Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Encryption encodes information so that it can only be read by certain people. ‘End-to-end’ is a robust form of encryption where only the users communicating can read the information. In other words, third parties – such as service providers – cannot decrypt the information. It matters for children because while it protects their data and right to privacy and freedom of expression, it also impedes efforts to monitor and remove child sexual abuse materials and to identify offenders attempting to exploit children online.

By putting stress on national socio-economic systems, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed new tensions and trade-offs among policy areas, and exacerbated already existing tensions. In many countries heavily affected by the pandemic, this has revealed problems of lack of policy integration and policy coherence, both within and across sectors as well as across levels of government. Integrated policy-making has been critical in responding effectively to the pandemic, and will be paramount in post-COVID recovery to realize the Sustainable Development Goals.

INFFs have an important role to play both in the immediate response to the current crisis and in rebuilding better. Integrated financing strategies can serve as a starting point for locally driven reform processes, providing a foundation for action. The INFF methodology puts forward discrete steps to improve financial policymaking.

Development strategies that focus solely on urban development and leave rural communities behind are not adequate to overcome the development challenges we face. The in-situ development of rural economies and societies must be a central objective of development if nations are to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda. A precondition for substantial rural transformation and growth is higher agricultural productivity and the subsequent reallocation of productive resources towards expanding the non-agricultural rural sector. A dynamic local rural economy can benefit from and complement urban growth, alleviate poverty, and reduce migratory pressures on growing cities. Country examples show that it is possible to accelerate in-situ development by investing in infrastructure, offering educational opportunities, expanding financial services, and speeding up the adoption of technologies in food and non-food producing sectors. These investments help create a virtuous circle of agricultural productivity and non-agricultural development.

COVID-19 has caused an extraordinary socio-economic crisis throughout the world. More than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, the world is still in firefighting mode. Long-term economic scarring effects and an uneven recovery, potentially leading to a sharply diverging world, are also increasingly coming into focus. The severe fiscal impacts of the crisis are triggering debt distress in a growing number of countries, severely limiting the ability of many countries to invest in recovery, climate action, and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The purpose of this policy brief is to take stock of the global policy response since April 2020, assess remaining gaps and challenges for their implementation, and propose updates to the original recommendations in light of developments over the last year.

The decisions taken by institutional investors, commercial banks, capital market actors and corporations have a strong impact on the magnitude and quality of private investment available for the SDGs. To scale up available private finance and investment for sustainable development, it is necessary to address the incentives of the above actors through a combination of regulatory and institution/industry-specific measures. Further action is needed to better channel investment to countries and SDG-related sectors that are most in need. The development of innovative and scalable global platforms, instruments and funds would be an important first step in this regard. Additionally, to enhance the impact of given investment on sustainable development, and to avoid green or SDG-washing, it is necessary to advance industry-based standards for impact measurement and support the development and implementation of a clear set of SDG related metrics that can be integrated into existing reporting frameworks.

The compounding crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, unchecked climate change and the war in Ukraine have caused severe negative economic, social and environmental consequences across the globe. We are facing a risk of a sharply diverging world with inequalities widening between developed and developing countries and within developing countries themselves, between urban and rural areas, rich and poor, men and women. This is especially true for the African continent, which has already suffered a loss of almost a decade of development gains. But, consistent with the findings of the UN Secretary-General’s Task Force on Digital Financing ‘People’s Money: Harnessing Digitalization to Finance a Sustainable Future’, the pandemic has put a spotlight on the role of digital finance and its accelerated applications in response to the crisis. A key question in this regard is how to use digital finance to improve economic participation, agency and resilience of people, facilitate cross-border trade and support sustainable development while addressing the risks of the widening digital divide. This paper will present the emerging applications of cryptocurrency in Africa, examine the evolving regulatory landscape and key accompanying risks and suggest potential policy considerations for leveraging this nascent, innovative instrument towards the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the continent.

本政策简报重点阐述信息完整性面临的威胁 如何影响到在全球、国家和地方问题上取得 的进展。在《我们的共同议程》中，我呼吁 围绕事实、科学和知识达成有实证依据的共 识。为此，本简报概述了行为守则的潜在原 则，这一守则将有助于指导会员国、数字平 台和其他利益攸关方努力使数字空间对所有 人更加具有包容性、更加安全，同时大力捍 卫意见和表达自由权以及获取信息的权利。 在筹备未来峰会的背景下，正在制定数字 平台上的信息完整性行为守则。我希望它将 为指导加强信息完整性的行动提供一个黄金 标准。

Настоящая концептуальная записка посвящена тому, как угрозы для информационной добросовестности сказываются на прогрессе в решении глобальных, национальных и естных проблем. В «Нашей общей повестке дня» я призвал к эмпирически выверенному консенсусу в отношении фактов, научных выкладок и знаний. Поэтому в настоящей записке излагаются потенциальные принципы для кодекса поведения, который поможет сориентировать государства-члены, цифровые платформы и другие заинтересованные стороны в их усилиях, призванных сделать цифровое пространство инклюзивнее и безопаснее для всех, энергично защищая при этом право на свободу мнений и их свободное выражение и право на доступ к информации. В контексте подготовки к Саммиту будущего разрабатывается кодекс поведения для обеспечения информационной добросовестности на цифровых платформах. Надеюсь, он станет золотым стандартом в качестве ориентира для действий по упрочению информационной добросовестности.

La présente note d’orientation porte principalement sur la manière dont les menaces pesant sur l’intégrité de l’information influencent les progrès réalisés aux niveaux mondial, national et local. Dans Notre Programme commun, j’ai préconisé un consensus construit collectivement sur l’expérience et portant sur les faits, la science et la connaissance. À cette fin, la présente note d’orientation expose les principes potentiels d’un code de conduite qui aidera à guider les États Membres, les plateformes numériques et les autres parties prenantes dans les efforts qu’ils déploient pour rendre l’espace numérique plus inclusif et plus sûr pour tous et toutes, tout en défendant vigoureusement le droit à la liberté d’opinion et d’expression ainsi que le droit d’accès à l’information. Le code de conduite portant sur l’intégrité de l’information diffusée sur les plateformes numériques est en cours d’élaboration dans le cadre des préparatifs du Sommet de l’avenir.