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Reports and Memo's
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Brussels, october 1995
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Decisive years for european consumer protection
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COOP-Agenda 21
In conclusion to this chapter on agricultural policy in the broadest sense, it should be stressed that cooperatives have never confined their activities to simply addressing requests to other parties. As mass organisations and self-help associations, and on the basis of their economic potential, cooperatives were always capable and intent on making their own contribution to existing problems.
Therefore the cooperative movement following the Rio Conference in October 1992, decided to set up its own Agenda 21 for the next century. The Cooperative Agenda 21 was adopted at the 31st Congress of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) in September 1995 in Manchester. On the basis of this Agenda, the various cooperative sectors will each make their own specific contribution as follows :
The objectives and methods of the agricultural sector will be :
Objectives :
- promote sustainable agricultural development;
- assure food security;
- promote the conservation of plant and animal genetic resources;
- promote land and water conservation.
Methods :
- promote agricultural cooperatives which are attentive to environmental necessities;
- increase on-farm inputs, promote integrated farm management technologies including crop rotation, organic fertilizers, etc.;
- reduce and/or rationalize external inputs such as fertlizers, pesticides, energy consumption :
- undertake research to develop pest resistant crops;
- ascertain and evaluate application of indigenous methods to pest/disease control;
- evaluate harvesting, storage and distribution methods to reduce waste;
- provide education and training to cooperative members through the organization of seminars, symposia and other in areas such as:
- general environment education;
- soil conservation, erosion control;
- appropriate use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers.
As far as the sector for consumer cooperatives is concerned, the latter have been consistently concerned with changing lifestyles and the need to promote more sustainable consumption patterns. The consumer cooperatives will use their power of influence to encourage and promote production systems that are more environment-friendly, given that natural resources are dwindling. It is for this reason that the consumer cooperatives have pledged to adopt integrated production and distribution systems which take into consideration environmental, consumer health and social responsibility issues.
Objectives:
- promote patterns of consumption and production that reduce environmental stress including the indiscriminate use of natural resources, the discharge of waste and the release of emissions while meeting the basic needs of humanity;
- develop a better understanding of the role of consumption (lifestyles) so as to develop innovative policies and actions to encourage environmentally sustainable consumption patterns.
Methods :
- launch environmental information and educational initiatives to encourage sustainable consumption patterns including the developing of consumer environmental awareness and environmentally sound purchasing decision-making;
- promote training and exchange information/technology especially as regards production and distribution systems :
- rationalize technologies;
- promote information exchange to minimize costs for the implementation of environmentally sound strategies;
- establish commercial policies with environmentally sound priorities :
- assess products using Life Cycle Analysis;
- withdraw harmful products from the market;
- develop environmentally safe and sound products;
- promote minimization of waste by applying the policy of 3Rs - reduce, reuse and recyle :
- reduce packaging;
- opt for reusable materials and establish recycling programmes;
- encourage source-sorted waste collection;
- adopt environmental protection as an integrated objective of production;
- introduce the « ecological cycle » principle as the basis of planning, development and programming of consumer cooperative activity and appropriate environmental management systems;
- review and adopt pricing policies to ensure market competitivity for environmentally sound products;
- lobby Governments to introduce pricing policies which reflect the environmental cost of products;
- undertake or participate in environmental impact research;
- encourage and promote the use of environmental assessment instruments for products, packaging, production and distribution activities;
- participate in sustainable development debates at national and international institutional levels :
- national enviornmental legislation;
- establishment of « polluters » taxes;
- strengthen ties with other consumer associations and international organizations.
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[ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]
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