The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
As co-chair of the foundation she started with her husband Bill, Melinda Gates is the world's leading woman philanthropist. In an exclusive interview, she tells Joeanna Rebello Fernandes how tech innovations can save lives and why she remains optimistic about India: Eradication of poverty is one of the UN's Sustainable …
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are grounded in the global ambition of “leaving no one behind”. Understanding today’s gains and gaps for the health-related SDGs is essential for decision makers as they aim to improve the health of populations. As part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and …
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development strives for more balanced development by addressing the economic, social and environmental dimensions holistically. The momentum set forth by this agenda provides an historic opportunity for reducing inequality and closing gender gaps. Gender, The Environment and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific examines …
Mobilizing adequate financing for sustainable development will be a challenge for all countries, but will be particularly difficult for Pacific Small Island Developing States where financing needs for sustainable, climate-sensitive development are estimated to be among the highest in the world when measured as a proportion of national output. They …
Nations must pour up to US$150 billion a year into efforts to deliver safe and clean water for all, or risk an economic crisis due to the healthcare and development impacts of people drinking filthy water. In order to provide access to safe and affordable sanitation to all by 2030 …
In advance of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to assess the world's progress against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Observer Research Foundation, in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, organised a conference to discuss India's progress against the SDGs and the criticality of addressing …
Cities can ‘hack’ global sustainability goals for their own purposes, report says. A new report shows that even though the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were designed with national governments in mind, the majority of the targets are relevant to cities. In a report released, “Hacking the Sustainable Development Goals: Can …
Cities in the United States can now see how they stack up against international development standards, in an effort that organisers hope will offer a model for other countries. The first-ever US Cities SDG Index ranks the country’s 100 most populous cities, using statistics for their metropolitan areas, to look …
Encouraging global action to support clean water and sanitation, United Nations General Assembly President Peter Thomson today underscored that when it comes to the environment, everything is connected. “None should imagine that the state of sanitation and coral reefs are anything but directly connected,” Mr. Thomson said, delivering the keynote …
Global shifts in water and sanitation will have a profound effect on societies and economies. Other transformations are shaping these shifts, including where people live, what they expect from governments and markets, their productive and polluting activities, how they innovate and whether they pursue conflict or peace. Understanding these shifts …
This report aims to highlight some existing sanitation system alternatives (e.g. ecological sanitation) to conventional (centralised) sewer based sanitation systems; but also to point out the necessity to consider (international) water quality guidelines, environmental and health protection, as well as human rights-based legislation and policies when addressing domestic water and …
Corporate water users have the potential to play an influential role in the delivery of Sustainable Development Goal 6 for clean water and sanitation. WaterAid, in collaboration with partners, has developed a report and case studies which analyse corporate engagement on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). There is specific potential …
In 2015, Nepal joined other members of the United Nations in adopting the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that follow the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the international development targets. This review, prepared by the National Planning Commission through a consultative process based on Nepal’s SDGs baseline report, provides an …
A global panel of experts has recommended the creation of a first-ever international body focused on urban sustainability. The panel was formed at the behest of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who subsequently indicated his support for the creation of such an entity, being referred to as “UN Urban”. The proposal, …
This working paper highlights adaptation projects that have taken place in Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals that these efforts address. These 17 case studies offer insights into creative ways that urban and peri-urban areas have found to address complex social, economic, and health issues that are surfacing with climate …
The Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA) program supports the management and development of transboundary waters for sustainable development, poverty alleviation, and improved climate resilience. This document, the CIWA Partnership Framework, summarizes the current state of transboundary water management and development in Africa, the objectives and methods of the …
With 2.1 billion people – mostly in rural areas – lacking safely managed drinking water and reported low rural water supply functionality rates, the Sustainable Development Goals pose a triple challenge: to reach unserved mostly rural population groups, to raise service levels, and to sustain existing and future services. This …
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Bank’s corporate goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity call for specific attention to the poor and vulnerable. The overarching objective of the SDGs is to end poverty in all its forms, but their key difference from the earlier Millennium …
South Africa needs to invest $464 billion (R6 trillion) by 2040 in the water and electricity sectors to plug its infrastructure investment gap and address economic and population growth between now and 2040. This was revealed in a G20 Global Infrastructure Hub (GI Hub) report‚ covering infrastructure investment needs globally …
At the global level in 2015 countries set in motion the most far reaching and ambitious development agenda of our time, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In Asia and the Pacific, countries have already begun translating this ambitious agenda into action and many have already set up the national …
