Environmental issues and sustainable development

World leaders gathered at the United Nations today to inaugurate the High-level Political Forum which seeks to inject new energy into global efforts to accelerate action on sustainable development for future generations.

With the goal of injecting new energy into the global effort to implement sustainable development, world leaders will gather at the United Nations today for the inaugural session of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

The Commission on Sustainable Development had helped to shape the global agenda for the twenty-first century, its Chairperson said today as the body held its final session, 20 years after its inception.

The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development will conclude its two decades of efforts to promote sustainability at its twentieth and final session on Friday — coincidentally 20 September — just before countries hold the inaugural session of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, on Tuesday, 24 September.

An impressive list of commitments made by Governments, the private sector and philanthropies at the Rio+20 and other international forums have galvanized a wide range of interests into action on sustainable development, according to a new United Nations report launched today, which says the commitments are starting to show results.

Establishing the High-level Political Forum in place of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development marked a major step forward in implementing “The Future We Want”, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

One year after the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, where the eight largest multilateral development banks jointly committed to invest approximately $175 billion in more sustainable developing-world transport systems over the next 10 years, implementation of those commitments is on track, according to experts attending a dialogue hosted in Berlin by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Government of Germany.

With more than 270,000 pedestrians losing their lives on the world’s roads each year, the Second United Nations Global Road Safety Week began today with calls from United Nations officials to improve road safety and sustainable transportation solutions.

Following up on a key issue that emerged at the “Rio+20” Conference last June — how developing countries can obtain clean, environmentally sound technologies to advance sustainable development — the United Nations General Assembly is convening a series of discussions aimed at identifying options that could be employed to establish a mechanism that facilitates the flow of technologies around the world.