UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2022-2023)
UNECE is a signatory of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and contributes in particular to the following strategic priorities, in line with the UN Transitional Framework for Ukraine. Reinforcing national response to mitigate the impact of the war for the period from July 2022 to December 2023 outlines two inter-connected strategic priorities of the UN in Ukraine:
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Save and protect lives and reduce human suffering through flexible and scalable humanitarian action where most needed, including through access to temporarily occupied territories, including effective support to those displaced, while in displacement and in areas where they seek a durable solution.
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Support national systems and capacities in critical sectors to enable an effective humanitarian response, recovery and reconstruction efforts, thereby operationalizing the HDP-nexus, including for durable solutions to displacement.
A new UNSDCF is being developed for the period 2025 – 2029/ 2030
UNECE works in close cooperation with the Resident Coordinator and the United Nations Country Team.
Key highlights
Since the start of the war against Ukraine, UNECE has received a number of official requests for assistance from the government.
Urban reconstruction
UNECE has been supporting the city of Kharkiv and the government of Ukraine since the start of the war to prepare for urban reconstruction efforts and to address housing challenges. This was reaffirmed by the Executive Secretary in her visit to Kyiv in June 2024 and at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin.
Building on its extensive experience in supporting Ukraine’s urban development, housing and land management, the government invited UNECE to lead the UN4Kharkiv Task Force.
Since April 2022 upon the request of the Mayor of Kharkiv, preparations have been underway to develop a masterplan for the post-war rebuilding of the city, with support of the Norman Foster Foundation. Since July 2022, UNECE is also working to support the city of Mykolaiv.
Building on this work, in July 2023, UNECE launched the UN4UkrainianCities project, funded by Germany.
Mobilizing experts from across the region, UNECE has also helped Ukraine draft a law to address housing challenges, which include tens of thousands of destroyed and damaged homes, and the need to house some 3.7 million internally displaced persons as of January 2024.
UNECE is also developing a municipal investment tracker for greater transparency in reconstruction projects. In addition to the cities of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, the investment tracker will also be piloted by the smaller urban areas of Irpin and Borodyanka.
Future activities shall include the development of an evidence-based country profile and action plan for supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction and long-term development plans in the areas of affordable housing, land management and urban development (SDG3, SDG 7 and SDG11).
Energy
As part of its Framework on Carbon Neutrality, UNECE identified the best technology and policy options to design a carbon neutral local energy system, including a just transition away from fossil fuels for the affected workforce and regions (SDG7).
UNECE can support reconstruction of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with emphasis on energy resilience.
Environment
Following accession to the Industrial Accidents Conventions in October 2022, Ukraine is now is a party to all 5 UNECE environmental conventions and to several of their protocols.
In August 2024, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova have signed an agreement on the implementation of the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact_Assessment Transboundary Context, under which they commit to take all necessary measures to prevent, reduce and minimize potential transboundary environmental impacts.
UNECE is working to strengthen the national system for the environmental monitoring and assessment. This will be advanced by the recent approval by the Cabinet of the Ministers of the procedure for maintaining a National Pollutant Release and Transfer Register, as well as by the signing of the Agreement on the Implementation of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) by Ukraine and Romania in November 2022.
UNECE also supports strengthening industrial safety, disaster risk governance and management in Ukraine to promote the implementation of the Industrial Accidents Convention following Ukraine’s accession in 2022 (SDG9, SDG11 and SDG13).
At the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, UNECE, UNEP and OECD announced the establishment of a Platform for Action on the Green Recovery of Ukraine.
UNECE also stands ready to provide Ukraine with further technical assistance to address immediate and emerging environmental challenges, especially when it comes to the safety of industrial operations, building resilient energy system, and managing water pollution.
Forests
The forest sector in the Ukraine is challenged by low public awareness, lack of financial support and equipment for management purposes. Although the national forest area slightly increased in the last decade, forests are a subject of degradation due to fires, pests and diseases. UNECE is focused on supporting national monitoring, assessment and reporting on forests, sustainable forest management and forest production and forest products' trade in Ukraine, and strengthening sustainable urban and peri urban forestry ((SDG12, SDG13 and SDG15).
Gender equality
The standards body of Ukraine is invited to sign the Declaration on Gender-Responsive Standards and Standards Development (SDG5, SDG9 and SDG12).
Statistics
UNECE is part of a project which includes technical assistance to the government to transition to a register-based census by 2030. The planned Global Assessment of the National Statistical System, which was due to take place in 2022, is on hold until after the war (SDG11).
Trade
UNECE has provided strong support to Ukraine in trade facilitation and trade development in the past ten years, in particular through the establishment of the port community system in Odessa, which spread its services to all ports of Ukraine, the assessment of the readiness of Ukraine to implement the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, and assistance for the establishment of a National Trade Facilitation Committee.
UNECE has also helped Ukraine with developing tools for digitalization of information flows with its partners in the Caucasus and Eastern Europe in the change from maritime-based trade to trade via the land borders with Europe.
UNECE is supporting the government in identifying potential PPP infrastructure projects and in using its Infrastructure Evaluation and Rating System (PIERS) methodology (SDG8, SDG9, SDG12).
Transport
As part of its support to Kharkiv, UNECE formulated proposals related to urban planning and urban transport.
UNECE also identified a list of infrastructure and rolling stock/resources requirements based that would operationally boost the capacity of rail/road transport in the country (SDG8 and SDG9).