15 May 2009: The final decision adopted by the 17th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, which convened from 4-15 May 2009 at UN Headquarters in New York, NY, recognizes that agriculture is dependent on climate and sensitive to climate change, and that sustainable agricultural practices as well as sustainable forest management can contribute to meeting climate change concerns.

The meeting considered policy options to address the thematic cluster of agriculture, rural development, drought, desertification, land and Africa. The final agreement suggests that, inter alia: international, regional and national efforts to strengthen capacity of developing countries to enhance agricultural productivity and to promote sustainable practices in pre-harvest and postharvest agricultural activities are urgently needed; the success of sustainable rural development depends on developing and implementing comprehensive strategies for dealing with climate change, drought, desertification and natural disaster; integrated land and water resource management in addressing land degradation, water scarcity and adapting to impacts of climate change should be promoted; and policies and strategies for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction should be integrated. The CSD’s decisions will be forwarded to the July 2009 meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for its consideration. [IISDRS CSD 17 coverage] [Advance unedited adopted text]