Economic and Social Council

Calling for a shift from good ideas to focused actions without further delay, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Commission on Sustainable Development today that such actions were needed in order to meet the world’s responsibility towards future generations and to implement commitments already made. “We know what we need to do. We know what works,” the Secretary-General said this afternoon as the Commission concluded its eighteenth session.

On the second day of its high-level segment, the Commission on Sustainable Development held three interactive ministerial dialogues today, with the aim of helping the diverse and growing number of stakeholders in the global push to rebalance consumption and production patterns achieve coherence in the transport, chemicals, waste management and mining sectors.

Only through collective dedication and adherence to the decisions taken by the Commission on Sustainable Development — which required commitments by Governments and all partners — could sustainable development be achieved, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today as the Commission held its high-level segment on obstacles and constraints to implementation of the agenda pertaining to themes of its current cycle. The high-level segment runs until Friday, 14 May.

Partnerships had become integral to the “development landscape” -- perhaps the most popular medium for increasing involvement by non-traditional actors in decision-making -- but better coordination was needed to harness effectively their potential for creating change, experts told the Commission on Sustainable Development today as it held two multi-stakeholder dialogues aimed at advancing its work and, more broadly, the goals of the landmark Agenda 21.

Overdue commitments made to small island developing States must be fulfilled to enable them to survive climate change and other international crises that were threatening their very existence, officials from three such States said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Devoting a day of its two-week annual session to small island developing States, the Commission on Sustainable Development heard calls today for renewed efforts to recognize the vulnerabilities and special situations of those States and for urgent action to help them build resilience and a sustainable future.

Demand for sustainable goods and services was growing exponentially across the public and private sectors, providing new opportunities for poverty eradication, job creation and environmental protection, but a viable framework for achieving that success was still needed, the Commission on Sustainable Development heard today as it rounded out the first week of its two-week annual session.

The Commission on Sustainable Development today began exploring a 10-year framework of programmes to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns, with speakers saying that change must begin in developed countries, where consumption was focused on luxury, whereas it was based on meeting basic needs in the developing world.

Enormous inequalities of consumption and a wasteful materials cycle were among the greatest challenges in achieving sustainable development, the Chairman of the Commission on Sustainable Development said this morning.

Increased globalization, urbanization and rising prosperity around the world are taking an ever greater toll on the world’s ecosystems, according to two reports issued to coincide with the opening of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.