2 June 2012: At the third and final round of “informal informal” consultations ahead of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), delegates resumed consideration of the draft outcome document for Rio+20, which is titled “The Future We Want.”

The session took place from 29 May-2 June 2012, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. It was added following the last informal informal negotiations, held from 23 April-4 May 2012, at the same venue, which were intended to be the final round before the meetings in Rio de Janeiro. However, since delegates only agreed ad referendum on 21 of 420 paragraphs, with several issues, including green economy and the institutional framework for sustainable development (IFSD), eluding consensus, the Bureau decided to hold an additional informal negotiating session.

Delegates discussed an 80-page revised draft text produced by the Co-Chairs in two working groups and over 20 issue-specific contact or “splinter” groups. In the end, 70 paragraphs were agreed ad referendum, with 259 containing bracketed text.

According to IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB), with less than three weeks to go before Rio+20, areas of divergence remain, including: several issues within the Framework for Action, such as climate change, oceans and food and agriculture; the process for establishing sustainable development goals (SDGs); means of implementation, most notably finance and technology transfer; IFSD; and green economy. ENB notes that negotiators were “working against a political backdrop not terribly conducive to a successful preparatory process,” citing the economic drift, financial shocks, a troubled Euro and the traditionally harsh political impact of a US election year. [IISD RS Earth Negotiations Bulletin Meeting Coverage] [UNCSD Press Release] [UN Press Release]