Fostering global peace, justice and strong
institutions is an essential component of the United Nations effort to support
sustainable development around the world.
“Advances in ending violence, promoting the rule of law, strengthening institutions and increasing access to justice are uneven and continue to deprive millions of their security, rights and opportunities and undermine the delivery of public services and broader economic development,” says a recent United Nations report. “Attacks on civil society are also holding back development progress. Renewed efforts are essential to move towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 16.”
Violence is a ongoing concern around the world. The number of
intentional homicides per 100,000 people increased from 6.0 in 2015 to 6.1 in
2017, according to the UN report. An increase in the homicide rates in Latin
America and the Caribbean, and in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, are
reasons for concern.
Moreover, violence against children continues to be a problem in many places. In 83 countries, the UN report,, nearly 8 of 10 children from 1 to 14 years of age has been subjected to some form of psychological aggression and/or physical punishment at home.
“In all but seven of these countries, at least half of children experienced violent disciplinary methods,” the UN report says. “Sexual violence is perhaps the most disturbing of children’s rights violations. Based on the limited data available, in 14 of 46 countries with comparable data, at least 5 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 29 experienced sexual intercourse or other sexual acts that were forced, physically or in other ways, for the first time before they were 18 years of age.”
Human trafficking is also increasing. The vast majority, 70 percent,
of detected victims of human trafficking are women and girls, most of whom are
trafficked for sexual exploitation, the UN report says.
Basic human rights are also under pressure. About 30 percent of
people in prison are unsentenced detainees. Moreover, killings of human rights
defenders, journalists and trade unionists are on the rise. From 2017 to 2018,
the United Nations recorded and verified 431 killings across 41 countries.
The pace of progress to put in place national human rights institutions compliant with the Paris Principles must be accelerated, notes the UN. In 2018, a total of 39 percent of all countries had in place an institution that was fully compliant with the internationally agreed standard, seven countries more than was the case in 2015. If growth continues at the same rate, by 2030 only a little over one half (54 percent) of all countries worldwide will have compliant national human rights institutions.
“When it comes to human rights, there are no exceptions to those whom are protected under the Universal Declaration,” says UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “Human rights are our ultimate tool to help societies grow in freedom, and we must rid the world of abuse, exploitation, marginalization, racism, torture and all exclusion.”
Posted: April 14, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
UN Secretary General Calls for Science and Solidarity in the Wake of COVID-19 Crisis
The coronavirus pandemic presents an opportunity for the world to act in solidarity and turn this crisis into an impetus to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
“The United Nations – and our global network of country offices — will support all governments to ensure that the global economy and the people we serve emerge stronger from this crisis,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his recent statement, expressing his firm determination to prevent the crisis from derailing sustainable development efforts while laying out a vision for the affected to build back better.
“As the world fights the deadly COVID-19 pandemic – the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War – we are also seeing another epidemic — a dangerous epidemic of misinformation,” Gutteres said.
In an effort to provide useful information, Gutteres announced the launch of a new United Nations Communications Response initiative “to flood the Internet with facts and science while countering the growing scourge of misinformation — a poison that is putting even more lives at risk.”
Learn more about the United Nations response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Posted: March 31, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
Expo 2020 Dubai Postponement
Expo 2020 Dubai is likely to be postponed in the wake of the worldwide impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We continue to face a global situation that is both fast moving and unpredictable,” the organizers said. “These are extraordinary times and we, in common with our other stakeholders, expect to experience many challenges over the months to come. We remain firm in our collective aim to deliver an Expo that is true to its time and to our shared, urgent priorities. But it is clear that this is not the right time.”
The organizers have recommended to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) that the Dubai expo be postponed for one year. The BIE is the final arbiter on the postponement, and on setting new dates.
“While everyone involved in Expo 2020 Dubai remains firmly committed,” the organizers added, “many countries have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 and they have expressed a need to postpone Expo’s opening by one year, while they focus on overcoming this challenge.”
Learn more about the updated plans for Expo 2020.
Last Updated: March 8, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
Sustainability Includes the Fight for Basic Human Rights
Fostering global peace, justice and strong institutions is an essential component of the United Nations effort to support sustainable development around the world.
“Advances in ending violence, promoting the rule of law, strengthening institutions and increasing access to justice are uneven and continue to deprive millions of their security, rights and opportunities and undermine the delivery of public services and broader economic development,” says a recent United Nations report. “Attacks on civil society are also holding back development progress. Renewed efforts are essential to move towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 16.”
Violence is a ongoing concern around the world. The number of intentional homicides per 100,000 people increased from 6.0 in 2015 to 6.1 in 2017, according to the UN report. An increase in the homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, are reasons for concern.
Moreover, violence against children continues to be a problem in many places. In 83 countries, the UN report,, nearly 8 of 10 children from 1 to 14 years of age has been subjected to some form of psychological aggression and/or physical punishment at home.
“In all but seven of these countries, at least half of children experienced violent disciplinary methods,” the UN report says. “Sexual violence is perhaps the most disturbing of children’s rights violations. Based on the limited data available, in 14 of 46 countries with comparable data, at least 5 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 29 experienced sexual intercourse or other sexual acts that were forced, physically or in other ways, for the first time before they were 18 years of age.”
Human trafficking is also increasing. The vast majority, 70 percent, of detected victims of human trafficking are women and girls, most of whom are trafficked for sexual exploitation, the UN report says.
Basic human rights are also under pressure. About 30 percent of people in prison are unsentenced detainees. Moreover, killings of human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists are on the rise. From 2017 to 2018, the United Nations recorded and verified 431 killings across 41 countries.
The pace of progress to put in place national human rights institutions compliant with the Paris Principles must be accelerated, notes the UN. In 2018, a total of 39 percent of all countries had in place an institution that was fully compliant with the internationally agreed standard, seven countries more than was the case in 2015. If growth continues at the same rate, by 2030 only a little over one half (54 percent) of all countries worldwide will have compliant national human rights institutions.
“When it comes to human rights, there are no exceptions to those whom are protected under the Universal Declaration,” says UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “Human rights are our ultimate tool to help societies grow in freedom, and we must rid the world of abuse, exploitation, marginalization, racism, torture and all exclusion.”
Posted: March 8, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
Life on Land Is Threatened by Over-Development and Extinction
Life on land is under siege, and protecting terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity is imperative. But, a recent United Nations report notes, while more key biodiversity areas are protected, land degradation continues. Moreover, biodiversity loss is occurring at an alarming rate, and invasive species and the illegal poaching and trafficking of wildlife continues to hurt vital ecosystems and species.
Protecting important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity is vital for ensuring long-term and sustainable use of terrestrial and freshwater natural resources. And, as the UN notes, healthy mountain ecosystems are fundamental to ensuring sustainability. As of 2017, 76 percent of the world’s mountain areas were covered by some form of green coverage: 41 percent by forests, 29 percent by grassland/shrubland and 6 percent by cropland.
But land resources are under pressure from human activities. “From 2000 to 2015, more than one fifth of the Earth’s total land area was degraded, largely due to human-induced processes, such as desertification, cropland expansion and urbanization,” according to the UN. “During the same period, there were significant productivity declines in land cover, with grasslands incurring some of the greatest losses.”
As the UN report underscores, the Earth is facing a crisis when it comes to bio-diversity. “The most fundamental and irreversible human impact on nature is species extinction,” the report says. “The Red List Index – which measures the risk of extinction, in which a value of 1 indicates no threat to any species, and a value of 0 indicates that all species are extinct – has deteriorated from 0.82 in 1993 to 0.73 globally in 2019.”
One effort to improve sustainability on land is the The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which creates incentives to conserve and sustainably use genetic resources and biodiversity.
“Nature is dynamic and interrelated — and so must be our response,” says Dr. Cristiana Paşca Palmer, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. “We must move from the very real incremental change that we have created to a model that continues to push incremental wins while also fundamentally reaching for transformational change.”
Posted: March 8, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
Life Below Water Is Essential to Life on Land
Ensuring the biodiversity and sustainability of the Earth’s oceans is the focus of sustainable development Goal 14. But signification challenges must be overcome. According to a recent update from the United Nations, “the expansion of protected areas for marine biodiversity and existing policies and treaties that encourage responsible use of ocean resources are still insufficient to combat the adverse effects of overfishing, growing ocean acidification due to climate change and worsening coastal eutrophication.”
Billions of people depend on oceans for their livelihood — and for food source – which means that more urgent intervention is needed to conserve and sustainably use ocean resources at all levels.
As the UN notes, reducing ocean acidification form CO2 is critical. Moreover, to achieve sustainable development of fisheries, fish stocks must be maintained at a biologically sustainable level. Since 1974, the sustainability of world marine fish stocks levels has decreased from 90 percent 66.9 percent.
Over-fishing and decreasing bio-diversity are also problems. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing remains one of the greatest threats to sustainable fisheries and the livelihoods of those who depend upon them and marine ecosystems.
“A framework of international instruments has been developed that addresses different aspects of fisheries management,” notes the UN report.”Most countries have taken measures to combat such fishing and have adopted an increasing number of fisheries management instruments in the past decade. For example, the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, the first international binding agreement to combat such fishing, entered into force in June 2016. The number of parties to the Agreement has rapidly increased and stood at 58 as of February 2019.
Finally, more countries need to focus on supporting small-scale fisheries. To promote small-scale fisheries, most countries have developed targeted regulatory and institutional frameworks. However, more than 20 percent of countries have a low to medium level of implementation of such frameworks, particularly in Oceania and Central and South Asia.
With the global ocean economy valued at $1.5 trillion annually, a healthy marine environment is an essential component of the United Nations’ sustainable development agenda. “Life under water is essential to life on land,” says UN General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande. “The ocean produces half of the oxygen we breathe and provides food for 3.2 billion people around the world.”
Last Updated: March 8, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
Immediate Action Needed To Combat Climate Change
Climate change and global warming pose a major threat to the sustainability of the earth. As a recent United Nations report notes, rising greenhouse gas emissions and climate change are occurring at rates much faster than anticipated.
“While there are positive steps in terms of the climate finance flows and the development of nationally determined contributions, far more ambitious plans and accelerated action are needed on mitigation and adaptation.” The UN report notes. “Access to finance and strengthened capacities need to be scaled up at a much faster rate, particularly for least developed countries and small island developing states.”
According to the UN, increasing greenhouse gas emissions are driving climate change. In 2017, greenhouse gas concentrations reached new highs, with globally averaged mole fractions of CO2 at 405.5 parts per million (ppm), an increase from 400.1 ppm in 2015. This level represents a 146 percent over pre-industrial levels. Looking ahead toward 2030 emission rapid reductions are needed.
Progress is being made toward a unified global effort on climate change. To date, 185 parties have ratified the Paris Agreement, which brings all nations together to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so.
Parties to the Paris Agreement are expected to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions, and 183 parties had communicated their first nationally determined contributions to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Under the agreement, all parties are required to submit new nationally determined contributions, containing revised and much more ambitious targets, by 2020.
“Climate change doesn’t care if we’re left wing, right wing, or in the center,” says Patricia Espinosa, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary. “It doesn’t care who is prime minister of what country, whether you were born in this generation or the last, what your race is, or how much money you make. It’s coming all the same. It’s already here. And it’s a global emergency.”
Espinosa says all global stakeholders need to re-double their efforts to combat climate change: “2020 must be the year we collectively show—through concrete action—that we are truly committed to build a healthier, safer, more sustainable and resilient future for all people.”
Posted: February 28, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
Ensuring More Sustainable Production and Consumption
Ensuring sustainable consumption and production requires a commitment to resource and energy efficiency, investments in infrastructure, and better access to basic services and jobs.
Goal 12 of the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) addresses complex problems, ranging from population growth to diminishing natural resources. The UN notes that if the global population reaches 9.6 billion by 2050, the equivalent of almost three Earths would be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles.
Water, energy, and food three areas that will be pivotal in helping the UN – and the world – make progress toward the targets set for Goal 12 by 2030.
Less than 3 percent of the world’s water is fresh and drinkable, and most of that is frozen in Antarctica and the Arctic and glaciers. While humans must rely on less than 1 percent of all the water on the planet, pollution continues to foul rivers and lakes faster than nature can recycle and purify. What’s more, the UN reports, more than one billion already lack access to fresh water. While water is free from nature, the infrastructure needed to deliver it and purify it is expensive.
Energy presents another challenge. According to the UN, despite technological advances that have promoted energy efficiency, demand continues to grow. In fact, commercial and residential energy use is the second most rapidly growing area of global energy consumption. The fastest growing demand sector is fuel for transportation. According to the UN, A 32 percent increase in vehicle ownership is expected by 2020, and global air travel is projected to triple during the same period.
Food and energy consumption are tied together, too. As the UN report notes, The food sector accounts for around 30 percent of the world’s total energy consumption and about 22 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
Waste is big problem, too. Each year, an estimated one-third of all food produced – equivalent to 1.3 billion tons worth around $1 trillion – ends up rotting in the bins of consumers and retailers, or spoiling because of poor transportation and harvesting practices
More attention is also needed to combat land degradation, declining soil fertility, water use, overfishing and pollution of marine environment. The overall goal is to increase the ability of the natural resource base to supply enough food to feed a growing world population.
Last Updated: February 21, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
Working Toward More Sustainable Cities and Communities
Making cities safer and more livable is one of the sustainable development goals that the United Nations is focused on as part of its initiative to improve living conditions worldwide by 2030. According the UN, one billion people worldwide currently live in urban slums.
“Urgent action is needed to reverse the current situation, which sees the vast majority of urban residents breathing poor-quality air and having limited access to transport and open public spaces,” notes a recent UN report. “With the areas occupied by cities growing faster than their populations, there are profound repercussions for sustainability.”
While more action is needed to improve urban living conditions, the total number of people living in urban slums decreased between 1990 and 2016, from 46 percent to 23 percent. The good news is that urban areas are growing in size, which reduces population density. But this also puts more stress on the environment and increases the need to introduce sustainable management practices to control growth in cities worldwide.
Among the most pressing needs in urban areas are improved solid waste management and better air quality. “Urban planning, transport systems, water, sanitation, waste management, disaster risk reduction, access to information, education and capacity-building are all relevant issues to sustainable urban development,” notes another UN report.
Among the benchmarks for 2030 are an increase in affordable housing, improved transportation systems, and the implementation of sustainable development best practices.
“Cities are also the locus of complex and interconnected challenges: they produce more than 70 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, use 80 percent of the world’s energy and generate 1.3 billion tons of waste every year,” says UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. “Going forward, we need to step up the pace and scale of our integration as a development system to match the ambition of the 2030 Agenda — and to create cities that drive progress towards the SDGs.”
Posted: February 9, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
Sustainable Development Requires Greater Equality
Progress toward reducing inequality – both within and among nations – is being made, but huge disparities remain to be overcome around the world.
According a recent United Nations report, more work needs to be done to narrow gaps in opportunity, income, and power. “Income inequality continues to rise in many parts of the world, even as the bottom 40 percent of the population in many countries has experienced positive growth rates,” the report notes. “Greater emphasis will need to be placed on reducing inequalities in income, as well as those based on other factors.”
Wealth disparity continues to grow as an increasing share of income is increasingly concentrated with just 1 percent of top earners. Overall, the bottom 40 percent of earners account for less than 25 percent of overall income and consumption.
In working toward more income equality, the UN says equal access to financial services needs to be a priority. “Robust and sound financial systems are essential for supporting equal access to financial services,” the report says.
Moreover, the report notes, additional efforts are needed to increase zero-tariff access for exports from least developed countries and developing countries. Some progress is being made in this area. “More than 50 percent of exports from developing countries are now eligible for duty-free treatment,” according to the UN. “The increase of duty-free access in world markets was the largest for least developed countries, namely in the industrial and agricultural sector.”
The UN warns that rising income and wealth inequality risk threaten to undermine the world’s sustainable development efforts. “They threaten to erode social cohesion, entrench
insecurity and dampen productivity growth,” notes a progress report on the UN’s SDGs. “Rising intolerance in many parts of the world threatens fundamental human rights and human progress.”
What’s more, the UN report notes, the nexus of inequality, injustice, insecurity, and lack of sufficient trust in national governments and institutions also hinders progress toward advancing sustainable development.
While challenges abound, reducing inequality requires a sustained commitment from governments and the private sector. “Reducing poverty and inequality is the linchpin if we are to ensure that the results of the 2030 Agenda are seen and felt in the lives of everyone, everywhere — and if we are to keep our commitments to forge a people-centred and planet-sensitive future,” says UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. “Our collective experience has shown that development is not sustainable if it is not fair and inclusive.”
Posted: January 24, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment
Leveling the Playing Field for Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Industrialization and economic development in lesser developed countries around the world need to increase in order to meet the United Nations’ sustainable development goal for industries, innovation, and infrastructure.
According to a UN report, global manufacturing accounts for 45 percent of global manufacturing value-added per capita worldwide, but just 15 percent in sub-Saharan Africa.
What is needed is a focus on building resilient infrastructure, fostering innovation, and promoting inclusive and sustainable industrial growth.
“Investments in infrastructure – transport, irrigation, energy and information and communication technology – are crucial to achieving sustainable development and empowering communities in many countries,” notes another UN report. “It has long been recognized that growth in productivity and incomes, and improvements in health and education outcomes require investment in infrastructure.”
Manufacturing is an important driver of economic development and employment. And technological progress is needed achieve economic and environmental objectives, including increased resource and energy-efficiency. Without technology and innovation, the UN report notes, industrialization will not happen, and without industrialization, development will not happen.
The UN says more investments are needed in the high-tech products that dominate the manufacturing process to increase efficiency. In terms of infrastructure, there also needs to be a focus on mobile cellular services that increase connections between people. While 90 percent of the world’s population has accessible cellular service, many people cannot afford it.
But the decade ahead will be challenging when it comes to meeting the goals for SDG 9, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. “Economic changes have also made Sustainable Development Goal implementation more challenging, says António Guterres, secretary-general of the UN. “Global economic growth is anticipated to remain slow and uneven across regions amid lingering trade tensions and unsustainable levels of household and corporate debt. Debt vulnerability in low-income countries has increased substantially in recent years. In addition to an expected slowdown in emerging economies, lower growth rates are projected in developed economies in general.”
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