COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (CSD)

CSD on the web: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd.htm

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development established in 1992 a new high-level Commission on Sustainable Development to guarantee a successful follow up to the conference. Since 1993, the CSD has held yearly meetings at the UN headquarters in New York. Its main purpose is to supervise the national and international implementation of the Rio-documents, especially the Agenda 21. The opportunities for NGOs to participate in those meetings of the CSD are relatively extensive. Since its founding, the CSD has established a network of preparatory meetings and conferences and quite a number of dialogues and co-operations between governments and major groups, which led to the participation of NGOs even at the informal meetings between government officials. One could say that the CSD has a pilot function for the whole UN system when it comes to more opportunities for the participation of stakeholders.

The CSD is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), similar to for example the Commission for Human Rights. The ECOSOC is subordinate to the UN General Assembly and has hardly any of its own decision-making authority which therefore has a negative effect on the CSD: It is not able to make any binding decisions regarding international law. As the commission also has to rely on information from the governments, which are not always telling the whole story, there are some real obstacles to guarantee a successful monitoring of the implementation of the Rio agreements despite the so-called shadow or alternative reports from NGOs for their countries.

At its first session in 1993, delegates to the CSD agreed on a thematic working programme for the next five years. CSD-2, -3 and -4 concentrated on the review of the sectoral sections of Agenda 21 plus such interlinkages as for example financing, technology transfer, trade and environment or production and consumption patterns. At the CSD-4 and -5, delegates also started preparations for the UN Special Session of the General Assembly (UNGASS) Rio+5 to review and appraise the implementation of Agenda 21. The overriding topic of CSD-6 to CSD-9 has been poverty/production and consumption patterns, with CSD-8 being the session where it was agreed to hold the WSSD. Accordingly, CSD-10 served as the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepComm) for the World Summit.

The CSD had little influence on global politics from the very beginning, despite officially being the main body to deal with the then new paradigm of sustainable development. Instead of guiding environmental policies, the CSD often concerns itself with the impact of decisions independently taken by others. Although more than 1000 NGOs are accredited to participate in the Commission's work, its influence remains lost in the division of the UN into convention bodies located in different countries and with decision prerogatives based on different priorities. It stays a victim of being a sub-unit of ECOSOC, without influence on other commissions, especially those that address the most pressing environmental problems like climate, desertification, biodiversity, forest management etc.

Still, the CSD has a pilot role to play in terms of the entire UN system since the participation of the NGO community is so all encompassing. Above all, the new Major Group Concept of Agenda 21 adds to the contribution of NGOs and other stakeholders. The dialogue and cooperation between governments and NGOs have improved to the point where it has become possible for NGOs and other civil groups to take part in some of the informal discussions as well as in the actual negotiations.

It is fairly easy to see that CSD, together with other UN institutions such as UNEP or UNDP, will not be able to successfully implement sustainable development. The WSSD needs to address the strengthening of these institutions that would also include a reform of the CSD. There are several proposals on the table, e.g. merging UNEP, UNDP and the CSD into a United Nations Organisation for Sustainable Development.