September 2011: The second issue of the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service’s (UN-NGLS) “Road to Rio” e-newsletter, highlights meetings held by various groups and countries in preparation for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), including: meetings held by small island developing States to discuss their perspectives on the themes of the Conference; the regional preparatory meeting held by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); the High-level Dialogue on the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD); the meetings held by the Bureau for Rio+20; and meetings of civil society organizations.

The second issue also reports on the Security Council’s debate on the impact of climate change on the maintenance of international peace and security, which agreed on a Presidential Statement recognizing the potential security implications of climate change-induced loss of territory.

The newsletter also contains an opinion piece written by Jem Bendell, Asia-Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, on how governments can scale responsible business innovations to achieve sustainable economic governance. An article by the Sustainable World Initiative on “Why the International Framework for Sustainable Development Needs Sustainability Evaluation and Reporting” emphasizes the need for sustainability evaluation and reporting in order to improve IFSD.

Other highlights contained in the newsletter include: outcomes of the 64th Annual UN Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organizations Conference (DPI/NGO Conference), during which a Declaration for Rio+20 was adopted; and a summary of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) public symposium on the theme “Making Trade and Finance Work for People and the Planet,” which was organized with NGLS. [Publication: The Road to Rio, Issue 2]