Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting for the
13th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development
28 February to 4 March 2005 | UN headquarters, New York

The Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting (IPM) for the thirteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-13) will be held from 28 February to 4 March 2005 at UN Headquarters in New York.

CSD-13 is the Policy Year of the first two-year "Implementation Cycle" of the CSD work programme that was agreed at CSD-11 in 2003, when the Commission decided that its multi-year programme of work for the period 2004-2017 would be organized on the basis of two-year "Implementation Cycles" comprised of a Review Year and a Policy Year and focused on a thematic cluster of issues. The thematic cluster of issues for the first implementation cycle (2004/2005) is water, sanitation and human settlements. Building on the outcomes of CSD-12, which was the Review Year of the first cycle, CSD-13 will take policy decisions on practical measures and options to expedite the implementation of commitments in the areas of water, sanitation and human settlements as contained in Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, as well the Millennium Declaration.

In its resolution 2003/61, the UN Economic and Social Council decided that the discussions at the IPM would be based on the outcomes of CSD-12 and reports by the Secretary-General as well as other relevant inputs. At the second meeting of the CSD-13 Bureau, held on 16 November 2004, the Bureau decided that the IPM would focus on the discussion and consideration of policy options and possible actions to expedite implementation in issues of water, sanitation and human settlements.

Based on the discussions at the IPM, CSD-13 Chair John Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda) will prepare a draft negotiating document for consideration at the CSD-13 main session, scheduled to take place at UN Headquarters in New York from 11-22 April 2005.