Report on participation of MAMA-86
in the 13-th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD-13)

The thirteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-13) took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, from 11 to 22 April 2005.

More then 140 ministers and over 500 representatives from various Major Groups participated in the CSD 13, which was the policy session in the first two-year Implementation Cycle and was focus on the thematic cluster of water, sanitation and human settlements. It was build upon the outcome of CSD-12 — the review session of the cycle — and took policy decisions on practical measures and options to expedite implementation of commitments in 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. During 2 weeks the plenary sessions and interactive discussions, different site events (seminars, training and exhibitions) and meetings took place in the framework of the CSD-13.

The key official outcomes from the 2 week negotiations are reflected in the CSD13 final document.

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd13/csd13_decision_unedited.pdf

Decision adopted by the commission

Emphasizes that:

• A substantial increase of resources from all sources, including domestic resources, official development assistance and other resources, will be required to achieve the MDGs and targets;
• The achievement of water, sanitation and human settlements (WSHS) goals, is critical to the implementation of the three pillars of sustainable development and the achievement of all MDGs;
• The policy options and practical measures for expediting implementation relating to WSHS should be nationally-owned and integrated into poverty reduction strategies and/or national sustainable development strategies, whose implementation should begin by 2005, or national development plans;
• Governments have the primary role in promoting improved access to safe drinking water, basic sanitation, sustainable and secure tenure, and adequate shelter, through improved governance at all levels and appropriate enabling environments and regulatory frameworks, adopting a pro-poor approach and with the active involvement of all stakeholders;
• Efforts by Governments to achieve the agreed goals and targets on WSHS should be supported by the international community.

Decides to call on Governments, and the UN system, within existing resources and through voluntary contributions, and invites international financial institutions, and other international organizations, as appropriate, working in partnership with major groups and other stakeholders to take actions on Water, Sanitation and Human settlements, which are listed in the Document.

During 2 weeks discussions were on developing the political decisions, analysis of actions needed, mobilizing resources (including the financial resources), public/private partnership advantages and disadvantages,role of the governments and other stakeholders.

Main conclusions made by NGOs

One of the main conclusions of the CSD-13 was that a rights based approach is too difficult to handle and the delegates decided to delete it from the CSD-13 negotiating text at the end of the negotiations, on 20 th of April.

This position of the delegates was deeply criticized by representatives of civil society and Major Groups, excluding the Business Group, during the interactive session — round table on 21st of April. The Major Groups received strong support from Norway, Cape Verde, Brazil, Sweden, South Africa, Azerbaijan and Canada. The Azerbaijan delegate bolstered call by women, indigenous peoples, farmers, trade unions and NGOs against outright unfettered privatization of basic services.

The lack of delegates' understanding the right based approach and it deletion from the CSD-13 text showed that there remains a big divide and a major disconnect between what is being said and what is acted, or not acted upon, between what goes on in side-events and NGO circles, and what decisions are taken by policy makers.

The same emphasis as Major groups statements were made on the 21 of April during the official segment of CSD-13 by Dr. Mikhail Gorbachev, who stressed that people right to water is the fundamental right. He deplored treating water as a commodity or using such a vital resource to generate profits for transnational corporations. He emphasis that access to water for all is not about voluntary help or charity but a question of equity and justice for all.

During this session the His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange statement was supportive to Major Groups' statements. The Confucius saying which was quoted in the His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange's statement for the CSD-13 “twice should be enough”. It means if you want to achieve something it is better not to postpone the step between thinking and doing for too long.

The NGOs morning strategy meeting on 22 April to run the intensive education campaign among CSD delegates on the rights based approach to be prepare them for the next CSD negotiations, as many countries delegates did not understand the glossary of CSD. The list of the NGOs, which ready to join this campaign was created and the information about it can be find in the www.exsupporblueplanetproject.net

Side events/learning center

One of the interesting part of the CSD-13 and really interactive events were the side events.

In the CSD13 Decision document firstly the term “ecological sanitation” is included. This new approach was broadly and deeply presented at the Side Events Program for CSD-13.

Today Sweden, Germany, Norway, China, Mexico are the world leaders of the eco-sanitation. This new approach provides a nowadays solutions for waste management based on principals of sustainable using of natural resources (water, energy, nutrients), environment and health protection and economical affordability for the communities.

Meeting WECF team with Norwegian Institute

At the CSD-13 WECF has a team of the representatives of WECF water network members from different 6 NGOs from Armenia (Elena Manvelian and Karine Danielyan), the Netherlands (Sascha Gabizon — Director WECF), Ukraine (Anna Tsvetkova — MAMA-86), Uzbekistan (Gulbahar Izentaeva and Muborak).

This team actively participated in the all eco-san side events and used the option to discuss with experts from Sweden, Norway and Mexico the different aspects of the eco-san upscalling in the ECCAA region.

On 22 April the WECF team had meeting with the experts from Norwegian University of life sciences to discuss the options to collaborate on the eco-sanitation development in the ECCAA region.

WASH

On 19 April 2005 the WASH Round table “Mobilizing Women Leaders for the MDGs” took place at the CSD-13. It was organized by WSSCC responding to the UN Declaration on the “Water for Life International Water Decade, 2005-2015”. This UN Declaration calls for “a greater focus on women as managers of water to help achieve internationally agreed water-related goals”. WSSCC is establishing the “Women Leaders for WASH ” initiative.

Ministers Hilde F. Jonson of Norway and Maria Mutagamba of Uganda launched this initiative.

Featuring WASH supporter Ms. Nana Annan opened the round table dialogue.

WECF team had a short meeting with WSSCC director Dr. Gourisankar Ghosh and expressed WECF's Water team to join WASH campaign and to work together on Sanitation and Hygiene issues in the EEC and EECCA region.