2008 UN Commission on Sustainable Development Meeting
CSREES Administrator Colien Hefferan and three other CSREES staffers participated in the 2008 UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) meeting in New York City from May 5-16, 2008. The CSD was formed in 1992 to monitor the implementation of Agenda 21 for achieving sustainable development in the 21st Century, created at the Earth Summit in Brazil. The themes for the 2008 meeting were agriculture, rural development, land use, desertification and drought, and Africa.
Hefferan served on two expert panels and delivered the US position statement on agriculture, emphasizing the need for research and extension to continue to build global sustainable agricultural capacity.
National Program Leader Hiram Larew, on detail to the US Department of State, delivered the US position statement on rural development, emphasizing the need to reduce disparities between rural and urban quality of life.
National Program Leader Greg Crosby co-chaired a side event on eXtension www.extension.org. Crosby also served as an instructor at a learning center focused on electronic access to research and extension information. The learning center was intended to demonstrate US and international science-based resources accessible across the globe, such as eXtension and the NAL Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC).
National Program Leader Liz Tuckermanty presented a session on the New Farmer Development Project at the weekend CSD City and Farm Showcase.
Nearly 20 CSREES national program leaders contributed to the UN CSD US country report, case studies, and background papers in preparation for the meeting.
For further information contact Greg Crosby.
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