An ECA presentation at the

1. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development and the ECA Committee on Food Security and Sustainable Development An ECA presentation at the Workshop on Institutional and Strategic Frameworks for Sustainable Development Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 7 March 2011

2. Outline • Background • Institutional framework for sustainable development • The United Nations Commission on SD • Links with regional processes • Regional Implementation Meetings • ECA Committee on FS and SD • Achievements • Lessons learnt and the way forward

3. BackgroundUN-CSD • 1992:UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) - Established the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UN-CSD) • 2002: World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) - Reiterated the mandate of UN-CSD as a high level forum on sustainable development • 2003: 11th Session of the CSD - Adopted the multi-year programme of work • 2009: The United Nations General Assembly • Decided to organize the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Rio+20, in 2012 – Review the institutional framework for SD

4. Institutionalframework for sustainable development • Ensuring coherence and policy integration in the economic, social and environmental fields • Improving analysis, assessment and scientific advice • Strengthening implementation, monitoring and accountability • Matching normative commitments with effective delivery mechanisms • Limiting overlap or duplication of activities • Enhancing participation • Strengthening national and local capacities for sustainable development

5. Mandate of the UN-CSD • Provide policy guidance on sustainable development matters • Review and follow up the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation • Promote the integration of the three pillars of sustainable development • Enhance linkages between global, regional and national endeavours • Promote dialogue and build partnerships • Ensure the effective participation of major groups

6. Composition- UN-CSD • UN-CSD is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council • It has 53 members: • Thirteen from Africa • Eleven from Asia • Ten from Latin America and the Caribbean • Six from Eastern Europe • Thirteen from Western Europe and others • It receives substantive and technical services from the Division for Sustainable Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs

7. Organisation of work • Since 2003, the programme of work is organised in two-year action oriented implementation cycles: • Review Year: to evaluate progress made in implementing sustainable development goals and identifying obstacles and constraints • Policy Year: to decide on measures to speed up implementation and mobilise action to overcome obstacles and constraints • Multi-year programme of work around specific clusters for each biennium and crosscutting issues to be addressed

8. Multi-Year Programme of Work of the UN-CSD

9. Spring/Fall February May December February May SG State of Implementation Report SG Policy report Inter-government prep. meeting and dialogue with experts Regional Implementation Meetings CSD Policy Session CSD Review Session Organisation of work - timeline 2-year cycle

10. Links with regional processes • UNCED- 1992 called on UN Regional Commissions (RCs) and other regional bodies to integrate environmental concerns into regional and sub-regional development policies, and to improve consultative processes at these levels • WSSD–2002 tasked RCs to facilitate and promote a balanced integration of the three pillars of sustainable development in collaboration with other regional actors • UN-CSD-11-2003 invited RCs to organize Regional Implementation Meetings (RIMs) to provide inputs to its sessions

11. Regional Implementation Meetings • The RIMs are organized by ECA in collaboration with the UN-CSD Secretariat, African regional and sub-regional organizations and regional offices of UN bodies • The focus of each RIM is informed by the thematic cluster of issues under the two year cycle of the UN-CSD • First RIM- 2003 under the auspices of the Pan African Partnership and Implementation Conference on Water • In 2005 and 2007, under the auspices of the then Africa Committee on Sustainable Development (Africa-CSD) • In 2009, under the auspices of the Committee on Food Security and Sustainable Development (CFSSD)

12. ECA Committee on Food Security and Sustainable Development(CFSSD) • CFSSD was established in 2007 through a Resolution of the ECA Conference of Ministers • The CFSSD replaced and took over the functions of the defunct Africa-CSD and the Committee on Sustainable Development created in 2002 and 1996, respectively • The CFSSD is multi-stakeholder organ composed of policy makers and high-level experts government and non-government actors from the 53 member States of ECA • CFSSD meets every two years

13. Mandate of CFSSD • Provides policy guidance to ECA’s Food Security and Sustainable Development Division • Serves as the platform for the Africa Regional Implementation Meeting (RIM) for the UN-CSD • Undertakes periodic review of the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation • Advises the Commission on the integration of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development • Promotes the formulation of policies and measures on sustainable development • Promotes information exchange and experience sharing on sustainable development

14. Achievements • CFSSD and its predecessors together, have : • Fostered partnerships among UN Agencies, African regional and sub-regional institutions to support African countries implement SD commitments, prepare for and follow-up on the outcomes of the UN-CSD sessions • Ensured that Africa’s concerns and priorities are well articulated in the outcomes of the various sessions of UN-CSD by facilitating the provision of substantive inputs to the UN Secretary General’s reports and the CSD review and policy sessions • Created awareness to enhance implementation of sustainable development commitments in the region • Contributed to the promotion of balanced integration of the three pillars of SD in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes through: • Production of the SDRA as a monitoring and advocacy tool for sustainable development • Enhanced advocacy and capacity building in the application of integration tools

15. Lessons learned and the way forward • Need to strengthen reporting by member States to facilitate the preparation of regional review reports • Obtain updated information on National Focal Points for Sustainable Development to facilitate contact • Need to enhance the participation of member States in RIMs • Mobilize resources in this regard • Need to improve the participation of African regional and subregional organizations • Give RECs the role of producing subregional reports for more involvement and ownership

16. Lessons learned and the way forward… • Need to enhance coordination and information exchange between the CFSSD Bureau and Africa representatives in the UN-CSD Bureau • Convene a CFSSD Bureau Meeting to deliberate on this • The coordination arrangements currently in place for the regional preparations for Rio+20 could be leveraged upon to enhance implementation and reporting • Invite proposals from partners • There is need to examine how the Africa RCM of UN agencies in support of the AU and its NEPAD programme could be effectively involved and complement the CFSSD process • This could be discussed at the next session of the Africa-RCM

17. FormNational Focal Point for Sustainable Development

18. THANK YOU