Working Group on Clean Production
(Participants from Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and USA).

The working group proposed a plan of action for clean production based on input from participants. The group analyzed the comments taken from plenary participants and identified those that were repeated most frequently as priorities for the region, taking into account FIDA’s scope of work.

The working group agreed that the principal objective of legal frameworks with respect to clean production is to provide incentives for business and industry to operate in a way that reduces pollution and minimizes waste. To achieve the proposed objective, the participants determined that FIDA should approach this issue from two perspectives:

1. The reform of legal frameworks to better stimulate and promote clean production; and

2. The exchange of information and experiences among countries to know what is being done in other countries related to clean production.

Considering the first perspective, the group decided that the best way to commence is to prepare an inventory of the existing legislation in each country that may influence clean production decisions. These inventories will facilitate comparative analysis for the creation of a model law for clean production that may be applicable in different parts of the hemisphere.

The group recommended that the inventory could be done by the focal points through FIDA and the comparative analysis and the formulation of a model law could be done by a special working group created for this purpose.
From a practical perspective, the group concluded that the exchange of information and experiences could be done via internet, creating a specific web-page on clean production policies, where each country may show what is being done on this issue. In this way, relevant authorities and other interested parties may learn from or adopt cases or experiences from other countries. The exchange of details relating to legal, economic, financial or institutional successes and failures among countries of the hemisphere will enrich the decisions of the authorities and increase the awareness of citizens in general on the matter of clean production. The working group agreed that it is very important to maintain an open dialogue and a constant exchange of information on clean production policy so countries may learn from one another and can support each other in the realization of the common objective that is the protection of the environment and sound economic growth through more efficient industrial operations.

The group also recommended that a regional seminar be organized to explore legal and regulatory policies that may promote industrial clean production. The seminar could invite experts to share knowledge and lessons learned with policies at the national level.

The group agreed that due to the importance of the issue, work on these matters should start right away, and that with this first meeting they considered that the work has already started. They agreed that the proposed objectives could be completed within 12-24 months. They also proposed that the workshop take place during the year 2000. The countries represented in the group committed to work on this issue (US, Brazil, Peru and Paraguay) and they suggested that other countries with good experiences on this matter such as Canada, Colombia and Chile may wish to be involved.

The group discussed how to best finance efforts on clean production, concluding that the World Bank could possibly finance the workshops together with the Corporación Andina de Fomento. The inventory could be financed by the countries themselves and the Internet web page could be financed by the Organization of American States, linking it to the clean production web page of the USEPA. It should also be noted that the US Agency for International Development has invested heavily in clean production technical work, and is beginning to address legal policy issues. FIDA’s work should be coordinated with these efforts to the maximum extent possible.