General Assembly - UN Documents

A/CONF.216/PC/2
effective coordination with traditional decision-making processes is important.
Having them co-chaired by lead economic or development ministries could help
bring them into the mainstream of decision-making. The selection of stakeholders
and their representatives is a key element for the national councils for sustainable
development, as it is important to ensure that the views and interests of stakeholders
that cannot easily organize themselves are adequately reflected. Revitalized councils
could be tasked with following up on the implementation of decisions of the
Commission on Sustainable Development, and reporting back to the Commission on
the progress made.
90. National sustainable development strategies are another key institutional issue
for sustainable development. In many countries, they are the result of gradual
reform of existing institutions. In the absence of planning processes or in cases
where these were ineffective, the establishment of new processes for sustainable
development strategies was helpful. It should be underscored that a national
sustainable development strategy is a process requiring continuous learning. Within
the context of these strategies, establishing effective coordination mechanisms
within the Government is an important institutional aspect. The establishment of
inter-ministerial councils and working groups led by a central agency (the offices of
the prime minister or president or the ministries of finance or planning) has often
been found effective. Finding institutions for increasing vertical coherence between
national and subnational levels, however, is generally less developed. Another
institutional aspect of national sustainable development strategies is the need to find
mechanisms for reviewing existing strategies, such as internal and external expert
reviews, international peer or shared learning processes and reviews by established
official institutions.
91. Another institutional challenge for a national sustainable development strategy
relates to the fact that sustainable development reflects many different scales.
National strategies and policies may have impacts on other countries and on
regional and global commons. These need to be adequately considered and
addressed in national processes, including through external peer review. The
participation of representatives of developing countries in the process of reviewing
national sustainable development strategies in developed countries over the past
years could be seen as a step in this direction. Further strengthening participatory
processes for sustainable development also requires that improving transparency and
access to information be continued. In this regard, harnessing advances in
information and communications technologies could be instrumental.
F. Knowledge-creating and knowledge-sharing institutions
92. The spread of the Internet has made available to people around the world an
abundance — if not always a wealth — of information on a virtually unlimited
variety of topics, including sustainable development. The proliferation of
information sources and the ease of information access have rendered the task of
organizing and consolidating useful information and knowledge on sustainable
development both difficult and urgent.
93. While a significant body of knowledge has emerged on the concept and
practice of sustainable development, much of this information is fragmented and it
is often not available in a form that is convenient for policymakers and practitioners.
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