IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
A look back at some of the noteworthy news developments that took place over the past two weeks in the UN system
15 April, 2016

What do two panda cubs and two Fijian girls have to do with the Sustainable Development Goals? If you answered “everything,” then you are on the right track, according to conclusions made by top United Nations officials. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or Global Goals, form part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was agreed and adopted by world leaders last year, and serve as a global plan for people, peace, prosperity and the planet. Of the 17 SDGs, Goal 13 is centred on taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, whereas Goal 15 focusses on protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combating desertification, and halting biodiversity loss.

With more people forced to flee their homes than at any time since World War II, world leaders came together at the United Nations today to adopt the New York Declaration, which expresses their political will to protect the rights of refugees and migrants, to save lives and share responsibility for large movements on a global scale.

Globally acclaimed Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has kicked off his role as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support the 17 Global Goals known as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, agreed last year by world leaders to tackle our planet’s toughest challenges by 2030. In his first stint as the UNDP advocate, Mr. Coster-Waldau, best known for his starring role on HBO’s Emmy Award winning Game of Thrones, refereed the world’s first amateur women’s World Cup soccer tournament in New York on Sunday, in which each team fought to promote one of the 17 Goals via the sport.

“I took my piano and made it everything: my work, and my studies at university; to teach children music,” begins Ayham al-Ahmad, in an interview with United Nations Radio, ahead of a UN summit on large movements of refugees and migrants on 19 September 2016. Born in 1988 in Yarmouk – a Palestinian refugee camp near the Syrian capital, Damascus – Mr. al-Ahmad never knew another home for 27 years. When war broke out in Syria in 2011, it did not take long before its violence reached the camp he and his family had come to call home. Rather than run away, Mr. al-Ahmad says he decided to stay and 'fight' with his piano. Thus 'armed,' Mr. al-Ahmad played in the rubble, bringing immense joy and laughter to the children of Yarmouk.

With some 6.5 million people dying annually from air pollution and 92 per cent of the world’s population living in places where levels exceed recommended limits, the United Nations today rolled out its most detailed profile of the scourge ever in a bid to slash the deadly toll. “Fast action to tackle air pollution can’t come soon enough,” top UN World Health Organization (WHO) environmental official Maria Neira said of the new air quality model, which includes interactive maps maps that highlight areas within countries exceeding WHO limits. The world’s population reached 7.35 billion last year, according to UN figures.

The United Nations Global Pulse initiative today announced a partnership with Twitter that will provide the UN with access to the platform's data tools to support efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders last year. “The Sustainable Development Goals are first and foremost about people, and Twitter's unique data stream can help us truly take a real-time pulse on priorities and concerns – particularly in regions where social media use is common – to strengthen decision-making. Strong public-private partnerships like this show the vast potential of big data to serve the public good,” said Robert Kirkpatrick, Director of UN Global Pulse.

In collaboration with partners, the United Nations has launched a mobile application to provide a global forum for industry, governments and individual citizens to collectively realise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “So many people and groups around the world are already undertaking innovative projects in support of the Goals,” said Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information (DPI) Cristina Gallach at the launch.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has paid tribute to Shimon Peres, former Israeli President and the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who passed away early Wednesday at the age of 93. Offering condolences to his family and friends, and to the people of Israel, the Secretary-General said that “I am deeply saddened by the passing of Mr. Shimon Peres, the former President of the State of Israel.”

Meeting at the United Nations today, world leaders signalled an unprecedented level of attention to curb the spread of infections that are resistant to antimicrobial medicines. Speaking at the meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, antimicrobial resistance poses “a fundamental, long-term threat to human health, sustainable food production and development.”

As world leaders gather in New York in the coming days, the curtain will soon rise on the busiest diplomatic season of the year at the United Nations Headquarters. During the high-level segment of the General Assembly’s 71st session, which starts next week, monarchs, presidents and prime ministers will engage in debates that define international responses to many of the global challenges of today, including protracted conflicts, extreme poverty and hunger, the refugee crisis and climate change.

Speaking on behalf of Peter Thomson, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, one of the 193-member body’s Vice-Presidents, Durga Prasad Bhattarai, Ambassador of Nepal, said he was encouraged by the fact that many UN Member States have already embedded the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their national plans and policies. “We began with a moving SDG moment, which reminded us of how transformative the SDGs will be and how urgently action is now required to implement them,” he said in closing remarks at the closing of the Assembly’s annual general debate, the forum where world leaders gather to present their policies the theme of the session – which this year is SDG implementation – as well as other critical global issues.