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Supporting countries in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is UNECE’s key priority. The SDGs are embedded in all UNECE workstreams, including trade. Sustainable trade reforms can promote inclusive growth, job creation and poverty reduction, thus contributing to the…
World Habitat Day (5 October), celebrated this year under the motto Housing for All: A better Urban Future, is an invitation to reflect on the state of cities and on the basic right to adequate shelter. UNECE will celebrate it throughout its annual Sustainable Cities Week, around the following…
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the rights and health of older persons: as of September 2020, nearly 9 out of 10 COVID-19-related deaths reported in the UNECE region have been among adults aged 65 years and older. The region currently hosts more than 30 per cent of the world’s…
With the consequences of COVID-19 still unfolding, one area of major disruption has been to global food systems, resulting in significant increases in food loss and waste.
Today, the first ever International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, is a wake-up call. We must access and make…
Cities have become the epicentres of the COVID-19 pandemic, putting mayors on the frontlines of both the emergency and the battle for a green and sustainable recovery. UNECE will open the multilateral stage to city leaders in a full-day Forum and uncover their innovative responses to the ongoing…
Combined with electricity from renewable sources, hydrogen has the potential to replace hydrocarbons in the UNECE region by 2050. Hydrogen can be used in transport, homes, industry, and power generation as part of an integrated service-based society.Hydrogen has been produced and used in huge…
The Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved by governments alone. As uneven progress made worldwide is being threatened by the COVID-19 crisis, massive and multistakeholder action is urgently needed, with a critical role for the private sector. Joining business and political leaders,…
Out of the approximately 1.45 billion people living in the UNECE region, over 100 million spend more than 40% of their disposable income on housing. Moreover, at least 10 million people are on a waiting list for social housing and about 50 million live in informal settlements.Like many other…
Lockdowns, border closures and restrictions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have disproportionately impacted landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) in Central Asia and the Caucasus, which already face significant economic challenges due to the lack of territorial access to the sea and higher…
With the amendments to the Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol) under the UNECE Air Convention now in force for almost a year, preparatory work is underway for the review of the effectiveness of its measures.The amended Protocol establishes…
Environmental degradation has gendered impacts which need to be properly assessed and monitored to understand and adopt gender-responsive strategies and policies. While designing these, it is essential that measures targeting gender equality and women’s empowerment are adequately…
A small group of innovative, high-growth enterprises, representing 2 to 6 per cent of the business population, plays a disproportionately large role in innovation, structural change, and sustainable development more broadly. Their potential as drivers of experimentation with the ideas needed to…
Mounting scientific evidence of the health impact of air pollution – which kills some 7 million people annually –, together with high media coverage of heavy local air pollution episodes, is contributing to increased recognition of the need to act for clean air worldwide.The first …
What are the various types of cyber threats posed to intelligent transport systems? What methodologies are available to governments to address critical security risks? These were some of the issues discussed by over 100 representatives of ministries of transport and other relevant agencies,…
While COVID-19-related disruptions may have impacted people’s mobility and slowed cross-border movements of people and goods this year, pollution knows no travel restrictions. Air pollutants, travelling through our atmosphere, can harm people and the environment even thousands of kilometres…
People around the world are breathing dirty air, making it the fifth leading risk factor for mortality globally. Air pollution is a complex issue in all countries, as it requires cooperation, innovation, good governance, behavioural change, public demand, and strong technical capacity across…
The new regional interagency Issue-based Coalition on Environment and Climate Change has just issued summary recommendations for pandemic socioeconomic assessments and post-pandemic recovery strategies. The recommendations are intended to provide guidance to UN Country Teams in assessing the…
For centuries, world’s forests have been cleared and removed for agricultural or other land uses, often resulting in degraded lands found in almost every country today. As global population increases and climate change threatens ecosystems worldwide, there is an urgent need for more sustainable…
The countries of the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) - Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - gathered for a virtual session of the SPECA Working Group on Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Development (WG on…
Between 2017 and 2018, emissions of key air pollutants that are harmful to human health and the environment have gone down in the European Union, according to the annual emission inventory report under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention). The report,…
In early March this year, the UN Secretary-General called for countries to step up their efforts and turn deforestation around in order to make 2020 a ‘super year’ for nature.
This call arrived following the release of an alarming report highlighting the unprecedented speed at which ecosystems…
ICTs are a powerful tool to alleviate barriers faced by women entrepreneurs. The impact of the COVID-19 and the restrictions imposed on doing business worldwide since the beginning of 2020 have made the need to use ICTs imperative for the survival of small businesses. The digital platforms provide…
Transformative technologies to support UNECE member States in the post-COVID-19 economic recovery
In this time of economic slowdown, border closures and unemployment caused by COVID-19, transformative technologies can offer solutions to the public and private sectors in reviving international trade. Digital products and platforms, based on the world-wide standards and interoperability, can…
As COVID-19 continues to spread across the UNECE region, local governments are on the front lines of addressing this unprecedented pandemic. With the ambition to amplify local solutions, UNECE will bring together mayors from Europe, North America, Central Asia and the Caucasus to strengthen the…
The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures implemented by most of the governments in the UNECE region have fundamentally changed the way we work, study, communicate, define priorities and function in our everyday life. Governments and international organisations have focused on immediate…