DEG Meeting with DFID's Sustainable Development Section, 02 August 2006

Meeting with DEFRA 31 March 2005

Present: Roy Hathaway (Chair) DEFRA ESDI Andrew Randall DEFRA ESDI Georgina Ayre DEFRA ESDI Robin Carter DEFRA ESDI Siobhan Hunt DEFRA Daniel Wilson FCO

Stuart Coupe ITDG (Chair) Jo Phillips RSPB Naomi Foxton Tearfund Chris Tydeman Independent Consultant / WWF Mehjabeen Price Stakeholder Forum Danielle Morley FAN Nicholas Watts CHEC Zena Daysch CHEC

(Representatives from DFID not attending due to pressured agenda)

Minutes: Based on notes provided by Danielle Morley.

This was a very useful final meeting in London ahead CSD13.

1. CSD Agenda New agenda revised agenda for CSD-13 discussed and information shared. Now appears that Major Groups have more opportunities to inter-act with the meeting before the Chair's Paper is produced on 14 April in the morning. 14 April has been left for consultations/lobbying on this Chairs Paper ahead of the negotiations on 15,18,19 April - this was welcomed.

2. DEG HMG brainstorm on: (i) CSD Outcomes - what will they look like, what would mean time well spent? DEG participants from the International NGO Consortium on CSD-13 highlighted a desired outcome as a 'Table of Commitments', which would be: a. Quantifiable and time-bound when possible b. Describe the 'who', why, what c. International level, regional level and national commitments d. Prioritise from the IPM summary matrix e. Go beyond the field of expertise of the CSD personnel and made recommendations towards other UN processes, government bodies etc (for example recommendations for the FfD meeting and the MDG review)

DEFRA agreed that the user-friendly matrix produced by the secretariat was moving in the right direction towards a table of commitments, and said that this is what the EU would be happy to see as well. However, they couldn't be sure at the moment if this is the what the Bureau are intending as an outcome and even if it was, if other governments in G77, USA agree. There is still much to play for.

DEFRA pointed out the difficulties for government delegations to make any political recommendations that go beyond the remit of the Environment, Water, Sanitation etc, but added that there is an argument for outcomes going beyond CSD, it being a meeting of experts in their field. Some of the smaller country delegations or environment departments might not have the authority for this. However, 14th April does provide space for consultations with capitals etc. if necessary.

(ii) CSD Priorities & Gaps DEG participants highlighted the need for CSD13 to prioritise key policy actions, which will have a 'trickle-down' effect and which differentiate between international, regional and national level commitments. This would mean that that some of the recommendations from the IPM summary are dropped - not an easy process. However, many them belong to the national level, where it is less likely that they will be adhered to and thus their value is perhaps less in this international arena. Priorities include: a) IWRM - Stressed by DEG participants as a priority. Current concerns are that although it is highlighted in the Chairs text, it is decoupled from ecosystem approach. Also, if follow up is an issue if left to the MDG process or to UN Water, IWRM (which is not an MDG indicator or target and has been marginalized by UM Water) could be forgotton. DEFRA agreed that IWRM is the glue holding sanitation and water together. GWP are being 'pushed' by USA as a follow-up home, but their suitability is questionable, in addition to accountability issues; recent report on GWP showed that they are good at promoting IWRM but not on implementing and that they do not systematically include ecosystems or use an ecosystem based approach. b) Finance - DEG members stressed the need to double of ODA to the sector and target funding to those countries most in need and poverty reduction, and highlighted that the Chair's IPM text focuses too much on financing options relevant to middle income countries (capital markets etc).. DEG welcomed the DFID doubling of aid to the sector in Africa announced on World Water Day and supported UK government taking a lead role in this issue. DEG participants continue to support sector wide approaches (SWAPs). DEFRA said that EU supports a pro-poor outcome. DEG members also raised the cost of doing nothing as something to highlight - supported by DEFRA. c) Human Settlements - Sustainability is missing totally from the priority actions - in energy, transport, housing, sustainable communities etc. The environment aspects in the Chair's IPM text have been lost from the summary matrix. d) Production & Consumption - These and the other-cutting issues are not profiled in the Chair's summary. DEG participants stressed that these gaps should be addressed, in particular SCP, which is primarily a responsibility of industrialised countries. e) Governance - DEG participants continued to support the Right to Water and welcomed the support for a rights based approach in the Chair's text. This marries with the various Right to Water meetings hosted by Governments (France, Germany) on World Water Day

DEG participants suggested opportunities for CSD13 to focus on strengthening a regional, transboundary approach and actions, with follow-up and monitoring taking place via regional bodies such as AMCOW or the UN Economic Commissions. Defra thought this was interesting and highlighted that the US had suggested a process using the Regional Banks.

Corruption has not been addressed in Chair's text and is difficult for countries to table.

(iii) CSD Follow-up & Monitoring - One main outcome of CSD 13 needs to be where the issues will be dealt with in following years until 2015. Settlements could dealt with under UN-Habitat, but Water and Sanitation don't have an institutional home. Defra felt that the EU supports the idea of an 'enhanced' UN-Water, subject to it dealing with IWRM. DEG participants agreed it was a leading option, but remained cautious until the details are worked out. A question posed was "as UN Water is principally for UN coordination, what about government accountability and reporting?" If this is via the JMP (full name?), this is not sufficient. DEG participants also stressed that they would like CSD13 to send strong recommendations to the FFD follow up meeting and MillenniumReview Summit in 2005.

(iv) Summary - there is still opportunity to share ideas with UK/EU (ideally before EU meeting on Tuesday 5th April), particularly around the structure and political side of the outcomes. Everyone still seems to be struggling with what the CSD can do and what good outcomes might look like!

3. CSD-13 Attendance DEFRA - Robert Lowson will lead delegation for High Level Segment. Roy Hathaway, Andrew Randall, Georgina Ayre, Robin Carter and Siobhan Hunt will be there for the two weeks. 1 or 2 ministers (unlikely to be SoS) will be present during the HLS. DFID - Peregrine Swann will unfortunately not be present for health reasons. DFID will be represented by Anna MacQueen (week 1) and Anna Ballance (week 2) and Michael Parkes for human settlements. Possibly Ministerial input as there is a parallel Development Ministers meeting taking place in the UN that week. FCO - Daniel Wilson and Andrew Soper (week 2) Approximately 20 UK stakeholders expected in Week 1, but less in Week 2. Chris Tydeman (DEG Environment) and Danielle Morley (DEG Development) will be on UK delegation for week 1 Sarah Oppenheimer (DEG Environment) and Chris Tydeman (DEG Development) will be on UK delegation for week 2 4. Stakeholder-Government meetings Morning delegation meetings: DEG has 1 seat/day and Local Gov/Industry/ Trade Unions/Youth have 1 seat/day

Evening meetings: All stakeholders are invited to briefing/consultation meeting on Monday 11, Wednesday 13 & Friday 15 (6.15pm-6.45pm) by the book shop and post office in the basement area. The UK delegation will attend.

5. UNEP GC/GMEF - Refer to Presidents Summary which can be found on UNEP's website (GC outcome 23): www.unep.org/gc/gc23/

6. Other agenda items deferred to next meeting.