Sustainable Development Success Stories
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CSD-6: Sustainable Development Success Stories |
| Locations | As of January 1998: Porto Alegre, Brazil; Beijing, China; Prague, Czech Republic; Budapest, Hungary; New Delhi, India Mexico City, Mexico; Bratislava, Slovakia; Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania; Tunis, Tunisia and Harare, Zimbabwe. |
| Responsible Organisation | United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) executing agency; Unite Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) cooperating agency. |
| Description | UNIDO and UNEP Industry and Environment Programme Activity Centre have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish National Cleaner Production Centres (NCPCs) in developing countries and economies in transition. By the end of 1997, ten NCPCs were established and operational as a network. More Centres are in the planning stage. The aim of the programme is to build national capacity in cleaner production to achieve a critical mass in the country for promoting the application of CP techniques and technologies in small and medium scale industries. The Centres provide four core services: in-plant assessments, training, information dissemination and policy dialogue. Each Centre is directed by an experienced country national, the Cleaner Production Promoter, who receives guidance form a national advisory board, international and national consultants. A pool of experienced counterpart institutions assist the Centres to achieve their objectives. |
| Issues Addressed | Sustainable industrial development though cleaner production Assistance to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Awareness raising, capacity building, technology transfer. |
| Results Achieved | By the end of 1997, the ten Centres had undertaken the following:
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| Lessons Learned | There is a tremendous potential for pollution reduction through the application of CP. This is a win-win strategy that enables the companies to improve their competitiveness through better compliance with the environmental legislation. Experience with CP shows that many improvements can be made in the production process at no or little cost, improving both profitability and environmental performance. Dissemination of these results in a cost-effective manner and on a countrywide basis is proving difficult given the size of the UNIDO/UNEP programme in each country. |
| Contacts | Mr. Ralph Luken, Chief Cleaner Industrial Production Unit, UNIDO P.O. Box 300 A-1400 Vienna, Austria tel: + 43 1 21131 3352; Fax (43 1) 21131 6803 E-mail: rluken@unido.org or ncpc_env@unido.org Home page: http://www.unido.org Mr. Jonathan Hobbs Coordinator |