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With an area of approximately 350,000 km2, the Senegalo-Mauritanian aquifer basin is the largest basin in the Atlantic margin of North-West Africa. The groundwater it contains is a strategic resource for the four aquifer States, respectively The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal,…
Automation holds enormous potential for the future of transport and can, if properly harnessed, catalyze efforts to realize the ambitious vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.In order to speed up efforts to unlock the potential of automation – in terms of improved safety,…
What is common between the green sovereign bond launched in 2017 by France’s State Treasury, the National Road Map for the Circular Economy of Finland for the period 2016–2025, and the Swiss regulation on compulsory recovery and reuse of phosphorus from wastewater streams and separated organic…
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for one-fourth of all fish catches and costs a staggering USD 23 billion to legitimate fishers every year. This threatens fish stocks, ocean biodiversity and the economic security of fishing communities. Sustainable Development Goal (…
Countries cannot know whether they are successful in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, unless success is defined and tracked. SDG indicators provide such a definition and something to track. As a result, indicators –…
What steps have been taken and what still needs to be done to improve environmental conditions, deliver inclusive economic growth and ensure resilience to climate change? What progress has been made in achieving public participation in decision-making and the reform of education systems towards…
Population ageing has been identified by the Government of Belarus as a major challenge. At the request of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus, UNECE has started working on a roadmap supporting the Government of Belarus in the development of a National…
Clean air is an essential need for all of us. Our health, our environment, even our economy depends on it. Every year 7 million people die prematurely globally because of exposure to air pollution. The majority of air pollutant-related deaths occur in developing countries, with Western Pacific…
UNECE has launched a project to support Belarus in assessing its readiness to implement the measures in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), identify gaps, and draft a work plan to implement not yet fulfilled measures. Any country aspiring to join the WTO now will have to implement the…
Thailand is one of the top fish producing nations in the world, with an average maritime catch of 2.048 million tonnes per year, and the fisheries sector accounting for 1.2% and 9.9% of the national GDP and the agricultural GDP, respectively (FAO 2008). Combating illegal, unreported and…
In 2014, Austria and France launched The Partnership on Cycling Promotion under the Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP), a programme jointly serviced by UNECE (bringing together its work on environment and sustainable transport) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe…
UNECE, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and various partners in Belarus have made a step ahead in supporting the use of UN/CEFACT international semantic standards and new technologies in Single Window mechanisms for export and import clearance and for trade data exchange in the broader…
On the occasion of the second session of the Working Party on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), held in Geneva on 20-21 November 2018, UNECE launched the International PPP Dialogue for Belt and Road (BRI) countries. The session was organized under the auspices of the Memorandum of…
There are enormous differences in the distribution of wealth between the world’s richest and the world’s poorest people. While the bottom half of adults collectively owns less than 1% of total wealth, the richest top 10% of adults owns 85% of global wealth, and the top percentile alone accounts…
Complex, time-consuming and inefficient import and export procedures are a major barrier to trade and hamper development, especially for low and middle-income countries.In response, African countries seeking to make interregional and international trade in goods and services cheaper, quicker and…
Reduce deaths from air pollution… Achieve water and sanitation for all… Double energy efficiency… Consume sustainably… These and many other targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to be achieved in just 12 years from now sound more than ambitious. Making them a reality requires…
On 23 May, Chad became the first African country to accede to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), serviced by UNECE. As a landlocked country in Central Africa, Chad faces significant water management challenges and…
Resource development and production are often seen as a “drain industry” that leaves behind wastes and a broken planet, along with socio-economic concerns such as exposing a resource-dependent national economy to resource depletion, and other risks such as the so-called “Dutch disease” and…
How can Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) be used for policies related to, for example, health matters, energy consumption, consumer choices or urban planning? What should be done to make this a reality? What role can PRTRs play in helping governments to achieve the Sustainable…
In view of member States requiring more joined-up UN support to progress under the comprehensive 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the regional UN entities in Europe and Central Asia continue to move closer together to meet this demand. Gathering at the Regional UN System…
The diesel scandal in Europe has made us aware of the potential trade-offs between different fields of policy. While trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, policies to subsidize diesel cars were made without taking into account that diesel emissions have serious negative impacts on air quality…
In a rapidly changing global and regional economy, a systematic approach to national technology and innovation foresight system is a central element to inform, monitor, and evaluate national science, technology and innovation strategies – ensuring that they contribute towards sustainable…
Interoperability of Single Window and other IT systems facilitating international trade in the broader European space can only be reached by using the same semantic standards for data sharing in the process of regulation of international trade. As part of the overall efforts aimed at improving…
Many low-carbon technologies require vast amounts of critical raw materials. Renewable energy, battery storage, nuclear energy, energy efficiency, and carbon capture and storage all need critical raw materials. Discussions on critical raw materials typically focus on demand, yet broader…
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: reshaping innovation policies for sustainable and inclusive growth
Whereas economic growth is recognized as the most important instrument for the decline in global poverty levels in the past 50 years, not all countries have been equally successful at reducing poverty, and income inequality has risen considerably within and among countries. Moreover, current…