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Extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change increasingly threaten the ability of countries worldwide, including those in the UNECE region, to sustain safe, reliable, and equitable transport and mobility.
Adapting to future impacts of climate change is therefore no longer a concern to be…
The impact of different air pollutants on vegetation and crops has been studied for over 35 years in the framework of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, through its International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops (ICP…
Would you trust artificial intelligence (AI) in your heart? This is not some imaginary, science-fiction scenario. Biomedical companies are already developing pacemakers embedded with AI. Digital technologies like AI are also opening new possibilities such as improved management of natural resources…
The transport sector is responsible for 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with road transport accounting for around 77% of these emissions. As populations, economies, and the need for mobility grow, the World Bank estimates that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport could increase by…
Ensuring the principles of environmental democracy are upheld in relation to modified organisms/genetically modified organisms (LMOs/GMOs) can help countries to address biodiversity loss and support progress on a number of Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goals 2 (zero hunger), 15 (life…
Cooperation and management of transboundary waters, which span over 45% of the world's surface and serve as vital resources for nearly half of the global population, face the imminent threat of underfunding. The last reporting exercise on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator 6.5.2 (2020),…
Discussions at the recent 33rd annual session of UNECE’s Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies (WP.6) focused on how to target continued compliance of products with embedded artificial intelligence, reflecting the importance and the challenge that such products can…
In the UNECE region, the Fourth Cycle of Environmental Performance Reviews (EPR) kicks off with the review of Tajikistan, carried out for the fourth time under the leadership of UNECE.
A large, multidisciplinary team of international experts worked in Dushanbe from 6 to 15 November 2023,…
The European Commission has proposed a new legislation, the European Critical Raw Materials Act, to ensure a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials for the EU. The Act, on which the European Parliament and the European Council reached a provisional agreement on 13 November,…
Taking up some of the main results of the recent review report, which assessed the effectiveness of the amended Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol) under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, experts discussed…
As the global economy emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic and governments strengthen efforts to “build-back-better”, trade as an engine of growth has re-emerged in policy agendas. For developing countries and countries with economies in transition that are still in the process of accession to the…
Over two-thirds of Togo’s water resources are shared, notably through the Mono River basin (shared with Benin) and Volta River basin (shared with Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Mali), as well as aquifers in the coastal sedimentary basin (shared with Ghana, Benin and Nigeria).
In a…
To address the conclusions of the review of the amended Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol), as adopted by the Executive Body to the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution in December 2022, further work is currently being…
Young people across the Pan-European region are driving change for a sustainable future and will be key actors to get countries on track for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Their role is also integral to the huge potential of education to build knowledge, skills and understanding to tackle…
20 May marks the World Metrology Day, celebrating the international system of units, which coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Metre Convention in 1875. This treaty created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) which coordinate international metrology and the…
How can regional and international cooperation be fostered in a region that faces unprecedented water scarcity? How can the benefits of this vital resource be shared to increase resilience to climate change?
The Third Baghdad International Water Conference titled "Water Scarcity, the Mesopotamian…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more prominent in the world that surrounds us even if it has existed for a good deal of time. The Internet search engines have been using AI to identify articles that correspond with our search, enabling product advertisers to correlate their marketing with…
Standards touch nearly every aspect of our daily life through all the products that we use and consume each day (for example, mobile phones, vehicles, cleaning products, personal protection equipment, toys, and others). When they are produced or introduced on the market, products are checked for…
Participants in the motor industry’s complex supply chains, regulators as well as investors seeking to invest sustainably are increasingly interested in considering the carbon footprint of vehicles over their entire lifetime - from material extraction and production to manufacturing, use and…
Decarbonizing industry remains a key challenge for climate action: according to the International Energy Agency, industrial activity was directly responsible for emitting 9.4 Gt of CO2 in 2021, accounting for a quarter of global emissions (not including indirect emissions from electricity used for…
According to the latest data available reported by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2019, imports of fake products into the European Union (EU) were up to around 6.8% of all imports. The same year worldwide, counterfeit and pirated merchandise amounted to USD 509…
Technologies can enhance commerce if clear international standards are in place to ensure that their use is harmonized between trading partners, and if there is regulatory coherence among countries.
Ways in which digital and green transformations can improve quality infrastructure for trade in…
Standards are in everything that surround us. Just the mobile phone in your pocket uses hundreds of standards, from the cellular network and the cable connectivity to physical elements such as the processing chips and the LED screen, not to mention security testing and the process design. We rely…
Meeting the goals of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and overcoming the challenges of sluggish economic growth, social exclusion and environmental degradation requires the contribution of both men and women. More-over, many sustainable development challenges affect women more…
Building resilient energy systems to address the ongoing global energy crisis will be top of the agenda of the upcoming Sustainable Energy Week (19-23 September). Representatives from UNECE's 56 member States will discuss how to ensure energy for optimal social, economic, and environmental…