ENB:05:26
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1994 SESSION
The second session of the CSD met in New York from 16-27 May 1994. During the course of the session, the Commission, under its new Chair, Klaus T”pfer, Germany"s Minister for the Environment, examined the first cluster of issues according to its multi-year thematic programme of work. Delegates discussed the following cross-sectoral chapters of Agenda 21: Chapters 2 (accelerating sustainable development); 4 (consumption patterns); 33 (financial resources and mechanisms); 34 (technology cooperation and transfer); 37 (capacity building); 38 (institutions); 39 (legal instruments); and 23-32 (roles of major groups). By the conclusion of the session, the Commission adopted seven decisions on: information provided by governments and organizations; decision-making structures; transfer of environmentally sound technology, cooperation and capacity-building; major groups; trade, environment and sustainable development; changing consumption and production patterns; and finance.
On the sectoral side, delegates examined the progress in implementing the following chapters of Agenda 21: Chapters 6 (health); 7 (human settlements); 18 (freshwater resources); 19 (toxic chemicals); 20 (hazardous wastes); 21 (solid wastes and sewage); and 22 (radioactive wastes). By the conclusion of the session, the Commission adopted six decisions on: protecting and promoting human health; human settlements; toxic chemicals; hazardous wastes; freshwater; and radioactive wastes. The Commission also adopted a decision on intersessional work, which calls for the establishment of a new ad hoc open-ended intersessional working group to examine the sectoral issues that will be addressed by the Commission at its 1995 session (land management, desertification, forests and biodiversity). The session concluded with a two-and-a-half day High-Level Segment, attended by over 40 ministers and high-level officials.
The members of the CSD determined that although some progress has been made, until there is an increase in official development assistance and an improvement in the international economic climate, it will continue to be difficult to translate the Rio commitments into action. Likewise, many participants who attended the two-week meeting agreed that unless the CSD"s format is changed, it will be impossible to shift from rhetoric and speech-making to dialogue and action.