The 9th ESDN Workshop took place in Brussels on 21-22 February 2013. The Workshop was entitled "The Future of the EU SDS - Expectations and Possible Contributions from the ESDN". In total, 50 participant from 11 European countries attended the workshop.
The conclusions of the Environmental Council meeting on 25 October 2012 include the clear intention to operationalize and implement the commitments included in the Rio+20 outcome document in the EU and its Member States “in particular through the European Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS), which therefore should be reviewed as soon as possible, at the latest in 2014” (para 3). Therefore, it is seen as important by the ESDN to formulate expectations for the future of the EU SDS and how the SD community could possibly contribute to it.
The main objectives of the workshop were: (a) to reflect upon the Rio+20 outcomes document and which of its objectives and targets are particularly important to be addressed in the EU; (b) on the basis of this, which topics should be addressed in the forthcoming EU SDS review and how could a future governance structure for the EU SDS look like; and (c) to identify a potential role and services the ESDN could fulfil for the EU SDS review and in the post-review EU SDS process.
Rio+20 outcome document, objective and targets, and the particular role of Europe
Irene Garcia: Programme Adviser, UN/UNDP, Brussels Office, Belgium
Rio+20 outcome document: Key outputs that inform the SD agenda at the EU level
Rio+20 resultsand their implementation in Europe – the CSOs' view
Pieter de Pous: Policy Director, European Environmental Bureau, Belgium
Review of the EU SDS in 2014 – update and background information
Review of the EU SDS – Importance from a sustainable development perspective
Andreas Versmann: SD Observatory, European Economic and Social Committee, Belgium
Rio+20 follow-up and the review of the EU SDS: Important topics and governance challenges from the Member States’ perspective
Sylvie Delmotte: Federal Foreign Office, Germany
A look at the history of the ESDN reveals that ESDN Workshops have played a prominent role in facilitating networking between European SD practitioners and policy advisors. This section of the website provides a one-stop-shop documentation of all ESDN Workshops so far. Please click on one of the Workshops for more details:
