  We compute the canonical partition function of 2+1 dimensional de Sitter
space using the Euclidean $SU(2)\times SU(2)$ Chern-Simons formulation of 3d
gravity with a positive cosmological constant. Firstly, we point out that one
can work with a Chern-Simons theory with level $k=l/4G$, and its
representations are therefore unitary for integer values of $k$. We then
compute explicitly the partition function using the standard character formulae
for SU(2) WZW theory and find agreement, in the large $k$ limit, with the
semiclassical result. Finally, we note that the de Sitter entropy can also be
obtained as the degeneracy of states of representations of a Virasoro algebra
with $c=3l/2G$.
