Background & context
The fast spread and pervasive impact of COVID-19 require governments to provide effective, timely, and inclusive responses to manage the pandemic. In addition to traditional data sources and data analytics tools, governments rely on open data and big data analytics in responding to COVID-19. Open data and big data analytics are required for i) conducting real-time situation analysis, contact tracing, and early and timely diagnosis for effective containment; ii) facilitating coordination and collaboration between national and local governments and fostering the ownership and accountability of local governments; iii) securing public trust in government through better…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #89: Strengthening Data Governance for Effective Use of Open Data and Big Data Analytics for Combating COVID-19
Momentum for greater climate action sustained under the COVID-19 crisis
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been postponed from November 2020 to November 2021. Despite this postponement of the supreme decision-making body of the UNFCCC, the momentum for much greater climate action and ambition continues. Recently the European Union (EU), Japan and the Republic of Korea, along with more than 110 other countries, have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, while China was set to join them by 2060. By now, 50 per cent of the world?s gross domestic product (GDP) and half…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: December 2020 Briefing, No. 144
Zoonotic diseases account for about 60 per cent of known infectious diseases in humans and 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases (UNEP, 2020). This rising trend is caused by, among others, increased degradation of the natural ecosystems such as forests. Loss of forest habitat increases contact between humans and nonhuman primates and the transmission of diseases from animals to humans. The COVID-19 pandemic is thus a compelling cautionary tale of what can happen when natural ecosystems are degraded.
While the full scope and depth of the impact of the ongoing pandemic is still unfolding, initial analysis indicates that there will be a long recovery ahead. It is estimated that the…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #88: Financing sustainable forest management: a key component of sustainable COVID-19 recovery
Introduction
As countries respond to the COVID-19 crisis, frontier digital technologies are unlocking new possibilities to build back better and to put countries back on the path to achieve the SDGs. This Frontier Technology Issue (FTI) focuses on the role of digital technologies to contribute to positive outcomes in three areas deemed important in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis: creating economic growth and decent work (SDG 8), combating the virus and improving public health and well-being (SDG 3), and providing high-quality education to all (SDG 4).
This FTI also discusses how digital technologies are widening disparities and are accentuating the digital divide in societies and…
Frontier Technology Issues: Can digital technologies put us back on the path to achieve the SDGs?
Introduction and overview
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing global recession are undermining fiscal and external balances in many countries. But even before the pandemic, financing emerged as one of the key challenges to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) achievement. In their voluntary national reviews at the 2019 High-level Political Forum, many countries identified financing gaps as the major obstacle they are confronted with.
Developments in the last 8 months have only exacerbated this task. Confronted with significant spending needs for the immediate crisis response and investments in recovery, and a parallel and major drop in access to a wide range of financing sources, countries…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #87: Integrated national financing frameworks?a framework to build back better
The European Central Bank?s unconventional policies?is hyperinflation looming?
Monetary policy across the world has entered ever more uncharted territory over the past years. Gone are the times when changes in policy interest rates were the sole policy variable of public and financial market attention. Today, central bank announcements are as much or even more about unconventional policy tools?such as asset purchase programmes?than they are about interest rates. The European Central Bank (ECB) is no exception in this regard. In reaction to the COVID-19 crisis, it has initiated massive asset purchases, which come on top of similar such programmes over the past years and besides significant…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: November 2020 Briefing, No. 143
The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing global economic crisis are on course to reverse years of gains in the reduction and alleviation of poverty, thus drastically undermining global efforts to meet the SDG deadline of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.1 In the mid-2020 update of the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), UNDESA estimated that over 34 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty this year alone. This is already very much on the optimistic end of forecasts?the World Bank now predicts that between 71 million and 100 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty this year, erasing almost all progress made in the last five years in the fight against extreme…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #86: The long-term impact of COVID-19 on poverty
Public finances after COVID-19: is a high-debt, low-growth trap looming for developing countries?
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered unprecedented policy responses around the world. Governments of developed and developing countries have taken extraordinary steps to halt the spread of the virus and limit the economic and social fallout from the crisis. In the face of rapidly declining private sector demand, public support in the form of monetary and fiscal stimulus has been vital to avert economic collapse. However, the massive interventions have left governments with record debt burdens and major fiscal challenges going forward.
The situation is especially precarious among developing…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: October 2020 Briefing, No. 142
When countries expressed their readiness to present their voluntary national reviews (VNRs) at the 2020 High-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF) in September 2019, trends towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were uneven. There were some favorable tendencies globally.
In particular progress was being made towards eradicating extreme poverty, lowering child mortality rates, advancing gender equality in some areas or improving access to electricity in the poorest countries. These advances resulted in no small part from the impact of policies conducted by many Governments and their partners since 2015.
At the same time, many challenges remained, and even deepened…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #85: Impact of COVID-19: perspective from Voluntary National Reviews
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