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Inter-Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 10-Year Review of the Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA)
Nassau, Bahamas | 26-30 January 2004 
 
 

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Curtain
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Mon 26
Tue 27
Wed 28
Thu 29
Fri 30 &
SUMMARY
 

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Highlights from Friday, 30 January

On Friday, 30 January, delegates met in Plenary to adopt the Nassau Declaration and the AOSIS Draft Strategy Paper, which will be forwarded for consideration by the G-77/China in advance of the International Preparatory Meeting to be held at CSD-12 in New York in April. The Meeting was officially closed at 2:20 pm. Photo: Anwarul Chowdhury, Secretary-General of hte International Meeting, during a Press Conference

 

 

 

Manuel Dengo, Executive Secretary of the Mauritius UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Marcus Bethel, Chair of the Meeting and Minister of Health and the Environment, Bahamas, Jagdish Koonjul, Chairman of AOSIS (Mauritius), and Anwarul Chowdhury, Secretary-General of the Mauritius International Meeting,

 


 

 

 



Statements from Youth and Civil Society

 

 

 


 

 

Youth Representatives Genea Noel (right) and Akiero Lloyd (center); Plenary heard reports from the Youth Focus of Bahamas Forum 2004 held from 28-29 January, and the outcomes of the civil society consultations held throughout the week. They presented the declaration of their meeting, which highlights the role of youth in sustainable development, and emphasizes the need for measures to address, inter alia, education, ecotourism, environmental education, healthcare services, waste management, and the protection and promotion of culture and cultural industries.

 

 

Beverly Taylor, Assistant Director, Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Bahamas, with Youth representatives form the Bahamas Akiero Lloyd (Exuma), Genea Noel (Grand Bahama), Andrea Culmer (Eleuthera), Rebecca Risberg (Abaco), and Sylvanes Bethel (Grand Bahama)


 


Gordon Bispham, Chairman, Caribbean Policy Development Centre

presented the outcomes of the civil society discussions. He highlighted the need to facilitate the maximum participation of civil society at the International Meeting, in particular women, youth, farmers and indigenous peoples. Regarding the draft Political Declaration and Strategy, he called for increased recognition in the documents of sustainable agriculture, donor coordination, civil society partnerships, regional coordination mechanisms, and monitoring and evaluation. He welcomed references to gender assessments and the development of sustainable development indicators, and informed the meeting of the launching of the civil society sustainability fund.


Manuel Dengo, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Marcus Bethel, Chair of the Meeting, and Minister of Health and the Environment, Bahamas, Anwarul Chowdhury, Secretary-General of the International Meeting, and Jagdish Koonjul, Chairman of AOSIS (Mauritius)
 



Political Declaration and AOSIS Strategy Document

 


 


Chair Marcus Bethel (left)

 

Jagdish Koonjul, Chairman of AOSIS (Mauritius), introduced the Political Document and AOSIS Strategy Document

 

 

 




 


Delegates from Cuba and Samoa intervene during the discussion of the AOSIS Strategy document

 



 

John Harding, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (left) and Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat (right)

 


 


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Members of civil society propose amendments to text on the Strategy document

 

 

 

 

Ricardo Sanchez Sosa, Director, UNEP, Regional Office, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Harry Phillipeaux, Environmental Health Advisor, World Health Organization (right)

 

 

Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada, Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development (CNIRD) with Duncan Currie, Greenpeace International (left) and Nadia El Hage Scialabba, Senior Officer, Environment and Sustainable Development, FAO, and Sharon Brennen-Haylock, Senior Liaison Officer to the UN, FAO (right)

Closing Statements

 

Following the adoption of the Nassau Political Declaration and the AOSIS Strategy, several observer States made interventions. Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the EU (right) and US said they were not in position to comment on the meeting's documents, but welcomed the opportunity to participate in the meeting as observers. They stressed their commitment to the further negotiations on the outcome document during the three-day preparatory meeting in New York, and expressed support for the successful outcomes of the International Meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Secretary-General of the International Meeting, Anwarul Chowdhury, expressed his hope that the outcome of the inter-regional meeting would contribute to carrying forward the hopes and aspirations of SIDS to Mauritius and beyond, and bring a change in the lives of people living in SIDS. He also noted the opportunity for the International Meeting to become a landmark in the development efforts of SIDS, and said the UN stands by the side of SIDS as a true partner in their sustainable development efforts.

 

 

 

 

 


Chair Marcus Bethel (left) said AOSIS member States had made significant progress during the meeting to capture the inter-regional commitment of SIDS for sustainable development and observed the common sense of unity and purpose among AOSIS member States.

  



Relevant Links

The Barbados Plan of Action

The SIDS+5 report

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary and analysis of the 1994 Barbados meeting

The ENB summary of the SIDS+5 meeting

The 2002 GA resolution calling for the 10-year review