New UN Reform proposals from panel co-chaired by Juan Somavia (former Director General of ILO) and Mr. Klaus Töpfer (former Executive Director of UNEP)
Reform of the UN is always difficult but we are in a process of change because of the 2030 Agenda the , the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), the Sendai Disaster Risk Reduction Framework and the Paris Climate Agreement. Business as usual is not possible. The present ECOSOC Bureau commissioned an Independent Team of Advisors (ITA) to come up with a review of the UN Development System (UNDS). The co-chairs of the ITA are former heads of UN Agencies and Programmes Juan Somavia (former Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO)of Chile) and Klaus Töpfer (former Executive Director of UNEP of Germany). When I was at the German Habitat Forum recently I had the pleasure of meeting Dr Toepfer and Manfred Konukiewitz the former Deputy Director General, Global and Sectoral Policies and Commissioner for climate policy, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and heard some of the recommendations that the ITA were looking to put...