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IPM/CSD-17 on Agriculture, Rural development, Land, Drought, Desertification, and Africa.
New-York, February 23-27, 2009
Subject: Comments on chair?s negotiating text
Date 27.02.09
Responsible Person: Head of Delegation Hanspeter Wyss
Madam Chair,
We would like to thank you and the Secretariat for providing us with the draft negotiation text
in a timely manner.
Obviously, we only had the chance to have a quick first look at it in the time at our disposal.
We had the impression that the does not reflect all the important messages which were
raised by different delegations during this week. Examples are the recognition of payments
for ecosystem services, the recognition of the economic value of land, the recognition of the
need of sustainability standards and harmonized certification schemes, that the production of
biofuels needs to be regulated through an international framework and finally the need of
international guidelines for promoting more secure tenure arrangements.
Nevertheless, it serves as a basis for our negotiations in May.
Switzerland is of the opinion that we should strive for a shorter outcome document, which
focuses on new and forward-looking recommendations without repeating recommendations
which have already been made in the past. These forward-looking recommendations should
attribute clear responsibilities.
Madam Chair, there is a lot of work ahead of us and Switzerland is looking forward to working
constructively with you and other delegations to achieve a relevant outcome at CSD-17.
