United Nations

Photo credit: UN | Penny Abeywardena, NYC

New York Brings Global Vision, Urban Action to SDGs

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – As host city to the United Nations, New York is making the most of its position through its ambitious Global Vision, Urban Action (GVUA) platform that uses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a common framework for building a better city for its people and their environment. This programme links multiple New York departments through shared sustainability objectives—and it has been selected as a good practice in a new UN DESA database of SDG actions, which could be scaled up or replicated around the world.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 08 July 2019

Graphic source: sustainabledevelopment.un.org

The Need to Revitalize Global Partnership in Trade

Viewpoint by Mukhisa Kituyi

The following are extended excerpts from UNCTAD Mukhisa Kituyi's Secretary-General blog on UNCTAD Website. In the face of barriers and protectionism, says the writer, the multilateral trade rulebook needs to be revised to ensure that it can deliver its full development potential.

GENEVA (IDN) –The multilateral trading system provides a unique international regime that regulates the conduct of sovereign nations in trade policy. Its norms, principles and institutions have served many of its member countries to overcome the so-called ‘prisoners’ dilemma’ in their strategic interaction with trading partners, where individually rational behaviour leads to collectively inefficient outcomes. This has helped increase international cooperation in multilateral market-opening and rule-making and has boosted trade flows around the world.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 06 July 2019

Photo: Karakul Lake, Tajikistan. Credit: UNCCD

Pressing Need to Put Degraded Lands Back to Life

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | ANKARA (IDN) – Profoundly concerned that "desertification and drought are problems of global dimension in that they affect all regions of the world," the international community adopted the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Paris on June 17,1994. Twenty-five years later, on the World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) on June 17 celebrated this year in the Turkish capital Ankara, the 'Hama Arba Diallo Foundation for the Environment and Education' has been launched at a special event.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 18 June 2019

Photo: Mary Robinson and Deon Shekuza. Credit: GlobalGoalsUN

Former Irish President Joins a Namibian Youth in Conversation on Climate Justice

From GlobalGoalsUN

This article is part of reports by the UN SDG Media Compact of which IDN is a member. Watch video.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Science continues to show that as the impacts of climate change accelerate, extreme weather events are taking a major toll in developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, home to some of the world’s largest youth populations.

Global warming of 2˚C would put over half of Africa’s population at risk of undernourishment, as as of today, we have already reached about 1°C above pre-industrial levels (1850–1900). Global warming is likely to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 18 June 2019

Photo: Secretariat Building at United Nations Headquarters. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

Low-income Countries Ensuring Liquidity as the UN Faces Financial Crisis

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations is at risk of running out of cash, Secretary-General António Guterres warned in a letter to UN staff in July 2018 and stated that he had “written to Member States regarding the troubling financial situation facing the United Nations”. The situation has not changed for the better since.

In fact, nearly one year later, the situation is preventing the Organization from reimbursing troop- and police-contributing countries in a predictable and timely manner, hindering their ability to provide lifesaving support to peacekeeping operations, Guterres cautioned on June 4, 2019.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 11 June 2019

New Study Shows How AI Can Generate Fake UN Speeches

By Felicia Vacarelu

The writer is Communication Officer of UN Global Pulse, a flagship innovation initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General on big data, which has released a new study discussing the risks that can arise from the malicious use of automated text generation software, and the potential impacts. The study used open-source tools and data from UN General Assembly speeches to build a fake UN speech generator. This blog first appeared on June 15, 2019.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 11 June 2019

Photo: Energy access in Timor-Leste. Credit: UN-Photo-Martine-Perret

Urgent Action Needed to Scale-up Energy Access in LDCs

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK | BEIJING (IDN) – The world’s 47 least developed countries (LDCs) will fail to achieve global sustainable energy targets by 2030 unless urgent and enhanced action is undertaken. This was the backdrop to discussions which took place on May 30-31, 2019 at a United Nations conference on 'Scaling-Up Energy Access and Finance in the Least Developed Countries' in Beijing, China.

: Santo D. Banerjee; SUSTAINABILITY; Affordable Clean Energy; 09 June 2019

Photo: A glimpse of the UNAI conference. Credit: The International Studies Association (ISA)

Unlocking Emotional Intelligence to Achieve Global Goals

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – A vibrant and diverse network of students, academics, scientists, researchers, think tanks, and institutions of higher education around the world, serve as incubators of new ideas, inventions and solutions to diverse global challenges, and are therefore vital to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), says its Chief, Ramu Damodaran, aligns these institutions with the United Nations in supporting and contributing to the realization of the Organization's goals and mandates, including the promotion and protection of human rights, access to education, sustainability and conflict resolution.

: Santo D. Banerjee; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 31 May 2019

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres receives the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, Germany on 30 May 2019. Credit: UNFCCC/James Dowson.

The United Nations Need a Strong and United Europe

Viewpoint by António Guterres

The following are extensive excerpts from the Secretary-General's address on May 30, 2019 in Germany at the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen, the ancient continental capital for the Unity of Europe, close to the French border, where he received the prestigious Charlemagne Prize, awarded each year since 1950, for services towards European unification. The European Union, which grew out of the ashes of two world wars, has forged “an exemplary partnership” with the United Nations, said the UN chief, and the breakup of the 28-nation political and economic bloc, “would inevitably be the failure of multilateralism and the failure of a world in which the rule of law can prevail”. – The Editor

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 30 May 2019

Photo: Parents visiting her 15-year-old daughter, who is suspected of being infected by Ebola, at the Ebola Treatment Center in Beni, DRC (January 2019). Credit: World Bank /Vincent Tremeau.

UN Appoints ‘Ebola Chief’ As the Menace of Deadly Virus Grows

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – “We have no time to lose.” That’s the new mantra at the United Nations as the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo now appears almost unstoppable.

In a move to bolster efforts to contain the growing outbreak that has killed more than 1,200 people in 10 months, the United Nations on May 23 named David Gressly as the Emergency Ebola Response Coordinator (EERC).