Future Perfect

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ustainable

agriculture

wildlife

food

security

consumption

and

production

patterns

ing new employment opportunities for marginalized groups, or

working against child labour and inhumane working conditions.

More economically sound aspects are also taken into account, such

as creating a level playing field for enterprises dealing with public

procurement, providing opportunities for small and medium-sized

enterprises or promoting life cycle costing as a means of integrating

(environmental) externalities into the prices of products and services.

The site

is a work in progress and is updated on a continuous

basis, taking into account approaches taken in the context of similar

initiatives by European institutions and regional ministries, as well

developments in research and consultations with interest groups.

The quality of the information and its usability within the context

of public procurement therefore differs from product to product and

service to service.

To monitor the actual integration of sustainability criteria into

tender documents, Belgium has set up a national coordination

committee with representatives of all Government levels (federal,

regions, provinces and local communities). The group has collabo-

rated with the European Commission project to monitor the 50 per

cent target for 10 product groups.

Cooperation activities on SCP

In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development intended to reconcile environment and development.

Twenty years later, we must acknowledge that, while most of the

ecological limits have been exceeded, the development gap is still

a reality: over a billion people on this planet are still starving and

around another billion are living in extreme poverty. Moreover, the

economic, social and environmental externalities of the Western way

of life have negative impacts on the inhabitants of Southern countries.

Throughout the world, Belgian NGOs and their local partners are

working to promote more sustainable patterns of production, but

this would not make sense if they did not question the

Western consumption model. This is the reason that

their work in the South is intrinsically linked to their

education and advocacy activities in Europe, with the

overall objective to reconcile environment and develop-

ment.

Over the last 20 years, many initiatives were taken,

both by States and civil society organizations, to tackle

the challenge of reconciling the three dimensions of

sustainable development. More specifically, Belgian

NGOs have been supporting projects in Africa, Asia

and Latin America, aiming at eradicating poverty and

inequalities through economically and environmentally

sustainable patterns.

Protos and Water Committees

In Ecuador, Ghent-based NGO Protos, which special-

izes in providing sustainable solutions to water supply

issues, supported the action of local-based actor CEDIR

to provide water in the Canton of Cañar. In the last 13

years, the percentage of the population having access

to drinking water was raised from 40 per cent to 70 per

cent. But Protos did not only provide the means to reha-

bilitate and develop infrastructures. The whole project

was based on the empowerment of local communi-

ties, through the introduction of ‘Water Committees’,

which participated directly in the rehabilitation and

were trained to progressively take over the manage-

ment. Moreover, the ownership of every single family

has been guaranteed through a monthly participation

of US$0,10. However, as noble as the goal of providing

safe drinking water to all is, it cannot be really sustain-

A food production model should not only feed the world, but also the producers of the food