SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 12:

RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION

Jamal Habibur Rahman

SMAS Taruna Nusantara Senior High School
Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia
jamalhabibur@hotmail.com

Abstract
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are goals set by United Nations covering a wide range of social
and economic development issues. These include poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender
equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment and social justice. One of the SDGs are discussing about responsible
consumption and consumption. Sustainable consumption and production aims at “doing more and better with less,”
increasing net welfare gains from economic activities by reducing resource use, degradation and pollution along the
whole lifecycle, while increasing quality of life. It requires a systemic approach and cooperation among all doers in
the supply chain, from producer to final consumer. It involves engaging consumers through awareness-raising and
education on sustainable consumption and lifestyles, providing consumers with adequate information through
standards and labels and engaging in sustainable public procurement, among others.

Introduction
Nowadays, Earth has experienced major changes in its condition, especially in environment. As population
grows, people need solutions to fulfil people’s need. People with the help of technology, has changed their way of
life naturally into mostly artificially, including in economic activities. Vast growth of economic activities had
pushed people to use innovation and creation, which are very destructive for Earth’s environment. Pollutions in land,
water, and air are proves of how destructive people’s activities are.
Based on this fact, United Nations had designed Sustainable Development Goal Number 12 named
‘Responsible Consumption and Production’ to reduce ecological, social, and economic impact due to human’s
economic activities. This goal aims to reach efficient management of Earth’s shared natural resources, and the way
people dispose toxic waste and pollutants. Based on SDG Fund, encouraging industries, businesses, and consumers
to recycle and reduce waste is equally important, as is supporting developing countries to move towards more
sustainable patterns of consumption by 2030. This goal also targets to balance basic consumption for every person
on the Earth that is not balanced yet and cut per capita global food waste for more efficient production and supply
chains. This can help with food security and shift towards a more resource efficient economy.

Targets of Goal 12 are:

1. Implement the 10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production, all countries
taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of
developing countries
2. By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources
3. By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along
production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses
4. By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life
cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water,
and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment
5. By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
6. Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to
integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle
7. Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities
8. By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable
development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
9. Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more
sustainable patterns of consumption and production
10. Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates
jobs and promotes local culture and products
11. Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market
distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those
harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific
needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their
development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities.

Progress of Goal 12 in 2016 and 2017 are:

1. Economic growth and development require the production of goods and services that improve the quality of
life. Sustainable growth and development require minimizing the natural resources and toxic materials used, and
the waste and pollutants generated, throughout the entire production and consumption process.
2. Two measures, material footprint and domestic material consumption, provide an accounting of global material
extraction and use, as well as flows or consumption of materials in countries. The material footprint reflects the
amount of primary materials required to meet a country’s needs. It is an indicator of the material standard of
living or level of capitalization of an economy. Domestic material consumption measures the amount of natural
resources used in economic processes.
3. In 2010, the total material footprint in developed regions was significantly higher than that of developing
regions, 23.6 kg per unit of GDP versus 14.5 kg per unit of GDP, respectively. The material footprint of
developing regions increased from 2000 to 2010, with non-metallic minerals showing the largest increase.
4. Domestic material consumption in developed regions has diminished slightly, from 17.5 tonnes per capita in
2000 to 15.3 tonnes per capita in 2010. It remains significantly higher than the value for developing regions,
which stood at 8.9 tonnes per capita in 2010. Domestic material consumption per capita increased in almost all
 developing regions from 2000 to 2010, except in Africa, where it remained relatively stable (around 4 tonnes
per capita), and Oceania, where it decreased from around 10.7 to 7.7 tonnes per capita. The rise in domestic
material consumption per capita in Asia during that period is primarily a result of rapid industrialization.
5. The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal,
the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and
Pesticides in International Trade and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants established
international frameworks to achieve the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, chemicals
and persistent organic pollutants. With six exceptions, all Member States are party to at least one of those
conventions. The number of parties to those conventions rose significantly from 2005 to 2015, particularly in
Africa and Oceania. There are now 183 parties to the Basel Convention, 180 to the Stockholm Convention and
155 to the Rotterdam Convention.
6. Decoupling economic growth from natural resource use is fundamental to sustainable development. Global
figures, however, point to worsening trends: domestic material consumption (the total amount of natural
resources used in economic processes) increased from 1.2 kg to 1.3 kg per unit of GDP from 2000 to 2010.
Total domestic material consumption also rose during the same period — from 48.7 billion tons to 71.0 billion
tons. The increase is due in part to rising natural resource use worldwide, in particular in Eastern Asia.
7. Countries continue to address challenges linked to air, soil and water pollution and exposure to toxic chemicals
under the auspices of multilateral environmental agreements. Almost all States Members of the United Nations
are party to at least one of those conventions. Under the conventions’ obligations, countries are requested to
regularly report data and information related to hazardous wastes, persistent organic pollutants and ozone
depleting substances. However, from 2010 to 2014, only 57 per cent of the parties to the Basel Convention on
the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, 71 per cent of the parties to
the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and
Pesticides in International Trade and 51 per cent of the parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants provided the requested data and information. All parties reported to the Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Case Study: Youth in organic agriculture in Fiji

As a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), economic exclusion remains an issue in Fiji, where the incidence of
poverty is high at 45%. Like other countries in the Pacific region, Fiji is also small in size, vulnerable to natural
hazards and climate change and moreover faces challenges in terms of food security, but also high levels of
unemployment particularly among young people due to slow economic growth.
United Nations is making serious efforts to deal these problems. SDG Fund conducted a programme formally
called as ‘Engaging Youth in Fiji and Vanuatu in Organic Farming: A Farm to Table Chain Approach’ in Fiji led by
UNDP, in partnership with IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) during period of Sunday,
November 1, 2015 to Wednesday, February 28, 2018. The goal is to assist young people, including vulnerable
youths who have not completed their formal education and are more likely to be limited in terms of employment to
casual and low-pay work. The whole programme spends $2.54 million, with 39% is funded by SDG Fund.
The Joint Programme assists the Government of Fiji in its priority to tackle youth unemployment, and the
negative impact of this on the social and economic development. The programmes are:
1. Creates employment opportunities for youth in organic agriculture through a value chain approach utilizing
public private partnerships within the key economic sectors of agriculture and tourism.
2. Enables scaled-up engagement by youth in organic farming to be sustained on commercial viable basis through
the development of a value-added processing facility that provides skills training, knowledge transfer and
employment for youth.
3. Strengthens the institutional capacity of the local organisations, including the Fiji National Youth Council to
effectively meet the needs of youth seeking information and employment within the organic agricultural sector.
4. Shares information and knowledge from across the Pacific region to facilitate synergies that will result in
increased employment opportunities for youth within organic agriculture value chains.
To achieve the above objectives, the Joint Programme will focus on:
a) Promotions of linkages in the tourism and agriculture productive sectors seems to offer the best opportunities
for inclusive economic growth in several PICs that will help create economic opportunities; build resilience in
rural communities; and improve sustainable development in both sectors. Though agriculture remains for most
PICs population the main source of livelihood, its contribution to economic value added chain has generally
declined over the last decade, whereas the tourism sector has seen significant growth. Reinforcing linkages and
developing synergies between tourism and agriculture should help to achieve the objectives of sustained and
equitable growth.
b) Investing in organic agriculture could increase PICs food self-reliance and therefore, contribute to reducing the
trend of dependency on food imports, as well as improving nutrition. Worldwide, organic agriculture is growing
and the increasing consumer demand for organic commodities provides a viable opportunity for PICs farmers
and processors to benefit from this growing international market. Traditional farming practices in Fiji are very
much in line with organic agriculture practices and many communities still have agriculture systems based on
“age-old” practices. These methods ensure environmental integrity and for these products to be exportable as
“organic” they have to be certified. Organic agriculture provides important opportunities for PICs to export to
niche markets a number of high values, low volume crops, allowing them to enhance economic sustainability.
c) Innovative and South-South Cooperation: A South-South Cooperation approach will be a component of the JP
implementation. The programme will benefit from the global perspective of UN agencies, and access to best
practices and lessons learned available through UN networks.
d) Partnerships: The JP will combine the different strengths and technical capacities of the UN agencies in Fiji to
deliver as ‘One-UN’. Partnering UN agencies will include UNDP and IFAD.
e) Key activities
 Scope, identify and motivate youth in agriculture
 Design and organise production training on specific organic crops
 Develop production plans to service local and export organic crop demand
 Provide on-going extension, quality control and monitoring support to farmers
 Identify and broker agreements with hotels/restaurants, supermarkets/ wholesalers and food
processors/food exporters for supply requirements
 Establish skills database with national youth councils, of youth trained and certified as organic producers
and match with demand from restaurants/resorts and wholesalers/supermarkets
 Build the capacity of civil society organisations (FRIEND, FSA) to establish and maintain a shared
database of youth trained and certified as organic producers, using communications technology to facilitate
more accurate information on supply and market demand from restaurants/ resorts and wholesalers/
supermarkets and to coordinate market information on pricing, demand, supply and new product research
 Establish supply chain from farm to table with relevant organisations and logistics supports
 Promote and showcase niche organic produce in various local and regional events/conferences

Real actions the Joint Programme has implemented in Fiji:

1.