COP-16 Mexico

UN Commission on Sustainable Development

2010-05-27T12:36:20+00:00


CSD-17 At the Commission on Sustainable Development The GPPN had a busy two weeks at the 17th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, where the team was working hard to ensure that water was reflected adequately as a cross-cutting issue for the themes under discussion: Agriculture, Rural Development, Drought, Desertification and Africa. Read more...		CSD-16 16th Session of Commission on Sustainable Development The GPPN played an active role in preparing stakeholders for the water and sanitation review at the 16th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. It also co-ordinated a number of activities and events during the CSD itself. Please click on the links below for more details of the activities:
		Engaging global stakeholders for the CSD-16 Water and Sanitation Review Initiating a conversation on Type II Water and Sanitation Partnerships in Africa Intergrating Water and Sanitation into the Main Thematic Discussions Co-ordinating Water and Sanitation side events

CSD-17

2010-05-26T11:15:45+00:00

At the Commission on Sustainable Development

The GPPN had a busy two weeks at the 17^th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, where the team was working hard to ensure that water was reflected adequately as a cross-cutting issue for the themes under discussion: Agriculture, Rural Development, Drought, Desertification and Africa.

The GPPN is pleased to see that there was a reasonable reflection of water issues in the CSD-17 Final Adopted Text, which is illustrated by the ‘word cloud’ that indicates the prevalence of certain words within the text:

The GPPN was pleased to be at the forefront of advocacy efforts on water at CSD-17, and is currently conducting an analysis on the number of its recommendations that were included in the final text.

Consulting stakeholders on water as a cross-cutting issue for CSD-17

The GPPN conducted a multi-stakeholder consultation programme on water as a cross-cutting issue for CSD-17, and used the outcomes from this process as the basis of its advocacy. The key messages document outlining the consultation outcomes and providing policy recommendations can be downloaded here:

Water as a Cross-cutting Issue for CSD-17 – Policy Recommendations for Decision-makers

Advocacy and Text Amendments

Ministerial Roundtable Statements

This year three thematic Ministerial Roundtables took place at the CSD focusing on the following areas:

Please click on each of the Roundtable titles to access a summary of the Roundtable.

The GPPN was in a good position to provide recommendations for the Roundtable focussing on Integrated Management of Land and Water Resources. However, as the GPPN is an issue-specific network that represents and engages with a range of Major Groups, it was not able to take a seat at the table, as it does not represent one Major Group specifically. However, the GPPN worked with the Indigenous Peoples as the assigned Major Groups representatives for the Roundtable to integrate some of our recommendations into their statement. You can access the statement of the Indigenous Peoples here.

The GPPN together with the Freshwater Caucus also put together a statement for the Roundtable that was distributed to delegates ahead of the Roundtable for their consideration. In addition, a statement to all GPPN government contacts was sent by email for their consideration. The statement is available below and in the sidebar:

GPPN and Freshwater Caucus statement for Ministerial Roundtable on Integrated Management of Land and Water Resources

In order to translate the above policy recommendations into concise proposals that would be useful for negotiators, the GPPN put together a series of proposed text amendments for each of the thematic areas, identifying where they could be inserted in the Chairs Draft Negotiating Text. This document was circulated to negotiators ahead of CSD17.

GPPN Proposed Text Amendments

Building on these proposed text amendments, during the course of the negotiations the GPPN worked closely with the Freshwater Caucus to put together advocacy materials, chairing daily meetings of the caucus and co-ordinating communication between caucus members. Together with the Freshwater caucus the GPPN put together a ‘two-pager’ of key priorities for the negotiations, which built heavily on the policy recommendations of the GPPN and also sought to highlight issues identified as a priority by those present. To download the document please click below:

Freshwater Caucus Two Pager on Priority Issues

The Freshwater Caucus is an issue-specific movement bringing together stakeholders with water interests at the CSD. It is open to individuals and organisations from across the Major Groups, as well as interested governments and UN agencies.

During the negotiations, as the negotiating text was amended day-by-day, the GPPN worked closely with the Freshwater Caucus at the CSD to respond to changes in the text and draft refined text amendments. The text amendments were targeted at each of the two Working Groups. Working Group 1, focusing on Agriculture and Rural Development, and Working Group 2, focusing on Land, Drought and Desertification.

Side Event on Water as a Cross-cutting Issue for CSD17

The GPPN co-ordinated an extremely successful side event on Water as a Cross-cutting issue for CSD17 on Tuesday 5^th May in Conference Room C, with the following presenters:

Sergio Zelaya, UNCCD Secretariat (Download Power Point)
Shiney Varghese, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) (Download Power Point)
Hannah Stoddart, Global Public Policy Network on Water Management (Download Power Point)
Ger Bergkamp, General Secretary, World Water Council (Download Power Point)

The side event was attended by over 60 people, and discussions were rich and diverse, covering water as a cross-cutting issue for agriculture, rural development, land, drought and desertification, and also exploring areas as diverse as trade and climate change.

Radio

The GPPN contributed to and faciliated a number of radio programmes focusing on water issues at the 17th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, as part of Stakeholder Forum's 'Live at the CSD' radio project. You can listen to the programmes below:

Earth Talk, Episode 6

At the 17th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, the Global Public Policy Network was co-ordinating advocacy around water as a cross-cutting issue. Here Armando Canchanya checks in with Hannah Stoddart from the GPPN Secretariat, and Lesha Witmer from the Women for Water Partnership to discuss why water underpins all the other themes under discussion.

Greentables Episode 4: Watering down the issues?

Water, consumption, international law and human rights are under discussion during this Greentable, where Hannah Stoddart is joined by environmental lawyer Randy Christensen from Canadian NGO Ecojustice, Danish Sustainable Development Ambassador Aagaard Andersen, and Olcay Ünver, Coordinator of the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme. Discussions focus on water's role for sustainable development, how to manage water scarcity, and how the human right to water interacts with water as an economic good.

Outreach Issues

The GPPN also wrote, fielded and edited water-related articles for Stakeholder Forum’s Outreach Issues newsletter at CSD17. The articles are listed below, and can be accessed by clicking on the links and thumbnails.

Issue One

Water Water Water... By Hannah Stoddart

CSD 17: Anything New in Terms of Actions for the People of Drylands? By Lauren Naville Gisnas and Patrice Burger

Issue Two

Agriculture and Land Have a Women’s Face by Lesha Witmer

Issue Three

The Human Right to Water by Professor Dr Demetrio Loperena

Issue Four

Water is a Cross-Cutting Issue for CSD-17 by Members of the CSD Freshwater Caucus and the Global Public Policy Network on Water Management

Issue Six

On Human Rights and Sustainable Development by Joji Carino

Issue Nine

FARO Demands by Marisa Fernandez

Issue Ten

The Need for IWRM by Hannah Stoddart

CSD-16 Side Events

2010-05-26T10:35:23+00:00

In order to communicate some of the findings from the GPPN and also initiate discussion on some key water and sanitation issues, the GPPN co-ordinated a number of side events with keynote speakers. Details of the side events and downloads of the presentations are available below:

Global Public Policy Network on Water Management: Findings from stakeholder inputs to the CSD-16 Water and Sanitation Review

This side event took place on Thursday 8th May 2008 and included speakers from Stakeholder Forum SIWI, WWF and Freshwater Action Network. The speakers' presentations are available for download below:

Hannah Stoddart, Stakeholder Forum: Findings from the Global Public Policy Network on Water Management
Karin Lexen, SIWI: Emerging Issues
Flavia Loures, WWF: UN Watercourses Convention
Nathalie Sequin, FAN: Findings from the GPPN Consultation in Mexico

Water and Climate Change: Risk Assessment, Adaptation and Water Management

This side event took place on Monday 12th May in the Library Auditorium of the UN. The speakers' presentations are available for download below:

Johan Kuylenstierna, Chief Technical Advisor, UN Water: Water, Climate Change and Adaptation

Mari Williams, Tearfund: Perspectives on Water and Climate Change for Vulnerable Communities

Bjorn Vo Euler, World Business Council on Sustainable Development: The WBCSD Water Tool and Adapting to Climate Change

Up to and Beyond 2015: The Challenge for the International Water and Sanitation Agenda

This side event took place on Tuesday 13th May at the Auditorium of the Permanent German Mission to the UN. The speakers presentations are available for download below:

Pasquale Steduto, Chair, UN Water: Beyond 2015, the UN Water Perspective

Danielle Morley, Director, Freshwater Action Network: Accountable Governance for Water and Sanitation

Virginia Roaf, COHRE: A rights-based approach to access to water and sanitation

Water and Sanitation in Africa

2010-05-26T10:30:40+00:00

A secondary objective of the GPPN at CSD-16 was to integrate water and sanitation into the other themes under discussion. As part of this effort, the Secretariat worked with development and communications expert Wangu Mwangi, who conducted research and consultation with a range of African stakeholders on the key priorities for water and sanitation in Africa. The findings are outlined in the document below:

Water and Sanitation in Africa – Obstacles Constraints and Next Steps

Type II Water and Sanitation Partnerships in Africa

2010-05-26T10:27:25+00:00

The World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 saw the founding of a whole range of Type II Partnerships relating to water and sanitation. With Africa tabled as a 'thematic discussion' for CSD-16, it seemed appropriate that the water and sanitation review should therefore take stock of progress, obstacles and constraints relating to Type II Partnerships in Africa. The GPPN worked with expert Amy Stewart and a range of stakeholders to identify some of the key considerations for the success or failure of WatSan Partnerships in Africa. Some of the findings are outlined in the paper that can be downloaded below.

Partnerships for Water and Sanitation: Obstacles, Constraints and Next Steps for the CSD

Engaging global stakeholders for CSD-16

2010-05-26T10:15:23+00:00

One of the key objectives of the GPPN for CSD-16 was to help prepare global stakeholders to input to the water and sanitation review. The decision to conduct a water and sanitation review at CSD-16 was authorized by the outcome document of the 13th session of the CSD in 2005. The review took place over two days, alongside the main discussions on Land, Rural Development, Agriculture, Drought, Desertification and Africa.

In order to raise the profile of the review and involve global stakeholders in the process, the GPPN called for feedback from stakeholders on how far water and sanitation commitments outlined in the CSD-13 Decision had been met. The GPPN did this through requesting stakeholder input, asking them to comment on key emerging issues that had not been covered adequately by the CSD-13 outcome document.

Based on the inputs the GPPN received from stakeholders, the Secretariat produced three papers summarizing the points raised and outlining a number of recommendations. The papers can be downloaded below:

CSD-16

2010-05-26T10:12:19+00:00

16th Session of Commission on Sustainable Development

The GPPN played an active role in preparing stakeholders for the water and sanitation review at the 16th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. It also co-ordinated a number of activities and events during the CSD itself.

Please click on the links below for more details of the activities:

Engaging global stakeholders for the CSD-16 Water and Sanitation Review
Initiating a conversation on Type II Water and Sanitation Partnerships in Africa
Intergrating Water and Sanitation into the Main Thematic Discussions
Co-ordinating Water and Sanitation side events

COP-16 Mexico

UN Commission on Sustainable Development

CSD-17

At the Commission on Sustainable Development

CSD-16

16th Session of Commission on Sustainable Development

CSD-17

At the Commission on Sustainable Development

Consulting stakeholders on water as a cross-cutting issue for CSD-17

Advocacy and Text Amendments

Ministerial Roundtable Statements

GPPN and Freshwater Caucus statement for Ministerial Roundtable on Integrated Management of Land and Water Resources

GPPN Proposed Text Amendments

Freshwater Caucus Two Pager on Priority Issues

Freshwater Caucus Text Amendments for Working Group 1 on Agriculture and Rural Development

Freshwater Caucus Text Amendments for Working Group 2 on Land, Drought and Desertification

Side Event on Water as a Cross-cutting Issue for CSD17

Radio

Earth Talk, Episode 6

Greentables Episode 4: Watering down the issues?

Outreach Issues

CSD-16 Side Events

Global Public Policy Network on Water Management: Findings from stakeholder inputs to the CSD-16 Water and Sanitation Review

Water and Climate Change: Risk Assessment, Adaptation and Water Management

Up to and Beyond 2015: The Challenge for the International Water and Sanitation Agenda

Water and Sanitation in Africa

Type II Water and Sanitation Partnerships in Africa

Engaging global stakeholders for CSD-16

CSD-16

16th Session of Commission on Sustainable Development