Policy integration is one of the fundamental tenets of sustainable development. The integration of economic, social and environmental dimensions was put forward in Agenda 21, the outcome of the Earth Summit in 1992, and remained a key concern of subsequent international conferences on sustainable development, until the Rio+20 conference. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have put considerations of policy integration and policy coherence on a new level, by emphasizing indivisibility and interdependence among the goals and targets. The preamble of the 2030 Agenda states: ?The interlinkages and integrated nature of the Sustainable…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #115: Horizontal and vertical integration are more necessary than ever for COVID-19 recovery and SDG implementation
The 2030 Agenda highlights the importance of the follow-up and review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an accountability mechanism and sets clear principles to guide it. Accountability institutions such as parliaments and supreme audit institutions (SAIs) are playing an increasing role in SDG oversight and assessment. However, while countries have made significant progress in institutionalizing SDG follow-up and review, the performance of such systems and processes is limited due to their imperfect integration with existing monitoring and evaluation systems and accountability institutions.
The disconnect with accountability institutions is particularly relevant in the context…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #114: Connecting the dots: The still elusive synergies between accountability institutions and the follow-up and review of the Sustainable Development Goals
CDP Background Paper No. 53
Marcia Tavares
When a country leaves (?graduates? from) the least developed countries (LDC) category, there is often concern about the impacts on the support it will receive from the international community. This paper reviews, as part of a preliminary assessment for the countries the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) will assess in 2024 (Cambodia, Comoros, Djibouti, Senegal and Zambia), the expected impacts on financial and technical assistance and on support for the participation of these countries in international forums. Impacts on trade, often found to be the most significant, will be assessed separately. The general preliminary conclusion is that the…
Potential impacts of LDC graduation on development cooperation in Cambodia, Comoros, Djibouti, Senegal, and Zambia: Preliminary assessment
The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed the global awareness that we are all in this together. The pandemic has set back progress on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but it has also made it possible for the international community to see the pursuit of sustainable development in a new light, and to learn from both successes and challenges of the pandemic to reinvigorate efforts towards achieving the SDGs.
The Sustainable Development Outlook 2021 charts a way forward for the world community to achieve the SDGs, despite the setback caused by COVID-19. In doing so, it focuses on SDG 1 (poverty), SDG 2 (hunger), SDG 3 (health and well-being), SDG 8 (growth and employment), SDG 10 (…
Sustainable Development Outlook 2021: From anguish to determination
Emergence of new forms of work
?Standard employment??understood as regular, full-time, and subject to labour law?remains the prevailing form of employment in high-income countries, however, new forms of employment have been rapidly gaining ground since the early 2000s. While new forms of work enabled by digital technologies have rapidly been expanding in more advanced economies, they are also spreading to emerging economies, where the effects on the labour markets are likely to be different. For instance, studies show that platform work, one of the new forms of work, has the potential to increase employment opportunities, promote formalization, and reduce gender gaps in emerging economies.…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #113: Digitally enabled new forms of work and policy implications for labour regulation frameworks and social protection systems
The Smooth Transition Strategy (STS) guidance note, developed by the CDP Secretariat, is in response to the recommendations of the General Assembly and the follow-up actions proposed by the CDP on strengthening smooth transition measures and dedicated capacity building to help graduating and graduated countries prepare their STS. It also informs graduating least developed countries (LDCs) and their development partners about the best way to assist such countries following graduation.
A national STS prepared by a graduating least developed country (LDC) in cooperation with development and trading partners and with targeted assistance…
Smooth Transition Strategy Guidance Note
Ongoing and emerging global trends, such as globalization, new technologies, the rise in global inequality, demographic shifts, climate change and threats generated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, will dramatically impact societies and individuals of all ages, and will determine the nature and future of work.
At a time of persistent inequalities, an inclusive future of work is fundamental for sustainable development, ending poverty and leaving no one behind. Population ageing influences economic growth and labour force participation, and the share of persons aged 65 years and over in the labour force at the global level is estimated to continue the current upward trend in the coming…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #112: Harnessing longevity in the future of work
I. Introduction
The past year (2020-21) has been one of global crises on many fronts, from the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19 pandemic to wildfire1 outbreaks of an unprecedented scale and duration. In Australia, bushfires in 2019-2020 were one of the worst bushfire seasons in history (Government of Australia, 2020). In the United States, the West Coast wildfires reached record highs in 2020 (GLF, 2020). In the Amazonian and Siberian regions, wildfires in 2020 were the worst experienced in a decade (Newdaily, 2020). In early 2021, Nepal experienced one of the country?s worst wildfire seasons in almost a decade (Phys.org News, 2021).
All of these wildfires took a heavy toll on people and…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #111: Wildfires ? a growing concern for sustainable development
As the world enters the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is abundantly clear that this is a crisis of monumental proportions, where millions of lives have been lost and the human and economic toll has been unprecedented. Recovery efforts so far have been uneven, inequitable and insufficiently geared towards achieving sustainable development. The current crisis is threatening decades of development gains, further delaying the urgent transition to greener, more equal and inclusive economies, and throwing progress on the SDGs even further off track.
Had the paradigm shift originally envisioned in the SDGs been fully embraced, the world would have been better prepared to face the crisis…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #110: Time for transformative changes for SDGs: what the data tells us
Is unconventional monetary policy reaching its limits?
Since the beginning of the twin public health and socioeconomic crises caused by COVID-19, central banks around the globe have implemented far-reaching monetary policies to calm panicky markets, stimulate economic activity, and boost inflation. Just like after the global financial crisis of 2007?08, unconventional monetary policy has played a crucial part in the response to COVID-19. Developed country central banks, for one, have purchased trillions worth of assets through their central banks? quantitative easing (QE) programmes. But the pandemic has also marked a turning point for monetary policy among developing countries. For the…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: September 2021 Briefing, No. 153
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