May 2008: Delegates to the sixteenth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD16), which convened at UN headquarters in New York, US, from 5-16 May 2008, reviewed the thematic cluster of agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa.

Throughout CSD-16, participants highlighted the connections between the session’s thematic agenda and both the current food crisis and climate change, and highlighted the drivers of food prices, including land degradation, high energy costs, climate change, poor harvests, speculation in agricultural commodities, inequitable terms of trade, decline of investments in agricultural and rural development, and increased production of biofuels from food crops. A Chair’s Summary outlines the issues discussed. Delegates will attain take up these issues at the May 2009 meeting of CSD17, during which policy recommendations will be negotiated. [IISD RS coverage]