Sustainable Consumption and Production/Marrakech Task Forces

Under the Marrakech Process, “Marrakech Task Forces” (MTFs) have been created with participation of experts from both developed and developing countries. The main objectives of MTFs are three-hold: This concept of developing informal task forces on specific issues was agreed at the Marrakech meeting in 2003. These Task Forces are voluntary initiatives led by countries or a group of countries that – in cooperation with other partners – commit themselves to carrying out a set of activities that support the implementation of specific SCP projects. So far, seven task forces of the following themes have become operational: There are no specific rules or obligations for the Task Forces as it is a purely voluntary initiative. How-ever, they are expected to be output-oriented and aim at showing added value of an approach on the ground or for very specific product categories (i.e. meetings and publications should not be the core output). Ideally, a Task Force should have around 5-10 interested governments keeping the geographical balance. The objectives and the current status of each task force are introduced below.
 * Support the implementation of concrete projects for SCP (Phase 3 of the Marrakech Process)
 * Focus SCP activities on specific themes or sectors
 * Strengthen North-South cooperation in the SCP implementation
 * Cooperation with Africa (hosted by Germany)
 * Sustainable Products (hosted by the UK)
 * Sustainable Lifestyles (hosted by Sweden)
 * Sustainable Public Procurement (hosted by Switzerland)
 * Sustainable Tourism (hosted by France)
 * Sustainable Buildings and Construction (hosted by Finland)
 * Education for Sustainable Consumption (hosted by Italy)