11th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Dev.

Eleventh Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)

Jonathan Margolis, Alternate Head of the U.S. Delegation Remarks to the Eleventh Session of the Commission New York, New York May 1, 2003

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to respond to the question you raised regarding the specific roles major groups could play at the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD).

The scientific community offers a remarkable resource for the CSD. For example, national academies of science have strong national and international networks outside of the UN system, enabling a high degree of interaction and information exchanges among scientists. They have already undertaken a major focus on science for sustainability. The UN should look to harness this very valuable resource.

Secondly, major groups should consider whether it makes sense for all of them to focus their contributions primarily through the CSD s multistakeholder dialogue process. For example, the scientific community s contributions might have greater value early in the CSD s process, rather than later. Major groups may want to look at whether the contributions of some groups might be more relevant than others at different stages of the process. We would be interested in hearing any ideas and suggestions on this issue from major groups.

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