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The UNECE region has taken promising first steps to implement the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Coming together at the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development for the UNECE Region in Geneva on 25 April, about 45 governments and numerous other actors exchanged…
Our health and well-being is contingent on the quality of air we breathe, the water we drink and the ground we live on. Environmental causes are responsible for 22% of all deaths worldwide each year: for 17% of all cancers, 25% of strokes and 44% of asthma cases. According to a report published…
The Eighth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference (Batumi, Georgia, 8–10 June 2016) addressed education for sustainable development (ESD) issues at the highest regional level, with UNECE ministers in Batumi recognizing education for sustainable development as a cross-cutting theme that…
The world is witnessing a new revolution driven by various trends and technologies, and the race is on for new transformative models in energy and material flows. These transformations are shaped by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate action. As new…
The World Bank and the International Energy Agency launched the 2017 Global Tracking Framework (GTF) report in New York on 3 April during the SE4All Forum. The GTF report is intended to measure success in achieving the objectives of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative. The…
Azerbaijan is still in the process of negotiating its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which entered into force on 22 February 2017, would thus be included in the package of obligations for the country upon accession…
While agriculture is at heart of the Balkans’ economic activities, only a few countries have so far managed to exploit their production and trade potential to the fullest. Ties and trade volumes within the region are stagnating and ties outside the region are limited to a few countries. Has the…
Chad expressed its intention to accede as soon as possible to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), serviced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). This is the main outcome of the national…
Effective transboundary cooperation is crucial to address the frequent floods and droughts in the Dniester River basin, shared by the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Such cooperation will become even more important in the future, as climate change is expected to affect the volume and seasonal…
Single Windows ease trade by allowing international traders to submit trade documents to a single centralized location, thus saving time and costs. In 2005, UNECE published Recommendation 33, which lays the foundation for establishing a Single Window environment. Since then, a number of…
UNECE was established in 1947 to promote pan-European economic integration, because, after the horrors of the Second World War, this was deemed “essential to the maintenance of peace”. Over seven decades, the work of UNECE has yielded significant results for the region and has established…
In Kyiv, a high-level multi-stakeholder meeting on 28 March 2017 marked the restart of the UNECE-assisted water policy process after a six-year pause. Some 50 participants from key stakeholder organizations attended the meeting of the newly formed National Policy Dialogue (NPD) Steering…
Experts from UNECE member States and the secretariat will be visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina from 27 March to 6 April 2017 for a field mission in the framework of the third environmental performance review (EPR) of the country. The team will meet governmental officials and representatives of…
Did you know that one in four people in the UNECE region live in rural areas? This is true for almost one in three people over 65 as rural areas experience faster population ageing.Rural areas are more thinly populated and people are more geographically dispersed than in urban areas. For this…
With almost a billion people going hungry (795 million people are undernourished according to FAO), hunger is one of the persistent scourges of the world. At the same time, there is more than enough food on the planet to feed the entire world population. FAO estimates that one-third of the food…
Almost two years have passed since the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by UN Member States. It was a landmark achievement in international cooperation, a plan of action to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle…
Natural gas is often considered the cleanest fossil fuel. However, its principal component, methane, is a potent greenhouse gas. Although short-lived in the atmosphere, methane contributes more than ten per cent to the overall anthropogenic emissions. Reducing methane emissions is one of the low…
Sustainable forest management indicators developed through a participatory process can provide important information on forest resources and support evidence-based forest policies. The concept of criteria and indicators, integrating social, economic and ecological aspects, was developed…
Wood energy is an important renewable energy source. The CO2 absorbed by growing trees is equivalent to the CO2 that is released by burning wood. In 2013, wood energy accounted for 3.5 percent of the total primary energy supply and 37.5% of the renewable energy supply among UNECE member States,…
“Accessible, timely and reliable statistics are a prerequisite for effective action on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” said Peter Thomson, the President of the United Nations General Assembly at the 48th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission. He underlined the need…
Increasing demands for land and other natural resources, construction of environmentally hazardous installations and industrial accidents put people exercising their rights and seeking justice at the new frontline in the battle for the sustainability of their communities and the future of their…
Preparations for the UNECE Ministerial Conference on Ageing are in full swing. Under the motto A sustainable society for all ages: Realizing the potential of living longer the Conference will review progress in implementing the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in the region and…
UNECE presented the study on overcoming regulatory and procedural barriers to trade during a stakeholder meeting organized by the Moldavian Ministry of Economy for stakeholders from across the country, including economic operators from the region of Transnistria.According to the Director…
By mid-century, India’s economy will grow five-fold, according to te goverment’s projections. India will become the most populous country in the world, with over 1.6 billion people, up from the current 1.25 billion. These additional 350 million people will be absorbed almost entirely by…
In recent decades, family patterns have changed substantially in the UNECE region. Longer cohabitation before marriage and childbearing after personal establishment in the labour market has become more common for both men and women. As an example, the mean age at first marriage for both men and…