114 Nations Seek Support to Implement UN’s 2030 Development Agenda

Two years have passed since the world came together to adopt a truly remarkable framework for common progress: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Agenda is transformative and inspiring its own right. That it was agreed at a time of severe political divisions on so many other issues was especially encouraging. Since then there has been very promising momentum around the world.

Deadly Asbestos Still Widely Used Around the World

The worldwide impact cancer has is well known. It is the second leading cause of death globally, and according to the World Health Organization, was responsible for 8.8 million deaths in 2015. Globally, nearly 1 in 6 deaths are due to cancer and of those deaths approximately 70 percent occur in low and middle-income countries.

“I Decide for Myself”: South Sudanese Woman Shows Power of Knowledge

Elizabeth Ayumpou Balang is a teacher at a nursery and primary school in Rumbek, a town in central South Sudan. It is her dream job, but it did not come easily. Like many girls in South Sudan, Ms. Balang was married, and became a mother, while just a teenager.

Transformative Power of Literacy in Today’s Digitalized Society

The vision of a literate world has guided the United Nations in its efforts to eliminate illiteracy worldwide. According to UNESCO, the world literacy rate now stands at 91% up from 79% in 1980. In the Arab region, the literacy rate is currently at 86%; a 22% increase from 1980 where the literacy rate stood at 64%. Although world society has witnessed significant progress in eradicating illiteracy, approximately 750 million adults and 264 million children worldwide are still considered as illiterate. Thus, the cloud of world illiteracy overshadows the geography of world poverty. Nonetheless, the Sustainable Development Goals have translated the vision of a literate world into a concrete action-plan: Sustainable Development Goal 4.6 calls upon all member States of the United Nations to ensure that youth, both men and women, “achieve literacy and numeracy” by 2030. In the words of formerSecretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan

Sixth North Korean Nuclear Test Creates New, More Dangerous Phase in Nuclear Crisis

North Korea’s 5.9 to 6.3 magnitude nuclear test explosion September 3 marks a new and more dangerous era in East Asia.

We Can Value Humanitarians Even if President Trump Does Not

As we watch disasters unfold – the flooding in Houston, Texas as well as the floods in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal that have killed over 1,200 people – we are grateful for the many humanitarians who risk their lives to help others.

Scaling up Development Finance

The Business and Sustainable Development Commission has estimated that achievement of Agenda 2030 for the Sustainable Development Goals will require US$2-3 trillion of additional investments annually compared to current world income of around US$115 trillion. This is a conservative estimate; annual investments of up to US$2 trillion yearly will be needed to have a chance of keeping temperature rise below 1.5°C.

Robots: A Solution to Declining and Aging Populations?

Are humanoid robots or androids a solution to declining and aging populations? Given the prospects of demographic decline and population aging coupled with growing opposition to immigration, countries are increasingly turning to and investing in advanced robotics and androids to address shrinking workforces and rising numbers of elderly.

Climate Smart Crops: A Necessity for Future Food & Nutrition Security

Climate change is taking a severe toll on farmers, as they watch their livelihoods disappear with the onslaught of floods, droughts and rising sea levels and temperatures. With agriculture currently employing over 1.3 billion people throughout the world, or close to 40 percent of the global workforce, it is imperative that we incorporate climate resilience into all aspects of crop breeding and food innovation.

Women Play Key Role in Solar Energy Projects

Since weather affects everyone, the idea that women are more susceptible to the effects of climate change may strike some as puzzling.

UN Role in Reforming International Finance for Development

Growing global interdependence poses greater challenges to policy makers on a wide range of issues and for countries at all levels of development. Yet, the new mechanisms and arrangements put in place over the past four decades have not been adequate to the growing challenges of coherence and coordination of global economic policy making. Recent financial crises have exposed some such gaps and weaknesses.

Rising Temperatures May Limit Aircraft Takeoffs Globally

Rising temperatures due to global warming may ground up to a third of airplanes worldwide in the decades to come, according to a recently published analysis by Columbia University.

Freshwater to Sea, the Resilience of Oceans

It is a great pleasure to join you today at World Water Week and to be here in Stockholm. This city has been at the forefront of sustainable development since it hosted the first Earth Summit back in 1972, the same year I started my public service as a rural development officer in Fiji!

Three Solutions for Water and Sanitation for All

This week people gather from around the globe at the annual Stockholm World Week. If previous years are anything to go by, the “Water is life” cliché will be repeated endlessly. But the phrase is useful shorthand for this simple fact: water is the cornerstone of human health and economic development. If managed poorly, water is an obstacle to development; if managed well, it brings prosperity and peace.

Partnerships Key to Implementing 2030 Development Agenda

The UN’s 2030 Agenda highlights the strong commitment to ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including by eradicating extreme poverty by 2030. It also emphasizes the determination to end hunger and to achieve food security as a matter of priority and to end all forms of malnutrition.

Quantitative Easing for Wealth Redistribution

Following the 2007-2008 global financial crisis and the Great Recession in its wake, the ‘new normal’ in monetary policy has been abnormal. At the heart of the unconventional monetary policies adopted have been ‘asset purchase’ or ‘quantitative easing’ (QE) programmes. Ostensibly needed for economic revival, QE has redistributed wealth – regressively, in favour of the rich.

Climate Migrants Might Reach One Billion by 2050

Imagine a world with as many as one billion people facing harsh climate change impacts resulting in devastating droughts and/or floods, extreme weather, destruction of natural resources, in particular lands, soils and water, and the consequence of severe livelihoods conditions, famine and starvation.

Minamata Convention, Curbing Mercury Use, is Now Legally Binding

The Minamata Convention -- a legally-binding landmark treaty, described as the first new environmental agreement in over a decade – entered into force August 16.

Wonder Woman Should STILL be a UN Ambassador

I realize it’s a lot easier saying this now after the film of the same name has come out and has taken over $400 million in US box office receipts. It is at present taken the 8th most revenue for a super hero comic book ever.

Population Aging: Hallmark of the 21st Century

While rapid population growth may be the defining feature of the 20^th century, with world population nearly quadrupling from 1.6 to 6.1 billion, the hallmark of the 21^st century is likely to be population aging.

Yemen: African Migrants Beaten, Starved, Sexually Violated by Criminal Groups

African migrants who arrive on Yemen’s shores --that’s if they are not forced into the sea to drown—risk to fall in the hands of criminal networks who hold them captive for several days to extort money in exchange for their “freedom,” according to UN sources.