a UN Commission on Sustainable Development Partnership, and was launched at the UN Headquarters on May 5, 2010, at a Partnership Fair event under the title “Building North American Dialogue on Sustainable Consumption and Production”.