What is SCP Forum
The SWITCH-Asia Sustainable Consumption and Production National Policy Support Component Sri Lanka was a 4-year, European Union (EU) funded project awarded upon the request of then Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment (MoMDE) as a ‘technical assistance programme’ to support the strengthening of the overall government policy and institutional framework for the implementation of SCP. The project was commenced on 15 January 2015 and ended on 14 January 2019. One of the major deliverables of the project was the development of an overarching National Policy on SCP which has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2019.
The Action Plan for the National Policy has been included in the draft National Environment Action Plan developed by Ministry of Environment covering all thrust sectors addressed in the Policy. This actions has to be done by respective line Ministries and agencies with the facilitation of the Ministry of Environment.
To achieve the country green growth and a SCP concepts-oriented society, Sri Lanka will need to further mobilize the target groups, develop the SCP related initiatives and programs internally or via the external cooperation, leverage the international financial and technical resources, to strengthen Project long term impact and sustainability. A dedicated effort for about 2 to 3 years is required until SCP concept is gaining ground where thereafter the private sector may play an active role by incorporating SCP concepts in the goods and services they provide.
During the project formulation stage, it was also suggested to explore the possibility of establishing a national multi-stakeholder SCP advisory body to facilitate the exchange of lessons learned, undertake peer review of project efforts, build long-lasting connections between the international, national, sub-national institutions and the private sector and scientific communities.
As the first step in this direction, an Inter-Agency & Expert Working Group (IAEWG) was established which functioned as a think tank during the project period. Since its establishment, IAEWG participated in all stakeholder consultative workshops conducted by the Project under different activities and contributed immensely for the project execution. As the project progressed, with the closer interaction with the Project team and also with the closer involvement with Project activities, IAEWG was gradually elevated to a high-level SCP Forum which is now ready to play the role of the national multi-stakeholder SCP advisory body.