Press Releases
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Increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events due to climate change that can lead to industrial accidents and unchecked urban and regional development could together be a recipe for disaster, warn the UN and the governments of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia
Today, a High-Level Regional Policy Dialogue kicked off the new capacity building project “Accelerating the Transition to Circular Economy in the UNECE Region” to help countries address challenges and harness opportunities in key areas, including traceability of supply chains, innovation-enhancing
The launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 sets the ambitious target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. To realize this vision, UNECE partnered with WHO and its sister UN Regional Commissions to develop a Global Plan for the Decade of Action,
Today, Serbia became the first country in the pan-European region to launch a National Policy Dialogue (NPD) on Industrial Safety, supported by UNECE in the framework of the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (Industrial Accidents Convention). Since its accession to the
A decision establishing a rapid response mechanism for the protection of environmental defenders was adopted by the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) at its
This week nearly 450 participants from close to 50 countries attended the seventh and fourth sessions of the Meetings of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention (Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters) and to its
The digitalization of the “carnet de passages en douane” – or “CPD” system –, which facilitates the temporary importation of private and commercial vehicles, is expected to greatly improve its efficiency, speed and transparency. Through enhanced data management, the digitalized “eCPD” system will
Global estimates for financing needs for water-related investments to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water range from $6 .7 trillion by 2030 to $22.6 trillion by 2050, according to the OECD. Investments are needed not only to build new infrastructure but also to maintain and operate
New Guidelines issued today by UNECE will support countries in maintaining high quality as they move towards using modern data sources in their censuses.
Knowing the number of people in a population, their distribution across the country, and their basic characteristics such as age, sex and
Understanding the conditions of road crashes supports the assessment of how vehicles’ safety equipment performs, which can help to improve these systems to reinforce safety on the road. A new UN Regulation which entered into force on 30 September 2021 will introduce a major breakthrough in
The Bureau of the Conference of European Statisticians (CES), UNECE’s statistical decision-making body, has released new guidance for measuring the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women and men.
From the moment that countries began imposing restrictions in a bid to flatten the curve of the
Ensuring that children in Paraguay have safer ways to get to and from schools; strengthening the medical post-crash response in Bangladesh; developing streets for safer and low-carbon mobility of pedestrians and cyclists in East Africa; and strengthening road safety data management and policy
Today, more than 2 billion ha of lands globally are deforested and degraded causing competition for scarce land and natural resources, hunger and threats to livelihoods. Major causes, particularly, in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe are linked to pests, diseases, droughts, forest fires, wind
UNECE’s new Transport Statistics Infocard offers a new, user-friendly country-by-country perspective on important transport topics that are needed to inform policy decisions: road safety, numbers of cars and length of railways, alternative fuel use and public transport.
Across the UNECE region
Cities’ growing role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda has led to increased global attention on localizing SDGs. The preparation of Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) enables the review of SDG implementation at a local level. VLRs complement Voluntary National Reviews developed at the country
Humanity is facing not one but three intertwined crises: the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and a lack of adequate and affordable housing. Each of these three emergencies has the potential to compound the multidimensional impacts of the others in health, social cohesion, environmental integrity
Approximately 50 million people in the UNECE region live in inadequate housing conditions. In the 21st century, the governance, land and finance systems that influence the delivery and consumption of housing have been beset by numerous crises. Emanating from climate change, unguided investment
Can the oft-shared, yet increasingly scarce and most precious, resource that is water be a source of cooperation, rather than of conflict, among countries? If so, then how? As climate change brings prolonged droughts and more intense floods, how will Governments cope together? More than 20
Togo is the fifth country outside the pan-European region to accede to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), for which UNECE ensures the Secretariat. This comes as more and more countries – especially in Africa –are
Ministers from The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal have agreed to establish a legal and institutional framework for cooperation on the Senegal-Mauritanian Aquifer Basin (SMAB), a shared aquifer basin (groundwater reserve) on which 80% of their populations depend. In a context of
The United Nations has released a first version of a Handbook on Provisions and Options for Trade in Times of Crisis and Pandemic. Work on the Handbook was initiated by ESCAP, UNCTAD and other UN Regional Commissions after realizing that the hundreds of regional trade agreements in place provided
Joining the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) makes a difference! Parties to the Water Convention constantly advance water cooperation at the basin, subbasin and bilateral levels. The conclusion of at least 10 new
Globally, 690 million people suffer from hunger and three billion cannot afford healthy, nutritious food. Despite this, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that one-third of all food fit for consumption is either lost during the production or shipping process
Commitments to The Sustainability Pledge are gathering speed as signatories and developers of the UNECE-brokered recommendations for improved sustainability and ethical practice in the garment and footwear sector gather for a three-day event on the sidelines of Milan Fashion Week.
Textile and
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a multi-dimensional effect on the UNECE region, causing the worst economic contraction in decades. Cities and urban areas, with their high population density and interconnectivity, were particularly vulnerable and encountered major disruptions. The pandemic impacted