IFAP Participation in the Meeting of the UN CSD-15
New York, 30 April-11 May 2007
CSD 15 failed to adopt a negotiating text
Introduction
The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is one of the most important UN platforms and probably one of the most inclusive of Civil Society organisations. IFAP represents the ‘Farmers’ Group’, which is one of nine civil society major groups, that have standing with this UN Commission.
This year was the negotiation year of the 15th session of the CSD, which focused on a cluster of themes including “Climate change” and “Energy for Sustainable Development”. Both of these are priority issues for IFAP.
The IFAP delegation included, Jack Wilkinson (Canada) IFAP President, Ms. Bouchra Ait Ali (Algeria), Ms. Maria-Christina Pacheco (Brazil), Mr. Carlos Simancas (Colombia), Mr. Willi Kampman (Germany), Dr. Sarala Gopalan (India) as well as Ms. Nora Ourabah Haddad (Policy Officer) and Ms. Julie Emond (Communications Coordinator) from the IFAP Secretariat.
IFAP participated actively in both the official sessions (opening and closing, multistakeholder dialogues, ministerial round tables), and in organising a side event with FAO. National government delegations were lobbied to include the farmers’ main messages in the final negotiated text.
IFAP interventions
IFAP delegates had several opportunities to express the farmers’ views. During the opening session, Mrs. Maria Christina Pacheco (Brazil) called on governments to “Establish policies and regulations on bio-energy that reflect the needs of farmers and farming communities” and to “Create enabling environments and management models in the form of support and incentive mechanisms to reduce production costs for farmers while stimulating environmentally-friendly practices”. President Jack Wilkinson addressed both a ministerial round table and a multistakeholder dialogue. He stressed the potential of agriculture to contribute to climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration, and said that this contribution was currently was underestimated. He also outlined the potential of bioenergy to create economic development, thus reducing poverty in rural areas and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “Demand for bioenergy creates an entire market for farmers giving strength to farm commodity prices” said President Wilkinson. Mr. Carlos Simancas (Colombia) spoke for IFAP during the closing session. He reaffirmed the willingness of farmers to collaborate with governments and other stakeholders in making sure that the potential of agriculture to combat climate change is achieved in a sustainable way. He also insisted on the importance of farmers sharing in the benefits of the production of bioenergy.
IFAP lobby campaign
IFAP lobbied members of the CSD Bureau as well as UN missions and representations in New York in advance of the meeting. Also, IFAP members were asked to approach their respective government representatives in the CSD on the role of farmers in bioenergy production and in mitigating and adapting to climate change.
IFAP was pleased to receive positive feed back from some country missions to the UN including the UK Mission and the Vice-Chair of CSD-15 from the Czech Republic. During CSD 15, IFAP representatives met individually with government delegates from the main country blocks namely the G77, the EU, Canada and Switzerland (1), to push forward farmers’ main messages so that they were included in the final negotiated text of the UN CSD-15.
IFAP representatives noted a lack of awareness and understanding from some country and major group representatives on biofuel production, especially concerning its sustainability, and its effects on food security. This needed to be clarified by IFAP delegates.
IFAP delegates managed to get most of the IFAP messages into the last draft of the negotiating text.
Media
There was little media attention for this event. Nevertheless, two members of the IFAP delegation, Ms. Maria-Christina Pacheco (Brazil) and Mr. Carlos Simancas (Columbia), were interviewed by the Spanish UN Radio. They expressed the position of farmers in the CSD-15.
CSD called into question
Negotiations between country members of the CSD were marked by many areas of disagreement, especially in the sections on sustainable energy and climate change. There were differences on: time bound-targets for increasing the share of renewable energy sources in total energy production, energy efficiency and access, and a review mechanism or arrangement for energy for sustainable development (please see Appendix 1).
During the last day of the CSD, Chair Al-Attiyah, Minister of Energy from Quatar presented a compromise document on a “take it or leave it” basis, cautioning delegations that if they rejected the text, the only outcome from the CSD 15 would be a Chair’s Summary of the discussions.
The text was approved by the G77 and China, the USA, Canada and Mexico. However, the European Union, lead by Germany (current President of the European Union) rejected the text. The EU expected the CSD to deliver more ambitious international policy commitments. In particular, it supported time-bound targets for renewable energy, the integration of energy policies into national planning by 2010, a review arrangement for energy issues within the CSD, and an international agreement on energy efficiency, among others. Switzerland backed the EU stressing the need for CSD 15 to add value and not to simply repeat what had already been done in the past.
This is the first time in the history of the CSD that no negotiating text has come out of a two year cycle. In light of the failure of the CSD to come up with a common agreement, the role, relevance and value of the CSD is being called into question. Despite this questioning over the relevance of the CSD in its present form, it is important to recognise the opportunities offered by this Commission in terms of partnership building, information and success stories exchanges. As one CSD veteran said: “CSD is relevant because it is a place where we try to get to grips with sustainable development, even if we are failing”.
The CSD cycle for 2008-2009 (CSD-16 and 17) will address the themes of: agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and drought, and Africa. Since agriculture is a theme, for the first time since CSD-8, this cycle will be of particular importance for IFAP.
The Commission elected H.E. Mr. Francis Nhema, Minister of Environment and Tourism of Zimbabwe as the Chair of CSD 16.
NB. Please check available interventions made during CSD 15 : http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd15/statements.htm
(1) Representatives from the following countries were approached : Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Germany (representing the EU), Guatemala, India, Israel, Pakistan (Chair G-77), South Africa, Switzerland, Portugal, Tanzania, Czech Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, Uruguay, Venezuela.