The Commission on Sustainable Development was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.

As a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), CSD has 53 member States (about one third of the members are elected on a yearly basis).

The CSD has opened its sessions to broad participation from both governmental and non-governmental actors, and it supports a number of innovative activities, such as the Partnerships Fair, the Learning Centre and a series of panels, roundtables and side events. The High-level segment features dialogue among Ministers, and Ministers also hold a special dialogue session with Major Groups.

The CSD meets annually in New York, in two-year cycles, with each cycle focusing on clusters of specific thematic and cross-sectoral issues, outlined in its new multi-year programme of work (2003-2017) (E/CN.17/2003/6)

Current CSD themes

CSD 18 and CSD 19 meet in May 2010 and 2011 respectively, to firstly review and then to make policy decisions on the following themes:

• Transport
• Chemicals
• Waste Management (Hazardous & Solid Waste)
• Mining
• A Ten Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns