Category: UN Commission on Sustainable Development

The UN Commission on Sustainable Development was established in 1992 following the Earth Summit (which also launched the “Rio Conventions” on Climate Change, Biodiversity, and to Combat Desertification). Its goal is to follow the progress on the implementation of Agenda 21 (a plan of action from the Earth Summit) and the Rio Declaration.
You can learn more about it’s structure here.

Jean-Pierre Thebault and France/EU at Side Events

Bohdan Zymka March 21, 2012 0 Comments
  By Bogdan Zymka (Drawing by Ana Puhac) Side events at the Informal-Informals in New York provide insight into what civil society is up to while the formal informal negotiations go on inside the ECOSOC conference room. Major Groups and NGOs are hosting discussions outside of the negotiations in order to open dialogue with civil society for input into the importance of their messages...

The (Lack of) Formal Youth Involvement in the Informal-Informals

aodell March 20, 2012 0 Comments
By Anna Odell Even after spending a term studying sustainable development, the United Nations process, and the Rio+20 conference in depth, when people asked me what exactly I was doing in New York at the informal-informals, I responded with the truth: I had no idea. I could say that I was going to the United Nations negotiations and that I was going to be working with youth from across the world,...

The United States’ Unique Situations with Education, Loans, and Rio +20

Bohdan Zymka March 20, 2012 0 Comments
By Bogdan Zymka In the United States, there seems to be some hope of economic recovery looming as unemployment slowly falls and the election cycle brings about at least some sort of national discussion about critical issues. However, Rio is still far from making headlines in mainstream media in the United States and by the time it makes it there, it might be too late to discuss the elephant the...

“You can’t have a tug-of-war without a rope”

Nathan Thanki June 7, 2011 0 Comments
By Nathan Thanki As CSD-19 finally drew its last breath at 8.52am on Saturday morning, the road to Rio looked not only rocky, but downright perilous. The CSD had failed to come to an agreement, the text was left, brackets and all, as delegates flew home. The possibility of a resumed session remained minimal—the likelihood that it would be an inclusive process; nil. As a result, the overwhelming...

The quick of it

Nathan Thanki June 7, 2011 0 Comments
By Nathan Thanki CSD-19 is only 3 days old, but already we’re seeing significant weakening of the Chair’s Draft negotiating document. Sad to say, it’s a case of the usual suspects: JUSCANZ. The United States is relentlessly pushing forth the idea that waste is a “resource,” like oil or gold, and should be exploited for economic benefit. The sad thing is that, with many people in...