No Poverty

The Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is the flagship report of the United Nations on worldwide efforts to reduce disaster risk. The GAR is published biennially by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and is the product of the contributions of nations, public and private risk-related science and research, amongst others. The GAR contributes to achieving the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through monitoring risk patterns and trends, as well as progress in disaster risk reduction, while providing strategic policy guidance to countries and the international community. The GAR aims to focus international attention on the issue of risk and encourage political and economic support for risk reduction.

The UNECE Real Estate Market Advisory Group (REM) is a group of real estate experts who advise the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management on sustainable real estate markets, working to identify specific measures to strengthen a country’s real estate market in a manner that would contribute to economic growth and sustainable development. In 2010, the REM Advisory Group published the “Policy Framework for Sustainable Real Estate Markets”, a tool that would help guide the member States to create sustainable real estate markets. However, the emergence of key international agreements, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing, the New Urban Agenda, the Paris Agreement, and the Basel III Agreement, have led to the establishment of new global and regional policy frameworks for future activities on sustainable urban development at all levels. In response to the request of the Committee to update the Policy Framework to reflect the emergence of such key agreements, the REM Advisory Group produced the current publication, which now also includes updates on the issues such as urbanization, migration and mobility flows, technology and innovation, the growth of emerging markets and asset competition, the change in housing demand oriented towards green buildings and new designs, energy consumption and climate change, and other relevant phenomena. Moreover, this version of the Policy Framework for Sustainable Real Estate Markets maintains that, contrary to the widespread belief that finance and real estate sectors have negative impact on sustainability, they can actually contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals with the implementation of effective and compatible principles. In particular, this publication shows that these principles can be incorporated by national, local and municipal governments and applied to various forms of real estate.

This publication provides a broad vision of the 2030 Agenda. The scientific community needs studies to examine the features that define the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the measures required for their full implementation by Member States and other actors. It is broad in terms of the topics analyzed and adopts a multidisciplinary approach. The study focuses on the commitments that the international community has assumed in the 2030 Agenda and formulates proposals that will make the Sustainable Development Goals effective. It outlines the goals as well as the mechanisms that have been established to achieve them.

In addition to the usual review of the recent world food and agriculture situation, each issue of The State of Food and Agriculture from 1957 has included one or more special studies of problems of longer-term interest. This year’s edition focuses on the second United Nations development decade.

The 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals set the world on the path of sustainable development and give international trade an important role to play in this journey: “International trade is an engine for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction, [which] contributes to the promotion of sustainable development” (Paragraph 68, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development) How can international trade become a driving force for a development as sustainable as it is inclusive, ensuring that no one is left behind? How can it respond to the growing demand for production, exchange and consumption patterns that are both environmentally and socially sustainable, as well as economically profitable? To help developing countries build their capacity to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth through trade, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has examined ways for fostering green exports via the exploitation of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS). VSS are norms and standards to ensure that a product is produced, processed or transported sustainably in terms of, e.g. respect for human rights, decent working conditions, gender equality or environmental protection, with a view to achieving environmental, social and economic objectives. Certification is one of the many VSS tools used by producers and organic standard is the most widely applied VSS in the agricultural sector. To this end, UNCTAD has worked with three countries in the Asia-Pacific Region (Lao PDR, the Philippines and Vanuatu) and developed an approach, which is ready-to-use, streamlined and adaptable to local specificities.This portfolio presents the main outcomes of this development account project, including the approach and tools developed in its framework:• An introduction to green exports and VSS: opportunities and challenges for developing countries • UNCTAD's approach and tools to build countries' capacity to foster green exports through VSS • The country case study of Vanuatu • The country case study of the Philippines • The country case study of Lao People's Democratic Republic

This second Innocenti Report Card focuses on child death by injury in the member countries of the OECD. It presents, for the first time, a standardized league table ranking 26 of the world’s richest nations according to their injury death rates for children aged 1 to 14. Even though child injury death rates have been falling for more than two decades, it would be wrong to conclude that the problem is simply going away. International comparisons in this publication dramatically demonstrate that most countries still have a long way to go. It is hoped that this report will be a cause for a policy change leading to further reductions in child injuries.

This publication provides the most comprehensive estimates so far of child poverty across the 23 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the world’s wealthiest nations. It highlights the fact that despite a doubling of national incomes in most OECD nations since 1950, a significant percentage of their children are still living in families so materially poor that normal health and growth are at risk. By comparing data from different countries, the publication asks what can be learned about the causes of child poverty and examines the policies that have contributed to the success of lower rates in some countries. In particular, it seeks to explain the situation by exploring the impact on poverty rates of single parenthood, unemployment, low wages and levels of social expenditures. This publication is the first in a series of Innocenti Report Cards on the situation of children in industrialized countries.

This publication presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey on teenage birth rates in the industrialized world. It attempts to analyze why some countries have teenage birth rates that are as much as ten or even fifteen times higher than others.

The Report offers new insights into the nature and magnitude of the pressing social problems and the national and international policies required to address them. It examines the core social issues of poverty alleviation, productive employment and social integration covering concepts and quantitative indicators, as well as policies and strategies.