Commission on Sustainable Development, 12th Session

Background to CSD-12

CSD-12 was the first held under the new multi-year programme of work adopted at CSD-11. It was the review session aimed at evaluating the progress in implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) that came out of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). 

CSD-12 was a non-negotiating session which provided a listening environment for NGOs and civil society groups to talk about experiences, successes, lessons learnt and recommendations for furthering goals, targets and commitments.

CSD-12 website

Major Group Involvement

NGOs were one of 9 major groups at CSD-12 others were; Youth, Trade Unions, Women, Indigenous Peoples, Farmers, Local Authorities, Science and Technology and Business and Industry. The Major Groups each held daily meetings and fed into a joint statement to the Ministers. The statement recognised the participatory nature of the meeting but also noted that it had failed to prioritise issues of concern on the water, sanitation and human settlements theme.

Major Group Statement

High Level Segment 28-30 April

Kofi Annan (Secretary Gerneral) and Jeffrey Sachs (UN Millennium Project) addressed the opening plenary. Ministers and Secretaries of States attended from Ministries – including environment, development and finance. The segment provided high-level commitment to the issues raised during the first week.

Chairs Summary 

The summary is in 2 parts and is a condensed version of what happened, it does not make any recommendations

Part 1: Discussions during the official segment before the High Level Segment, addressing the overall review of progress, interagency cooperation and coordination, national reporting, indicators and interactive discussions with Major Groups.

Read Part 1  

Part 2: Discussions held during the High Level Segment including meeting the targets, creating an enabling environment, IWRM, drinking water, sanitation, human settlements and details about responding to the challenges.

Read Part 2

NGO Feedback

Still a need for:

• A bridge between 2004 review and 2005 policy sessions to maintain continuity no clear process was defined on how to take discussions forward to CSD-13
• Inclusion of environmental concerns and integration of environmental and development  considerations, the summary failed to identify:
  Use ecosystem approach in IWRM
  Integration of environmental sustainability into PRSPs and the other poverty eradication efforts such as the MDGs
  Inclusion of mechanisms to ensure that funding reaches the community level to address water related environmental issues
• Linking together the implementation, monitoring and reporting of the MDG and WSSD targets and commitments; there was a call for CSD to become an effective mechanism for monitoring progress of the five year review of the MDGs (September/October 2005), Task Force 7 of the Millennium Project covers water and sanitation, the same ground as CSD-12 and CSD-13.
• Giving key and cross-cutting issues, e.g. agriculture, the rural poor and biodiversity, crucial to water, sanitation and human settlements a place at the political forefront.
• Better reporting mechanisms for outcomes of the Regional Implementation Forums. The lack of structured and complimentary reporting frameworks made comparison and common ground hard to find
• Streamlining and coordination of strategies (PRSPs, NSDSs, IWRMS) at national and donor level
• Aid and financing for water and sanitation, there was a general recognition that water and sanitation were not well reflected in PRSPs, the main mechanism for levering and directing funds from governments to developing countries

NGO Quotes from CSD-12

"There were useful discussions in formal sessions, side-events and in the margins during the first week. Sanitation in particular was given greater attention than in previous international meetings."

"There were problems in carrying forward the richness of these discussions into the second week, particularly the High-Level Segment."

"A notable achievement was the decision of representatives of the nine Major Groups to produce a single intervention in the closing plenary session."

"There is still a question on the repesentativeness of Major Groups, particularly of organisations from the South."

"It is disappointing how little mention is made in the UN CSD process of the other UN processes."

"The CSD was valuable in terms of the access it provided to senior officials in both donor and developing countries. It's not everyday that one can pursue agendas, test out and sell ideas to donor country delegations. NGO participants going fully prepared with their messages, backed up by evidence or materials, were able to do effective proactive lobbying of governments at the CSD. It is therefore important that those who participate in such events come prepared."

"Side-events and networking seem to be where major impact could be made." 

Looking forward to CSD-13, 2-13 May 2005

The fist Session of CSD-13 was opened at the close of CSD-12 and John Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda) was elected CSD-13 Chair. There was disappointment among some NGOs that a women was not elected Chair also that John Ashes was not a Minister (although he has since been made one!)

CSD-13 will be a Policy Year to decide measures to speed up implementation and mobilize action to overcome obstacles and constraints for implementation of actions and goals on water, sanitation and human settlements. The inter-sessional between until policy negotiations will be crucial to really moving forward on the issues and challenges raised.