The Northern Alliance for Sustainability, ANPED works to empower Northern civil society in creating and protecting sustainable communities and societies world-wide.
ANPED’s main focus is on sustainable consumption and production, the use of goods and services responding to basic human needs and bringing a better quality of life, while minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations.
We build capacity among Northern civil society organizations through information, knowledge and skill-sharing, and enable their participation in local, national, regional and international decision-making processes on sustainable development. Whereas our network has a worldwide reach, our member organizations are mainly located in the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) regions. More...
July 2008
The Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) is a new function of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) mandated by Heads of State and Government at the 2005 World Summit. Its purpose is to assess progress made towards the MDGs and the implementation of the other goals and targets agreed at the major UN conferences and summits over the past 15 years, which constitute the United Nations Development Agenda (UNDA); and contribute to scaling-up and accelerating action to realize the development agenda, by serving as global high-level forum with broad-based participation, where lessons learned are exchanged and successful practices and approaches that merit scaling-up are identified.
The AMR forms one part of the ECOSOC High Level Segment which every year brings together member States, UN organizations and other stakeholders, including business, NGOs and academia. The High Level Segment comprises: High Level Policy Dialogue, Development Cooperation Forum, the Annual Ministerial Review, Thematic Debate and an Innovation Fair.
ANPED and Stakeholder Forum have produced two issues of Outreach at the AMR. [ 2 July 2008 ] [ 3 July 2008 ]
June 2008
The
CSD-16 Matrix is an information tool developed by the CSD Secretariat at the request of the CSD-16 Bureau. It aims to provide user-friendly information on practical experiences in implementation in the thematic areas of agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa. It is based on information submitted by Governments, including through national reports; by UN agencies, international and regional organizations, as well as by Major Groups. It takes into account information contained in Secretary-General's reports and Partnerships for Sustainable Development registered with the CSD Secretariat, as well as information emerging from the regional implementation meetings.
The Matrix seeks to provide the user with a convenient overview of concrete experiences in addressing barriers and constraints identified in the areas of agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa.
May 2008
The report of the 9th UNEP Global Civil Society Forum (GCSF) is now available. The GSCF is a platform for exchange and consultation on key environmental issues to be addressed during the UNEP Governing Council / Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC/GMEF), and to facilitate the contribution of Major Groups to the GC/GMEF and other international environmental forums.
May 2008
ANPED, the Northern Alliance for Sustainability, and Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, respond to the Draft General Assembly Resolution on strengthening the environmental activities in the United Nations System, with the paper Strengthening the Environment in the UN.
May 2008
The Sustainable Development Issues Network (SDIN) is a collaborative effort of three large international networks - TWN, ELCI and ANPED - to form a global NGO network whose purpose is to promote good governance, and enhanced awareness and knowledge about environmental and sustainable development processes and to ensure global quality NGO participation in these global processes within the intergovernmental systems, primarily within the United Nations.
SDIN and Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future present Outreach Issues, the daily civil society newsletter at the CSD. Outreach Issues aims to report with attitude, from the global scene of sustainability.
26 March 2008
A new report by Chris Church, Co-Chair of the Northern Alliance for Sustainability, ANPED, and Tamara Malkova, Director of Green Dossier, looks at the role of NGOs in tackling climate change. The report, Action on Climate Change: From a Divided Europe to a Common Purpose, is based on a survey carried out by NGOs within the ANPED Network in autumn 2007. It looked first at government action on climate change across Europe. It became clear early on that Europe is divided on this issue. Nations that are part of the EU and that have clear targets under the Kyoto protocol are mostly moving in the right direction (often slowly). But in the eastern part of the pan-European region there are very variable approaches. The survey also looked at NGO activity, asked whether and how the NGO was active on climate change. Again there were big differences between east and west.
10 - 11 March 2008
Sustainable Consumption and Production: Framework for Action. This conference is organized by the Sustainable Consumption Research Exchange (SCORE!) Network. SCORE! is an EC-funded network project that supports the development of the UN's 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP). For the present conference, a group of scientists and NGO’s teamed up to develop and launch a ‘Framework of Action on SCP’ for consideration of policy makers world wide. The conference also will mark the launch of the structure of the permanent SCORE spin off that has the ambition to be the ‘Science dialogue‘ in support of the UN’s 10 Year Framework of Programs.
March 2008
The Proposed Organization of Work for UN CSD 16 is now available, with a draft timetable. By the decision of CSD-11, subsequently approved by the Economic and Social Council, the review session of the CSD in the two-year implementation cycle will focus on identifying barriers and constraints in implementation, as well as lessons learned and best practices in relation to its thematic cluster. UN CSD 16’s thematic issues are agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa. It will be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, from 5 to 16 May 2008.
February 2008
A new paper by Chris Church and Sylvia Lorek, Linking Policy and Practice in Sustainable Production and Consumption: an Assessment of the Role of NGOs, looks at NGOs activities in sustainable consumption and production and obstacles being faced. It identifies lessons for policymakers seeking to engage civil society and makes recommendations on how academics can co-operate more effectively with civil society.
Insights are drawn from recent studies on stakeholder involvement in the international political process and a series of surveys and semi-structured interviews. The authors identify four challenges. Effort should: be planned more strategically; link sustainable consumption to current priorities; ensure better links between global and local; and NGOs have to better link to other interest groups.
February 2008
How to ensure that products are produced and consumed in a sustainable manner is a challenge the European Commission has sought to address in its 2003 Integrated Product Policy (IPP) proposal. But the IPP has been criticised since the policy contains no legislative provisions to ensure the sustainability of products. In response to this criticism, the Commission consulted stakeholders and has begun formulating action plans on sustainable consumption and production (SCP), prepared by DG Environment, and on a sustainable industrial policy (SIP), prepared by DG Enterprise.
Originally scheduled for publication in December 2007, the Commission's SCP and SIP strategies may now be published in the middle of April, although no definite date has been set, according to a Commission spokersperson.
Below you can find links to further information on the SCP Action Plan:
January 2008
At the Europe and North America Regional Implementation Meeting in preparation of the 16th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UN CSD 16), ANPED Board Members Andrey Ozharovskiy and Janis Brizga delivered the statements on behalf of NGOs.
Andrey Ozharovskiy presented the findings on the issue of land degradation and pollution, which include contamination from obsolete pesticides storages, military and space activities, and nuclear contamination. He recommended the establishment of an international policy on contaminated land management; the mapping and marking on site of all the dangerous areas, and the restriction of any agricultural and other activity in those areas.
In his intervention, Janis Brizga stressed there needs to be focus on the underlying causes of the problems we face; that we need to move beyond gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of wellbeing; and that we need to use the instrument of National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) in a participatory manner.
UN CSD 16 will focus on agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa.
January 2008
What biodiversity implies for sustainable consumption and thus what sustainable consumption can do for biodiversity is an issue neglected so far in both, the biodiversity and the sustainable consumption discourses.
A new publication by the Northern Alliance for Sustainability, ANPED, Biodiversity and Sustainable Consumption: A Qualified Analysis and Unqualified Suggestions, written by Dr. Joachim Spangenberg, compares the place biodiversity and consumption hold in the overall sustainable development discourse, and focuses on the known reasons for biodiversity loss, asking how they could be influenced, in particular by sustainable consumption.
December 2007
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
November 2007
A middle class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot and the demise of the American Lifestyle.
Heart-felt and poignant,
What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire will touch you as very few things can. This documentary does a thorough job of presenting the pending mega-crisis in all of its aspects, and then goes even deeper to probe all of the causes, both technological and social. A careful viewing will leave you stunned, informed, and ready to step off the train and begin dismantling the tracks. Watch it yourself, and then present it to as many people as you can. Your life, and your children’s lives, depend on it.
Featuring interviews with Daniel Quinn, Derrick Jensen, Jerry Mander, Chellis Glendinning, Richard Heinberg, Thomas Berry, William Catton, Ran Prieur and Richard Manning.
ANPED News Archive ...
