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Innovation is central to build back better after the COVID-19 pandemic and to drive sustainable development. Making up over 10% of Gross Domestic Product globally, public procurement carries the potential to stimulate broad experimentation with new ideas and technologies to attain economic,…
COVID-19 has significantly changed the way UN/CEFACT works. As the focal point within the United Nations Economic and Social Council for trade facilitation recommendations and electronic business standards, UN/CEFACT typically convenes experts twice per year to a week-long Forum to discuss current…
Data can be a matter of life and death. We have seen in recent years how statistical information about the structure of the communities affected by earthquakes or typhoons—how many people, in which age groups, and in which locations—is essential for making quick and informed decisions to mobilize…
40 percent of the world’s population lives in one of the 275 transboundary river basins. Transboundary waters account for 60 percent of the world’s freshwater flows. Cooperation for the management of shared water resources is therefore crucial for economic development, peace and environmental…
From the very beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, it has been clear that there is a gender dimension to its impacts. This week the Bureau of the Conference of European Statisticians will ask UNECE to lead the way in guiding countries to gather data on the ways that gender mediates…
The COVID-19 health crisis has caused wide-ranging socio-economic disruption worldwide. This has exposed and aggravated existing social imbalances. The pandemic has called for unprecedented measures to protect those so close to our heart: our parents, grandparents, the elderly and vulnerable.…
UNECE statistical modernization programme supports countries’ response to data collection challenges
A virtual UNECE workshop concludes today in which experts on surveys, censuses and alternative data collection methods have revealed their brand-new learning about the best ways to…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Albania has made considerable progress in the recent years in the provision of affordable adequate housing to all. Notably, the national government has been providing support to municipal programmes for housing construction; supporting investments into construction of affordable housing,…
Most Governments have responded to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic by declaring a state of emergency and by adopting numerous measures to combat the spread of the virus, which have often included restrictions on the freedoms of assembly and movement. This has altered the way in which…
The coronavirus has shown the importance of adequate housing for the health and wellbeing of the population. The housing affordability challenge became especially acute in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic when Governments throughout the world requested people to “stay home”. According to Ms…
Like so much else in our societies that we had taken for granted before the COVID-19 crisis, the daily commute has for many been temporarily set aside in a makeshift home office.
After weeks of lockdown and confinement, the priority now is to relaunch the economy, while maintaining the necessary…
By UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova and UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Alia El-Yassir
Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, essential workers have been risking their lives in order to protect ours. No expense should be spared to ensure the availability and…
We are living in one of those moments which define history. As it is always the case in such moments, the promise and peril of international cooperation, solidarity and multilateralism inevitably come under the spotlight, as evidenced by the overwhelming media attention given to governments’…
Informal settlements are a significant problem for Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. According to the estimates shared by the city government, between eighteen and twenty-five percent of almost one million inhabitants of the city live in the forty-seven informal settlements around Bishkek. These…
From nature-based solutions for urban development in Tirana, a smart urban development online platform in Prague, and the Carbon-neutral Helsinki 2035 action plan to Torino’s “Climathon” citizen engagement initiative – all over the UNECE region cities are stepping up to combat the challenges of…