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