Report on CSD 14

The Commission on Sustainable Development meets for two weeks every year in order to implement the outcomes of UNCED Rio 1992. Since 2004 it meets in two-year cycles to consider thematic strategies. The first year is the review year and the second, the policy year. The 2006/7 cycle is on Climate Change, Energy, Air Pollution and Industrial Development. 2006 was the Review Year and 2007 will be the Policy Year.

Apart from the negotiations themselves, there is a Partnership Fair where the Type II type partnerships agreed at Johannesburg, 2002 present their findings. There are also presentations by the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In this regards the presentation by the IPCC on Carbon Capture and Storage was useful for evaluating the opportunities and more importantly the limitations of that process. There are also useful presentations on hydrogen technology as a replacement for fossil fuels. Apart from Iceland the Chinese are also experimenting with this technology.

The NGOs can participate through the major groups who are as follows: Women, Youth, Indigenous Peoples, NGOs, Local Authorities, Trade Unions, Business and Industry, Scientific and Technological, Community and Farmers. The major groups meet each morning for an hour before the formal sessions for updates and sometimes a presentation by the chair of the negotiations who this year was Ivo De Boer. The major groups then get an opportunity to make interventions, each one an average of three minutes, to the formal presentations. Some of the groundwork for the NGOs as a group is done by informal caucuses which are open to anybody. I have participated in the Energy and Education caucuses in particular and have made formal presentations to the proceedings on behalf of the Education Caucus.

An outcome paper produced by the NGOs at CSD 14 has been circulated. Analysis of the proceedings on behalf of NGOs is produced by the Sustainable Development Issues Network (SDIN) www.sdissues.net.

In February 2007 the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting is held in order to prepare for CSD 15, April 30th 2007 to 11th May 2007. The chair’s text will form the basis of the negotiations for policy. The civil servants will incorporate or not inputs made by the major groups. In the latter half of the second week the high-level segment commences with the relevant government ministers. On Climate Change the delegates will not try to negotiate a post-Kyoto agreement but rather agree on strategies for implementing the existing agreements looking at best-practise around the world.

My overall impression from examining the data presented at CSD 14 is that there was a lack of information and perhaps an unwillingness to give information in relation to subsidies both hidden and overt in relation to all fuel types. The challenge of CSD 15 will be to expose this lack of information at every turn. Another challenge will be to expose the limitations of inappropriate bio-fuels which remove carbon sinks, require too much fossil fuel inputs, cause biodiversity loss and create a collateral food affordability crisis. In short there will have to be some mechanism of certification of sustainability for bio-fuels, particularly on the international markets.

Frank Corcoran.
Chair
An Taisce – The National Trust for Ireland.