CSD 17

May 6, 2009 · New York

For the first time in history, CSD had a female chair,
For the first time in history, the bureau was Gender balanced,
(Coincidence or not) a lot of negotiators where women (which also shows the differences / diversity within the women major group by the way)

Did it make a difference ???

"women farmers" and the role if women is mentioned 40 times;

More importantly, in most cases women are referred to as actors, not as victims - finally! - although they still do not get the difference with "other vulnerable groups" (sic);
Bottom-up approaches are in the text;
Capacity development and empower- ment of women and small holders gets a lot of attention;
"Promote and enable women's equitable role in decision-making" is stated several times;
Ecosystem services got on the agenda regardless of still fierce opposition; (it's a start: during CSD8 some countries were still of the opinion it was a "market distortion idea");
Even the "hot potato" of land rights is there within the text...
Women and other major groups got to speak in almost every session