Some 50 transport ministers and leaders from around the world joined delegates from over 90 countries for the 75th anniversary session of UNECE’s Inland Transport Committee (ITC) to celebrate its unique accomplishments as the UN regulatory platform for transport by road, rail and inland waterway, and depict a picture of the Committee’s future. Ministers signed a resolution entitled “Ushering in a decade of delivery for sustainable inland transport and sustainable development”. To commemorate the anniversary, UNECE also launched the publication “75 Years of Inland Transport Committee – 75 Documents that Changed the World of Transport” which tells the history of the ITC and its management of international legal instruments that have shaped inland transport throughout the globe. 

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Cities now account for approximately 73% of the population in the UNECE region. “Advancing Sustainable Urban and Peri-Urban Forestry”, a new policy brief published by UNECE, emphasizes the role of sustainable urban and peri-urban forestry as an integrative and strategic nature-based solution that can help develop healthier, more sustainable and climate resilient cities. Urban forests are critical city infrastructure and are essential to building environment, social and economic resilience within urban communities. The contributions of urban forests, trees and associated vegetation to climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster risk reduction, public health and well-being, biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic recovery are significant and increasingly a focus of city policymakers around the world.   

The population of the UNECE region is ageing: one in four people will be 65 years old or above by 2050 compared to one in six today. Population ageing has social and economic implications for which societies need to prepare. This requires a coordinated, whole-of-government and whole-of-society effort to bring societies and economies into harmony with demographic change, otherwise known as ‘mainstreaming ageing’ through the systematic integration of ageing issues in all policies at all levels. A new Policy Brief on Ageing launched this week highlights progress made and calls for further action across seven key areas to enhance societal adaptation to population ageing. 

 

A variety of European and African representatives from business, science, and government presented initiatives to raise awareness of universal sustainable resource management systems at the EU-Africa Business Forum. Experts called for further integration of European and African value chains through shared capacity building, training and implementation of the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC). Speakers highlighted the geology of critical raw materials in Africa and the shared goals of the Africa Mining Vision and UNFC. UNECE has been a pivotal partner in developing the interconnectivity between global resource management systems that address social and environmental considerations to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

A small sub-set of small- and medium-sized enterprises – innovative, high-growth enterprises (IHGEs) – plays an outsize role in innovation and structural transformation as they spearhead experimentation with new ideas to create value, address challenges, and reduce transaction costs. Understanding IHGEs and how to support them has risen high on national policy agendas in Central Asia. UNECE organized online training sessions for policy makers from the region. Participants from business incubators, accelerators and similar innovation support institutions in the region noted the importance of regular policy dialogue and practical exchange of experiences among the countries, alongside international expertise.  

Strengthening value chains between Africa and the European Union is a priority objective for sustainable growth and decent jobs across the two continents. The EU accounts for a third of African commodity exports in 2018. Textiles and clothing is a fast-growing industry in several African countries: the apparel and footwear industry in Sub-Saharan Africa amounts to 31 billion USD and is expected to grow at 5% until 2024. However, the EU’s regulatory environment and growing demand for sustainable business models in the textile industry risk hampering trading operations. Building the traceability of sustainable value chains across the two continents with support of blockchain technology was the focus of discussions at the 7th EU-Africa Business Forum, in an event organized by the UNECE-ITC initiative for Enhancing Transparency and Traceability of Sustainable Value Chains in Garment and Footwear. 

Uganda confirmed its intention to accelerate its accession process to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). This constitutes a unique global legal and intergovernmental framework for the sustainable management of transboundary water resources. Along with the formulation of a concrete road map to guide Uganda’s accession process, securing high-level commitment for Uganda’s accession was the main outcome of a nationaworkshop organized in Entebbe, Uganda on 15 and 16 February 2022. Joining the Convention would make Uganda the first Nile riparian country to accede any of the international conventions on transboundary water.