The Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has released the second edition of its flagship publication, the Sustainable Development Report on Africa (SDRA), as the 16th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 16) opened in New York on Monday 5th of May. Almost 60 ministers attended the 16th Session of the CSD which took place from 14-16 May, along with 680 representatives from 126 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Representatives from civil society, including women, farmers, science, business, children and youth, local authorities, workers and trade unions, indigenous peoples and nongovernmental organizations participated far more extensively than in the past.
The edition of the Sustainable Development Report on Africa (SDRA) was devoted to a five-year review of the implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development Outcomes in Africa (WSSD+5). CSD16 will address the following thematic issues: Agriculture, Rural Development, Land, Droughts, Desertification and Africa. SDRA is chaired by Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's Minister of Environment and Tourism.
Resources:
- The Sustainable Development Report on Africa Download SDRA here
- Backgrounder: The Food Crisis and Sustainable Development
- A press briefing was held on Tuesday, 6 May on Agriculture, Drought & Desertification; and on Friday 9 May on Africa.
- The last press briefing in this series was held on Tuesday, 13 May on the topic of Water and Sanitation.
- UN sustainable development forum ends with call for more investment in research 16/05
Note:
The Commission on Sustainable Development was launched by the UN General Assembly in December 1992, with the purpose of securing the effective implementation and follow-up of the decisions from the UN Conference on Environment and Development, including the "Land Summit" or "Rio Summit". Grouping 53 member states, the commission is a functional organ of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that has been meeting every year since June 1993.
Participants at the 16th Session of the CSD also elected Gerda Verburg, the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in the Netherlands, as the next chair of the CSD – the first time that the subsidiary body of ECOSOC will be led by a woman.
