Multistakeholder Dialogues with the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development

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Published February, 2008
Keywords:
CBI Practitioners: 
David Fairman
Clients: 
United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development

 

Multistakeholder dialogues are an increasingly popular tool of engagement of non-state actors in international negotiations. In 2002, CBI completed an evaluation of the multistakeholder dialogue processes instituted in 1998 by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), the body created and mandated to promote the execution of Agenda 21, the program of action adopted at the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development. The declared purpose of these dialogues was to inform the inter-governmental decision making process of the CSD by allowing equal-level and direct exchanges of views and experiences on problems and consideration of possible solutions between major groups and governments. The term “major groups” refers to those sectors of society identified by Agenda 21 as playing a particularly crucial role in the development and implementation of policies for sustainable development. The category includes NGOs, local authorities, business and industry, farmers, trade unions, scientists, women, youth and indigenous peoples. In the four years covered by the study (1998-2001), the CSD dealt with the substantive areas of industry, tourism, agriculture and energy, as they bear on sustainability.

The central research questions for the study were: how successfully has the CSD conducted its multistakeholder dialogue segments? What are the strengths and weaknesses of its participatory model? How should intergovernmental policy forums structure their participatory processes to maximize constructive input from a disparate set of social forces? A variety of research tools were used to answer these questions, including direct observation of multistakeholder dialogue sessions, analyses of written surveys, seventy personal interviews, review of background papers and negotiating texts, and viewing of video-taped documentation of CSD segments. Effectiveness was assessed in terms of meeting the organizers’ and participants’ goals, the legitimacy and productivity of the process, and government representatives’ recognition of the multistakeholder dialogue recommendations in summary documents and subsequent concrete actions.

The CSD has invested significant resources – time, personnel and financing – to carry out the multistakeholder dialogues, which represent a tremendous contribution to the complex problem of integrating broader participation into intergovernmental foray. The overall assessment highlights six elements that need to be incorporated into a dialogue structure — representation and participation; time constraints; agenda-setting; facilitation; linkage to decision-making; and follow-through — all the while keeping in mind the organic relationship between the preparatory, meeting and implementation phases. The study concludes with a series of recommendations for consideration by the organizers and participants.

 

For more information on this case, please contact Managing Director David Fairman.