| UN CSD-19 session ends in disappointment |
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Last week’s meeting constituted the last gathering of the group before UNCSD, to be held 4-6 June 2012. The conference that will mark the 20th anniversary of the first UN summit on sustainable development (Earth Summit), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and will focus on the promotion of a ‘green economy’ in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, as well as the institutional framework for sustainable development. The 10-YFP was advocated as a particularly important issue to be discussed, if the goals of the 2012 UNCSD are to be addressed effectively. Speaking at CSD-19, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stressed that “without changing consumption production patterns - from squandering natural resources to the excessive life-styles of the rich - there can be no meaningful realization of the ‘green economy’ concept.” The disappointing outcome of the CSD, which was created in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit to address the environmental, social and economic features of sustainable development in an intergovernmental context, has called into question the commission’s future as negotiation body, experts communicated. Although several agreements on transport, waste management and mining had been reached, negotiations came to an end after the language of the draft’s references to people’s rights in occupied territories had been vehemently opposed by nations of the Arab Group. According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a Canadian based public policy research institute, the CSD’s failure to establish itself as indispensable forum for discussing sustainable development issues can be traced back to several factors. Despite the commission’s aim to address sustainable development from different thematic angles, environment ministers constituted the majority of participants, with ministers of economy, finance and trade being insufficiently represented. The absence of a mechanism to enforce decisions taken at the CSD was also identified, so that “most are outweighed by nation specific interests of individual governments”, a participant stressed. Sources:
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As part of the preparations for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to be held in Rio de Janeiro next year, the 19th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 19) convened from 2-14 May 2011, in New York. The meeting, which focused on transport, chemicals, waste management, mining and the 10-Year Framework Programme (10YFP) on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), ended in frustration and disappointment after participants failed to agree on a final outcome text.