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The Role of the United Nations System in Improving Road Safety to Save Lives and Advance Sustainable Development

Vehicles experiencing a breakdown or an emergency can stop in the emergency lane; these lanes may themselves present risks to traffic. Wikimedia Commons.
Logo for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030.© World Health Organization

This article examines how the United Nations system is working to improve road safety throughout the world, and how safer roads can contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Reflections on 10 Years of International Jazz Day

Herbie Hancock, Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), performs at the inaugural International Jazz Day Concert at UN Headquarters. 30 April 2011. UN Photo/JC McIlwaine
Induction Ceremony for UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. 22 July 2011. ©UNESCO/Ania Freindorf

By inviting everyone at all levels of society to participate and share their culture with the world through jazz, we recognize and give shape to their inherent dignity and equality. 

Reflections on the 75th Anniversary of the International Court of Justice

Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), presiding at public hearings held on 15 March 2021.
The inaugural sitting of the International Court of Justice, held on 18 April 1946 in the Great Hall of Justice of the Peace Palace, The Hague (ICJ archives).
Official portrait of the President of the International Court of Justice, Joan E. Donoghue.

While there are many aspects of international law on which jurists of all stripes can be expected to agree, we must acknowledge that there is no single, homogenized answer to many legal questions that arise in international disputes. 

Managing Plastic Pollution: Could University Campuses Serve as Vectors of Change?

Volunteers from Chitkara University (center) pose with students of the government school in Tahu Village in the State of Punjab, India, during a book distribution event, part of the 3R Campaign 2030, 4 March 2021. Photo courtesy of Chitkara University.
Plastics are sorted by colour in Dharavi, Mumbai, India, where an increasingly large recycling industry has developed. Photo: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharavi © Linda De Volder

The Sustainable Development Goals, having evolved from the fundamental principle of “leave no one behind”, should follow the same principle in developing initiatives at the grass-roots level.

Sport Can Help the World Come Back Stronger

Mr. Gianni Infantino, President, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), 14 September 2020. ©UNIS Vienna/Nikoleta Haffar (CC BY 2.0) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
FIFA-WHO #ACTogether Campaign LED board during the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020 5th Place match between Ulsan Hyundai FC and Al Duhail SC at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on 7 February 2021 in Doha, Qatar (Photo by FIFA).

As it has done before, football, the most popular sport in the world, will play a central role in bringing communities together.

"Remembrance": A New Poem by the United States Youth Poet Laureate

Introduction

Forest Restoration: A Path to Recovery and Well-Being

Rainforest view, 23 July 2019. Kanenori from Pixabay
Healthy forests mean healthy people. Children cross a river at Altavas, Aklan, the Philippines. The water impounding project is part of a larger FAO effort to improve food and nutrition security in Western Visayas. 19 February 2021. ©FAO/Jake Salvador

The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration provides an opportunity to galvanize support for the restoration of degraded forest landscapes on a massive scale, thereby increasing ecological resilience and productivity, and contributing to many of the SDGs.

"Remembrance": A Poem by the United States Youth Poet Laureate

United States Youth Poet Laureate Meera Dasgupta.

Poetry is slow and requires patience. It is not a luxury; it is meant for all. Claim poetry for yourself and know that if you choose to wield it, you may well change the world.

The Value of Water and Its Essential Role in Supporting Sustainable Development

Boys playing in a stream, 6 March 2016. Photo by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay.
Photo by Katja Just from Pixabay, 26 August 2015.
Savita Devi, an Accredited Social Health Activist, demonstrates hand-washing techniques to Mamta during Home-Based Newborn Care in Ahiran Purwa Barkat, Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh, India. 24 November 2020. UNICEF India/2020/Prashanth Vishwanathan

Recognizing, measuring and expressing water’s worth, and incorporating it into decision-making, are fundamental to achieving sustainable and equitable water resources management and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Protecting Wildlife Can Help Advance the 2030 Agenda and Sustain Life on Earth, Including Humanity

Zebra grazing in a field in Tanzania, 11 July 2018. Hendrik Cornelissen/Pexels
Elephants in South Africa, 2 December 2017. Krisztina Papp/Pixabay

Building back better must bring nature, biodiversity and climate fully into the picture, and address the entrenched social inequalities laid bare by the pandemic.