UN Commission on Sustainable Development: A Catalyst for Action

As this is our first formal statement in this body since you took the helm, please allow me to congratulate you on your election as Chairman. We look forward to working with you and your colleagues on the CSD Bureau during the final months of the 2005-2007 CSD Cycle.

Mr. Chairman, we have a great opportunity before us. By continuing to pursue the bold path that this Commission agreed to after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, we can foster concrete action that brings us closer to our ultimate measure of success -- delivering on-the-ground results that improve lives.

We have come a long way since CSD-11, where we came together to change the way we do business here at the UN. We prioritized our efforts on implementation focusing first on water then on energy. Partnerships Fairs and Learning Centers have taken their place alongside plenaries. Major Groups play a major role in our discussions. And, many of the key initiatives launched at and since the Johannesburg Summit are now measured not by the number meetings held, but by the number of people whose lives have been improved.

Using the CSD To Catalyze Action
The challenge before us now is to use the 3 months remaining in this CSD Implementation Cycle to catalyze action.

To begin, we need practical examples of what works. Thanks to the efforts of the governments, international organizations, and Major Groups in this room, the CSD secretariat is able to provide us with exactly that. The CSD Matrix contains over 120 case studies of practical and proven approaches that each of can use to address the energy challenge. This Matrix is a success in and of itself, providing a web-based tool that can put some of the world¡¦s best energy solutions at the fingertips of those facing the world¡¦s biggest energy challenges.

But merely collecting the solutions is not enough. Now we need to bring these solutions to life. If each delegation, organization, and Major Group in this room took one of the case studies in the CSD Matrix and scaled it up or replicated it in their situation, that would be a step toward fulfilling this Commission's mandate to mobilize action.

In preparation for this week's meeting, my delegation identified a handful of approaches from the Matrix that can be scaled up and replicated in the coming months and years. During this week, you will hear us talking about proven solutions like supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for clean energy development, public sector energy efficiency initiatives, and phasing out leaded gasoline globally, to name a few.

Our task in the coming days, and in the weeks leading up to CSD-15, will be to focus on disseminating and replicating these best practices.

Outputs of the 2005-2007 CSD Cycle
Mr. Chairman, there are a number of action-oriented products that will come out of this 2-year CSD cycle:

• We now have a web-based tool for sharing practical solutions.
• Partnerships launched at and since WSSD are now setting their sights even higher.
• Several hundred delegates will have been trained during the CSD Learning Centers.
• Delegations have called for a basket of voluntary commitments launched at CSD. We support this initiative, so long as it takes the voluntary approach that we have agreed to for the CSD Partnerships Database.
• And, regardless of whether a delegation registers their voluntary commitments, we hope that each of us will apply specific solutions from the Matrix to our own circumstance.

In this policy year, the U.S. delegation also stands ready to negotiate in good faith for the 4 days allocated for negotiations during CSD-15. We hope that such negotiations will add substantively to the policy framework. It is important to recognize, however, that the international community ¡V through bodies such as the CSD ¡V has already negotiated at least 54 pages of agreed text on the topics of this year¡¦s session. We have copies of this text for anyone who is interested.

Mr. Chairman, as you prepare the document that we will negotiate at CSD-15, we would emphasize that what is not in the text is perhaps as important, if not more important, than what is in the text. With 54 pages already on the table, we should think very carefully about what might be needed in page 55 or 56. We need not waste time fighting old battles over again.

One of the lessons that we have learned by listening to one another in fora such as the CSD is the importance of countries' national circumstances in moving implementation forward. In this regard, I'd like to close with one final thought, and it is not a new thought. The real measure of our success is not what we do here for a week or two in the basement of United Nations. Our true success comes during the 50 weeks a year that we spend outside of New York; working on country-specific implementation where we are also changing the ways we do business. Each of us can take further steps--improving the effectiveness of foreign assistance, enhancing good governance and capacity-building, engaging the private sector and NGOs. Those are the steps that advance progress toward our sustainable development objectives and, in the words of our Chairman, expedite implementation.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.