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With a long history of reliance on resource-based industries for growth, countries of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) - Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan - have embraced the power of innovation…
UNECE support for the revision of the Georgian Mining Code Act is shaping the future of resource classification and estimation standards in Georgia. During a workshop in Tbilisi participants discussed how Georgian standards could play a crucial role in harmonizing with the global dimensions of the…
Clothing production has doubled in the past 15 years. In 2018, the fashion industry produced around 2.1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) – 4% of the world’s total – leading to major environmental, health and social challenges. In 2020 in Europe, textile consumption had the third…
Turkmenistan has made significant progress in increasing the share of the non-state sector in its GDP (excluding fuel and energy), which reached 71.1% in 2022. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are considered by Turkmenistan as an important tool to further advance the implementation of the SDGs…
Forest ecosystems in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Europe are struggling with the complexity of changing climatic conditions, human and natural pressures threatening their vitality and resilience.  To address these challenges and promote sustainable forest management, data on forest…
Delegations from over 40 countries in the wider European region convened in Geneva on 19-20 October to review progress towards the goals adopted by the landmark 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and discuss priorities for the future.  The two-day conference,…
An estimated 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water at least a month per year – a figure expected to increase to more than 5 billion by 2050.  According to WMO, over 50% of global catchment areas and reservoirs displayed deviations from normal conditions in 2022, of which the majority…
Sustainable and climate finance needs in Central Asia are considerable, with an estimated 38 billion US dollars per year up to 2030. On the other hand, the total foreign direct investment flows in the region in 2022 amounted to 10 billion US dollars. The infrastructure finance gap is therefore huge…
The ongoing repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical instability, and elevated inflation rates continue to pose challenges to global trade, with the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s  trade growth forecast  now estimated  at only 0.8% this year.    As the global trade landscape grapples…
The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in 1994, set a bold new vision of the relationships between population, development, and individual rights and well-being. It recognized that population was not about numbers, but about people, and that individual…
Every year, forest fires set new records. The 2023 wildfire season in the Northern Hemisphere could not have been worse.   The wildfire that ravaged northeastern Greece in August was the largest single wildfire recorded in the European Union (EU), burning more than 810 square kilometres.   In the…
Since 2009 when Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) were introduced in Kyrgyzstan, 66 projects have been implemented in the country, providing access to critical public services to more than 1 million citizens. These PPP projects are the driving forces of the economic and social development in…
Sound emission inventories are the first step for designing effective clean air policies as they provide information about the main sources and the most acute air pollution problems in a country.  Under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention), UNECE has therefore…
In the Drina River Basin, shared mainly by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, working together across borders and jointly addressing water and energy challenges is a key part of effective climate action and the green transition.    As part of the Sarajevo Energy and Climate Week (25-29…
Decades of unsustainable consumption and production patterns have resulted in the exhaustion of finite resources and environmental degradation. As governments reassess scenarios, the circular economy model - where resources are reused, recycled, and repurposed to reduce waste - has become a pillar…
Many incidents in freight transport are attributed to poor practices in the packing of freight containers, including inadequate securing of cargo, overloading and incorrect declaration of contents. The victims of these incidents may be the general public or transport and supply chain workers, who…
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are in the process of adopting road safety strategies and actions plans that rely on modern tools. In both countries, road safety audit and road safety inspection are recognized by legislation, but in-depth analysis of road crashes is still not part of the…
Taking up some of the main results of the recent review report, which assessed the effectiveness of the amended Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol) under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, experts discussed…
The building industry currently accounts for 39% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, 11% of which result from manufacturing building materials and products such as steel, cement, and glass. And yet, to date, emission reduction efforts have not really focused on decarbonizing the construction…
Breathing clean air is a necessity for everyone and decent air quality is a shared responsibility that can only be achieved if we work together. This is what Member States in the UNECE region realized 45 years ago, when they started negotiating the first multilateral, legally binding treaty to cut…
A high-level meeting to review the progress of the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries (VPoA) in Europe and Asia is kicking off in Bangkok.  Over the course of two days (22 - 23 August), senior United Nations and government officials, representatives from transit…
The public and civil society have a crucial role to play in tackling key environmental challenges. To make the most of this potential, continued efforts are needed to uphold their rights to shape environmental decision-making.  To this end, the Working Group of the Parties to the Convention on…
UNECE and partners have started implementation of a multi-year project on “Improving the energy efficiency of the global building supply chain industry and its products to deliver high performance buildings” (full project budget EUR 19.8 million), funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI…
Bringing together countries to share progress and experience on how to effectively manage their shared waters is a key characteristic of the Water Convention. Cooperation for the management of transboundary waters to promote sustainability, peace and security is the Convention’s mantra - especially…
As one of the United Nations regional economic commissions, UNECE has a key role to play in helping countries with economies in transition to better integrate into the global economy. UNECE is at the forefront of setting international standards on cross-border procedures, identifying regulatory and…