Category: UN INSIDER

By Joan Erakit

NEW YORK (IDN) – Sharing seems second nature to the Kazakhs, so much so that one cannot attend a meeting at the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations without being ushered into the dining room.

“It’s is in our tradition. When someone visits your home, you must offer them food and share a meal together,” Ambassador Kairat Umarov told dignitaries gathered at the mission on July 25.

The occasion to break bread was in part to brief fellow missions and UN partners on EXPO 2017 Astana, currently being held in the capital city of Kazakhstan – an exhibition on “Future Energy” that has already seen 1 million visitors since its opening on June 10 2017.

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Hunger can be eliminated in our lifetimes: This was the underlying conviction when United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Zero Hunger Challenge in 2012. The Zero Hunger vision reflects five elements from within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which taken together, can end hunger, eliminate all forms of malnutrition, and build inclusive and sustainable food systems.

Nearly two years after the international community adopted a set of 17 SDGs to be achieved by 2030, some “20 million people are on the brink of starvation”, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. “We can only achieve Zero Hunger if we transform the rural economy, put smallholders at the centre and invest in sustainable agriculture and food systems,” said Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, Climate and Natural Resources.

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN (IDN) – Protecting the world’s endangered wildlife from unsustainable tourism, lead poisoning, underwater noise, and the transition to clean energy will be some of the themes at the centre of a major global meeting which kicks off in Manila in less than three months.

More than 120 countries will gather in the Philippine capital for the 12th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS COP12) from October 23 to 28 2017. The meeting will focus on an array of critical issues facing the world’s endangered wildlife shared across international borders. The CMS Secretariat is based in Bonn

By Shanta Rao

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Speaking of the UN’s post-2015 development agenda, the President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson of Fiji last year zeroed in on a home truth: very few human beings in the world, he said, know anything about the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

So, he argued, SDGs should be part of every school curriculum. The UN will make a big push for it and youth should be taught about the importance of SDGs in the development agenda, he told reporters.

“If every school curriculum in the world incorporates the Sustainable Development Goals, every school teaches them, and every young person on the planet is made aware of them as rights and responsibilities, the world will stand a very good chance of attaining the Goals by 2030,” he declared.

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – A new United Nations study has warned that the current growth curve in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis “does not provide the enabling environment” for supporting progress in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

According to the latest World Economic and Social Survey, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires “greater and deeper international coordination in key policy areas including fiscal, monetary and trade.”

But the Report launched by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) finds that “such challenges are not insurmountable.” In the last 70 years, says the Survey, the world has witnessed episodes of economies experiencing remarkable economic development, which include: Germany and Japan in the 1950s and 1960s, followed by the Asian Tigers – Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

By Shanta Rao 

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – As part of its the Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations is determined to “to leave no one behind” in its strong commitment to ensure the elimination of extreme poverty and hunger by the year 2030, which is an integral part of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in September 2015.

But in a new report released July 17, the UK-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) points out that only 25 of the 44 countries presenting their progress on SDGs at the UN’s High Level Political Forum (HLPF), which concludes July 19, are ready to meet the central commitment of “leaving no-one behind.” The report has been released to coincide with the UN’s 10-day HLPF.

By Santo D. Banerjee

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – While nearly 1.1 billion people escaped extreme poverty between 1990 and 2013 because of strong economic growth that benefited the world’s poorest, “the number of people living in extreme poverty remains unacceptably high, with nearly 800 million living on or below US$1.90 per day,” according to a new UN document.

In view of this, “the road to 2030 will not be easy because economic growth alone will not be sufficient to help those remaining in extreme poverty to move out,” warns the document prepared for the 2017 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development which kicked off on July 19 and concludes on July 19 after the three-day ministerial meeting.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORk (IDN) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the ground-breaking ceremony for the Global Education Institute (GEI) initiated by his predecessor Ban Ki-moon on July 11 2017 at Handong Global University – in Pohang, 374km southeast of Seoul – the hub of UN Academic Impact (UNAI) for capacity-building in higher education.

“I am pleased to greet all those attending the ground-breaking ceremony for the Ban Ki-moon Global Education Institute,” said Guterres in a message, adding: “The opportunity to enjoy an inclusive and equitable quality education is a prerequisite for improving lives and ensuring sustainable development.”

By Joan Erakit

NEW YORK (IDN) – The implementation of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development is slowly building momentum around the United Nations and amongst member states who see its success as vital to their work.

During the High-Level Political Forum July 10-19, many are gathered at the Headquarters in New York to not only review action plans and offer recommendations but also to continue a dialogue on implementation.

Kazakhstan, a country keen to promote its growing economy and energy sector, is part of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESACP) — a group of 53 member nations and 9 associate member states — one of the UN’s most comprehensive regional commissions.

By J. Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Nearly eighteen months after the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit – officially came into force, Secretary-General António Guterres is concerned that the UN Development System is not delivering on the ambitious agenda.

In his remarks to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on July 5, the UN Chief said: “The 2030 Agenda is our boldest agenda for humanity, and requires equally bold changes in the UN development system . . . Yet we all know that the system is not functioning at its full potential.”