Validation Workshop for the National Action Plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production in Egypt, Switch-Med Project
On the 15th of December the Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE) in Cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) hosted the participants from different Ministries & working groups, who actively and collectively developed the action plan as part of implementing Egypt’s Green Economy Strategy.
Dr. Mohamed Abdel Monem, Advisor to the Minister of Environment and the focal point for the Switch Med project, opened the validation workshop deliberations for the National Action Plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production in Egypt by highlighting the Ministry’s commitments to advance this action plan as part of implementing Egypt’s Green Economy Strategy.
Dr. Hossam Allam, Regional Programme Manager for the sustainable growth program at CEDARE and the principal coordinator for the development of Egypt’s Sustainable Consumption and Production Action Plan welcomed on his turn the participants and provided a summary of the Action Plan Development process. Dr. Hossam highlighted the consorted efforts of the ministry of environment to support the successful development of the SCP action plan. Dr. Allam introduced the key components of the SCP Action Plan to be conducted by the different working group experts representing the 4 key sectors (Energy, Water, Agriculture, and Waste).
Mr. Luc Reuter on behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP – Sustainable Lifestyles, Cities and Industry, “Delivering SCP” Division of Technology, Industry and Economics) thanked on his turn the Ministry of Environment and CEDARE for their efforts in developing Egypt’s Sustainable Consumption and Production Action Plan. He also highlighted the strong linkages between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recently adopted and Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Action Plan, clearly stating that Egypt is a step ahead with this milestone achieved and the action plan finalized before several other countries.
Dr. Hussein Abaza, lead author of the SCP Action Plan explained the rationale and objectives of the SCP Action Plan for Egypt. He highlighted the need to ensure that SCP principles are used towards the development of sustainable integrated communities and for greening the key sectors of the Egyptian economy using a coordinated and integrated approach. He also stressed the need for greater coordination amongst different ministries/sectors in order to achieve this vision. Dr. Abaza also explained that the projects included in the action plan reflect new and innovative ideas and approaches towards adopting sustainable practices within the larger economic development vision.
Following these introductory remarks, several presenters discussed and explained the process and methodology adopted in developing the action plan. An overview of the 6 key components of the action plan and their corresponding projects was also presented and discussed during the meeting.
The validation meeting was concluded by presenting the official documents towards the National Action Plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production in Egypt that summarized the primary deliverables of the Switch-Med Project initiative.
