IADS - INSTITUTO ARGENTINO PARA EL DESARROLLO SUSTENTABLE

The Third Chapter of the Implementation Plan of Johannesburg World Summit (2002) urge to change the unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. To achieve this, it calls out all the countries to action, to encourage and promote the development of frame programmes with 10 years horizon, to support the national and regional initiatives on sustainable consumption and production. To accomplish this mandate, the so-called Marrakech Process was initiated.

In MERCOSUR’s sphere, the recent approval in June 2007 of the “Politics of Promotion and Cooperation in the Subject of Sustainable Production and Consumption in MERCOSUR” (Dec. CMC Nº 26/07), on behalf of the highest political authorities of the party, it represents an important sign of commitment and political will of great value for the Marrakech Process.

This Politic, elaborated by the Environment Sub-Workgroup Nº6, includes in its Annex a tempting list of instruments to be developed, among them it can be found “programmes and projects orientated to the inclusion of sustainable production and consumption practices in Public Administration”. On the other side, MERCOSUR has a Public Contracting Protocol and its Regulations, and on its institutional structure it function and Ad Hoc Group Public Governmental Purchases. In this context, added to the interest of the Programme of the UN for Environment (PNUMA) in developing the pilot projects in the frame of the Regional Programme of Sustainable Consumption and Production for Latin-American and de Caribbean, the MERCOSUR represents an opportunity to start to outline a regional strategy of public sustainable purchases.

Such is the interest, that the PNUMA offered its collaboration to MERCOSUR to support an elaboration of basis process for a regional strategy of public sustainable purchases.

Facing this offering, the Sub-Workgroup Nº6 approves to take into action the “Pilot Project on Sustainable Public Procurement in MERCOSUR” on the first semester of 2008. And the PNUMA entrusted IADS its development and execution

This initiative has as an objective to contribute to the diffusion and development of abilities on the MERCOSUR subject, establishing the basis to achieve the incorporation of sustainability criteria in the purchasing process of the States Parts.

In the frame of the Project activities of training will be done, in which it is foreseen the participation of representatives of environmental and purchases areas of the four State Parts. At the end of the project it is expected to have a training manual on public sustainable purchases and a proposal of an awareness campaign to eventually implement it in countries.