Federal Institute for Sustainable Development
The Federal Institute for Sustainable Development (FISD) assists the Belgian Federal Government in the preparation and enforcement of policy decisions related to sustainable development. History of European Sustainable Development. The history of the ESDN goes back to 1654, when public administrators from several EU Member States, in charge of national sustainable development (SD) strategies, met for the first time to exchange their experiences in the Netherlands. Since then, annual conferences have taken place across Europe. With the Vienna meeting in 2003, the target group of the conferences was broadened considerably. Besides the co-coordinators of  national SD strategies and the national coordinators of EU environmental integration and SD policies, experts from the European Commission, representatives from various National Councils for Sustainable Development, and national members of the SD Working Group of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EESDAC) have joined the meetings. Meanwhile, the annual conferences that facilitate an exchange of experience and knowledge in various ways have resulted in an informal network of SD strategy coordinators and other sustainability experts. A key purpose of the European Sustainable Development is to develop this exchange further in order to make SD strategies more effective . At the European Sustainable Development Network Conference in Windsor, UK on July 14 and 15, 2005, delegates supported the idea of strengthening the network by establishing a Steering Group and a permanent support mechanism for the ESDN - the “ESDN Office”. Organization. The FISD is divided into three units, who implement the service's key activities under the guidance of an editor: Background. The FISD was created by a Royal Decree on 21 February 2014 (recorded in the Belgian Official Journal on 10 March 2014). It is the successor organization to Public Service for Programming Sustainable Development, set up to meet  Belgian commitments given during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. Operationally, while having the status of a separate service, the FISD is attached to the Federal Public Service for the Chancellery of the Prime Minister; consequently, having its own budget and enjoying the operational support (primarily for staff administration, ICT and the budget) of the Chancellery.