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.
Despite positive political developments in West Africa and the Sahel — including recent elections in the Gambia and Senegal — the Security Council heard today that a series of coups d’état requires strengthened State institutions and a return to constitutional order to consolidate democratic gains, as members also highlighted proliferating terrorist activity and urged increased support for regional security arrangements to address persistent insecurity.
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.
With food prices at near record highs, rising energy costs triggering fuel shortages and the financial squeeze induced by COVID-19 limiting the ability of the world’s least developed countries to bounce back, Governments must act now to save lives and foster holistic change across their societies, speakers stressed today as the Economic and Social Council high-level political forum opened its 2022 session.
Political leadership, along with sustainable financing from the international community, are needed to create safer roads, save lives and help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), General Assembly delegates agreed during the conclusion of a two-day high-level meeting on global road safety, in which 80 delegations participated and three multi-stakeholder panels were held.
LISBON, 1 July — The 2022 United Nations Ocean Conference concluded today with world leaders adopting an action-oriented Political Declaration to save the ocean from existing and future threats, including marine pollution, harmful fishing practices, biodiversity loss, and acidification.
Adopting a sweeping political declaration on global road safety, the General Assembly today committed to a range of actions aimed at reducing road traffic deaths — 90 per cent of which occur in the world’s low- and middle-income countries — by at least 50 per cent by the year 2030.
LISBON, 30 June — Scientific collaboration and knowledge-sharing is essential to protecting humanity’s shared ocean heritage, speakers stressed on the fourth day of the 2022 Ocean Conference, also spotlighting the need to broaden participation in decision-making to include voices in policy negotiations that — while often overlooked — possess unique experiences and capabilities.
LISBON, 30 June — While oceans cover 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface, providing food and livelihoods for 3 billion people, current understanding of its vast biochemical processes has not kept pace with the rapid changes it is experiencing, speakers in the sixth Lisbon dialogue stressed today, as they outlined a range of scientific and other initiatives to close the knowledge gap.
