Sustainable Energy for All: Towards Rio+20
Energy powers human progress. From generating employment to creating economic competitiveness, from strengthening security to empowering women, energy is the great uniter. It cuts across all sectors and lies at the heart of all countries' core interests. Now, more than ever, the world needs to ensure that the benefits of modern energy are available to all and that energy is provided as cleanly and efficiently as possible.
Involving the Forgotten: Widows and Global Sustainable Development
Four years ago, the UN Chronicle offered me a forum to propose, and give reasons for, the proclamation of an annual International Widows' Day. That idea has become reality with the United Nations General Assembly declaring 23 June as International Widows' Day.
Objectives and Vision for Rio+20
In June of this year, world leaders will gather for Rio+20 with the objective of securing renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assessing progress and remaining gaps in implementation, and addressing new and emerging challenges.
Why Water Management Starts at the Local Level
Water is ubiquitous: it is essential for all forms of life and virtually all economic activities. The United Nations has declared that a human right exists for reliable access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation which, along with other domestic purposes, accounts for about 7 to 10 per cent of all water use.
Gender Equality and Sustainable Development
Women are making their voices heard and are fighting to ensure that Rio+20 marks real progress for all people. A successful Rio+20 will enhance women's rights and their access to and control over resources and decision making spheres.
Civil Society and Rio+20
Sustainable development is more critical now than ever. We face increasing income inequalities within and between States. Over 1.4 billion people continue to live in extreme poverty while resource depletion and climate change impacts continue to threaten development.
Floods and Climate Change: Sustainable Development and Other Imaginations
Historically, flooding has invoked and spurred an altogether different social and political imagination, in which seasonal inundations have been celebrated for their ecologically renewing and economically beneficial properties. The regular flooding by the silt-laden waters of the Nile, for example, has long been recognized for having sustained and enabled Egypt's ancient civilization of the Pharaohs.
Addressing the Sustainable Urbanization Challenge
The cities of the world's emerging economies are increasingly drivers of global prosperity while the planet's resources are fast depleting. It is, therefore, more critical than ever that Member States and United Nations agencies commit themselves to realize the goal of sustainable urbanization as a key lever for development.
Working Towards a Sustainable UN
Sustainable development is a core objective for the United Nations family. Through their many and varied activities, all UN organizations contribute to sustainable development in one way or another—through economic development, poverty alleviation, healthcare, peacebuilding, infrastructure support, or environmental protection.
Sustainability Agenda in Retrospect and in Prospect
Since the adoption of Agenda 21 in 1992, the United Nations has been pursuing sustainable development in the economic, social, and environmental fields, and at the local, national, and international levels. Due to efforts of the past two decades, the United Nations has been successful in spreading the concept of sustainable development far and wide, carrying out various forms of relevant activities on a regular basis, and establishing numerous international political commitments. As countries become increasingly interdependent, the desire for sustainable development has become stronger in a concerted way. It would be fair to say that an era of sustainable development is being ushered in right now.
Human Rights and the UN: Progress and Challenges
Criticism of the Secretary-General's own performance in relation to human rights tended to focus on his perceived failure to denounce violations, especially in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and China. Such criticism runs counter to recent academic research which has shown that isolating states is a relatively ineffective way of responding to chronic human rights problems. And, for the record, the Secretary-General has repeatedly voiced concern about human rights in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. The dispute, though, is more about tactics than substance. Each individual case is different, and what might work in one place might not in another. Sometimes the Secretary-General has taken considerable political risks to protect human rights, most notably in the case of Côte d'Ivoire, in early 2011. Such tactics are not likely to work often.
The Dilemma of Democratization in Fragile States
Conventional thinking juxtaposes democracy and dictatorship as mutually exclusive systems. It is often assumed that when one system collapses, it is replaced by the other, as if this was the natural order of things. Some theorists, such as Francis Fukuyama, argued that liberal democracy had decisively defeated tyranny with the collapse of the Soviet Union, which marked the end of history. Indeed, since then, while there have been setbacks in countries such as Ukraine and Zimbabwe, dictatorship has been in retreat.