Economic issues

The General Assembly would stress the importance of continued substantive consideration of the follow-up to and implementation of the Mauritius Strategy on the sustainable development of small island developing States, according to one of five draft resolutions that the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved by consensus today.

Resuming its 2012 substantive session today, the Economic and Social Council adopted three draft resolutions and three draft decisions in addition to filling vacancies in a number of its subsidiary bodies, having deferred several elections from previous sessions.

The General Assembly would demand that Israel stop exploiting, damaging, depleting and endangering the natural resources in occupied Arab lands, by the terms of one of four draft resolutions approved today by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).

Determining whether migration was a positive or a negative phenomenon depended on how it was managed, Michelle Klein-Solomon, Permanent Observer of the International Organization for Migration, told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it a panel discussion on that subject.

Low productivity, reduced investment, land degradation, water scarcity and climate change had combined to form a “perfect storm” of challenges to the agricultural output of several Member States, General Assembly President Vuk Jeremić (Serbia) told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

While the revolution in mobile telephony had helped bridge the digital divide, it could not address all the challenges relating to information and communications technology and development, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today.

Full access to information and communications technology would allow developing countries to participate actively in the global economy and harness the benefits of globalization, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today.

Desertification affected one third of the earth’s surface and about 1.5 billion people globally, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was told today as it continued its general discussion on sustainable development.

The Rio+20 United Nations Conference had been a “crucial milestone” for the international community and had ushered in “a new era of sustainable development”, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today.

There had been deliberate increases in Israeli attacks on Palestinian farmers during the olive-harvesting season, with some 8,000 trees uprooted, burned or destroyed this year alone, the Observer for Palestine told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it took up the question of permanent sovereignty of Arab peoples under occupation over their natural resources.