The Costa Rica Meeting shifted the focus from the consultation phase to the implementation of regional strategies and concrete SCP projects. Such decision was highlighted by the launching of the Marrakech Task Forces and the Cooperation Dialogue. Both were created as important mechanisms to improve international cooperation and to support implementation of concrete SCP projects.

Delegates during the Working Group on Urban Planning and Waste Management

The meeting also emphasised the importance of linking the work on SCP to poverty reduction, including the attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015. It concluded that SCP policies should be developed and integrated into national sustainable development strategies, including Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs) where applicable.

Some of the main outcomes of the Costa Rica Meeting are:

• Four Marrakech Task Forces were launched: Sustainable Lifestyles, Sustainable Products, Sustainable Procurement, and Cooperation with Africa
  
  
• The First Cooperation Dialogue Session, co-chaired by the Environment Canada and World Bank, with the participation of nine development agencies, was held to involve development agencies in the Marrakech Process. One of its main objective is to identify the SCP benefits for poverty alleviation
  
  
• UNEP and UN-DESA were requested to carry out a review on SCP-related projects supported by development agencies, in order to consider how to better integrate SCP into development plans.
  
  
• UNEP and UN-DESA were requested to develop non-prescriptive guidelines to support the development of national strategies for SCP.

Links

• Background paper (PDF - 354 KB)
  
• Meeting report and co-chairs summary (PDF - 172 KB)
• IISD Summary of the meeting (PDF - 1,7 MB)