ABSTRACT
An examination of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) offers a window on the intergovernmental sustainable development policy-making process between the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, also called Earth Summit) and the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (also called Rio+20) (see Summit diplomacy). The UNCED action plan, titled “Agenda 21,” called for the creation of the CSD to ensure the effective follow-up of the Conference, and the Commission began with much of the euphoria that followed the Earth Summit (Chasek 2000). The CSD comprised fifty-three member states of the United Nations that were elected on a rotating basis, although all UN member states could participate in its annual sessions, which were facilitated by a dedicated
secretariat. It was established as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which meant its decisions were forwarded to the annual ECOSOC session for final approval.
