Economic and Social Council: Meetings Coverage

The Economic and Social Council resumed its two-day Management Segment today to consider the reports of 11 of its subsidiary bodies and to adopt a variety of decisions and resolutions before it.

Against the backdrop of a highly uncertain global outlook, with rising food and fuel prices blunting efforts to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Economic and Social Council formally adopted the ministerial declaration of its high-level political forum on sustainable development today, reaffirming that poverty eradication is an “indispensable requirement” for building resilient societies.

​​​​​​​The high-level political forum on sustainable development, convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, concluded today, approving a ministerial declaration, that recognizes the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as the blueprint for an inclusive, sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerating the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development, leaving no one behind.

​​​​​​​The perspectives of Africa, Asia-Pacific, Western Asia, Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean are critical in the collective push to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and bring countries “back on track” in efforts to measurably improve well-being across their societies by 2030, speakers in the high-level political forum on sustainable development stressed today, as they discussed recommendations emerging from a series of regional dialogues to that end.

Invest in people, Secretary-General António Guterres told delegates and leaders at the Economic and Social Council today, underscoring the importance of universal social protection as well as equitable and high-quality education.

The voices of the truly marginalized must be incorporated into public policymaking, the high-level political forum on sustainable development heard today during its consideration of the role of civil society in post COVID-19 recovery and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The General Assembly was unable this afternoon to elect either the Russian Federation or North Macedonia to sit on the United Nations Economic and Social Council, despite running through five rounds of voting.  As neither of the two States obtained the two-thirds majority required to be elected, the General Assembly postponed the continuation of the process to a later date, while also adopting a resolution on strengthening connectivity between Central Asia and South Asia.

​​​​​​​With agricultural expansion driving 90 per cent of global forest loss and risk of species extinction growing at an unprecedented rate, speakers in the high-level political forum on sustainable development today called for rebalancing the relationship between humans and nature, exploring ways to better protect terrestrial ecosystems, biodiversity and land resources on a large, impactful scale.

Calls to achieve gender equality and preserve the ocean’s vast marine resources dominated the high-level political forum on sustainable development today, as delegates explored the myriad policy, legal, financial and environmental reforms needed to jump-start a holistic transformation of their countries emerging from the COVID-19 crisis, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and create a world that supports all people.

Temporary school closures during the COVID-19 crisis left 1.6 billion children unable to learn — 91 per cent of students worldwide — including nearly 369 million who rely on school meals for daily nutrition, speakers in the high-level political forum on sustainable development stressed today, as they called for the wholesale transformation of education systems towards those that place student needs at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.