The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers 17 goals, the twelfth of which is “Responsible consumption and production,” namely: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Under this major goal, there are 17 targets, the 12.2 of which is “By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.”

●Current Situation

About the World

Global Opportunities for Sustainable Development Goals (GO for SDGs)

One of the greatest global challenges is to integrate environmental sustainability with economic growth and welfare by decoupling environmental degradation from economic growth and doing more with less. Resource decoupling and impact decoupling are needed to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns and to make the transition towards a greener and more socially inclusive global economy.UNEP's Economy Division has a project on Global Opportunities for Sustainable Development Goals (GO for SDGs) which aims to strengthen the capacity of countries to achieve SDG 12.SDG 12 on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) and UNEP's implementation of SCP and circular economy are fully aligned.  Currently, UNEP is developing an SDG 12 Hub which will provide visualization and coordination across SDG 12. This links to UNEP's OnePlanet Initiative for Sustainable Consumption and Production. The OnePlanet Initiative and the SDGs are fully aligned in terms of the monitoring approach.  Additionally, the newly developed SCP Hotspots Analysis Tool (SCP-HAT) is an online application with data on the environmental and socio-economic performance of 171 countries over the last 25 years. It allows countries to quickly identify and analyze hotspots at country and sector level and provides key country information in the context of most relevant policy questions. 

Source: unep.org

About China

Optimization and sustainable utilization of natural resources protection in rural communities

Nowadays, with the continuous development of China's industrialization and the continuous growth of the population, human demand for natural resources is also increasing, and the resulting excessive consumption has caused corresponding problems such as depletion, degradation and weakening of the resource base, especially the poverty level of rural communities. Specifically, rural natural resources include land resources, water resources and biological resources. The nature of rural natural resources requires the rational use of resources, and the stability of the ecosystem should be maintained to promote the harmonious development of man and nature. Therefore, it is necessary to manage rural natural resources in a unified way. Rural communities play a very important role in the protection of natural resources and can greatly promote the sustainable use of natural resources. In this regard, rural areas need to vigorously build rural communities and conduct in-depth analysis of the system and other aspects, so as to improve the relevant guarantee mechanisms and compensation systems and ensure the effective optimization of natural resources protection by rural communities.

Sources: Journal of Science and Wealth

●Cases

About the World

United for Energy Efficiency

United for Energy Efficiency (U4E) is a global effort supporting developing countries and emerging economies to move their markets to energy-efficient appliances and equipment. Under the leadership of UNEP, U4E brings together all key stakeholders in the area of product efficiency to inform policymakers, promote global best practices and provide tailored assistance to governments.In 2018, U4E established a program in Chile, with support from Fundación Chile, the Ministry of Energy and private companies such as Hisense, Samsung and Whirlpool, to help consumers access new, energy-efficient refrigerators. Under the U4E scheme, which operates in countries around the world, consumers can buy new refrigerators with a discount of up to 35 per cent if they trade in their old, energy-inefficient refrigerator. U4E also takes away the old product for free and ensures it is safely recycled for free. Chile’s old-for-new-appliance campaign replaced more than 1,500 ageing refrigerators in its first month alone. Annually the project aims to save over 1.3 terawatt hours of electricity, avoiding the need to build three power plants of 100 megawatts each. Newer refrigerators and freezers will save over 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, the equivalent emissions from more than 340,000 cars. They will save Chilean consumers more than US$294 million in electricity costs every year.

Source: unep.org

Organic, voice for nature!

A thematic report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) pointed out that about 21 to 37 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be attributed to the food system. According to the OECD-FAO Agriculture Outlook 2020-2029 jointly released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), it is estimated that when the population increases to 10 billion, food related greenhouse gas emissions will increase by two thirds. There is great pressure to reduce emissions in all aspects of food production. In addition, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) also identified high-intensity agricultural activities as one of the main causes of biodiversity loss. The excessive dependence of conventional agriculture on chemical synthetic pesticides and fertilizers makes the soil and water polluted to varying degrees, which brings great pressure to the environment. It can be seen that establishing a sustainable agricultural model and promoting responsible production and consumption are crucial to mitigating climate change, protecting biodiversity and reducing environmental pollution.

Founded in 2007, Organic and Beyond is a “global growth enterprise member” of Davos forum and a global partner of IFOAM International Organic Alliance (IFOAM-OI). Organic and Beyond has established Organic and Beyond standard farms around the world to carry out organic production practices, share high-quality food with regional advantages around the world obtained in an organic and sustainable production mode, practice the concept of organic and sustainable, be environmentally friendly, and achieve net zero emissions by 2021.

Source: Organic and Beyond

About China

GEP accounting system promotes “green water and green mountains” to become “golden mountains and silver mountains”

Recently, Guangdong Province issued the opinions on comprehensively promoting high-level protection and efficient utilization of natural resources (hereinafter referred to as the opinions), which comprehensively and systematically put forward measures to strengthen and improve the protection and utilization of natural resources. The opinions clearly stipulate that by 2025, Guangdong will initially build a high-level protection and efficient utilization system of natural resources; by 2035, a high-level protection and high-efficiency utilization model of natural resources with Guangdong characteristics will be fully formed, and the governance system and capacity in the field of natural resources will be basically modernized. Guangdong’s idea is becoming clear in exploring ways to achieve high-level protection and efficient utilization of natural resources.

In general, the opinions put forward the construction of “six systems” including improving property rights and interests, planning control, protection and repair, development and utilization, market allocation, and legal supervision. First, Guangdong will improve the property rights system of natural resources assets, safeguard the rights and interests of resources, and make the value of assets apparent. Second, the province will improve the national land and space planning and use control system, and promote good spatial governance and structural optimization. Third, it will improve the natural ecological space protection and restoration system, and strengthen the overall protection and system restoration. Fourth, it will improve the system for the conservation and intensive use of natural resources, and implement total amount management and overall conservation. Fifth, it will improve the system for accurate and efficient allocation of natural resources, and deepen the reform of resource allocation. Sixth, improve the legal supervision system for natural resources and maintain good order in natural resource management.

Since Shenzhen released China’s first GEP accounting system in March 2021, the reform of Shenzhen’s GEP accounting system has been implemented in various districts and new areas. GEP, also known as ecosystem GDP, refers to the total value of the final products and services provided by the ecosystem for human well-being and sustainable economic and social development, including material product value, regulatory service value and cultural service value. The GEP accounting“1+3” system established by Shenzhen includes a scheme, a standard, a set of statements and a platform. It is the first complete accounting system of ecosystem GDP in China.

Sources: ycwb.com, sztqb.sznews

Guizhou fully implements strictest water resource management system

The Ministry of Water Resources, together with the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecological Environment, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, the Bureau of Statistics and other departments, assessed the implementation of the strictest water resources management system in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) in 2021, and Guizhou won the excellent grade.

In recent years, Guizhou has fully implemented the strictest water resource management system, continuously improved its water resource management capacity, exceeded the “three red lines” control target, orderly promoted the national water conservation action, achieved remarkable results in river and lake governance and protection, and continuously deepened reform and innovation, successfully completing all national assessment tasks. Guizhou's comprehensive implementation of the national water conservation action and in-depth promotion of the “river andlake leaders” system have provided strong support for the province’s high-quality economic and social development and ecological civilization construction. Guizhou has implemented rigid policies on water resources from the aspects of assessing the working mechanism, building constraint indicators, implementing water-saving actions, and strictly controlling the use of water, and achieved great results.

Source: Guizhou Daily

●Background

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Initiated by the United Nations

On January 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including 169 targets, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit — officially came into force. Countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.