By Amy Mehta, IUCN Programme Management Officer, Permanent Mission to the UN
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20) was the first conference of this magnitude that I have ever attended. My first impressions of Riocentro on Monday and Tuesday before the conference actually started was that it was massive. Construction was still being finalized in many areas prior to Wednesday 13 June. As if someone waved a magic wand, suddenly many of those loose ends were somehow taken care of and Riocentro was ready for all the delegates, observers, major groups and conference attendees. 
After the first plenary session to kick off the informal informal discussions from 13-15 June, it was clear that it was time for negotiators to enter into a different mode and transition from their thoughtful and lengthy interventions to shorter more concise ones. Despite the chaos and confusion and the challenge associated with ascertaining where break-out sessions were taking place and lack of access to power sources and inconsistent wifi, conference attendees shortly found their way through Riocentro and were in fully fledged negotiation mode in the different working group meetings.
The negotiations extended into the Sustainable Development Dialogue a.k.a. sandwich days, 16-19 June under Brazilian facilitation. The tone of the facilitators in the room transformed the energy and facilitated productivity and efficiency with respect to the handling of each section of the text. Contentious debates over means of implementation, institutional framework for sustainable development, reproductive rights as well as many other issues occurred in the final hours of negotiations.
Meanwhile, it was amazing to know about the hundreds of side events taking place not only in Riocentro but around the city. The level of energy, excitement, and buzz around Riocentro and the city of Rio was electrifying. When I found out that a plenary session would be held on Monday night at 11 p.m., I rushed back to Riocentro in the hopes of hearing delegates' views for (what I thought would be) the last time on the outcome document. Delegates watched the clock tick from 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. before they heard the news that a new document has been completed and will be distributed the next day. I was surprised at how full the room was during those late hours. Although some delegates used the time to take a much needed nap, most delegates seemed content and even excited and unphased by the fact that they were waiting for so many hours.
The next day when the chair asked if there were any objections and suddenly afterwards announced that the document was approved, it was an amazing feeling. Having watched the commentary and negotiations take place between January and June, it was an amazing feeling to know that at last, some sort of consensus was reached and enough to close the document and forward it to the next level. I was inspired by how hard everyone worked and the dedication, commitment, and passion I saw during the informal negotiations.
The well attended sustainable development dialogue days were also impressive and well attended. Wednesday morning it took longer than usual to arrive at Riocentro due to heightened security. I felt honored to be able to attend the high level session with heads of state consisting of presidents and prime ministers. On Friday evening when it was announced that the document had been adopted, I felt goosebumps throughout my entire body. All of those endless days, weeks, months and years of discussions finally culminated in an actual adopted document and outcome!
After reading about the different aspects of this conference, reviewing the details, making sure that we were registered in time for all of the different events, it was truly amazing to see everything come to life. Overall, this conference for me was a huge learning experience. During the week I felt excited, stimulated, overwhelmed, impressed, in awe, in amazement and definitely experienced sensory overload. I feel truly honored and appreciate so much the opportunity to have gone through this experience. One of my favourite moments was 19 June in the evening during IUCN's side event. I looked around and the loved the feeling of solidarity amongst the members of IUCN's delegation to UNCSD Rio+20. Looking around the room and seeing the members of our IUCN family with all of their strength, power, expertise, diversity and energy in that room was inspiring. When speaking out loud to colleagues, I described the members of IUCN's delegation to the UNCSD Rio+20 as members of an orchestra.
Although everyone is unique in their own way and have many different expertise and personalities, they are amazing when they come together. I am proud to be a part of this organization and feel privileged and fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend this conference.
