Responsible Consumption and Production

Les mesures non tarifaires sont généralement définies comme étant des mesures de politique générale autres que les droits de douane ordinaires, qui peuvent avoir une incidence économique sur le commerce international des marchandises, en modifiant les quantités échangées ou les prix, ou bien les deux. Comme cette définition est assez large, il est indispensable de disposer d’une classification détaillée afin de mieux identifier les diverses formes de mesures non tarifaires et de faire la distinction entre elles. La classification des mesures non tarifaires présentée ici est une nomenclature de toutes les mesures jugées pertinentes dans l’état actuel du commerce international. Elle est fondée sur le Système de codification de la CNUCED et a été élaborée par plusieurs organisations internationales qui constituent ce qu’on a appelé le groupe MAST (Équipe d’appui interorganisations) afin d’aider le Groupe de personnalités sur les obstacles non tarifaires créé par le Secrétaire général de la CNUCED en 2006. La présente version, proposée en tant que version de 2012, est le résultat de ces discussions et de ces essais. La classification est considérée comme évolutive et devrait s’adapter à la réalité du commerce international et aux besoins de collecte de données.

Today coal supplies around 30 per cent of global primary energy and 40 per cent of global electricity. Coal extraction has become increasingly challenging as shallow reserves are exhausted and deeper seams, with significant content of methane, are mined. Societies are demanding and expecting safer mine working conditions, and greater environmental stewardship from the coal industry. The global coal industry, national governments, trade unions, and worker safety advocates are concerned that the frequency and severity of methane explosions, especially in emerging economies, are unacceptably high. Coal mine methane (CMM) only becomes flammable and creates an explosion hazard when allowed to mix with air. Methane-rich gases, generally containing 80 per cent to 95 per cent methane at underground mining depths, occur naturally in coal seams and are released as CMM when coal seams are disturbed by mining activities. Methane is an explosive gas in the range of 5 per cent to 15 per cent methane in air. The application of best practices for methane drainage and use is critical to reduce methane-related accidents and explosions that all too often accompany coal mining, while also contributing to environmental protection through reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Good mining practices need to be transferred to all countries to ensure that risks are managed professionally and effectively. No mine, even in the most developed countries, is free from safety risks. Regardless of location or mining conditions, it is possible to significantly reduce the risk of methane related incidents and explosions. Good safety practice in coal mines is to reduce explosion risk by preventing the occurrence of explosive mixtures and, where practical, by monitoring and rapidly diluting explosive mixtures to safe concentrations.

The Energy Statistics Pocketbook highlights the availability of data on various aspects of energy production, transformation and use and its linkages to other key statistics. It uses visual representations of key energy indicators to facilitate the understanding of the current state and developments in the energy sector. Energy is central to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change, and sound energy statistics are the basis for the reliable measurement of progress, thereby assisting the formulation of policy measures to achieve international and national sustainable development goals.

Tasked with building and sharing knowledge on how to improve management of the world’s resources, UNEP’s International Resource Panel (IRP) turns its attention to the world trading system and its implications for global resource efficiency. In this report entitled “International Trade in Resources: A biophysical assessment”, the IRP examines how efficient the current system of world trade is in distributing resources from the geographical locations of supply to the locations of demand. By examining trade from a biophysical (versus an economic) viewpoint, the authors of the report seek to assess whether or not trade allows commodities to be obtained from countries where their production requires fewer resources and generates a smaller amount of wastes and emissions.

New evidence in SOFI 2018 confirms a rise in world hunger: the number of people who suffer from hunger has been growing over the past three years, returning to levels from almost a decade ago. Multiple forms of malnutrition are evident in many countries: adult obesity is growing even as forms of undernutrition persist. The report says that climate variability and extremes are key drivers behind this rise, together with conflict and economic downturns, and are threatening to erode and reverse gains made in ending hunger and malnutrition. SOFI 2018 reveals new challenges on the road to Zero Hunger, while setting out urgent actions needed to achieve the goal by 2030.

This edition of The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets focuses on the complex and underexplored intersection between agricultural trade, climate change and food security. The report makes an important contribution to the policy debates on climate change adaptation and mitigation under the Paris Agreement and the multilateral agricultural trade rules. The report discusses policies – both domestic support and trade measures – that can promote food security, adaptation and mitigation, and improve the livelihoods of family farmers around the world. Given both the slow- and rapid-onset impacts of climate change, policies that can significantly promote climate change adaptation and mitigation would benefit from deeper discussions in international fora on how to strengthen the mutually supportive role of trade rules and climate interventions.

The Trade and Development Review focuses on themes that are of particular interest to developing countries. In doing so it provides a forum for dialogue aimed at assisting developing countries in shaping their specific interest in the international trade and environment debate. The issues discussed in this publication are; trade obligations in multilateral environmental agreements, environmental goods and services, World Trade Organization and technical capacity building.

This year’s edition of The State of Food and Agriculture was not published in its traditional format. Instead, a document (The State of Food and Agriculture, C99/2) and a set of graphs and figures summarizing the main features of the current world food and agriculture situation were presented at the 30th session of the FAO Conference in November 1999.

In addition to the usual review of the recent world food and agriculture situation, each issue of The State of Food and Agriculture has included one or more special studies of problems of longer-term interest. This year’s edition features a review of the existing evidence on the link between nutrition and productivity and economic growth.

The Technical Abstract of the First Global Integrated Marine Assessment on “The Ocean and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” is based upon the First Global Integrated Marine Assessment – World Ocean Assessment I – released in January 2016, and, in particular, upon the Summary of that Assessment, which was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2015. It has been prepared in accordance with the programme of work for the period 2017-2020 for the second cycle of the Regular Process which was adopted by the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole on the Regular Process in August 2016 and endorsed by the General Assembly in December 2016. This provides for, inter alia, support for other ongoing ocean-related intergovernmental processes, including the preparation of Technical Abstracts specifically tailored to meet the needs of, among other intergovernmental processes, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this regard, the Technical Abstract provides a synthesis of the information in World Ocean Assessment I and does not introduce any new material or interpretation of the information presented in World Ocean Assessment I.