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Boys playing in a stream, 6 March 2016. Photo by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay.
Kelly Ann Naylor, Michela Miletto and Richard Connor

The Value of Water and Its Essential Role in Supporting Sustainable Development

Recognizing, measuring and expressing water’s worth, and incorporating it into decision-making, are fundamental to achieving sustainable and equitable water resources management and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Zebra grazing in a field in Tanzania, 11 July 2018. Hendrik Cornelissen/Pexels
David O'Connor

Protecting Wildlife Can Help Advance the 2030 Agenda and Sustain Life on Earth, Including Humanity

Building back better must bring nature, biodiversity and climate fully into the picture, and address the entrenched social inequalities laid bare by the pandemic.

A communications tower. Photo by Republica from Pixabay
Mario Maniewicz

New World, New Radio: Celebrating the Resilience of the World’s Most Widely Used Medium

As the fight against the pandemic continues, radio has been a close companion for many around the world, with broadcasters curating trustworthy information, countering misinformation and providing much-needed entertainment during lockdowns. 

Facial masks and new vaccines are critical tools for ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Nataliya Vaitkevich/Pexels
Anuradha Gupta

Protecting Lower-Income Countries with COVID-19 Vaccines Requires Global Solidarity

The medical and moral imperative for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines is why COVAX was created. Co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), COVAX is a truly global solution.

Bourke Street, Melbourne, Australia, empty on a Friday morning during the COVID-19 pandemic. 27 March 2020. Photo by Philip Mallis from Melbourne, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Michael Mintrom

COVID-19, Sustainable Development and the Melbourne Experiment

The multidisciplinary approach of the Melbourne Experiment holds relevance beyond its namesake city. Its form and function could be replicated globally to strategically map and pull apart the complex web of repercussions and opportunities born from this pandemic and future crises. 

Rabbi Arthur Schneier

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: A Survivor’s Plea

There is no doubt that we need to broadcast a warning and act now to purvey the truths of history and call out hate groups whose poisonous beliefs could unleash future plagues against humanity.

Participants in the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network Rivers Hub during a community service exercise at Eleme in Rivers State, Nigeria. 29 August 2020. yalirivershub Photo/Instagram
Anthony Oyakhilome Justice

Increasing Youth Participation in Climate Action

Young people, who constitute the majority of the population in many countries, are becoming a driving force in pursuing a low-carbon and climate-resilient future.

Masses of ice on Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, in southeast Iceland. 28 June 2013. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Patricia Espinosa Cantellano

2020, COVID-19 and the Climate Agenda

This most difficult and even overwhelming year has served to remind us of our ultimate dependence on the physical environment. It has confirmed the value of science as our most reliable instrument to understand and to overcome natural threats. It has proved that cooperation is the only way to address challenges that transcend borders.

A group of men from Asia stranded in Bosnia and Herzegovina wait for assistance from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). © IOM 2020
Renate Held

Reimagining Human Mobility in a Post-COVID-19 World

No phenomenon has been as affected by humanity’s reaction to COVID-19 as migration. Simply put, humans are the main vector for the transmission of the virus, so the mobility aspects of our response had to be factored in from day one.

Under-Secretary-General Fabrizio Hochschild speaking to participants of the Children and Youth Roundtable at the World Urban Forum (WUF10) held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 12 February 2020. ©Natalia Mroz
Fabrizio Hochschild

Do People Still Care About Human Rights?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10 December 1948, inspired peoples across the world and laid the foundation for governance and institutional reforms, for progressive, people centred legislation and education that reverberates from generation to generation.

A Congolese filmmaker edits a film on her laptop near her home in Kakuma refugee camp, northern Kenya. ©UNHCR/Tobin Jones
Anne-Marie Grey

The Case for Connectivity, the New Human Right

This year’s Human Rights Day theme focuses on the need and opportunity to build back better in the wake of the pandemic by ensuring that human rights are central to recovery efforts. And make no mistake about it, digital connectivity should be a human right.

Volunteers in the Sudan have held briefings on COVID-19 and distributed masks, gloves and sanitizing products. © UNDP
Balghis Badri

The Impact of COVID-19 on Women

Among other measures to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women, the United Nations could develop gender-sensitive monitoring and impact checklists to assist countries with follow-up and assessment of their achievements in all sectors during the crisis.

Aviation is crucial to the undertaking of the World Food Programme’s humanitarian mission. Source: WFP/Deborah Nguyen
Fang Liu

Connecting the World in Its Time of Need: International Aviation's Pandemic Response

By severing our international connections by air in this manner, COVID-19 has cut off businesses from clients and tourists from destinations and posed disproportionate threats to the poor and vulnerable.

A smartphone using a contract tracing app. Markus Winkler/Pixabay
E. Courtenay Rattray

Media and Information Literacy in an Age of Uncertainty

In order to protect democracy, the transition to a digital society and economy must be accompanied by a media and information literacy revolution.

A worker checks readings on an energy management system, South Africa. Photo credit: National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa
 Helen Hai

Making Industrialization in Africa Sustainable

Industrial development in Africa needs to be inclusive and sustainable: inclusive so that all sectors of society can participate and benefit from industrialization, and sustainable so that the environment does not suffer.