Environmental Activists Note:
----- Original Message ----- From: Leslie Seff To: leslie seff Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 6:18 AM Subject: [petropolitics] NGO INPUT RE: CSD 14 and 15 Invited
Participate in energy and climate change discussions at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)!
As part of the follow up to the Earth Summit, NGOs from around the world, not just governments, have been allowed to participate in the meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and preparatory processes. Informal NGO caucuses have operated to facilitate input from interested NGO groups, including the Energy and Climate Caucus. Participants have varied from year to year depending on the topic under discussion. The next two years will focus on energy, climate change, air pollution and industrial development.
GRACE (Global Resource Action Center for the Environment), acting in the capacity of Secretariat to the Energy & Climate Caucus, maintains a web site for members of the Energy and Climate Caucus at www.energycaucus.org, and www.ngoenergycaucus.org. We have also volunteered to help facilitate some of the Caucus' work in the lead-up to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) 14th and 15th Sessions by serving as a clearing house for information pertinent to caucus members. At present, however, the Caucus does not have a list server or database of current contact information for interested member organizations---past, present or future.
We look forward to opening up our membership by inviting subscribers of various networks with which our member base is connected to take an active role in the Energy & Climate Caucus during the coming two years, and to coordinate with other members of the caucus by an exchange of information regarding activities, projects, plans, proposals and goals of your organization which focus on the major themes of energy and climate, and their cross-cutting issues.
Therefore, we would be happy to receive your latest contact information [including full name of the organization; your name or name of representative; and e-mail address] as well as any comments or suggestions regarding this new format. It would also be helpful to have your organization’s address, phone and fax numbers, too, but not essential. We will keep all contact information strictly confidential within the caucus group, our aim being to keep e-mails both limited and to a minimum. Postings relevant to the caucus website may also be requested.
As the first of our communications, please find below a chronological overview for 2005-07 of the CSD plan of work, a list of opportunities for NGO involvement, and an important notice [scroll down to section (B)(1), in bold] to NGO's of an upcoming deadline for providing input into each country's National Implementation Reports on energy, climate change and industrial development:
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Upcoming Energy and Climate Change Activities at Meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)
The meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in 2006 (CSD14) and 2007 (CSD15) will focus on energy and climate change policies to promote sustainable development, and there will be a variety of opportunities for public interest groups to provide input into the process.
A. Description of current CSD plan of work:
At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), there was a ten-year review of work of the CSD. This Commission, made up of UN member governments, was set up by the UN in the year following the 1992 Earth Summit (the UN Conference on Environment and Development) to monitor and support the implementation of Agenda 21, the plan of action adopted at the Earth Summit. Agenda 21 mandated that there be extensive engagement of civil society in the implementation of sustainable development plans, and identified a number of Major Groups to be included in the work of the CSD, including non-government organizations (NGOs), business, women, farmers, scientists, local authorities, and trade unions.
At the CSD 11 meeting in 2003, a new plan was adopted for organizing the work of the Commission. The plan calls for two-year cycles focusing on particular thematic clusters of issues, with the first year of the cycle to be a review session, identifying best practices, constraints and obstacles, and lessons learned, and the second year to be a policy session at which the CSD will discuss the adoption of practical actions to overcome existing constraints and obstacles. There are different preparatory processes for the review year and the policy year sessions.
It was decided that the first cycle of work, at CSD meetings in April 2004 (CSD12) and April 2005 (CSD13), would cover water, sanitation and human settlements. Associated cross-cutting issues include gender equity considerations, as well as implementation methods, capacity building, technology transfer, and governance.
The second cycle of the Commissions work program, at the meetings in April 2006 (CSD14) and April 2007 (CSD15) will focus on a thematic cluster of issues relating to energy, including: access to energy, energy efficiency, climate change, natural resource management and renewable energy, as well as industrial development, and the cross-cutting issues.
1. Review session processes:
In the first year of the work cycle, the CSD will use its April meeting (2 or 3 weeks) to evaluate progress in implementing Agenda 21, the CSD+5 program, and the WSSDs Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, with regard to the thematic cluster of issues for that year. The outcome of the session will be a report identifying constraints and obstacles, and possible approaches and best practices for implementation measures.
The review session will also include a high-level segment attended by Ministers, an exchange of regional experiences, organized dialogues with experts, sharing of best practices and lessons learned, and capacity building activities such as learning centers and a partnership fair.
In preparation for the review session, the UN secretariat will produce a Secretary-Generals state of implementation report based on information contained in:
- Implementation reports by individual countries
- Reports by UN agencies, programs and funds, and other international institutions
- Outcome reports from preparatory regional and sub-regional implementation forums, including forums organized by the:
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Economic Commission for Europe
Economic Commission for Africa
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
- Papers prepared by Major Groups recognized by the CSD.
2. Policy session processes:
The second year of the work cycle will have an intergovernmental preparatory meeting in New York in February or March, rather than a series of regional forums. Governments and different groups will be working on preparing policy recommendations throughout the year leading up to the preparatory meeting. At the preparatory meeting, delegates will discuss policy options based on those recommendations, as well as the report on the outcome of the previous years review session, background Secretary-General reports prepared by the CSD Secretariat and other relevant inputs. Based on the discussions at the preparatory meeting, that years CSD Chair will prepare a draft negotiating document for consideration/adoption by the CSD at its April session.
B. Opportunities for NGO Involvement
1. Before June 2005
In preparation for CSD 14, individual countries are supposed to submit national implementation reports on energy, climate change and industrial development by June 1, 2005. These reports are meant to highlight implementation actions taken, lessons learned, good practices, trends and emerging issues, and constraints and challenges. There is also a request for case studies. (The national reporting guidelines provided by the CSD secretariat are available now on the CSD website www.un.org/sustdev/csd.
NGOs can participate by working with receptive governments and determining how, and by what national ministries or agencies, the reports are being prepared. Wherever there are opportunities for input, NGO representatives can introduce relevant information about climate change issues and energy constraints and suggest locally appropriate measures for addressing those issues and constraints. It is also possible that NGOs could at the same time provide input into national reports on implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, in connection with the UN General Assemblys five-year review of progress on achieving the MDGs, to be held in September 2005. Environmental sustainability is one of the Millennium Development Goals, along with targets for reducing extreme poverty, improving health and education, and promoting gender equity. www.un.org/millenniumgoals
2. June 2005 December 2005
During this period there will be regional and sub-regional forums to discuss common concerns and obstacles, share best practices, and present information that will be included in the Secretary-Generals report to CSD14. The schedule and format for these meetings is not set yet, but there will be opportunities for NGO representatives to attend the forums, network with other groups from the region, make recommendations to governments, agencies, NGOs and other forum participants, and present case studies of projects and examples of good practices.
Also during this period, the Major Groups will prepare their own papers on best practices, and obstacles and constraints, for submission to the CSD14 secretariat. Working with NGO caucus leaders, groups can provide input to the papers prepared by NGOs as a CSD Major Group, as well as papers by other major groups (women, farmers, trade unions, business, scientists). Electronic online discussions and conferencing will also be useful tools for groups to provide input. The NGO papers will be reviewed by the CSD secretariat and probably integrated into some sort of combined paper.
3. April 2006
AT CSD 14, NGO representatives can work with supportive government representatives, agencies and NGO caucuses to present and share information and work to ensure that their concerns are emphasized as critical issues in the CSD14 report and the Chairs summary of the report. There may also be opportunities to organize side events or participate in learning center activities and training workshops presented by The Institute at CSD.
4. May 2006 January 2007
During this period, NGOs could be building on their relationships with supportive governments by helping them formulate concrete suggestions for addressing energy constraints. In addition, the UN agencies, Major Groups, NGO caucuses and other CSD parties will be preparing recommendations for language to be included in the decisions that will be negotiated at CSD15, and there will be opportunities for suggesting language reflecting NGO concerns.
5. February/March 2007
At this time there will be an intergovernmental preparatory meeting to discuss recommended measures and policies to address energy constraints and obstacles. At the end of the discussions, the CSD Chair will prepare a draft negotiating document that will be used as the basis for negotiations at the CSD meeting in April, based on the inputs from governments, agencies and NGOs. There may be opportunities for NGOs to lobby as to language to be included in the negotiating document.
6. April 2007
At CSD15, there will again be opportunities to lobby on the text of the negotiated outcome document. Probably, however, by that point the focus will be on open issues, and the debate may well center on climate change controversies and renewable energy policies, as happened at the WSSD. Nevertheless, there will still be occasions for participating in training workshops and side events, networking, and preparing plans for future follow-up activities and projects with supportive governments, UN agencies and other groups.
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