UN chief says Global Goals must be a blueprint for fair globalization

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the importance of engagement and empowerment to transform the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into benefits for all people worldwide and called on all sectors of the society to actively involve themselves in this endeavour.

Speaking at the inaugural Global Engagement & Empowerment Forum on Sustainable Development, held at Yonsei University in Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, the Secretary-General stressed that efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development need to “go beyond diplomatic efforts and Government programmes.”

The civil society, academia and the private sector – all have to be mobilized – to find the resources needed to achieve the Goals and apply them in the best possible bay.

Mr. Guterres also cautioned against rising inequality across the globe and said that this feeling of being “left behind” undermines the confidence of people, communities and regions, in governments as well as international organizations like the UN.

He told the audience, which included former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the President of the General Assembly Miroslav Lajčák that this undermining of trust ultimately results in increased instability.

At the same time, massive challenges such as climate change, rapid population growth, unplanned urbanization, large scale movement of people, food insecurity and water scarcity also contribute to further fragility multiply the negative impacts of the threats to global security.

“This means that we need enormous efforts, engagement and empowerment to make the blueprint of the SDGs the tools with which we are able to reach a fair globalization,” said the UN chief.

He also highlighted that financing is critical to ensure that there are sufficient resources to implement the sustainable development agenda and in that context, urged the international community to strengthen their fight against tax evasion, money laundering, and illicit flows of capital.

For instance, in Africa, these illicit activities account for more than total official development aid (ODA) that flows into the continent, said Mr. Guterres.

Further, in the implementation of the SDGs, he urged everyone to not only respond to the problems of the past but also respond to the problems of the future and on all actors to create conditions for these transformations to be absorbed by the society to enable people to adapt to new scenarios.

António Guterres

✔@antonioguterres

Touring Olympic village at #PyongChang2018, I was moved to see people from different cultures, different religions and different ways to see the world, all ready to compete in the Olympic spirit. We could use more of that spirit of solidarity & mutual respect all over the world.

2:12 AM - Feb 8, 2018

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It is critical that everyone joins into these discourses to ensure that we can translate all these new tools into tools that work for the improvement of humankind, said Mr. Guterres.

While at Yonsei University, Secretary-General Guterres also held a meeting with his predecessor, Ban Ki-moon.

Also today, the current and former Secretaries-General, along with the President of the General Assembly, met with met with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Lee Nak-yon.

Departing Seoul, the Secretary-General and his delegation drove to the site of the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games. On site, he toured the Olympic village at Gangneung, where he was able to meet with a number of athletes, including Cheyenne Goh, the first Singaporean ever to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games. The Secretary-General also met and encouraged competitors from Switzerland, Hungary and China.

In the evening, the Secretary-General attended the official dinner hosted by the President of the Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, for visiting dignitaries.

Source: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=58558#.WoIuFrynF0t

UN: Well-planned and managed cities can drive sustainable development

The head of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) said on Wednesday that a week-long conference on sustainable urban development that kicked off Wednesday in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, will open a “global conversation about our cities and human settlements.”

“With its genuine openness and inclusive nature, the World Urban Forum (WUF9) is unique on the United Nations conference circuit,” said Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat in her remarks to the opening of the Forum, which runs through Saturday, 13 January.

“It is a chance for stakeholders from all over the world – from ministers, local government and urban planners, to civil society groups, the private sector, academia and the media – to contribute to the global conversation about our cities and human settlements,” she added.

Ms. Sharif called WUF9 a platform where people from all walks of life share their experience of finding homes, jobs and lives in urban spaces around the world and a chance for some of the world’s most marginalized to highlight their experiences in being denied some of the advantages cities pose.

For current and future partners, the UN-Habitat chief saw the Forum as an opportunity to showcase the innovative ideas and solutions to challenges being confronted in urban and rural human settlements – and to learn from experts in the field.

Ms. Sharif maintained that WUF9 is “the ideal platform to debate the contribution that positive urban development makes to delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular Goal 11, and the New Urban Agenda,” which was adopted in 2016 by the UN conference known as Habitat III.

Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN Habitat addresses the joint opening of the World Urban Forum 9 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: UN-Habibtat

Recent debates and studies have indeed acknowledged that sustainable urbanization is an essential tool for addressing the global challenges of poverty, exclusion, conflict and climate change.

“The New Urban Agenda comes at a critical moment, when for the first time in history over half of the world’s population is residing in cities,” she said, which, if planned and managed well, can be “the main tool for sustainable development and a solution to many of the challenges our planet is facing today.”

WUF9 is the first major milestone after the adoption of the New Urban Agenda, which lays out the vision for future cities based on the science of urban development providing tools in crucial areas.

Barely three weeks into her tenure as the UN-Habitat chief, Ms. Sharif said it is “an honour and a privilege” that the Forum, which is held every two years in different parts of the world, was being hosted in her native Malaysia, saying “Kuala Lumpur will have the chance to showcase some of its own urban innovations.”

She concluded her statement with the assertion that she looked forward to joining “the global conversation on promoting socially, economically and environmentally sustainable cities for all.”

Source: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=58547#.WoIuD7ynF0t

#Nepal: Over 14,000 farmers in rural area to benefit from new UN project

Thousands of family farmers are expected to benefit from a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) initiative in Nepal that uses an innovative approach to build both the farmers’ capacities as well as add value to their products.

Being implemented in partnership with the Government of Nepal, the Cooperative Market Development Programme aims to establish and operationalize cooperative market chain of fruits and vegetables to increase farmers’ income and other livelihood opportunities.

“This [partnership] will directly benefit thousands of Nepali farmers over the next five years, through crucial support in modernizing their production and market chain,” said Renaud Meyer, the UNDP Country Director for Nepal.

“The active engagement and financing from the Ministry [of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation] shows strong commitment, leadership and ownership of the programme,” he added.

According to UNDP-Nepal, the Programme focuses on six districts near the country’s capital, Kathmandu, which despite having a number of farmers’ cooperative groups, are plagued by poor infrastructure, lack of transport and storage facilities, inadequate access to market information as well as regulatory and institutional bottlenecks.

In addition to improving infrastructure, the initiative also aims to enhance quality, quantity and consistency of the supply of fruits and vegetables as well as train farmers on employing better techniques, as well as building their marketing and institutional capacity.

In all, about 14,000 farmers and their families are expected to benefit from the initiative, which is also expected to contribute to the South Asian country’s implementation of Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2 on ending poverty in all its forms, and ending hunger and achieving food security, respectively.

Source: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=58544#.WoIuA7ynF0t