Statement on behalf of the European Union and its 27 Member States
By
Americo BEVIGLIA ZAMPETTI
Delegation of the European Union
Intergovernmental preparatory meeting
of the 19th Commission on Sustainable Development
Multistakeholder Dialogue II
Contributions from CSD-19 to Rio+20
United Nations
New York
4 March 2011
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Mr Chair,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of EU and its 27 Member States.
We are pleased to participate in this important exchange of views with
stakeholders on the contribution of CSD 19 to the UN Conference on Sustainable
Development. We would like to express our appreciation for the inspiring and
challenging presentations we have heard from the two panellis ts this morning.
CSD 19 takes place 20 years after Sustainable Development was recognized at
the Earth Summit as one of the most important challenges of our time. Since
then, progress has been made in the three pillars of sustainable development,
constituted by economic development, social development, and environmental
protection. However, more needs to be done especially in the field of
environmental protection. The CSD is an important forum for the major policy
debates on the implementation and further advancement on the practical
implementation of the commitments undertaken in Rio and in Johannesburg.
For the UNCSD next year we have chosen two major themes, which we hope will
help us to accelerate progress of the implementation of existing commitments on
each of the three pillars, and towards the convergence among the three pillars of
sustainable development.
Mr Chair,
The themes chosen for CSD 19 have a very clear and distinct relationship to each
of the major themes of UNCSD and will ? if o ur work in CSD 19 is successful - be
a major input into both substantive main themes of the UNCSD. At CSD 19 we
have a unique opportunity to achieve a major breakthrough in terms of policy
coherence and accelerated implementation of sustainable development.
Outcomes on all the main themes of CSD 19, but in particular the establishment
of a 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Production and
Consumption Patterns , will require substantial follow-up to ensure proper
implementation. Our stakeholder dialogues over the last years have contributed
to making CSD more forward-looking and action oriented. In order to keep on
this path we must ensure that decisions taken by the Commission are
implemented in their true spirit by all stakeholders.
Out of the discussion on the main themes of CSD this year should in ou r view
emerge clear calls for action and a set of activities and action that all
stakeholders should be able to contribute to. But success will depend on the
extent to which different implementing partners will engage in the
implementation of the agreed decisions. Those decisions will this year take on a
particular importance in view of the substantive work that we still have to do on
the preparation of UNCSD.
Enhancing the linkages and building partnerships between government agencies,
the private sector, civil society, research community, international and regional
institutions, local communities as well as the UN system, and promoting a fasttrack
strategy for scaling up of successful practices will prove to be of particular
importance here.
Thank you for your attention.
