Sustainable Development Goals

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...

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...

Speaking at a conference on addressing development challenges of middle-income countries (MICs), in Rabat, Morocco, Amina Mohammed said recent crises have laid bare inequalities and exposed stark contrasts. “While developed countries have been able to protect and swiftly support their populations, other countries have been left dependent on the international community and the existing global support systems.” She said existing frameworks fall short in meeting the complex needs of...

Lenovo Group, LG AI Research, Mastercard, Microsoft, Salesforce, Telefonica, GSMA network of mobile phone operators, and INNIT have pledged to “integrate the values and principles” of UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of AI when designing and deploying AI systems. The announcement came at the UN education, science and culture agency’s Global Forum on AI, taking place in Slovenia on Monday and Tuesday. UNESCO forged a consensus between all its member States in November 2021 to adopt...

Since 7 October when Israel launched its military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the militant group’s terror attacks in southern Israel that left some 1,200 dead and more than 250 taken hostage, Gaza health authorities have reported at least 25,700 killed and some 63,740 injured. In its case, which began earlier this month in the Hague, South Africa asked the Court – a principal organ of the UN – to indicate provisional measures in order to “protect against further severe and...

The report paints a bleak picture of socio-economic conditions since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, with the erosion of women’s rights and a banking system near collapse, identified as major areas of concern. The Afghan economy has not recovered from the cumulative 27 per cent shrinkage experienced since 2020 and appears to be stabilizing at a very low level of activity. Restrictions and disruptions This is largely due to restrictions on the banking sector, disruptions...

10 January 2024Economic Development Global unemployment is expected to rise this year, with growing inequality and stagnant productivity also a cause for concern on the economic horizon, the UN labour agency ILO said on Wednesday. Just over five per cent of the world’s workforce is without a job, according to the International Labour Organization’s World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2024 report. This is a better situation than before the pandemic, but it isn’t set to last, as...