18th Meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) Steering Committee – Jan 18, 2017

    18th Meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) Steering Committee
    © Hoda Elturk

    The Steering Committee of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) held its 18th meeting on 18 and 19 January 2017 in Athens, Greece.

    Participants to the meeting discussed the progress made in the implementation of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development 2016-2025 (MSSD 2016-2025) and its monitoring plan. The Strategy is a strategic guiding document for all stakeholders and partners to translate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the regional, sub-regional and national levels. Acknowledging the positive results achieved so far, they highlighted the need to further strengthen links between the work of the Commission and the implementation of the MSSD 2016-2025 with international and regional processes, in particular the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs.

    The meeting included a detailed presentation of the progress in the development of the Mediterranean Sustainable Development Dashboard and the Simplified Peer Review Mechanism (SIMPEER) of National Strategies for Sustainable Development. Following conclusions and recommendations of the meeting, the Dashboard and its list of populated indicators will be discussed by the 17th Meeting of the MCSD in July 2017, and submitted to the meeting of the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention for their consideration.

    Based on encouraging preliminary results, the members of the MCSD Steering Committee recommended the Peer Review Mechanism to have a follow-up, engaging and fostering dialogue and experiences sharing between Contracting Parties on their national frameworks, structures and processes on sustainable development. They also encouraged to strengthen links between the SIMPEER process, at the Mediterranean level, and the voluntary national reviews, at the global level, under the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF), in which a number of Mediterranean countries are also involved.

    Finally, the Steering Committee initiated the preparations for the upcoming meeting of the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development in 2017 and its possible contribution to the CoP20.