Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

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 at a smart mi…

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 Trade Organization (WTO). These developments occu…

Scholars call for better tax cooperation, improved digital access, and sustainable natural resource management as starting points.As world leaders in government, business and civil society grapple to contend with the urgency of the global COVID-19 pandemic, leading experts and thinkers are offering fresh new ideas that can prevent new pandemics while achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a new volume of policy briefs issued by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) today.The collection of seven expert-written essays from members of the United Nations High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs (HLAB) offers new guidance for rebuilding societies in a fairer, more inclusive way.The volume, “Recover Better: Economic and Social Challenges and Opportunities,” provides outside-the-box thinking and new solutions to some of this era’s most pressing tests. The authors advance ideas on issues that include improving international tax cooperation, …

With the High-Level Political Forum over let look at some of the statistics for the first virtual HLPF.The HLPF was a 9-day virtual meeting from July 7th to July 16th. There were about 150 speakers (keynote speakers, moderators, resource persons, lead discussants and respondents in the official programme) in the thematic sessions.Participants including 1 Prime Minister, 1 Deputy Prime Minister (Attorney-General), 31 Ministers/Vice Ministers/Ministerial-level officials from all regions + 47 Prime Ministers and ministers from VNR countries. also participating were the UN Secretary-General, and Deputy Secretary-General; the President of the UN General Assembly, the Under-Secretary-General of DESA, Heads of Inter-Governmental Organisations and UN system, special envoys, leading experts, and representatives of Major Groups and Other StakeholdersDuring the HLP 47countries presented their Voluntary National Reports. There were 240 official side events and of course one 'Pop-Up' side …

Opportunities for the Future We Want: Global Launch of the Future Possibilities Report Virtual Event
Date & Time 20 July 2020; 9am to 10.15am (EST) Location Webex1 and UN WebTV Global Launch of the Future Possibilities Report Join here http://webtv.un.org/


Objective
While the end of the crisis caused by the COVID19 pandemic is not yet in sight, there is growing focus on the ways and means to build back better, by resetting the way we produce, consume, socialize and interact. The inaugural “2020 Future Possibilities Report” provides some of the first guidelines and benchmarks on how governments can prepare for such rapid change and will contribute to the important debate around the shape and form of the future economy. This special event, organized by the United Arab Emirates and the “UN75: 2020 and Beyond initiative,” provides an opportunity to share national approaches to future preparedness, as well as a consideration of transformational trends – from connectivity to self-improvement …

The United Nations High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs Recover Better: Economic and Social Challenges and Opportunities Online dialogue: launch of the compilation of the High-level Advisory Board for Economic and Social Development 22 July 2020 – 9:00-10:20 a.m. EDT Held via WebEx and online at www.webtv.un.org 
The COVID-19 pandemic and humanity’s responses to it, is inspiring new thinking and critical insights about the future of humanity. Even prior to the pandemic, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – the blueprint for a sustainable future –was mixed.
The human tragedy of the pandemic, with close to half a million deaths worldwide so far, present new and additional challenges. Mandated restrictions on human activities have helped to prevent even greater loss of lives, but have also resulted in lost livelihoods and incomes, forced absence from classrooms, foregone vaccinations against other infectious diseases, stresses on mental health, and, for wo…