Jakarta, Indonesia, 14 November, 2018 – The European Union’s SWITCH-Asia Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Facility organised a first meeting of Community of Interest on Sustainable Housing today, signalling an amplified effort towards finding solutions for housing, one of the region’s fastest growing threats. The SCP Facility is moving beyond the extensive work on green buildings to take on sustainable housing and the community-level. As urban populations are rapidly expanding in Asia, work on this issue is crucial for development, providing the basic need for adequate, affordable housing that is also green and sustainable, in order to ensure long-term resilience and growth.
This Community of Interest on Sustainable Housing served as a high-level brainstorming event as it brought together a diverse group of practitioners, from investors and other business leaders to engineers, policymakers and researchers from civil society. This included organisations such as the Global Green Growth Institute and UN Habitat, with participants coming from across Asia. The dialogue saw cross-sector and inter-regional engagement as architects discussed access to finance while government officials learned from top authorities on the role and importance design and technology.
With an overall goal of engaging experts and enabling them through the Community of Interest to speak as a unified and strong voice on the international stage to drive decision-making and strategies, sharing experiences led to building the relationships and knowledge needed to develop real solutions. The Ambassador to the European Union to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam Vincent Guérend stated, “The SWITCH-Asia SCP Facility demonstrated the European Union commitment to sustainable consumption and production by organising the Community of Interest alongside the Asia Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP), a key platform for dialogue for all stakeholders. This approach will see impacts on the lives of the people of Asia, including Indonesians, as it promotes key aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular housing.”
As Arab Hoballah, Team Leader of the SCP Facility and renowned global SCP expert noted, “With well-established authorities on different but related aspects of green housing joining together in the Community of Interest, we are seeing both an accumulation of knowledge and passion to ensure Asia’s future. Combining their voices will be a powerful tool for progress towards sustainable development, mainly with regards to the delivery of the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda.”
The Government of Indonesia also joined the event and was encouraged by the positive direction of dialogue. Noted Mr. Noer Adi Wardojo, Director of the Centre for Environment and Forestry Standardization at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, “We have a long-established relationship with SWITCH-Asia, so this multi-faceted approach towards supporting Asia’s shift to SCP in relation to housing is welcomed. Following this week’s successful APRSCP, to which this event is connected, shows that SWITCH-Asia is ready to deliver impactful action on the ground and work with practitioners, including government ministries.”
The APRSCP Board of Trustees also welcomed the first meeting of the Community of Interest on Sustainable Housing at the 14th Asia Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption, held from 12-14 October, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia. “It is important that we highlight in this Roundtable the systems of SCP in the context of urbanization and cities, including urban provisioning systems such as sustainable housing, including the removal of unsustainable locked in consumption patterns,” stated by Dr. Anthony Chiu, Executive Secretary of the APRSCP Board of Trustees.
Today’s event was only a first step, however, as the group will be joining SWITCH-Asia’s online platform, SWITCHED-ON, where they will continue to engage on a more in-depth level and further frame the issues. Core Community of Interest members will also identify opportunities to use their collective voice, creating links between business and government as well as connecting with larger process, including the United Nations SDGs, with which SWITCH-Asia’s work is aligned, and national-level mechanisms that require political flanking.
