With the expected adoption of the Doha Political Declaration, the Second World Summit for Social Development offers a chance to accelerate implementation of the 2030 Agenda and address today’s social challenges.

Established North–South dynamics have been explicitly challenged by the 2030 Agenda, which sets out the Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for "developed and developing countries alike”.

The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) has established a global norm rejecting anti-personnel mines as indiscriminate weapons with no place in modern warfare.

Access to information is the bridge that allows citizens to demand justice, journalists to expose corruption, and communities to secure basic services.

By prohibiting nuclear test explosions, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty transformed decades of aspiration into a shared commitment.

Protecting freshwater ecosystems like lakes is central to biodiversity, water, energy and food security, and offers climate resilience.

When sustainability is incorporated into the learning journey, it cultivates leadership, empathy and innovation – essential traits for climate-resilient citizenship.

This World Hepatitis Day, let us celebrate our successes in fighting the disease and reaffirm our global commitment to ending hepatitis as a public health threat. 

Dust and sand storms can have far-reaching impacts on our health and quality of life, on air and ground transport, on agriculture and the environment, and on solar energy production.

Quantum mechanics has impressively completed our view of the world and made the atomistic cosmos accessible to us.