The 16th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-16), was held from 05-16 May 2008 in New York. One of the items on the agenda was a review of progress in implementing CSD-13 decisions on water and sanitation [1].

In his address [2] to the high-level segment of CSD-16, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said it was “clear that the rate of progress is still too slow to meet the MDG-7 environmental sustainability targets”. He reiterated that delegates had stressed “the need to raise public awareness; the need for increased funding, not least to guarantee affordable water and sanitation for the poor; and the need to incorporate a gender perspective into the water and sanitation agenda”. He urged the Ministers “to make best use of the opportunity provided this year by the International Year of Sanitation to raise awareness and accelerate implementation of that agenda”.

Two CSD-16 side events [3] of special interest were:

• “The MDG Water and Sanitation Target: Refining the monitoring tools” in which UN-Water present ongoing work on several major assessment tools. One of these was the Global Annual Assessment on Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLAAS) for which IRC is preparing an overview of European Aid to Africa [4]
• “Sanitation : A Human Rights Imperative” where WaterAid, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), UN-HABITAT and Swiss Development Co-operation (SDC) presented their draft publication on this topic [5].

[1] UN. Economic and Social Council (2008). Review of progress in implementing the decision of the 13th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development on water and sanitation : report of the Secretary-General. E/CN.17/2008/11. Download here

[2] UN News Centre, 14 May 2008

[3] UN Commission on Sustainable Development, 16th Session, New York, 5 – 16 May 2008. Highlights of Side Events. Download here

[4] Diaz, C. and Fonseca, C. (2008). Mapping European aid to Africa. EUWI Africa / IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. Download here

[5] COHRE … [et al.]. (2008). Sanitation : a human rights imperative. Draft. Geneva, Switzerland, Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). Download here

Web sites: UN Commission on Sustainable Development. CSD Review Session ; UN-Water

Tags: monitoring & evaluation, policies & legislation, sanitation, water supply