The French Commission on Sustainable Development was dissolved.

Information about the former

French Commission on Sustainable Development (CFDD)

Commission française du développement durable

Current and Future Activities

Current activities

Since the EEAC conference of November 2001, the main activities of CFDD have been the following :

• Opinion 2001-06 on « rationale » agriculture (November 2001)
• Contribution to the national debate on GMO and fields experiments (February 2002)
• Organization of a citizens conference on climate change and citizenship (February 2002)
• Opinion 2002-07 on culture and sustainable development (April 2002)
• Participation to the EEAC working group on agriculture and hosting of a meeting in Paris (June 2002)
• Organization of a side event in Johannesburg on culture, citizenship and public debate (August 2002)

Planned activities

In the short term, CFDD will be involved in the re-writing of the National strategy on sustainable development.

For year 2003, the main planned activity is the organization of another citizens conference, if possible in partnership with 2 other countries. The theme "globalization, agriculture and sustainable development", was dismissed. A new topic is currently discussed.

Background and Mission

The French Commission for Sustainable Development The CFDD is an independent consultative body affiliated with the Prime Minister’s office, in accordance with the UN guidelines (Action 21 Programme, Rio, 1992). It was created on March 29, 1993 by Prime ministerial decree.

Its missions are:
- to define directions for a policy of sustainable development;
- to submit recommendations to the Government that promote these directions;
- to contribute to the elaboration of a French program for sustainable development.

By virtue of its status as an independent commission, the CFDD is able to take up all subjects relating to sustainable development.
Rather than a group of experts, the CFDD brings together volunteers of diverse backgrounds. It purports to be a think tank, analyzing the real causes of problematic situations and devising proposals to alleviate or to stem them. This is why the CFDD takes a global approach whose ambition is transversal and universal; it seeks to highlight the human actions that run counter to an acceptable existence, today as well as tomorrow, and for all the citizens of the world.

Since 2000, the CFDD produced seven opinions (or position papers) concerning the principle of precaution, agriculture, the patentability of life, energy, climate, biotechnology and culture. In all these domains, the CFDD advocates citizens’ consultation. For instance, it proposes to organize a “consultative committee for the evaluation of technologies”, a public reflection on the objectives of scientific research, and, on a more general level, it promotes the recourse to citizens’ conferences, in order to bring politicians up to date on what people think and want, once they are properly informed.

The CFDD aims at counterbalancing the private interests of industrial and state lobbies, which heavily influence political decisions based on complacent and biased expertise. In this frame, it produced position papers on nuclear energy (opinion number 5), on genetically modified plants (opinion number 2), patentability of life (opinion number 3), rational and precision agriculture (opinion number 6), precaution principle (opinion number 1). The CFDD’s latest opinion (number 7), deals with culture and proposes to make it the fourth pillar of sustainable development. Indeed, sustainable development, the civilization process, and culture, are absolutely inseparable, for what truly makes the human beings’ humanity is indeed culture.

On the topic of climate, the CFDD organized a citizens’ conference in 2002 in partnership with the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, entitled “Climate changes and citizenship.” The conclusions of the citizens’ panel demonstrate a great coherence of ideas, even more impressive given the complexity of the stakes. These conclusions also show that such coherence, inspired by a common sense that many experts lack, goes together with generosity and a genuine concern for impartiality.

This is why the CFDD decided to focus its efforts on the citizens’ conferences and to renew the experiment many times over, so as to let public opinion and politicians know about the exceptional potential of such procedures for democratic regulation.

Even though the CFDD does not develop its reflection specifically for the Earth Summit of Johannesburg (August 2002), it wishes to bring to the table these elements, knowing that they exceed this particular meeting. It believes that it is necessary to advance structuring proposals for the future of sustainable development; proposals that take into account citizenship and culture, always in need of democratic vigilance.

Organisation

The French Commission on Sustainable Development is composed of 23 members:
- 20 are appointed by the Prime Minister for renewable 3-year terms;
- 3 are members by law: the French representative to the U.N. Sustainable Development Commission, the president of the Interdepartmental mission on the greenhouse effect, and the Commissioner of the General Plan.

Jacques TESTART, a biologist and a director of research at the INSERM, has been president of the CFDD since July 1999. The Commission’s 23 members include qualified personnel and representatives of the economic field, regional authorities, members of the government, and non-governmental organizations working for sustainable development or for the defence of the environment.

The Commission convenes independently and meets on a regular basis, about 10 times a year.

From expert reports to citizens’ recommendations

In 1995, 1996, and 1997, the CFDD issued global reports on sustainable development. The 1996 report served as a basis for the National Strategy for Sustainable Development published by the French government in February 1997. In 1998, the global report was replaced by a five-volume directory describing the state of mobilization for sustainable development in France.

In 1997 and 1998, the CFDD published several specific reports: “Employment and Sustainable Development”, “Economic methods of Sustainable Development”, “Application of the Notion of Sustainable Development to Water-supply”, and “Biological Diversity”. The report on employment led to the publication in October 1999 of a “Sustainable Development Charter for Government-owned businesses”. In late 1999, the CFDD ordered a survey on sustainable development in French education, which resulted in a “Study on Perceptions of Sustainable Development”.

Since 2000, The CFDD has focused its work on promoting a few key subjects, rather than covering a wide range of themes. It now proceeds by issuing recommendations to the government. The Commission also organises citizens’ conferences on more complex subjects that, in its opinion, require the recommendations of educated citizens.

The CFDD has set itself three axes of action:
- to produce meaning rather than expertise;
- to stimulate and deepen public debate on significant subjects related to sustainable development,
- to propose more consultation between existing commissions dealing with sustainable development.

CFDD Opinions

From March 2000 to July 2002, the CFDD put out seven Opinions in the form of position papers:

- Opinion no. 2001-01 on the “Principle of precaution”, was adopted in March 2000. Following upon a report presented to the Prime Minister on October 15, 1999 by Philippe Kourilsky and Geneviève Viney, the CFDD Opinion proposes a unique system for the implementation of a principle of precaution. It calls for an evaluation procedure cantered around consultation with civil society; a “Consultative Committee for the Evaluation of Technologies” would be formed by a group of voluntary citizens, selected at random. When dealing with topics that weigh heavily on the future and that tend to be polemical, the CFDD proposes to have recourse to citizens’ conferences based on the conference organised in France on the subject of genetically-modified organisms.
- Opinion no. 2002-02 on “Genetically-modified organisms”, adopted in July 2002, deals uniquely with plant life. This CFDD opinion also submits proposals for the organisation of political power with respect to scientific and technical production, specifically in the realm of new technologies.
- Opinion no. 2000-03 on “Flexibility mechanisms in Kyoto”, was adopted in November 2000 during the conference at The Hague. This CFDD position paper suggests that these mechanisms must take account of the founding principles of sustainable development: solidarity, equity, and a long-term perspective. The CFDD particularly emphasized the long-term risks of commercialisation without a clear endpoint or horizon for convergence.
- Opinion no. 2000-04 on “Patentability of Life” was adopted in December 2000. The Minister of Urban and Rural Planning and of the Environment requested a report on this subject from the CFDD. Pointing to the ethical concerns prevalent in public opinion, the Recommendation states that the evolution of international patent law in the realm of biotechnology does not conform to the objectives of sustainable development.
- Opinion no. 2001-05 on “An Economic study on the future of the field of Nuclear Electricity”, was adopted in February 2001. The CFDD Opinion followed upon a report presented to the Prime Minister on July 28, 2000 (the Charpin-Dessus-Pellat Report), and emphasized the high quality of this report. The CFDD points out that this report provides the government with clear conclusions proving the inefficiency of reprocessing of radioactive nuclear material with the intention to recycle it; this is true both with respect to nuclear waste processing and with respect to economic considerations. The CFDD underlines the fact that the report places primary emphasis on reducing energy consumption as the only means to achieve important savings on energy (on the order of 15 billion francs per year.)
- Opinion no. 2002-06 on “Precision and rationale agriculture” was adopted in November 2001. Following on the report presented by Guy Paillotin to the Ministry of Fishing and Agriculture in February 2000, the CFDD opinion seeks to emphasize the lacunas and interrogate the basic postulates of this work. The CFDD deplores the fact that consideration of the social and territorial aspects of agricultural activity is absent from the report, and that it reduces the economic aspect of agriculture to farming profitability. The Commission regrets that the report does not offer a global approach to agriculture. The CFDD requests a continuing and expanded discussion on French agriculture, placing it in a European and world-wide framework.
- Opinion no. 2002-07 on “Culture and Sustainable Development”, was adopted in June 2002. With this opinion, the CFDD wishes to draw the attention of public opinion and of political authorities to the importance of culture in sustainable development. Insisting on the value of cultural diversity, humankind’s real patrimony, the CFDD proposes to install culture alongside the economy, social issues and the environment, as the fourth pillar of sustainable development. The Commission requests that culture be declared an inalienable common good, and that relays for this political position be established both at the European and the international level.

The Citizens’ Conferences : enriching the democratic process
The goal of citizens’ conferences is to contribute to the creation of a real space for public debate on issues on which expression and even information are too often reserved for groups defending particular interests.

The conferences seek to bring out citizens’ opinions, formulated by people who have no particular expertise on the questions raised, but who have accepted to undertake a careful consideration on the basis of a deepened knowledge of the issues, which will allow them to adopt a responsible position on the subjects at hand.

The French Commission for Sustainable Development proposes that public authorities make regular use of this type of operation in order to be able to draw upon the recommendations of educated citizens when dealing with complex subjects that require both technological, economic and social choices.

The citizens’ conference on genetically-modified organisms, organized by the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices, the first such conference in France, was not followed by new initiatives in that direction. Given this lack, the CFDD undertook to organize, in partnership with the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, a citizens’ conference on the subject of “Climate Change and Citizenship”; the conference took place between December 2001 and February 2002.

The CFDD plans to organise a new citizens’ conference in 2003 on the subject of “Globalised Agriculture and Sustainable Development”, in partnership with a Southern country and an Eastern European country that is a candidate to the European Union.

Organisation of the citizens’ conference on “Climate Change and Citizenship”
The citizens’ conference was supervised by a Steering Committee and proceeded in the following manner:

• A panel of 16 citizens of varied backgrounds was brought together by an independent body (IFOP), according to a number of criteria (sex, age, geographic location, profession, etc.)
• During two weekends (December 15-16, 2001 and January 19-20, 2002), they received a training as complete as possible on the various aspects of the issue of “Climate Change and Citizenship”. The best French specialists, academics and researchers, participated in educating the citizens.
• At the end of these educational sessions, the 16 citizens selected the themes that they wished to deal with in depth and the types of interlocutors that they wished to invite to the public debate (February 9-10, 2002).
• The citizens led the debate then adjourned to write a report presenting their recommendations for dealing with the challenge of climate change. This report was released to the press on February 11, 2002.

Throughout this process, a psycho-sociologist coordinated and followed the activities of the 16 citizens. Their anonymity was strictly maintained before the public debate. Their work, discussions and educational sessions, occurred behind closed doors and without any intervention by a member of the Steering Committee.

Council Members

List of Publications available in English

• Activities report 2000/2001 (including the text of the 5 advice mentioned above, in English and French);
• Advice on the GMOs (July 2000);
• Advice on the Kyoto flexibility mechanisms (November 2000);
• Advice about the precautionary principle (April 2000);

• 1996 Report: Contribution to the National Debate. November 1996;
  8 issues, 35 proposals, 16 pages
  Priority action, 68 pages
  Assessment elements, 240 pages

• Journals of Sustainable Development
  No. 2: Study of the Actors of Sustainable Development: Environmental Associations. "France Nature Environment". December 1996. 52 pages;
  No. 3: International Solidarity Organizations in International Relations. Michel Faucon. December 1996. 40 pages;

(Available on request at the CFDD Secretariat)

Copyright © 2000-2007 by European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils, Den Haag. All Rights Reserved.
Last update: 31 August 2004