Of all the days of CSD-15, I think yesterday, particularly the final hours, were the most interesting. Negotiations have been in a dead-lock since last week.  The Bureau had hoped to finish negotiations before the ministers arrived on Wednesday, but that clearly did not happen since the delegations have been leaving UNHQ in the wee hours of the morning the past few days. 

Since negotiations have been at a dead-lock, the Chair decided to use the softest language possible in order to create points for agreement. In the areas of air pollution and climate change, most of the text had been agreed upon, with the exception of topics such as aviation and marine emissions. Energy has been the deal breaker for the entire conference, mainly with the inability of G77 to reach consensus and the polarization of G77 and the EU.

The Chair was to distribute this new version of the text during the last session.  The session was scheduled to begin at 4:30PM yesterday, but - in tune with the rest of the conference - the session began around 6:00PM. The text arrived and delegations were given a choice to decide over an hour: accept or reject the Chair's text. In the end, the EU and Switzerland spoke up against the text and rejected it.  They said that the gravity of these issues needed to be addressed with seriousness and the text had no added value to what has already done.  The urgency to address energy for sustainable development, climate change, air pollution/atmosphere, and industrial development was in no way reflected in the text. And so the text was rejected and CSD-15 concludes without any policies, only a Chair's Summary of what happened over the past 2 weeks. 

For me, it has been a great experience, despite the disappointments. I have met a lot of great people, especially many amazing youth. I can only imagine what it will be like if we were to become  the delegates negotiating on such critical issues as these...

Stephanie Kwan