Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

For the first time, the draft Ministerial Declaration is being proposed to be put off until 2021 DRAFT decision Reconsideration of the draft ministerial declaration of the high-level segment of the 2020 session of the Economic and Social Council and the high-level political forum on sustainable development, convened under the auspices of the Council The Economic and Social Council decides, on an exceptional basis, to hold a meeting of the high-level political forum on sustainable development and of the Economic and Social Council as early as possible during the 2021 session of the Council, to reconsider the draft ministerial declaration of the high-level segment of the 2020 session of the Economic and Social Council and the high-level political forum on sustainable development, convened under the auspices of the Council. Here is the draft Ministerial Declaration which will not be agreed until 2021 DRAFT Ministerial declaration of the high-level segment of the 2020 session of the Econom...

Effectively engage with the United Nations Environment Assembly, understand Multilateral Environment Agreements, and learn to identify ways to contribute to the delivery of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Medium-Term Strategy and Programme of Work   Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th September 2020 Time : 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Central European Time (CET) on both days. CET is 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+2). REGISTER HERE Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future (SF), with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has developed a comprehensive capacity-building and training event for Major Groups and other Stakeholders . These ‘Train-the-Trainer’ workshops are intended to help your organization to effectively engage with the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEA) processes, and to identify ways to contribute to the delivery of the UNEP Medium-Term Strategy and Programme of...

  Effectively engage with the United Nations Environment Assembly, understand Multilateral Environment Agreements, and learn to identify ways to contribute to the delivery of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Medium-Term Strategy and Programme of Work   Thursday the 10th and Friday the 11th September 2020   Time : 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM India Standard Time on both days. IST is 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+5:30). REGISTER HERE   Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future (SF), with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has developed a comprehensive capacity-building and training event for Major Groups and other Stakeholders . These ‘Train-the-Trainer’ workshops are intended to help your organization to effectively engage with the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEA) processes, and to identify ways to contribute to the delivery of the UNEP Medium-Te...

  SUN x Malta is working to build a “ Climate Friendly Travel ” future ~ Low-carbon: SDG-linked: Paris 1.5 trajectory. Our goal is to help companies and communities boost their Climate Resilience. We know that Covid-19 is today’s harsh reality, but we believe that existential Climate Change will be many times worse, and that we also need to prepare smartly and thoughtfully for a Climate Neutral future, while responding to the pandemic.   As part of our program we are launching an online Diploma course to train young people to be Champions for Climate Friendly Travel , helping to support change in companies and communities. The training program has been developed with Malta’s Institute of Tourism Studies, runs for 12-months, is taught by some 25 of the world’s thought leaders on Climate Change and Sustainable Tourism, at modest cost. As an online course, it has been designed to fit with existing roles, and strengthen organisational capacity.   Do you have budding G...

January 2021 7th-15th  IUCN World Conservation Congress  Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Cote D'Azur, France 16th-18th Sustainable Energy for All Forum, Kigali Rwanda February 2021 22th-26th United Nations Environment Assembly, Nairobi March 2021 22-27th 9th World Water Forum, Senegal April 25-20 UNCTAD 15 Bridgetown, Barbados May 2021 3rd  Partnership Forum, New York 4th-5th Multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable             Development Goals, New York   6th-7th Development Cooperation Forum , New York 17th-30th Convention on Biological Diversity, Kunming   31st-6th UNFCCC First sessional period (prepcom) , Bonn July 2021 1st UN Food Summit (date TBC) 5th-9th International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5) , Bonn   6th- 12th High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development , convened under the auspices of the Council, New York 13th-16th The high-level seg...

Guest blog by  Solidaridad : Solidaridad is an international network organization with partners all over the world. There is one agenda and one strategy: together we learn and progress, together we achieve results and together we decide on future steps. After decades of relying on voluntary sustainability initiatives, supply chains are still troubled by deforestation, unsustainable practices, and poor livelihoods for farmers and workers. Solidaridad now says it is time to get serious about mandatory rules. A new paper published by Solidaridad aims to fuel the debate on introducing regulation at EU level that would require intergovernmental partnerships, measures to support farmers in the Global South, and mandatory due diligence from businesses. These would not replace voluntary initiatives, but would instead complement them with a compulsory approach. Head of Policy Influencing at Solidaridad Europe, Boukje Theeuwes, says: “We must move beyond the voluntary approach and look ...

Guest blog Written by Chantal Line Carpentier, UNCTAD, and Katrin Kuhlmann, Georgetown Law School first published here. Trade-restrictive measures imposed  by G20 governments  have reached historically  high levels , a trend that has only increased with the pandemic. Worldwide, supply chains are also constricting, and some countries are promoting reshoring of production due to both technological change and more inward-looking trade and economic policies. As experts and world leaders assess the intricate supply chain vulnerabilities of our essential goods following COVID-19-related trade restrictions, opportunities arise to realign the structure and substance of trade rules to respond to rising inequalities, climate change and frustrations with trade’s role in development.  That is ironically the call made by the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as  recently reiterated  at the World Tr...