First SWITCH-Med workshop to start defining a Sustainable Consumption and Production Strategy for Israel

The Sustainable Consumption and Production (hereinafter SCP) Strategy will complement the Green Growth Action Plan, jointly formulated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Economics, through a comprehensive consultative process in which around 500 stakeholders have been involved.

On the first day of the workshop, a roundtable on the first results and next steps of the Israel’s Green Growth Action Plan took place. The meeting saw the participation of the Coordinator of Green Growth and Sustainable Development of the OECD and a representative of the Deputy General Counsel of the Environment Protection Agency of the U.S. that provided their views and inputs to the process.

The SWITCH-Med team presented, during the second workday, the UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative (UNEP/DTIE) and the key elements to mainstream SCP into key economic sectors for the Mediterranean like food, manufacturing, housing and tourism (SCP/RAC). The definition of the next steps and key topics to be addressed within the strategy were the thematic focus of the working groups organized during the afternoon.

The participants showed a high interest in being involved in the process, especially through the SWITCH-Med Programme. Thus, three other national workshops will be organized during 2014 in order to build the SCP strategy through a participative process involving several Ministries, local administrations, Civil Society organizations and representatives from the private sector.

This workshop was the first one organized in the framework of the EC funded SWITCH-Med National Policy Component.

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