May 2010: The UN Secretariat has released the report of the 12th session of the Committee for Development Policy (E/2010/33), which took place from 22-26 March 2010, in New York, US.
The report covers the following issues: impact of global crises on gender equality and the empowerment of women; international support measures available for least developed countries; support by the UN system for small island developing States (SIDS), and coherence of the climate change agenda in relation not only to its own financial architecture but also with respect to other development policies; and the development progress of countries graduating from the least developed country (LDC) category, namely Equatorial Guinea, Maldives and Samoa.
The Committee for Development Policy considered the current policy context in terms of coherence both in relation to the broader objective of sustainable development and to the emerging financial architecture for mitigation and adaptation, and other existing development financing mechanisms. The Committee warns that the postponement of mitigation measures would result in costlier adaptation. The report notes that funding for adaptation and mitigation is far from adequate, despite a proliferation of financing mechanisms. The Committee proposes that the regime of the financial architecture for climate change should come under the aegis of the UN Climate Change Conference, and that policies involving climate should facilitate economic development in a sustainable way. The Committee also underlines that while climate change presents a threat to livelihoods and the sustained achievement of development objectives, it also offers prospects for innovative social and economic practices. [The Report]