Economic and Social Council

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations opened its 2022 session today, recommending 92 entities for special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and deferring action on 32 others.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the Economic and Social Council Operational Activities Segment, presentation of the report of the Chair of the UNSDG on the Development Coordination Office, in New York today:

Facing multiple, cascading global crises, the United Nations development system stands committed to “rescuing the Sustainable Development Goals” as the only viable way forward, Secretary-General António Guterres said today, as the Economic and Social Council opened its annual operational activities for development session.

The Forum on Forests concluded its seventeenth session today, approving its omnibus resolution and a draft decision that its eighteenth session will be held at United Nations Headquarters from 8 to 12 May 2023, sending both texts to the Economic and Social Council for formal adoption.

Discussion in the Forum on Forests today was dominated by proposals to support the functioning of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests — a voluntary arrangement among 14 international organizations dedicated to improving the sustainable management, conservation and trade of forest-based products around the world.

Home to 80 per cent of all terrestrial species and hailed as “the lungs of the planet” for their ability to generate oxygen, forests hold boundless potential to help solve the most pressing global challenges, speakers in the United Nations Forum on Forests stressed today, as they offered alternatives to the many activities threatening their health, from logging and oil exploration to well-intentioned but ill-conceived conservation efforts.

Closing the Economic and Social Council’s two-day Multistakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, senior United Nations officials welcomed the convergence of experts from Governments, the private sector, academia and civil society, and stressed how rapid scientific progress can be leveraged to address pressing global challenges, so long as the technology emerging is accessible to all.

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues closed its twenty-first session today, approving a raft of recommendations related to its theme — “Indigenous peoples, business, autonomy and the human rights principles of due diligence including free, prior and informed consent” — as well as three draft decisions to be sent to the Economic and Social Council for formal adoption.

The COVID-19 pandemic and emergence of variant viral strains underscore the importance of science, technology and innovation for the recovery and development of global populations, speakers said today as the Economic and Social Council opened its two-day forum on the topic amid calls to urgently address the widening digital gulf between developed and developing countries.

The Commission on Population and Development ended its fifty-fifth session today, approving by consensus a draft resolution urging support for women, young people and other marginalized groups in efforts to achieve sustained and inclusive economic growth.