10 January 2012: The “zero draft” of the Outcome Document of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), circulated on 10 January 2012, was accompanied by a letter from John Ashe, Antigua and Barbuda, and Kim Sook, Republic of Korea, who co-chair the Bureau for the Conference’s preparatory process. In the letter, the Co-Chairs propose an organization of work for the upcoming consultations on the draft.

During the initial discussions on the zero draft, scheduled for 25-27 January, the first day and a half will be allocated to general reactions to the draft. The remaining day and a half will be devoted to more detailed, informal-informal negotiations on the first two sections of the draft – Section I, “Preamble/Stage setting,” and Section II, “Renewing Political Commitment.” The Co-Chairs ask member States to submit written comments on these two sections by 23 January, for compilation ahead of the meeting.

Regarding the subsequent, first round of informal-informal negotiations, scheduled for 19-23 March, the Co-Chairs also request written comments in advance. Comments on the remaining sections of the draft – Section III, “Green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication;” Section IV, “Institutional framework for sustainable development;” and Section V, “Framework for action and follow-up” – should be submitted by 17 February. [Co-Chairs’ Letter]