15 December 2011: The latest issue of the newsletter from the Secretariat of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), “Rio+20: Making It Happen,” focuses on disaster risk reduction (DRR) for sustainable development. Noting the deadly rains that occurred in South Africa before the Durban Climate Change Conference, the newsletter stresses the particular vulnerability of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS) to extreme weather events. In addition, economic loss from disaster is growing faster than Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, meaning that the risk of losing wealth in weather-related disasters now exceeds the rate at which the wealth itself is being created. According to the newsletter, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR)-led campaign on Resilient Cities has been joined by over 900 cities and local governments, but implementation of the 2005 Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) has been uneven. The newsletter calls for the UNCSD to reinforce the political and financial commitment to DRR as a core component of sustainable development and climate adaptation. It highlights a discussion paper from UN/ISDR titled “Preparing for Rio+20: Redefining Sustainable Development,” and an “Issues Brief” from the UNCSD Secretariat on DRR and resilience building.

The newsletter also notes that the President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, organized a retreat for member States on the UNCSD Outcome Document and the role of partnerships in sustainable development, on 17-18 December 2011, immediately following the Second Intersessional Meeting of the UNCSD (Intersessional II), in Glen Cove, US. [Publication: Rio+20: Making it Happen, Vol. 2, Issue 23] [Publication: UN/ISDR Discussion Paper: Preparing for Rio +20 – Redefining Sustainable Development] [Publication: Issues Brief 8: Reducing Disaster Risk and Building Resilience]