..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 23 March 2005
Press Release No: N/11/2005

UNESCAP, UNEP, NGOS TO DISCUSS CHANGING CONSUMPTION PATTERNS
FOR IMPROVED ECO-EFFICIENCY

Shift to sustainable consumption and production aim of Civil Society Forum

Bangkok (United Nations Information Services) -- The United Nations and its civil society partners will tackle current patterns of economic development in Asia and the Pacific and ways to shift them for improved eco-efficiency at a two-day meeting held in conjunction the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development 2005.

The Civil Society Forum, organized jointly by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the Citizens' Alliance for Consumer Protection of Korea (CACPK), in cooperation with and support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will be held from 23 to 24 March 2005 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Approximately 20 international and national NGOs from a number of countries will participate in the Forum. The event will highlight the role of the civil society as a positive driver in the development and implementation of demand management, and the role of the proactive and well informed consumers in ensuring energy and water conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.

Participants of note include Dr. Olivia la O' Castillo, Chair, Asia-Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production, Mr. Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, Chairman, Asia-Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists (APFEJ), and Dr. Sothi Rachagan, Regional Director, Consumers International Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

The Civil Society Forum will include plenary group discussions on various areas of sustainable consumption related to sustainable water, energy, land use, and aspects of globalization, including positive case studies throughout Asia and the Pacific. Separate sessions will focus on clean production, green consumption, sustainable energy, the media and education, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and sustainable consumption, and strategies for sustainable consumption and production.

Organizers expect that the Forum will also contribute to an exchange of information and dissemination of best practices on sustainable development and production, which will be forwarded to the Ministerial Conference.

The event will be held at in Sapphire Ballroom (#2, 3), 3 F of the Lotte Hotel Seoul. Delegates to the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development 2005 are invited to attend.

For further information, please contact:
Mr. Yuri Steklov, UNESCAP
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1540
E-mail: steklov.unescap@un.org

Ms. Kim Jai Ok, Citizens' Alliance for Consumer Protection of Korea
Tel: +(82-2) 735-8907
E-mail: cacpk@cacpk.org

For media inquiries, please contact:

Mr. David Lazarus, Chief, UN Information Services Bangkok
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1861-66; Fax: +(66-2) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org

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