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About 3.5 billion people have no reliable access to electricity. As the global population grows from the current 7 billion to more than 9 billion by 2050, providing sustainable energy for all is becoming increasingly challenging. In many parts of the world key energy materials occur together in…
UNECE and ITU organized the First Meeting of the U4SSC initiative on 21-22 July 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland. Under the eyes of stakeholders from all over the world and several UN entities, the leading team of the initiative was appointed and the Terms of Reference of the team and of the joining…
In Central Asia, the silk routes, the caravans of merchants made it possible for East and West to exchange culture, customs and goods - spices, silk, perfumes and food - and thus determined life and livelihoods for centuries… And, so have nuts and dried fruit traded on the silk routes and part of…
The UNECE region has neither the high economic inequalities typical for the Latin American region nor the high extreme poverty rates faced by some African countries. Yet, poverty continues to be widespread, especially affecting vulnerable population groups, such as ethnic minorities, immigrants,…
A majority of the 53 UNECE member countries reported a decrease in the unemployment rate in 2015. The average unemployment rate in the UNECE region in 2015 was 8.8 per cent, which is 1.1 percentage points lower than in 2014 (9.9 per cent) and 1.7 percentage points less than in 2013 (10.5 per cent…
Decarbonisation, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, energy efficiency and renewable energies have become urgent priorities after the signing of the UN Paris Climate Agreement. Decarbonising transport is part of the vision for the future of a green and healthy mobility. The Austrian Ministry of…
A high level group of Chinese experts in PPP have met for the first time to comment on UNECE’s Draft Guiding Principles in PPP. These Guidelines, which had been especially translated into Chinese for the occasion, are themselves a contribution to the UN SDGs and are based on the premise that to…
UNECE member States are expected to submit national reports that provide an analysis of the current state of realization of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and its Regional Implementation Strategy (MIPAA/RIS), by 31 October this year, as part of a five-year reporting cycle. An…
The new UNECE Standard for Dried Apricots adopted on 29 June by the Specialized Section on Standardization of Dry and Dried Produce (GE.2) will significantly boost the international trade in Dried Apricots. The standard, which has been revised in the presence of the world's largest producer,…
A new UNECE Standard will foster international trade in Dried Apricots. The standard was adopted on 27 June during the session of the Specialized Section on Standardization of Dry and Dried Produce (GE.2), in the presence of the world's largest producer, Turkey, as well as government and industry…
On June 23-24, 2016 Russian and Kazakh experts met in Astana to discuss the first results of assessments of transboundary rivers Ural and Kigac. Final results will be presented at the annual meeting of Russian-Kazakh Intergovernmental Commission on Joint Use and Protection of Transboundary Water…
Policies that support cycling not only contribute to the fight against air pollution and greenhouse gases and boost health, but can also go a long way in creating jobs as part of the transition to a Green Economy, participants heard at a side event in Batumi.
An estimated 435,000 cycling-…
2016 Aarhus week - How the Aarhus Convention contributes to sustainable development The three pillars of the UNECE Aarhus Convention - access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters - are universal environmental rights which are…
China has experienced rapid urbanization over the past decades; it is now actively exploring a number of specifics to develop its cities in a sustainable way. The 13th Five Year Plan of China also emphasized the need to promote new urbanization. In the past 20 years, China has widely applied…
Addressing the main security risks in the inland transport sector, such as terrorism, theft, illegal border crossings and the trafficking of dangerous substances, was the focus of the Security Discussion Forum on Securing the Global Supply Chain jointly organized by UNECE and OSCE (Organization…
Senior trade and customs officials from Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan (countries participating in the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia known as SPECA) received practical advice on the implementation of trade facilitation at a training workshop co-…
Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) can be instrumental in the transition towards the green economy. This was the key message delivered by three European environment ministers, UNECE, the European Commission, the Netherlands Commission on Environmental Assessment and civil society…
Over the past years, China has become the largest automaker in the world, with 21 million cars manufactured in 2015, 30% of the world’s total. The country is therefore aiming at positioning itself in the race for automated and connected mobility, alongside the USA, the EU and Japan. On 7 June,…
The 2012 Vienna Ministerial Declaration on Ageing underlines the importance of life-long learning, longer working life and access to information for older persons. A key factor in facilitating the participation of older persons in political, economic, cultural and social life is their access to…
Governments of the pan-European region reconfirmed their commitment to take the lead in the transition to a green economy and committed to reduce air pollution, the largest environmental health threat in the region. These were the main conclusions of the 8th “Environment for Europe” (EfE)…
“What is measured becomes visible; what is visible can be monitored; and what is monitored can be improved”.These words were left ringing in the ears of more than 65 gender statistics experts last week as the final speaker at the UNECE gender statistics work session took the floor in Vilnius,…
Reducing forest cover, illegal logging and land degradation pose serious threat to the forests in the Caucasus and Central Asia. To address these issues forest sector needs a long term vision together with national strategies and action plans to support the sustainable management and use of…
Source: UNECE Statistical Database (www.unece.org/stats/data), Eurostat, CISSTAT and national statistics In 2015, in the United States gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 2.4 per cent compared to the previous year – the same growth rate as in 2014. In the European Union (EU), GDP growth…
The Eighth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference will gather Ministers and high-level representatives of UNECE’s 56 member countries in Batumi, Georgia, from 8-10 June 2016. The main themes of the Conference will be: Greening the economy. This approach, which fosters a healthy economy…
The UNECE’s international standards and recommendations in the areas of innovation and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) will make a strong contribution to the immense task of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This was the consensus of participants in the tenth…