Sustainable Development Goals

Kanni Wignaraja, Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, who recently visited the country, told correspondents in New York that 69 per cent of Afghans are “subsistence insecure” – meaning they do not have enough basic resources. “Something that really hit me … was the harsh impact of continuous natural disasters,” she said, adding that many parts of Afghanistan are facing “dramatic” scarcity of water further setting back development efforts. Lights out Since the...

7 March 2024Economic Development The benefits of cutting-edge technology remain out of reach for around 2.6 billion people globally who are still waiting for an Internet connection, the head of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said on Thursday, outlining the agency’s plans to narrow the gap. Doreen Bogdan-Martin underscored ITU’s wide-ranging brief, emphasizing its pivotal role in fostering connectivity across the globe. Founded in 1865 as an international telegraph...

Nearly 8,600 people on the move died in 2023, a 20 per cent increase from 2022, according to the UN agency’s Missing Migrants Project online platform. It details the global movement of people risking their lives to escape conflict, economic crisis and natural disasters, including drought and flooding linked to climate change. IOM says the findings clearly show that there are far too few legal pathways for migrants. Hundreds of thousands of people are continuing to embark on dangerous and...

At Beabo Primary School in Ambovombe in the south of Madagascar, teams of students are in competition to cook the tastiest and most nutritional meal using locally available products which hopefully will encourage their parents and others to change to healthier diets. Fifteen-year-old Marie-Eliane is one of six junior chefs who have produced an impressive three-course menu bursting with varied flavours. School children prepare a three-course meal as part of the Tsikonina competition...

Their journey begins in the open fields every morning in search of these plants, which include cheeseweed – known locally as khubeezeh – which have been eaten by Palestinians as side dishes for generations. Now they have become a major food source for Gazans. Living conditions in the besieged enclave have reached an abysmal state and are systematically deteriorating, as the latest round of violence that began on 7 October with the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, continues to wreak havoc...

The Global teacher shortage alert was issued at a meeting on Monday of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession announced a new set of recommendations to safeguard future learning for all. Quality education for ‘learning societies’ “Now, more than ever, we need to move towards learning societies. People everywhere need high-quality skills, knowledge and education. Above...

Civil aviation organization ICAO said that the numbers for the first quarter of 2024 indicate that airlines will sustain the return to profitability recorded in 2023. “The commitment of Member States to aligning their pandemic responses with the guidance developed by the ICAO Council has been crucial to the recovery of their air services,” said Council president Salvatore Sciacchitano. “The implementation of ICAO’s post-pandemic guidance is now equally crucial to ensuring the resilience...

27 February 2024Economic Development The mobile phone industry has pledged over $9 billion towards the goal of connecting the world, said the chief of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Monday, addressing the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. “Universal meaningful connectivity is within our grasp,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “Thanks to these new commitments, millions of people will benefit from accessible and affordable connectivity across the...

In a new study, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimated that over the past two months, the volume of trade through the Suez Canal has fallen by a whopping 42 per cent. “With major players in the shipping industry temporarily suspending Suez transits, weekly container ship transits have fallen by 67 per cent, and container carrying capacity, tanker transits, and gas carriers have experienced significant declines,” it said. Houthi rebels in Yemen began attacking ships...

21 February 2024Economic Development Today’s multilateral arrangements – global and regional organizations and major development banks – are “not up to the job” of helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the deputy UN chief said on Tuesday. The 11th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) kicked off in Bangkok, with participants echoing a compelling plea for nations to swiftly implement urgent actions, fostered by robust and sustained...