Madam chair,
Following and in compliance with the European Union?s intervention the Czech Republic would like to express its awareness of importance of sustainable consumption and production as cross-cutting issue and of the necessity to encourage the shift towards sustainable consumption and production patterns.
In June 2005 the Czech Government Council for Sustainable Development adopted the Framework on Sustainable Consumption and Production in the Czech Republic, which set up the priorities and also the necessity to develop action plans to implement the Framework. The Programme on Organic Farming and Organic food was adopted in spring 2007 as one of them with the following main objectives:
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To reinforce the consumers faith in system of eco-agriculture and certified organic food through advertising;
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To endorse consumer awareness and market of organic food through its utilisation in community feeding;
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To support organic food processing and marketing;
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To support research, education and counselling in the area of organic farming.
One of the forthcoming action plans focuses on quality of live and sustainable lifestyles. It is clear that the consumption and production patterns are straight linked to our lifestyles. The diseases resulting from undernourishment are not any major problem in our country but we have to face the serious problem of increasing obesity, particularly children?s obesity caused by unsustainable and unhealthy lifestyles, including unsuitable nutrition and insufficient physical activity. In the Czech Republic more then 50 % of adults are overweight and 17 % suffers from obesity and also every second child meets the problem of overweight and the situation is going even to worsen.
Finally I would like to mention that Czech Ministry of the Environment is organising in cooperation with European Commission the European Regional Meeting on Sustainable Consumption and Production, which will be held in Prague, 23 - 24 June 2008. The aim of the meeting is at first to contribute to implementation of the Johannesburg commitments on sustainable consumption and production, which are to develop a 10-year Framework (10YFP) of Programmes to support regional and national initiatives and to promote the shift towards sustainable consumption and production patterns, then to formulate
European regional contributions to the 10YFP, to discuss the role of 10YFP and the EU SCP Action Plan and to share information and best practises.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to invite all European countries to participate in this regional meeting and to encourage their delegates to contact either Czech Republic or European Commission for more information.
