Tag: Sustainable Development Goals

Top 5 fast facts — Global Issues

Without health, the world is badly hobbled in its race to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Goals; the recently opened 78th session of the UN General Assembly aims to change that.

On the docket is a fresh global strategy to prevent, prepare, and respond to future pandemics on the heels of hard lessons learned from the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. International agreements are also in the pipeline to tackle the global tuberculosis epidemic and to promote universal health coverage for all.

“We live in a world of many competing priorities, but we need to keep the attention of world leaders on health as the foundation of sustainable development,” said World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Here are the top five things to know about the UNGA 78’s ministerial-level health meetings:

© UNICEF/Vinay Panjwani

A man receives his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during a door-to-door vaccine campaign in Rajasthan, India. (file)

1. New pandemic accord goes beyond COVID-19

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, the UN health agency was forging innovative ways to handle global outbreaks of deadly diseases and viruses. Only months before the global coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, WHO was discussing an international strategy. Now a new pandemic accord is before the world at UNGA 78.

As nations across the planet painfully learned, no country was immune to the deadly, fast-spreading virus that pushed healthcare systems to their limits, killed more than 6 million people, and set back development gains by decades.

Looking to the future, the plan is to make the world safer by guarding global disease outbreaks and cementing efficient response plans for current and future generations.

Nations have been negotiating a draft declaration that world leaders are expected to adopt at a high-level meeting on 22 September.

Mothers and their babies wait to see UN-supported health care workers in Bhutan.

© UNICEF/Brown

Mothers and their babies wait to see UN-supported health care workers in Bhutan.

2. Health care for all

© WHO

Invest in health.

Many countries with the most advanced medical care systems were caught by surprise by COVID-19 because of their historic lack of investment in primary health care, according to the WHO chief.

On 21 September, ministers will gather at UN Headquarters for a high-level meeting on universal health coverage.

Weaving through a range of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the WHO chief said providing universal health coverage makes sense.

He said strong primary health care (Goal 3) requires long-term investments in health and care workers, and specifically in decent working conditions (Goal 8). Moreover, investing in education (Goal 4) must be matched to jobs and careers, with the right salaries and incentives, he added.

Given that two-thirds of the global health and care workforce are women, he emphasized that investments in the health and care workforce can also advance gender equality (Goal 5).

The draft political declaration expected to be adopted on Thursday aims towards one main result: a healthier population.

3. SDG 3 Health Clinic

While diplomats debate global challenges at UN Headquarters, the UN health agency, WHO, has set up the SDG 3 Health Clinic, no appointments needed.

The Global Scrubs Choir, made up of frontline staff from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, is performing live at the WHO-run SDG 3 Health Clinic during the high-level week at the UN General Assembly’s 78th session.

Visitors can have a seat on a friendship bench and tell clinic staff why mental health is important to them. Health is, after all, not just the absence of disease or infirmity but a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing.

Fancy some music therapy? The Global Scrubs Choir, comprising frontline staff from the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia, will be performing daily from 8 am until 8:45 am.

4. Pushing 30-year-old tuberculosis epidemic into history

A high-level dialogue on 22 September aims to intensify global efforts to finally end a decades-long tuberculosis (TB) epidemic, which remains a significant cause of death worldwide.

The preventable and curable disease disproportionately affects developing countries, and one quarter of the world’s population is infected with the bacterium that causes the illness. In 2021, an estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with TB, and approximately 1.6 million people died from it in 2021.

Thirty years after WHO declared it a global emergency, the epidemic still is a critical challenge in all regions and affects every country of the world. Millions of people ill with TB are missing out on quality care each year, including on access to affordable diagnostic tests and treatment, especially in developing countries, according to the UN health agency.

Adopting the draft political declaration means nations would commit to a set of actions to swiftly change that.

Find the programme and list of speakers expected at the high-level meeting here.

© PAHO-WHO

Patients at a health centre in Peru are given advice about how to avoid catching TB.

5. Global Action Plan

WHO established the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Wellbeing for All, also known as “SDG 3 GAP”, in 2019, bringing together 13 multilateral health, development, and humanitarian agencies around the world. Despite rising challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, they made hard-won inroads, taking their success stories to the SDG Summit in a bid to help.

The goal is simple: to help countries speed progress on health-related SDGs. Together, they take joint action and provide more coordinated and aligned support to country-owned and led national plans and strategies.

“In the last few years, we have been experiencing something of a perfect storm: COVID-19, climate change, conflicts and other crises are threatening the progress achieved over the past 20 years,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is part of the global network.

© PAHO-WHO

The UN has been supporting a cholera vaccine programme in some of the most vulnerable communities in Haiti.

“We can sustain and even accelerate progress if we work together to tackle the most acute health challenges and build stronger and more resilient health systems, but it is vital that as we do so we confront the deep and pervasive health inequities between and within countries.”

Check out the Global Action Plan’s 2023 progress report here.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

UN sets out bold solutions to rescue SDG finance — Global Issues

The big objective of the major UN General Assembly meeting is to unlock innovative and practical solutions to close the widening divisions between rich and poor.

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs which drives the UN’s effort on SDG financing, notes that although fiscal challenges are mounting, “there is a window of opportunity if we act now.”

Financial divide

Most developing countries suffer from severe debt problems. And one in three countries around the world is now at high risk of suffering a fiscal crisis, according to the UN.

These countries cannot fund progress on the SDGs if they are facing exorbitant borrowing costs and paying more on debt servicing than on health or education.

“Developing countries face borrowing costs up to eight times higher than developed countries – a debt trap”, warned UN Secretary-General António Guterres, “and one in three countries around the world is now at high risk of a fiscal crisis.

“Over 40 per cent of people living in extreme poverty are in countries with severe debt challenges”.

Held every four years since 2015, This year’s High-level Dialogue takes place at a critical moment, when only around 15 per cent of SDG targets are on track.

Member States noted that while progress has been made across all action areas of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – the roadmap for financing the SDGs – many of its finance commitments remain unmet.

They added that challenging economic prospects amid the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts and intensifying climate change have put financing for the SDGs under increased pressure.

Innovative approaches

According to Mr. Guterres aggressively scaling up SDG financing will require innovative approaches, bold policy decisions, and new sources of funding.

Member States welcome the UN Secretary-General’s proposal for an SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion US dollars per year to significantly increase affordable, long-term financing for development.

They also support his call for deeper and longer-term reforms to the international financial architecture, which currently fails to serve as a safety net for all countries and exacerbates inequalities.

Solutions must be systemic

“It is clear that the systemic problems of financing for sustainable development require a systemic solution: reforms of the global financial architecture,” said the UN chief.

He is also calling for a new Bretton Woods moment, when countries can come together to agree on new global financial architecture that reflects today’s economic realities and power relations.

“Together, we must turn this moment of crisis into a moment of opportunity, find joint financing solutions to rebuild global solidarity, and create new momentum for sustainable development and climate action,” Mr. Guterres said.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Annual cost for reaching the SDGs? More than $5 trillion — Global Issues

According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), this represents between $1,179 and $1,383 per person, per year.

The study factors in 50 SDG indicators across 90 countries, covering three quarters of the global population.

For the world’s 48 developing economies, the shortfall is estimated at $337 billion annually, if they are to take the required action on climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

When expanded to cover all developing economies, using the median per-capita cost for the 48 in the study, total annual needs ris to between $6.9 trillion and $7.6 trillion.

Think smart

Although finding this kind of investment will likely be extremely difficult for countries with limited resources, the solution lies in allocating funding in cross-cutting areas, such as education, which also advances gender equality, poverty reduction and innovation – all Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets.

“Merely increasing funds won’t guarantee success. Governments, companies, investors and institutions need to strategically allocate their resources,” said Anu Peltola, who heads UNCTAD Statistics. “They don’t have to stretch every dollar to cover every goal.”

Debt crisis

Analysis by UNCTAD indicates that the world’s wealthiest economies are expected to account for nearly 80 per cent of SDG expenditure between now and 2030. These countries generally face the highest annual per capita costs and the largest financing gaps.

Small island developing States also face high costs, with required spending on gender equality estimated at $3,724 per person, almost three times the average global requirement.

And while least developed countries face much lower costs per head, the required spending as a percentage of each nation’s overall economic output (GDP) is significant, reaching 47 per cent for education alone.

The UNCTAD analysis reveals major shortfalls in national spending trends towards sustainability. The biggest gap is in inclusive digitization, at $468 billion a year. Closing this gap would require a 9 per cent increase in annual spending.

Six areas of transformation

Conversely, improving social protection and decent job opportunities require less investment for the world’s 48 developing economies, at $294 billion, which would require a six per cent increase in annual spending.

The analysis focuses on six paths for transformation through sustainable development: social protection and decent jobs, transforming education, food systems, climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, energy transition and inclusive digitization.

It covers indicators ranging from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing protected forest cover to guaranteeing universal access to electricity and the internet, promoting literacy, fighting hunger and reducing mortality.

UNCTAD’s report also highlights the need to tackle the global debt crisis. Around 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on essential public services such as education and health.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

UN General Assembly adopts declaration to accelerate SDGs — Global Issues

Mr. Guterres was speaking at the opening of a high-level forum at UN Headquarters where world leaders adopted a political declaration to accelerate action to achieve the 17 goals, which aim to drive economic prosperity and well-being for all people while protecting the environment.

“The SDGs aren’t just a list of goals. They carry the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of people everywhere,” he said.

Going backwards

World leaders adopted the SDGs in 2015, promising to leave no one behind. The goals include ending extreme poverty and hunger, ensuring access to clean water and sanitation, as well as green energy, and providing quality universal education and lifelong learning opportunities.

Each goal contains targets, with 169 overall, but Mr. Guterres warned that currently only 15 per cent are on track, while many are going in reverse.

He said the political declaration “can be a game-changer in accelerating SDG progress.”

It includes a commitment to financing for developing countries and clear support for his proposal for an SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion annually, as well as an effective debt-relief mechanism.

It further calls for changing the business model of multilateral development banks to offer private finance at more affordable rates for developing countries, and endorses reform of the international finance architecture which he has labelled “outdated, dysfunctional and unfair.”

Millions still starving

The UN chief highlighted the need for action in six critical areas, starting with addressing hunger, which he called “a shocking stain on humanity, and an epic human rights violation.”

“It is an indictment of every one of us that millions of people are starving in this day and age,” he added.

The Secretary-General said the transition to renewable energy isn’t happening fast enough, while the benefits and opportunities of digitalization are not being spread widely enough.

United Nations

The 2023 SDG Summit

Education cannot wait

At the same time, too many children and young people worldwide are victims of poor quality education, or no education at all, he continued, before shining a spotlight on the need for decent work and social protection.

Finally, he called for an end to the war on nature and “the triple planetary crisis” characterized by climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

Ensure gender equality

“Cutting across all of these transitions is the need to ensure full gender equality,” he said. “It’s long past time to end discrimination, ensure a place at every table for women and girls, and to end the scourge of gender-based violence. “

Mr. Guterres highlighted UN response to each area, including initiatives to transform global food systems so everyone can have access to a healthy diet.

Other efforts focus on boosting investment in the renewable energy transition, promoting internet access for all, creating 400 million new “decent jobs”, and extending social protection to over four million people.

More to come on this developing story…

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

250 million children now out of school — Global Issues

The increase is partly due to the mass exclusion of women and girls from education in Afghanistan but can also be attributed to broader stagnation in education provision worldwide.

The findings undermine UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, which sets the goal of quality education for all by 2030.

Way off track

If countries were on track with their national SDG 4 targets, six million more children would be in pre-school, 58 million more children and adolescents would be in school, and at least 1.7 million more primary school teachers would have been trained, according to the report.

“Education is in a state of emergency,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

“While considerable efforts were made over the past decades to ensure quality education for all, UNESCO data demonstrates that the number of children out of school is now rising.

“States must urgently remobilize if they do not want to sell out the future of millions of children.”

Future ‘in your hands’

One year ago, 141 countries committed at the UN Transforming Education Summit to accelerate progress towards SDG 4.

Four out of five countries aimed to advance teacher training and professional development, seven out of 10 committed to increasing or improving their investment in education, and one in four committed to increase financial support and school meal provision.

For countries to achieve their SDG 4 targets, however, millions more children must be enrolled in early childhood education every year until 2030, and the progress in primary completion rates needs to almost triple.

“These commitments must now be reflected in acts. There is no more time to lose. To achieve SDG 4, a new child needs to be enrolled in school every 2 seconds between now and 2030,” said the Director-General.

“The future of millions of children is in your hands”, she emphasised to Member States.

Insufficient growth

The report highlights that, since 2015, the number of children completing primary education has increased by less than three percentage points to 87 per cent.

The number completing secondary education, meanwhile, has increased by less than five per cent to just 58 per cent.

In the 31 low and lower-middle-income countries that measure learning progress at the end of primary school, Viet Nam is the only country where the majority of its children are achieving minimum proficiency in both reading and mathematics.

Global framework

The Education 2030 Framework for Action calls on countries to set intermediate benchmarks for SDG 4 indicators. In an inclusive approach, countries were assisted in setting benchmarks to achieve by 2025 and 2030 for seven SDG 4 benchmarks on pre-primary education, school attendance, completion and learning, gender equity, learning proficiency, trained teachers, and public expenditure.

© UNESCO/Navid Rahi

Students attending UNESCO’s community-based literacy classes are experiencing schooling for the first time in their lives.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

UN chief — Global Issues

With world leaders set to convene next week for the annual high-level opening of the General Assembly, the UN’s Midtown East campus on the weekend was host to an energetic range of actors – from youth groups and women’s organizations, to mayors, community activists and business leaders – looking to boost support for the Goals ahead of the SDG Summit.

The Summit on 18-19 September will mark the mid-point of the SDGs, between their 2015 launch and their 2030 deadline.

2030 Goals are off-track

As things stand, the Goals and UN member countries’ promise when they adopted the 2030 Agenda to ‘leave no one behind’ are in serious trouble: despite some progress, over the years widespread implementation gaps have emerged across all 17 Goals, which aim to tackle everything from poverty, hunger and gender equality, to access to education and clean energy.

Lagging public interest in achieving the Goals, geopolitical friction and perhaps most critically, the global coronavirus pandemic, have left the SDGs in need of a global rescue plan.

“Today, only 15 per cent of the targets are on track, with many going into reverse,” said the Secretary-General, adding that: “Monday’s SDG Summit will be the moment for governments to come to the table with concrete plans and proposals to accelerate progress.”

Not just ‘checking boxes’

But he stressed that the SDGs are not about checking boxes.

“They are about the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of people and the health of our natural environment. They are about righting historic wrongs, healing global divisions and putting our world on a path to lasting peace,” stated the UN chief.

Everyone needs to step up to help revive the Goals and ensure a better life for people and the planet.

Mr. Guterres went on to salute the courage and conviction of the activists in attendance, saying that he knew their global fight for the SDGs “comes at a risk to your safety … liberty [and] even your life.”

“I urge you to keep going,” he said, and similarly urged members of the business community in attendance “to see that sustainable development is best business plan of all”.

“To the women and young people joining us – keep calling out for change in your communities and fighting for your rights and a place at every table, the Secretary-General said.

Finally, the UN chief said: “To the local authorities here – the SDGs will not be rescued in New York. They will be rescued in your communities. So continue listening to the people in your communities and embedding their needs and concerns across your policies and investments.”

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Climate inaction puts lives on the line: WMO — Global Issues

UN Secretary-General António Guterres echoed that message, warning that record temperatures and extreme weather were “causing havoc” around the world.

The global response has fallen “far short”, Mr. Guterres insisted, just as latest UN data indicates that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are only 15 per cent on track at the midway point of the 2030 Agenda.

‘Supercharge progress’ on SDGs

According to WMO, current policies will lead to global warming of at least 2.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels over the course of this century – well above the Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C.

This year’s northern hemisphere summer has been the hottest on record, prompting the UN chief last week to reiterate his call for a “surge in action”.

In his foreword to the report, Mr. Guterres underscored that weather, climate, and water-related sciences can “supercharge progress on the SDGs across the board”.

Lives in the balance

The United in Science report, which combines expertise from 18 UN organizations and partners, shows how climate science and early warnings can save lives and livelihoods, advance food and water security, clean energy and better health.

After recent flooding in Libya that has claimed thousands of lives, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas stressed that a lack of adequate forecasting capacity can have deadly consequences for a country when faced with extreme weather events.

He highlighted the risky situation developing in Sudan, where conflict has crippled the agency’s capacity to forecast hazards.

The head of the country’s met service told him that most of her staff members escaped Khartoum and were unable to “run their business in a normal way”, he said.

“They are not able to forecast this kind of high-impact weather events anymore,” he warned.

Weather science key for food security

Extreme weather events are also a key factor in the spread of global hunger and the new report seeks to inform urgent action on this front as the UN estimates that nearly 670 million people may be food insecure in 2030.

The report’s authors explore the link between life-saving food production and nutrition, and investments in weather sciences and services which enable farmers to make decisions on crops and planting.

Early warnings are also crucial to “helping identify potential areas of crop failure that may lead to emergencies”.

Anticipate deadly outbreaks

“United in Science” includes analysis from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which warned that climate change and extreme events such as heatwaves are set to “significantly increase ill health and premature deaths”.

The report’s findings show that integrating epidemiology and climate information makes it possible to forecast and prepare for outbreaks of climate-sensitive diseases, such as malaria and dengue.

Limit losses from disasters

Early-warning systems can also help to reduce poverty by giving people the chance to anticipate and “limit the economic impact” of disasters.

The WMO-led report shows that between 1970 and 2021, there were nearly 12,000 reported disasters from weather, climate and water extremes, causing $4.3 trillion in economic losses – the majority of them in developing countries.

Every fraction matters

WMO deplored the fact that so far, there has been “very limited progress” in reducing the gap between promises that countries made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the level of emissions cuts really needed to achieve the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.

To limit global warming to 1.5°C, global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 45 per cent by 2030, with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions falling close to net zero by 2050.

The report’s authors wrote that while some future changes in climate are unavoidable, “every fraction of a degree and ton of CO2 matters to limit global warming and achieve the SDGs”.

Early warnings for all

WMO has also underscored the importance of the UN’s “Early Warnings for All” initiative aiming to ensure that “everyone on Earth is protected from hazardous weather, water, or climate events through life-saving early warning systems by the end of 2027”.

Currently, only half of the countries worldwide report having adequate multi-hazard early warning systems.

The United in Science report was issued ahead of the SDG Summit and Climate Ambition Summit which take place at the UN General Assembly next week.

These meetings will “shine a spotlight on how to rescue the SDGs at the half-way mark to 2030” and “boost ambition to tackle the climate crisis”, the UN chief told reporters in New York on Wednesday.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

UN marks halftime for the SDGs — Global Issues

“This is a moment of solidarity for our global village at our global Town Hall – the United Nations,” said Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.

Halftime Talks

During high-level week of the General Assembly, the SDG Pavilion will host a series of Halftime Talks.

The UN Office for Partnerships is working with Project Everyone, a not-for-profit communications agency co-founded by SDG Advocate and screenwriter Richard Curtis, in collaboration with renowned artist Es Devlin, to create the SDG Pavilion – which will serve as a unique convening space and art exhibition.

All sessions are being streamed live and on demand. Streaming links to all sessions can found here.

To use a sporting analogy, the world is currently down by a goal at halftime, but a second half comeback is always possible.

The SDG Pavilion programming encourages participants to imagine securing that key win for the planet.

Here’s just a taste of the highlights you can expect next week:

Women Rise for All Lunch

The Women Rise for All Lunch is set to become an annual event hosted by the Deputy UN chief focused on women’s leadership for the SDGs.

Speakers include Ms. Mohammed, Melinda Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Svenja Schulze, Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development and Lilly Singh, author and actress.

Halftime called

The Halftime Show will provide a platform for the UN to set the agenda on SDG Goals-related issues and encourage a week of decisive and transformative action.

With key contributions from the world of entertainment and music, through to Heads of State and activists, it will ensure media and decision-makers pay attention to what is said and inspire a truly action-focused UNGA78 at the Pavilion.

Speakers and artists include Orlando Bloom, actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and Yo-Yo Ma, world-renowned cellist and UN Messenger of Peace, and SDG Advocate and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, movie star Forest Whitaker.

Climate Justice

This segment will feature in-depth discussions around climate justice, including on early warning systems as an important measure to save lives and protect livelihoods from loss and damage.

Featured speakers include Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer, Google; Jevanic Henry, Member of UN Youth Advisory Group; Hindou Ibrahim, SDG Advocate and Dwikorita Karnawati, Director, Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Permanent Representative of Indonesia.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Environmental champion hails rivers as ‘arteries of our planet’ — Global Issues

The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) official Patron of the Oceans, Mr. Pugh explained that he’d undertaken the marathon swim ending at the tip of Manhattan, to emphasise the urgent need to protect the world’s waterways ahead of the UN’s landmark High Seas Treaty and Climate Ambition Summit next week.

Sporting his UNEP swim cap, Mr. Pugh lifted himself out of New York Harbor, just a short walk from the World Trade Center, to a crowd of supporters and curious onlookers.

Dream swim

The 53-year-old British-South African began his 32-day journey in a small lake just south of the idyllic Adirondack village, Lake Placid. For over a month, he swam down the entire length of the river, occasionally covering over 20 km in a single day.

“I’ve been dreaming about this swim for many years, but it’s been worth the wait. For the past month I’ve got to know the Hudson River really intimately, and it feels like I’ve made a lifelong friend with this river,” said Mr. Pugh.

He described being in awe of the extraordinary biodiversity he had seen, which helped him push through the physical pain of the swim.

It also stiffened his resolve to keep advocating for damaged marine ecosystems across the globe.

“The bald eagles, the vultures, the beavers, the black bears. Then swimming into Albany and turning onto my back to do a little backstroke to open up the chest and watching an osprey slowly following me down the river…It’s something you will never forget,” he said.

“But we must also never forget the history of the Hudson. Yes, more needs to be done and we must continue to be vigilant. But the Hudson gives me hope. I hope it gives hope to people around the world that one day, their rivers can also be saved.”

Profound message

Mr. Pugh chose the Hudson to highlight successful efforts to clean the river in recent decades and encourage other countries to adopt similar efforts in some of the world’s most polluted waterways.

“I’m so delighted we have been able to do this swim successfully and I think this river is emblematic of rivers all over the world,” said Mr. Pugh.

“Water is essential for life on earth. If we are going to have healthy oceans, we also have to have healthy rivers; they are the arteries of our planet.”

Dirty history

Just 150 years ago, the Hudson River was one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. Populations of sturgeon, river herring, and blue crab used the river as a corridor from the Atlantic Ocean to spawning grounds upriver.

In the early 20th century, however, population growth and industrialization devastated the international waterway. Chemical waste dumping, overfishing, and habitat fragmentation threatened the biodiversity of the river and the communities that depended on it.

Efforts to clean up the Hudson and its many tributaries over the past 50 years, however, have begun to bear fruit. In 1972 the United States passed the Clean Water Act, banning companies from dumping chemical waste into the nation’s navigable waterways.

Bans on commercial fishing were introduced in 1976 and extended in 1985. In 2002, officials began dredging riverbed sediment laden with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) which had contaminated a 320 km stretch of the river.

UN coordination role

UN News/Grace Barrett

Lewis Pugh, UNEP Patron of the Ocean, immediately after his 517 km swim down the Hudson river.

According to UNEP, water, inequalities, and the environment are closely linked.

Billions of people worldwide currently live without access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation services, even though access to both has been defined as a human right.

This has encouraged a renewed willingness among UN Member States to finally address damage to the world’s waterways ahead of the Climate Ambition Summit.

Building on the legacy of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the High Seas Treaty aims to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources beyond national maritime boundaries.

It provides a framework for increased cooperation between Member States and other international stakeholders to promote the sustainable development of the ocean and its resources.

Its implementation will make critical contributions to the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

‘Huge privilege’

“It’s a huge privilege to be able to represent the UN, and I feel passionate about countries working together to solve environmental issues. Nations will be able to come to the UN and be able to ratify the High Seas treaty,” Mr. Pugh told UN News, shortly after emerging from the water.

“It’s the last piece of the world that finally needs protecting. I’m really excited to be there next week for this really historic moment.”

The treaty provides, for the first time, an international legal framework for the assessment of the cumulative impacts of climate change in areas beyond national maritime boundaries.

It will also boost international cooperation to level the playing field for all Member States to benefit from healthy marine ecosystems.

International conservation boost

“This treaty is important because, up until now, the conservation efforts of marine ecosystems were restricted to territorial waters of individual countries,” Jamil Ahmad, UNEP New York Director of Intergovernmental Affairs told UN News.

“Now, with the High Seas Treaty, the oceans at large will come under the jurisdiction of environmental governance, and we will have cooperation, partnerships, and collaborations of countries and regions on a global level to protect global ecosystems.”

The High Seas Treaty will be open for signature at United Nations Headquarters in New York for two years from 20 September 2023, the day after the 2023 Sustainable Development Goal Summit. It will enter into force after ratification by 60 States.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

‘Peace begins with you’, youth activist tells UN forum — Global Issues

Achieving peace is neither automatic nor a vision, Mr. Guterres said in a video message to a special event on youth for peace.

“Peace is the result of action. Let us commit to build, drive and sustain peace for all,” he emphasized.

The event showcased the actions and commitments of young people – in their communities, schools and countries – in boosting progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

‘Something special’

Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola, better known as DJ Cuppy, remarked that every young person has “something unique and special” that indicates they can make the world a better place.

“That is pretty epic,” she said.

She highlighted the importance of young people for improving engagement with the wider world and as a way of helping lift each other up.

“I believe, as humans, we have to as much as we can for as long as we can […] and so can you – it’s about finding your gift and just getting started,” DJ Cuppy told UN News.

“Peace begins with you,” she added.

‘Torch bearers’

Also speaking at the event, Jayathma Wickramanayake, the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth recounted her own experience growing up in Sri Lanka during the civil war, wondering how the violence had become so brutal.

“I found that the root cause of the war was much deeper – it went down to discrimination, poverty and inequality,” she said, underscoring the need for dignity and development for peace.

“Youth are the torch bearers for peace, human rights and sustainable development.”

Stepping down

Ms. Wickramanayake also announced that Thursday marked the end of her tenure as Youth Envoy, ending six years of engagement with the UN.

“There is no better way to wrap up my mandate than to spend it with you,” she told the young people assembled.

Recalling her work over the years, Ms. Wickramanayake said she heard the powerful message from young people that peace goes beyond an absence of violence and strife.

It is “something bigger” she added, emphasizing that peace meant having the freedom to live your life the way you want.

‘Rescue the SDGs’

In conclusion, Ms. Wickramanayake echoed the Secretary-General’s call to rescue the SDGs.

“We need to rescue the SDGs, so through education, equal opportunities, better healthcare, decent living conditions, by addressing climate change, we can make the world more peaceful,” she said.

‘Enormous power’

Michael Douglas, Academy Award-winning actor and producer and UN Messenger of Peace, told participants that Earth is the only home that humanity has – and its resources are finite.

“It is the work of institutions, like the UN, and young people to nurture our small planet and everyone on it,” he said.

Mr. Douglas went on to note that society is changing at an incredible pace, and the young people are best placed to harness that change.

“You all hold enormous power to make this world a better place to live in.”

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version