Module 1: Introduction to SCP: Definition, Rationale and Fundamentals - YouTube

I am Patrick Mwesigye from UNEP Regional Office for Africa and also the manager for the SWITCH Africa Green project

I want to welcome you to this e-learning course on Sustainable Consumption and Production

and I hope, by the end, you find something very useful

on trying to link SCP, Green Economy and other concepts that we use in this field

Sustainable Consumption and Production is a concept that has been in Africa since 2003 when there was the Marrakech process

which gives a connection between the production and the consumption in a sustainable way

of course, before that, the emphasis was only on production

but without knowing that before you produce you harvest to consume

So, as a result of that, if we are to have a sustainable development

we need to change our patterns of consumption, our patterns of production

to ensure that we have achieved sustainable development in our countries

New theories have come up such as the Green Economy, the life cycle thinking and the assessment

and these concepts are also related together with sustainable consumption and production

we also have other concepts like resource efficient and cleaner production which has been in Africa since 1995

and as a result, when you connect all these concepts, you end up having sustainable development promotion in Africa

Africa has faced a number of challenges towards sustainable development

top among them is, of course, poverty

poverty has been one of the major issues that has hampered development in Africa

A result of this poverty, it leads to social exclusion social inequality

so that peoples in Africa who are now living before the so called poverty line

find it difficult to take on this concept of sustainable consumption and production

when they are having their people malnourished, undernourished and having not enough to eat

As a result of poverty in the rural areas, there is a rural-urban migration

and this one results in increases in urban growth

where it is impossible even sometimes in terms of giving services

it can also lead to urban poor and this can be a major problem

but also, industrial development has resulted in pollution, both of water, air and so on and environmental degradation

and this has resulted in unsustainable exploitation and destruction of natural resources

which has led to many countries having a lot of environmental degradation

Many of the priority areas in Africa include manufacturing, agriculture, tourism

and these sectors end up mostly consuming resources without considering on how the production will affect the environment

So, if we sustainably manage the resources in Africa and also promote sustainable development

we need to see how this sectors take on the concept of sustainable consumption and production, resource efficiency

and also, to some extent, transition to Green Economy

Life cycle thinking normally refers to considering a particular product

from its extraction and until the end of life use

Before the life cycle thinking, we had what we called "craddle to grave"

once a product is used, it becomes waste and then it is thrown away

but with life cycle thinking you have to make sure that you follow up the craddle to craddle

so that a waste becomes a resource for another process

There is a belief that because many instances in Africa don't have enough food

that people are facing famine, food shortages and so on

that we don't have to go through the patterns of sustainable consumption and production

This misconception leads mostly to not addressing the main challenges that we face

If, with the few resources available can be used sustainably

some of the challenges that I have mentioned above, that face Africa, would not be there

we would be having a better way of how we can manage the resources and attain the sustainable development

Now with the coming impress of Sustainable Development Goals that we approved in September 2015

Africa needs all of the different methods, including sustainable consumption and production

so that we can move ahead and achieve and attain sustainability indicators that have been put in place

reduce the poverty, reduce the hunger and also SCP being one of the goals

I think we will be on the right way

instead of thinking that SCP is not for Africa but only for developed countries

So, if policy makers can be part and parcel for promoting sustainable consumption and production in the different 54 countries in Africa

then the thinking of the technocrats and all, even the private sector

we will ensure that all material flow analysis, all materials usage, all of the energy, all of the water, all of them are used in a more sustainable way

So I would urge the participants starting form this module one

to ensure that they finish all of the modules take the work seriously

so that we can easily transition our African countries to Green Economy

but also promote sustainable consumption and production patterns