As part of its outreach to and partnership with sustainable development initiatives and organizations worldwide, ADFIAP, represented by its Secretary General, Mr. Octavio B. Peralta, was invited to make a presentation during the experts meeting of the Marrakech process held at the historic old town hall in Wuppertal, Germany last November 22-23, 2006. About 120 delegates from development organizations all over the world, led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), attended the event which was hosted by the UNEP/Wuppertal Collaborating Center for Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP).
The theme of the conference, “Creating Solutions for Sustainable Consumption and Production”, is a key component of the Marrakech process which is an offshoot of the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. The so-called Marrakech process deals with the development of a 10-year framework of programs towards achieving sustainable consumption and production patterns in the world.
The forum was also an occasion for the current seven task forces of the “process” to meet and discuss the implementation phase of the initiative as well as to continue cooperation dialogues with development agencies, including financial institutions globally. As a representative of development finance institutions in the Asia-Pacific region, Mr. Peralta highlighted the sustainable development mandate of the Association by providing a few relevant case studies on what projects ADFIAP members have financed, such as the Development Bank of the Philippines? DBP Forest aimed at improving national forest cover; the Development Bank of Japan’s carbon dioxide reduction funding facility; TMB Bank Thailand’s “financial plus advisory services” program; the Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency’s 25-MW Wind Power Generation Project, a pioneering commercial wind farm; and Uzbekistan’s Asaka Bank financing the water supply system of the desert region in their country. More details on the event and the Marrakech process can be found at CSCP’s website at www.scp-centre.org