The Global Alliance to end AIDS in children marks a step up to ensure that all children with HIV have access to life saving treatment and that mothers living with HIV have babies free from HIV.
Leaders across the globe will come together at the Education Cannot Wait High-Level Financing Conference to ensure every child, everywhere, is offered a quality education.
The annual UNA-USA Global Engagement Summit (GES) brings together more than 1,000 community leaders, students, lifetime advocates, and young professionals from across the United States - the host country of the United Nations – to fill in for decisionmakers. With more the 20,000 members, UNA-USA is a movement that supports and advocates the values and principles of the UN. Through his year’s theme, “Empowered and Emboldened for Impact”, the Summit aims to empower members and to show decisionmakers how their support of bold action improves the fate of people, justice and our planet.
Under the theme “Accelerating the recovery from COVID-19 and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels”, the 2023 Partnership Forum (31 January, New York) of the Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC will bring together some of the most influential leaders from government, the private and non-profit sectors, and civil society to share and discuss the latest innovations on how partnerships can best advance international development.
Young people should be at the heart of decisions that impact their lives and health. WHO has therefore established the WHO Youth Council, a newly set up mechanism for meaningful engagement to provide direct advice to the Director-General. Its members consist of international youth organizations that will meet for the first time in Geneva on 27 January. The meeting will solidify the council’s working plans and structure. The Youth Council is a dynamic network that will amplify the voices and experiences of young people, and leverage their expertise, energy and ideas to promote public health.
After nearly 13 years, the Lake Chad region is one of the world’s most protracted conflict and crisis environments. Despite some positive developments, armed groups continue to spread violence and 11 million people are in need of wide-ranging assistance in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. The third high-level Lake Chad conference (23-24 January) is a critical international political forum able to facilitate a regional, cross-border consensus around the required adjustments for effectively dealing with the prevailing multi-faceted challenges in the region.
The devastating floods in 2022 were Pakistan’s worst natural disaster in decades. They left one-third of the country submerged, people forced into poverty, and 8 million displaced. An enormous challenge lies ahead. Flood damages and economic losses reached over US$30 billion, and reconstruction needs are estimated at US$16.3 billion. The International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan aims to bring the world together to back a strategy for rehabilitation and reconstruction that secures international support for building Pakistan’s climate resilience and adaptation.
UNEP reports on the landmark agreement to guide action on nature through to 2030 resulting from the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15). 188 governments adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aiming to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect indigenous rights. The plan includes concrete measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30 per cent of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. It also contains proposals to increase finance to developing countries – a major issue during talks.
The potential of space in supporting the SDGs is wide. Space-based services and technologies are key in understanding climate change and disaster risk reduction. The World Space Forum (WSF), held on 13-15 December, will focus on issues of sustainability in space for sustainability on Earth. WSF brings together experts and policymakers from the local, national and international levels, from the public and private realms, for a truly inclusive, diverse and multilateral dialogue around the four pillars of space economy, space society, space accessibility and space diplomacy.
The 17th Internet Governance Forum (IGF), under the theme resilient internet for a shared sustainable and common future, takes place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 28 November to 2 December. The program is guided by five themes drawn from the Global Digital Compact, a future agreement proposed in the UN Secretary-General's Our Common Agenda report for an open, free, and secure digital future for all. While there is no negotiated outcome, the IGF informs policymakers and facilitates a common understanding of how to maximize internet opportunities and address risks and challenges that arise.
The 9th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, taking place on 22-23 November 2022, in Fez, Morocco, is a leading platform for promoting intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation. The Forum is hosted by UNAOC, as part of its mission to improve understanding and cooperation among peoples across cultures and to reduce polarization at local and global levels. The Forum takes place against a wide array of global challenges including the surge of hate speech and racism, thus, finding pathways to peace rooted in mutual respect has never been more urgent.
Our health depends on the health of the ecosystems that surround us, and these ecosystems remain under threat from deforestation, agriculture, changes in land use and rapid urban development. WHO issues a grim reminder that the climate crisis continues to make people sick and jeopardizes lives. Health must be at the core of climate change negotiations. COP27 is a crucial opportunity for the world to re-commit to keeping the 1.5 °C Paris Agreement goal alive. Tacking the climate crisis requires progress on mitigation, adaptation, financing and collaboration.
Climate action is urgent. Without early and concerted climate and development action, over 216 million people could become internal climate migrants by 2050. The human mobility implications of the climate crisis are profound. We must act urgently, involving the whole society. We must strengthen people’s resilience and move from negotiation to implementation. At COP27, we must deliver for humanity, for its dignity and for future generations. At COP27, we must leave no one behind. Find out more about IOM’s work to help climate migrants.
The last seven years have been the hottest ever recorded. And they’re just a taste of what to expect if we continue to fail to act on global heating. COP27, taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, is an opportunity to stop talking and start acting. Change is happening around us, and the Paris Agreement points the way. In country after country, UNDP has witnessed, alongside our key partners, the transformation that takes place when leadership, political will and investment come together. There is no future without meaningful climate action.
At this moment the world faces many global challenges related to environment, climate change, health, food insecurity, economic recovery or human displacement. To take appropriate action, governments must understand and monitor the existing situation and therefore need relevant and timely data. The statistical community is tasked to deliver these data, in particular data on the SDGs, during the 7th International Conference on Big Data and Data Science for Official Statistics on 7-11 November. The latter part of week will showcase the 2022 Big Data Hackathon as well as several workshops.