Review of Week 1 of CSD19
Sunday (08 May)
The time now is 8.15pm Sunday here in New York. And it is a good time to do a review of the work that we had done for the last 5 days at the United Nations.
Day 1 at the 19th CSD
The various working groups on transport, chemicals, mining, waste management and 10-Year Framework of Programmes on sustainable consumption and production convened from 3pm to 6pm (New York time). For Day 1, the thematic issues on transport, chemicals, and mining were dealt with by delegates in Working Group 1 whilst those on waste management and sustainable consumption and production were handled by delegates in Working Group 2.
Each thematic issue has a text with policy recommendations which countries will negotiate in order to come up with the most acceptable language and content, facilitated by a Chair or Co-Chair at the negotiation session. The advanced unedited version of the text can be found on the UN’s CSD19 webpage under documents, or via this link: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/csd/csd_pdfs/csd-19/Advanced%20unedited%20copy%20-%20Chair%27s%20draft%20negotiating%20document.pdf
Negotiations work like this:
There will be a First Reading of the text, which is when countries give all the amendments that they have to the text, like any words/phrases they’ll like to add, remove or rearrange within the text, and sometimes a short summary of why they will like that change/addition introduced.
Next, comes the Second Reading. This is when the countries discuss more in depth why they want these changes in, and opinions of changes made by other countries. The Chair also urges the countries to agree to any of the amendments made thus far that is less contentious, and these agreed-upon points are “agreed ad ref”. There will be a final session in which countries try to remove all the unconfirmed text either by agreeing to them or deleting them, and finally agree to adopt the final version of the text, or in some situations, do not agree. The mark of a successful Commission is if a strong, all-inclusive text is adopted by the countries.
Working Group 1
With regard to the thematic issue on transport, some countries emphasized transport is essential for meeting social and environmental needs. These countries also drew attention to the need for leadership from developed countries to improve on transportation sustainability. Other countries proposed an effective decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation. These countries also proposed making references to noise pollution as one of the adverse impacts of urbanization and increased private motorization.
Working Group 2
There was a sustained discussion on corporate environmental responsibility during the conference. Countries also talked how to reconcile sustainable development commitments with trade and investment commitments, Some countries also wanted more accountability and transparency for trade measures whilst there were other countries who either disagreed with such a call or reserved their positions on this subject matter.
Day 2 at the 19th CSD
Working Group 1
With regard to mining, the conference saw differing perspectives on the role of mining. Some countries were of the view that mining is important for the economy and for the development of human societies. Other countries stressed on the notion of equity and fair distribution of mining benefits to citizens.
Most countries were agreed that there needs to be a regulatory framework for mining to keep in place proper checks and balances. However, the content of the regulatory framework has yet to be conceived.
On chemicals, many countries saw greater role of chemicals in achieving (green) economic development. References were made to the Rotterdam, Basel and Stockholm Conventions. Many countries also touched on the issue on financial, and technical and capacity building issues. These issues were hard issues and discussions on them were very much prolonged.
Working Group 2
On the issue of waste, there were differing views on the proper definition of “waste”. Additionally, several countries called for the reconsideration of the 3R concept. Many countries saw the direct connection between sustainable consumption and production and waste management. Discussions on some words and definitions were also prolonged because different countries had varying opinions on the suitability of some words and terms.
As regards 10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and development, the session dealt heavily with the content of the framework itself. Questions were raised as to the possibility of a Secretariat, and to the composition and role of the Secretariat of the framework. Questions were also raised as to capacity building and technology transfers.
Day 3 at the 19th CSD
Working Group 1
Working Group 1 today began with the first reading of both cross-cutting issues and transport. For cross-cutting issues, there were discussions that the pertinent focus of interlinkages should consider economic, social and environmental issues. Other issues that should be taken into consideration concerned economic, food, energy and climate change. Areas that the negotiations addressed today fell under the categories of development strategies, resource management and finance.
Transport on the other hand already progressed to the second reading and there was multiple emphasis on the need for sustainable transportation in the text ammendments. Concerns about the negative consequences of transportation on the climate, public health and urbanisation were evident during these negotiations.
One of the major groups gave a new perspective on negotiations by highlighting that the issue of sufficient education was connected to transportation.
Working Group 2
Working Group 2 continued with the ammendments on the Waste section in the Chair’s Negotiating Draft Statement. Important areas addressed in the text included waste reduction, recycling taking into consideration that prevention and minimisation should be strategies taken at the forefront. Methods suggested to achieve this include the use of financial resources, transfer of technologies and capacity building.
The 10 Year Framework of Programmes (10 YFP) also continued with its second reading of the negotiation text and focused on getting the 10YFP to focus on transforming unsustainable patterns of consumption and production to more sustainable ones. There was an emphasis on the need to include stakeholders within the implementation of the 10YFP for greater efficiency.
Day 4 at the 19th CSD
Working Group 1
Drafting of second reading of comments on the text was done in the morning for the topic on Mining. There were discussions on the environmental impacts on mining and its linkage to the economy. Negotiations on the text like phasings and language of text took place between different countries with some requesting for emphasis on different words and coming to a consensus the definitions of the words.
The afternoon session was taken up by the Transport plenary session. Discussions with reference to the Chair’s negotiating text was carried out. Some countries wanted to used general terms while others wanted specific words with reference to the text.
Working Group 2
A continued second reading on Waste was facilitated in the morning. There was a discussion on minimization and how funding and technology could aid in that. Most of the countries joined their proposals together to come to a general consensus.
For 10YFP, they also resumed their second reading. General discussions on skills sharing and inclusion of environmental issues ain education programmes were made.
Day 5 at the 19th CSD
Working Group 1
On chemicals, the issue on green economy was brought up. Countries debated about the processes of green economy. The discussion on green economy was however brief. Issues on the role of multinational companies in developing countries were also brought to the forefront. Some countries advocated for a more involved attitude from multinational companies in managing chemicals in developing countries.
Working Group 2
On the 10-year framewrk on programmes for sustainable consumption and production, references were drawn to, inter alia, the Marreakech process and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). Countries spent some valuable time on getting a compromise on the language of the the negotiating document. With regard to the isuse on Secretariat for the 10-year framework of programmes, countries were still waiting to reach a consensus on the composition and role of the Secretariat. As regards the maintenance of the 10-year framework of programmes, countries were also still waiting to agree on an institutional framework that would serve as a strong scaffold for the financing and supporting of the 10-year framework of programmes.
Day 6 in New York
No CSD session at the United Nations Headquarters. Spent the day exploring New York and some of her most famous landmarks!
Day 7 in New York
Today we had a strategy meeting with the MGCY to discuss our actions for the next week and towards Rio+20 in general. The coming week is a different ball game altogether, as all the themes are into their Second Readings. This means less chances to introduce any new language to the text, and more urging of countries to keep any points we support. Additionally, there is the High Level Segment (HLS), which is when Ministers of Environment from the countries come down to have a final discussion of the text and to decide whether to adopt the text or not. HLS starts Wednesday next week, and this is the chance to speak to people who can really influence the wording of the text and the direction of the negotiations.
We also discussed how Communications within the MGCY can be strengthened, including use of a Facebook page and Twitter following. The meeting ended with discussions on the MGCY moving forward towards Rio+20. Some background on Rio was given, and we also talked about how working groups will function, but many processes are still rather fluid, highly subject to change. We shall see what the next week and the next year brings.
Week 2…And the road ahead.
We’re now starting Week 2 of CSD19!
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