South African programme at today's CSD11 Partnerships Fair

The South African programme at the CSD11 Partnerships Fair features two projects for today:

1. The Johannesburg Climate Legacy Project (JCL)

The leading partner for the Johannesburg Climate Legacy (JCL) project is the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) South Africa office.

The JCL is a flagship project of the Greening the World Summit on Sustainable Development (GWSSD) process, which is being managed by IUCN South Africa. The JCL measured the carbon dioxide emissions of the Summit and then offset these by investing in carbon-reducing, sustainable projects across South Africa, such as solar power and energy efficient initiatives.

The partners to this initiative/partnership include the South African National Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), the Gauteng Provincial Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs (DACEL), and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).

2. Bicycle Refurbishing Initiative

This partnership/initiative will develop a working model in South Africa and in Europe and the US to establish a bicycle refurbishment industry target of realising more cycling, contributing to a variety of sustainable development issues.

The key objective of this partnership is to enhance sustainable development and improve the quality of life in urban and rural communities.

The leading partner for this initiative is the Amsterdam-based Velo Mondial-Afribike Nederland.

Youth session at Partnerships Fair yields considerable interest

The first event on the South African Programme of the CSD11 Partnerships Fair -- Youth and Sustainable Development, presented by the Global Youth Network on Tuesday, 29 April -- stimulated interaction with a variety of organisations that showed interest in potentially becoming partners to the dialogue.

The International Youth Dialogue on Sustainable Development is a voluntary, non-governmental not-for-profit organisation based in Durban, South Africa. It focuses on the 10 priority areas on youth, as identified by the United Nations.

Says Pierre Andipatin, executive director of the Global Youth Network, "The Global Youth Network is a new, promising organisation that aims to build capacity among our youth and ensure effective information transfer in order for the youth to participate in sustainable development in a meaningful way."

Among others, keen interest to become partners to the dialogue was shown by the World Federation of United Nations Associations, the Unesco representative for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and the International Association of Public Transport.

Andipatin believes that the session offered an opportunity for interested and like-minded parties to meet, interact and exchange ideas on an informal basis. The potential partners' involvement would include contributions in terms of capacity, access to its constituencies, and access to youth structures as well as individuals.

One clear outcome of the session was the need to create improved activities and participation regarding the youth's involvement in environmental and sustainable development issues.

"We believe that the commitment from more and more organisations as partners to this dialogue will contribute to the awakening of youth activism, which is essential for the dialogue to reach its objectives," concludes Andipatin.

The Partnerships Fair is a parallel event of the Commission on Sustainable Development 11 (CSD11) session, being held at the United Nations (UN) in New York, from April 28 through May 8, 2003.