4 May 2009: The 17th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD17) opened on 4 May 2009, at UN Headquarters in New York, US.

At the opening of the session, UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro noted the timeliness of the thematic cluster of issues on the CSD’s agenda: desertification, drought, agriculture, land, rural development and Africa. She highlighted that these issues are deeply intertwined and are also “intimately related to our response to climate change, our goal of reducing extreme poverty and our promise to make hunger history.” [Deputy Secretary-General’s statement] [IISD RS coverage]