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Four UNECE member States are showcasing their actions on producing, trading, transforming and consuming energy in an exhibition on display until 24 January 2017 in the Palais des Nations, E-Building. The exhibition features selected examples of ongoing energy transition in Azerbaijan, Germany,…
The new technologies paving the way to vehicle automation for freight movements on motorways offer promising prospects for increasing safety and reducing drivers’ workload. Recent developments and future trends in this field, including safety, traffic management and the socio-economic impact of…
As highlighted by recent political developments in several UNECE countries, migration continues to play a substantial role in shaping responses to economic and foreign policy challenges. Member countries of the United Nations recently emphasised the importance of addressing migrant movements in…
Who is telling the story? Changes in the proportion of women among journalists since 2000 In today’s data-rich environment, the news media plays a vital role in identifying and reporting the most useful and relevant topics to the general public. But who is telling the story?One target of the 2030…
Should the public be consulted about whether to extend the lifetime of a chemical or nuclear plant? Should the public have a say when there is a proposed change to a mining activity? What about the rights of future generations? Are their interests protected when deciding on sustainable…
Transboundary water cooperation often brings many more benefits than expected, but they are frequently not fully perceived by and not appropriately communicated to policy-makers. The Policy Guidance on Identifying, Assessing and Communicating Benefits of Transboundary water Cooperation,…
The Government of Kyrgyzstan has stressed the necessity to enhance its national innovation system as one of the priorities of its National Sustainable Development Strategy for the period 2013-2017. The strategy has highlighted the need to strengthen linkages between, on the one hand, the…
The Drin River basin, shared by five Riparians: Albania, Greece, Kosovo (UNMIK, Security Council resolution 1244), Montenegro and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, faces several acute challenges, such as loss of biodiversity, pollution and frequent floods. The basin includes three major…
In 2014, renewable energy accounted for 14% of the world’s global total primary energy supply, according to the International Energy Agency. Solid biofuels represented the largest share of this, amounting to 44.5% in the EU. These are any renewable, biological material used as fuel such as…
UNECE environmental performance reviews (EPRs) can play an important role in supporting the achievement and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). EPRs can assess the progress made by a country in achieving the relevant SDGs, identify challenges and provide recommendations to…
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require coordination across sectors, coherent policies, and integrated planning. It is increasingly clear that authorities need to “break the silos” of their sectoral mandates and work in better coordination across different sectors. The…
Following up on member States’ pledges to improve air quality across the region at the Eighth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference in Batumi, Georgia earlier this year (8-10 June 2016), Parties to the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention) this week…
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1) calls upon the United Nations to reposition itself to respond to the needs of countries in a number of cross-cutting areas. In particular, it requires that the follow up and review processes for monitoring its implementation needs to be…
Delegations from Bulgaria and Tajikistan meeting with expert representatives from other UNECE countries in Geneva from 6 to 8 December 2016 discussed and finalized recommendations arising from environmental performance reviews (EPRs) undertaken in those countries. In January 2017, the Committee…
Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and environmental impact assessment (EIA) are tools for greening economic development at the planning and project levels. Since 2013, UNECE has supported Georgia’s efforts towards establishing full-scale national SEA and EIA systems in accordance with the…
While countries in Europe and Central Asia are taking the first steps towards achieving the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the entities of the UN system in the region are continuing to connect the dots and align their activities to support these efforts.Under the…
Achieving the ambitious targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will require a revitalized and enhanced global partnership that brings together Governments, civil society, the private sector, the United Nations system and other actors. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) will have…
The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015 by the UN General Assembly brought challenges to national statistical systems worldwide. Measuring the 17 Goals and 169 targets with reliable, consistent and comparable indicators is a complex task, comprising multiple policy…
Much progress has been made since the 1990s in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan) to address severe environmental problems while…
Water quality is a serious problem in Central Asia, but until now there was no formal cooperation between the countries in the region. A new regional working group on water quality, established under the project “Strengthening cooperation on water quality management in Central Asia” funded by…
Many regard standards as being gender neutral. However, looking at them more closely reveals that they are often gender blind. For example, when a technical specification does not differentiate between the sexes, is this based on research on both sexes or is, in fact, a male reference model…
Land resources strengthen and support global efforts towards sustainable development and ensuring property rights is critical for sustainable land management. Sustainable land management is a key element in the work to end poverty, food insecurity, climate change, and to reduce disaster risks.…
What is free time, and how can we measure it? Following increased demand for time-use data from both policymakers and researchers, in 2013, UNECE published the Guidelines for Harmonizing Time-Use Surveys. Free time was defined as time spent on activities such as volunteer work and meetings,…
Adequate, affordable housing is the foundation upon which humans can build healthy lives, strong and resilient cities, and thriving national economies. Despite this, however, studies suggest that housing remains one of the least affordable human rights. Housing provision and land management are…
Today, genetically modified crops are grown on some 450 million acres in over two dozen countries, but there are also numerous countries that ban or prohibit genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Even among countries that prohibit GMO cultivation, most still allow GMO products — in particular…