Nordic activities at CSD-19

The Nordic Council of Ministers and its Finnish chairmanship held a side event at CSD-19 titled "Sustainable Consumption and Production – the building blocks for a Greener Economy".

Video and materials from the event are now online. To watch or read presentations from the Nordic side event go to www.norden.org/csd19.

CSD-19: No Consensus

Regardless of a 24 hour final meeting from Friday through Saturday, CSD-19 concluded without adopting decisions on the thematic cluster of issues. In the waning hours delegates were presented with a Chair’s proposed text and also considered convening a resumed session in June, but did not adopt either. The folowing is a short insight into what happened in the final hours:

Friday
Convenes in the morning for a Ministerial Dialogue on moving towards sustainable development: expectations from Rio+20. Negotiations continue during the morning and through lunch under Working Groups 1 and 2 on means of implementation, transport, chemicals and waste management, in order to resolve outstanding issues in the text.
4:12 pm Plenary convenes to address remaining procedural issues on the agenda and the first plenary of CSD-20 opens to elect members of its Bureau.
4:26 pm Plenary suspended, pending resolutions of outstanding issues, as negotiations on means of implementation, chemicals and waste management not yet concluded.
6:00 pm Plenary still not reconvened.
10:27 pm The plenary remains suspended with no indication of when they might reconvene.
Saturday
12:10 am The plenary remains suspended as of midnight, with no indication of when they might reconvene.
12:30 am A new Chair's text circulated via the "e-room" and hardcopies follow shortly.
2:07 am Several negotiating groups remain in consultations and no indication when plenary to reconvene.
2:52 am Plenary resumes and Chair Borbély proposes adoption of the Chair's text prepared under his authority. The G-77/China opposes adoption as is and makes proposals for numerous changes to the text and the League of Arab States opposes adoption without reference to the rights of peoples living under foreign occupation. The US, EU and Japan support adoption of the Chair's text.
3:36 am Plenary suspended for further consultation.
4:12 am Parties reiterate their positions.
4:47 am Plenary is suspended to continue consultations to attempt resolution of impasses on language on foreign occupation and MOI, among others.
5:10 am Plenary remains in suspension. 
7:18 am Plenary reconvenes and debates a possible resumed CSD session.
8:52 am After adjourning and reconvening again, delegates discuss the possibility of a resumed session. However, due to lack of a quorum no decision could be taken and CSD-19 closes having failed to agree on a resumed session or an agreed outcome.

An in-depth report on the outcomes of CSD-19 will appear in Issue 41.3 of Environmental Policy and Law: The journal for decision-makers.

Read the IISD Summary of the session including the "brief analysis" toward the end for a greater insight into what has been termed a "debacle".


Chair, László Borbély implores delegates to accept the text

CSD-19

As the second year of the CSD-18/19 implementation cycle, CSD-19 is currently in session to produce policy decisions on the following thematic areas: Transport, Chemicals, Waste Management (hazardous and solid waste), Mining, and a 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns.

Website

IISD Reporting

UNEP: Activities under Marrakech Process

UNEP has released a report titled "The Marrakech Process Progress Report: Paving the Way for Sustainable Consumption and Production".  

CSD-19: IPM

The Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting (IPM) for CSD-19 resulted in a Chair’s draft negotiating text that will serve as a starting point for negotiations on transport, chemicals, waste management, mining and sustainable consumption and production patterns.

SIDS Newsletter: December 2010

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Unit has released the 8th issue of its "SIDS Newsletter."  It elaborates follow-up activities to the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation (MSI+5) and includes articles on: the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun; the upcoming CSD-19, and SIDS preparations for UNCSD (Rio+20).

Africa: Rabat Declaration on Solid Waste Management

As part of preparations for CSD-19, the Intersessional Meeting on Solid Waste Management in Africa took place on 25-26 November 2010, in Rabat (Morocco). The Chair’s summary of the meeting including the annexed Rabat Declaration has been released as an advance, unedited report.

CSD-19 Briefing

In preparation for the 28 February-4 March 2011 IPM and the 2-13 May 2011 CSD-19 sessions, an informal briefing was organized at UN Headquarters on 16 December 2010. The organization of work and preparations for each of these meetings was reviewed, including the intersessional meetings contributing to these sessions. It was noted that, on the final day of the IPM, a multistakeholder dialogues will discuss "advancing the implementation of sustainable development" and "expectations from CSD-19 within the context of Rio+20, given the apparent linkages between the themes of current cycle and green economy."

Summary of Briefing: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/csd/csd_pdfs/csd-19/Summary-of-CSD-and-IPM-briefing.pdf

CSD-19 Preparations

Advance, unedited drafts of the Secretary-General's Background Reports for the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting (IPM) and CSD-19 have recently been released, and a briefing on preparations for these events was recently held at UN Headquarters.

CSD-19 will take place at UN Headquarters from 2-13 May, 2011

Documents: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/resources/res_docucsd_19.shtml