GFDD and FUNGLODE Participate in Inter-Governmental Preparatory Meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) participated in the Inter-Governmental Preparatory Meeting for the Seventeenth Session of the United
Nations’ Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which took place February 23-27, 2009 at UN Headquarters in New York City.

Established in 1992, the CSD has served as high-level forum for discussion and negotiation concerning sustainable development policies and strategies. The Commission evaluates progress regarding the implementation of Agenda 21 and the
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992 Earth Summit). It also closely follows and provides policy recommendations related to the application of the Barbados Plan of Action for Small Island Developing States (1994), the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 (1997), the 2002 Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the 2005 Mauritius Strategy for Small Island Developing States. In addition
to inter-governmental participation, CSD also takes into consideration recommendations from nine major civil society groups: Non-Governmental Organizations, Women, Children and Youth, Indigenous People, Local Authorities, Workers and Trade Unions, Business and Industry, Scientific and Technological Community, and Farmers. The program of work for 2008 and 2009 pertains to the thematic issues of agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa. The sustainable
development of Small Island Developing States forms an important component of the CSD’s multi-year program of work.

The purpose of the Preparatory Meeting was to identify obstacles to the complete implementation of the agreed upon development goals for each of the thematic issues. The Policy Session for the Seventeenth Session, which will convene May 4-15, 2009, will be devoted to determining strategies for combating identified barriers and accelerating
implementation of development targets.

All thematic sessions of the Preparatory Meeting highlighted the need for greater emphasis in the following areas: increased national and international targeted investment; poverty eradication; greater access to quality education and vocational training, especially for women and in rural areas; strengthened international cooperation in knowledge and technology transfer and extension services; immediate adoption of climate change
adaptation and mitigation strategies; multi-stakeholder participation in policy creation; recognition of women’s roles in issues related to rural development, food security, sustainable land and resource use and poverty reduction and promotion of their involvement in decision making at local, national and international levels; scaling-up best practices; localization of global knowledge and globalization of local knowledge; mainstreaming all thematic issues as well as the
cross-cutting issue of climate change within development policy; and strengthening North-South and South-South cooperation.

Small Island Developing States
Key themes discussed during this session included the environmental, social and economic threats of cli