December 2011: The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has released six issue briefs in the lead-up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), as part of its series on “Rio 2012 Issues Briefs.” The briefs provide background and analysis with the aim of guiding UN member States’ consideration of issues related to Rio+20.

The recently released issues briefs include: Issues Brief 4, on oceans; Issues Brief 5, on sustainable cities; Issues Brief 6, on current ideas on sustainable development goals and indicators; Issues Brief 7, on green jobs and social inclusion; Issues Brief 8, on reducing disaster risk and building resilience; and Issues Brief 9, on food security and sustainable agriculture.

Previous issues of the DESA briefs focused on issues related to an intergovernmental body for sustainable development (November 2011), on trade and the green economy (March 2011) and peer review mechanisms, as part of strengthening IFSD (July 2011). [UNCSD Website]