The Regional Review of Institutions for Sustainable Development in the Arab Region reviews existing governance systems for sustainable development at the local and regional levels, highlights progress made and current trends, identifies promising developments and illustrative examples that could help achieve sustainable development in the region and presents a series of actions and policy recommendations for consideration in the preparations for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in 2012. Its timing is considered to be crucial, given the rapidly changing global context and current uncertainties about the region’s own organic development. The report reviews the conceptual framework for sustainable development in the Arab region and globally, how this has evolved since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro and the institutional framework for sustainable development in Arab countries at the local, national, regional and international levels. In covering the mechanisms for operationalizing sustainable development, it reviews the relevant institutions and stakeholder groups, planning mechanisms, instruments for implementation, budgeting and finance, arrangements for monitoring, reporting and assessment and the challenges to public participation. It examines potential means of strengthening governance for sustainable development in the Arab countries and highlights current initiatives for the promotion of a green economy. A proposed new approach to strengthening institutions for sustainable development in Arab countries is then developed, beginning with a discussion on key regional issues in the three main dimensions of sustainable development: the environmental, social and economic. The report concludes with a set of recommendations for institutional reforms which would fully integrate environmental and social issues into economic decision-making in the Arab countries. This would allow the sustainable development of the region to become a practical proposition.