14 January 2011: The first issue in 2011 of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) Secretariat’s biweekly newsletter, titled “Rio20: Making it Happen,” was published on 14 January 2011.

The newsletter highlights a number of past and upcoming meetings, including: the First Intersessional Meeting of UNCSD, which took place from 10-11 January 2011, in New York, US; the 10th Bureau Meeting on 11 January 2011; the Second Intersessional meeting, scheduled to take place in New York on 14-15 November 2011; and the high-level intersessional meeting on a 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which was held in Panama City on 13-14 January 2011.

The newsletter notes the release of the Synthesis Report on Best Practices and Lessons Learned on the Objective and Themes of the Conference and the UN Secretary-General’s report on Objective and Themes.

The newsletter also reports that: the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is preparing its “Green Economy Report,” which will be presented at the UNEP Governing Council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya; and the UN Division of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have developed a project proposal to support national preparations for the UNCSD to enable developing countries to participate effectively in formal and informal preparatory meetings of the UNCSD.

Finally, the newsletter notes that the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) has established a working group on Rio+20 led by the Permanent Missions of Grenada and Maldives to the UN. [Rio20: Making it Happen Volume 2, Issue 1]