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.

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.

ISTANBUL, 20 April — The 197 country members of the United Nations Forum on Forests concluded their two-week session in Istanbul, Turkey, with agreement on a series of measures aimed at improving sustainable management of forests and ensuring that forest issues will continue to have priority in the process to define the United Nations development agenda after 2015.

Calling on Governments to recognize that forests and the socioeconomic benefits they provide were essential to human development, the United Nations forum working to build global consensus on implementation of forest-related agreements concluded its tenth session late this evening, also deciding to consider setting up a voluntary global fund to support sustainable management of all types of forests and trees.