First of all congratulations all of you for being here in this important event.
I hope that our conversation will contribute to the current debate on the acceleration of the SDGs and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
I would like to highlight the engagement of the representatives of the Civil Society Participation Mechanisms of Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe, as well as that of the representatives of the governments of Norway and Nepal (TBC), together with my colleagues from ESCAP and ECE. Our presence here is an example of the importance of the multi-actor and multi-level implementation o…
In Caribbean small island developing States (SIDS), electrical power outages are frequent in the aftermath of major weather events. While local service disruptions often last a few days after these events, nationwide power grid failures lasting several weeks, or months have resulted in enormous social and economic impacts. In 2017, Hurricane Maria left 90 per cent of the population of Dominica without access to electricity for over four months (Commonwealth of Dominica, 2020) and caused a systemwide collapse of Puerto Rico's power grid that took 11 months to be entirely restored (Campbell…
This side event is being organized jointly by the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN- ESCAP) to support Track 1 of the ‘Thematic Sessions of the Asia-Pacific Climate Week 2021’ with focus on National actions and economy wide approaches and fostering an assessment of the best practice in society-wide and economy-wide approaches to cutting greenhouse gases and building resilience and how broad economic packages to enable recovery from the COVID19 pandemic can support the achievement of the Paris goal. Th…
The economies of the subregion were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those dependent on tourism. As a result, the Caribbean has seen a reversal of the hard-won gains achieved in growing their economies and reducing unemployment and inequality. The inflation stemming from pandemic supply chain disruption, which has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has made the sustained uptick in economic performance beyond pre-pandemic levels unlikely, notwithstanding strong growth estimates for 2021 and 2022. The last two years have taught the region that continued ‘business as usual’ is…
Over the past 50 years, the global annual production of plastics has increased dramatically, from 15 million tons in 1964 to roughly 311 million tons by 2014. This spectacular growth has occurred due to its unrivalled physical properties, which allow it to be widely applied in diverse economic production processes, at low cost. One of its main appplications has been in the packaging industry where roughly 26% of the global volume of plastics is used. More importantly, as much as 95% of plastic packaging – estimated at USD 80 – 120 billion annually - is for single-use, either as packaging or as…
Between 2008 and 2011, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) worked on a project to assess the economic impact of climate change in the Caribbean. The overall aim is to prepare the Caribbean region to better respond to climate change, while fostering a regional approach to reducing carbon emissions by 2050. This study updates the report on the impact of climate change on the macroeconomy at the regional level and will focus on 9 countries: Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Curacao, the Dominican Republic, Montserrat, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad an…
This publication considers the fact that despite the important role of the business community in the creation and promotion of green technology and related services in Canada and in the United States, the experiences in both countries illustrate the limitations of the market in the promotion of sustainable urban growth. The two cases reviewed in this report, the most advanced and comprehensive systems of urban sustainability highlight the key role of the public sector in the design, integration, promotion and enforcement of sustainable policies for urban growth.…
Introduction Biodiversity, as the name implies, is the term used to describe the differences that exist between and among the various species of organisms on the planet earth. Biodiversity can be measured on a worldwide basis, on a regional basis, on a national basis, as well as on a zonal basis. The interactions of these various species provide the basis for sustaining life, human life in particular. On that basis then, it is of utmost importance that the biodiversity of any area be preserved and this can only be done by a proper understanding of the organisms, their relative positions and in…
Abstract One year and a half after the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) held in Istanbul, the present document aims to assess the progress made on the implementation of the Regional Plan of Action on Human Settlements for Latin America and the Caribbean. The region faces a disturbing upsurge in urban poverty and widening income inequality, notwithstanding the slower rate of population growth. A worsening of environmental problems such as air and water pollution, waste disposal and vehicle congestion is being experienced in urban centres, and the region still has both…
11 Nov 2019, 06:00 - 13:00
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Evento (Otros eventos)
The seminar is organized by the Government of Saint Lucia, the Saint Lucia National Trust and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC).
The objectives of the seminar are:
to raise awareness on the Escazú Agreement and its synergies with the 2030 Agenda and other international processes
to examine the state of the art of implementation of access rights in the region with a particular focus on the Caribbean sub-region
to review the Saint Lucian internal framework in the context of the Regional Agreement to support the ratification process…
14 Ago 2019, 05:00 - 09:00
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Evento (Reuniones y seminarios técnicos)
The present workshop will seek to analyze how the Escazú Agreement contributes to the implementation of the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda in an effective and coherent manner in Guyana. To that end, it will specifically review key provisions of the Escazú Agreement and analyze national strengths, weaknesses and opportunities considering the current legislative and policy framework. It will also seek to identify gaps, needs and priorities and set the stage for national strategies and plans of action to more effectively implement the Escazú Agreement in the context of the environment…
The final report of the Expert Review presents a suite of policy recommendations aimed at helping countries break free of the ‘triple crisis’ of escalating debt burdens, climate change and nature loss. The recommendations provide practical proposals on how to unlock finance for sustainable development - a task made even more urgent by the recent geopolitical events.The Independent Expert Group is grateful to the members of the Expert Review Secretariat who have contributed to the research and drafting of this Report: Gabriel Oddone, Alfonso Capurro, Francisco Rosas, Martin Pereyra (CEPAL/ECLAC…
Dear Executive Secretaries of the sister UN Regional Economic Commissions,
Dear Selwin Hart, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Climate Action Team (CAT)
Dear Thilmeeza Hussain, Director of the Regional Commissions New York Office,
Distinguished guests, colleagues, and participants,
Welcome to this side-event on how Critical Energy Transition Minerals can accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), convened under the auspices of the United Nations Regional Economic Commissions.
Today, we gather to address a defining challenge of our time: powering and enabling the…
Between 2000 and 2019 the Caribbean Community produced between 0.11 and 0.16% of global emissions. However, despite being only minor emitters these countries find themselves highly exposed to the impact of climate change, increasingly vulnerable to floods, droughts, rising temperatures, rising sea-levels, hurricanes and coral bleaching etc. Furthermore, CARICOM Member States have submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC). The subregion has, however, lagged behind in the receipt of grant and concessionary su…
Speaking on revitalizing the push to achieve the SDGs by 2030 (17 goals that address critical areas for the enhancement of human wellbeing the protection of the environment), she notes that Caribbean countries face an uphill task because of burdensome debt and debt service with small, undiversified economies, exposure to devastating climate induced natural hazards, limited technical and institutional capacity and inadequate access to low-cost financing.
“The international community has not shown the empathy to Small Island States that have been graduated… You have a per capita income th…
In this digitally transforming world, digital inclusion is becoming increasingly important to social inclusion and sustainable development. Affordable access to broadband is an essential precondition to digital inclusion. Internet quality, as measured by speed and other indicators, is also important, as digital inclusion is ultimately about ensuring equal access to the benefits and opportunities offered by digital technologies and the Internet. This policy brief provides insight into Internet speed and affordability across the Caribbean, and offers some recommendations for policymakers working…
Flooding as an extreme event has become progressively evident in the Caribbean sub-region, as a result of an increased number of intense rainfall events, and storm surges from hurricanes. Such events in turn, have been linked to the impacts of global climate change, which has been shown to be the cause for several specific events including sea-level rise; global temperature rise, ocean warming and acidification, and the melting of glaciers. In the specific instance of the Caribbean subregion, flooding events often result in significant disruptions of economic and social life. This study uses a…
The Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Indicator Framework is endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission as the monitoring mechanism for the 169 targets and more than 230 indicators of the SDGs. Reporting of these indicators will pose a formidable challenge to the Caribbean given the statistical capacity of countries of the subregion. The results of an ECLAC survey show that only three of the eleven countries that participated reported having the capacity to produce at least 50 per cent of the indicators. The capacities of National Statistical Offices will need to be signif…
Much analysis and proposals on sustainable transport policies have been developed around the world, both at government and research institutions. It is clear that no action will provide the single solution and it is imperative to act simultaneously on: i) improvement of technology in vehicles, leading to increased energy efficiency; ii) the change in driver behavior, to use less fuel per kilometer; iii) reducing the distances traveled per vehicle; and iv) a change in the type of travels towards more sustainable modes of transport.In general, the recommendations for energy efficiency in transpo…
Guyana, like many CARICOM countries continues to depend on imported oil that fuels the electricity and transport sectors. Simultaneously, the high level of expenditure on oil reduces the financial resources available to invest in social development, environmental protection, adaptation to climate change and improving food security. The electricity sector in Guyana, in particular, offers significant opportunities for achieving reductions in fossil imports. However, fiscal and regulatory barriers to energy efficiency and renewable energy use are apparent in Guyana.
This document seeks to identif…