Geneva
The Third Regional Implementation Meeting on Sustainable Development will take place at the Palais des Nations, Room XIX in Geneva on 28-29 January 2008, beginning at 3 p.m.
About 200 delegates representing Governments, intergovernmental organizations, United Nations agencies, and civil society organizations will gather to discuss progress made in implementing sustainable development goals in the areas of agriculture, land management, desertification and drought. They will address particular obstacles encountered and major breakthroughs made in the UNECE region.
The meeting is also expected to touch upon the important linkages between climate change and agriculture and between climate change, desertification and drought that affect large parts of the UNECE region, in particular the Northern Mediterranean subregion, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Discussions on agriculture will address questions like how to meet the growing demand for agricultural commodities while protecting natural resources, the issue of agricultural subsidies and the competing interests between food security and bioenergy production.
Looking beyond the UNECE region, delegates will furthermore assess the support of donor countries from the UNECE region for sustainable agriculture and rural development in Africa in the context of climate change, and review obstacles and possible next steps to be taken to strengthen cooperation between these regions.
The aim of the Third Regional Implementation Meeting (RIM-3)is to prepare the contribution from the UNECE region to the 16th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-16) which will be held from 5-16 May 2008 in New York.
The two previous Regional Implementation meetings have raised awareness of countries and stakeholders of the UNECE region’s particular concerns and contributions to the global work. In addition, they highlighted the need to give increasing importance to the implementation of commitments on the ground, including on the local level. The CSD process has also benefited from relevant regional work, including, for example, in the UNECE context, the work on public participation under the Aarhus Convention and on education for sustainable development.
For further information on the Third Regional Implementation Meeting, please contact:
Ms. Monika Linn
Team Leader
Environment for Europe and Sustainable Development team
Ms. Natalia Golovko
Economic Affairs Officer
Environment, Housing and Land Management Division
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)22 917 13 15 / 917 27 91
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 01 07
E-mail: sd@unece.org
Website: www.unece.org/env/SustainableDevelopment/3Session/sd_forum.jan2008.htm
Ref: ECE/ENV/08/P01
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Information Unit
Palais des Nations,
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel.: +41 (0) 22 917 44 44
Fax: +41 (0) 22 917 05 05
Email: info.ece@unece.org
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