EDITOR'S NOTE

Thursday, 24 May 2007

To adopt or not to adopt?  That was the question facing delegates to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) when the Chair presented a “take it or leave it” draft during the meeting’s final hours.

The last issue of Linkages Update reported on another UN body whose negotiators had faced this question for several years. The UN Forum on Forest’s adoption of a non-legally binding instrument for sustainable forest management for all types of forests in April 2007 came after years of official and unofficial discussions and deadlines to reach an agreement on the subject. Our Earth Negotiations Bulletin reports offer a record of the twists and turns the negotiations took to reach this outcome.

Some of the CSD delegates did not agree to “take” the Chair’s draft, so the session ended without a negotiated agreement. The CSD’s discussions will no doubt continue in other fora, building in many cases on foundations that the CSD session laid. Our Earth Negotiations Bulletin reports record these foundations, and will continue to follow the debate as it plays out in the coming years. In the shorter run, our ENB on the Side coverage of side events during the CSD presents information regarding efforts to implement many of the actions delegates discussed in their negotiating sessions. These efforts may also feed into the larger negotiations on the issue, and we are pleased to offer a record of these activities as well.

Lynn Wagner, Ph.D.
Editor, Linkages Update
and MEA Bulletin