Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message, delivered by Maria Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, to the Economic and Social Council Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, held today:
The United Nations is best positioned to rally a broad range of stakeholders behind efforts to address such global challenges as conflict, underdevelopment, climate change, and most recently the coronavirus pandemic, speakers told the Partnership Forum today, stressing that such an inclusive alliance can be a “game changer” for sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
The international community must join forces to finally end the offshore tax havens and policy loopholes that are draining billions of dollars needed to advance sustainable development and recover from the COVID-19 crisis, experts stressed today as the Economic and Social Council held its annual Special Meeting on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.
Indigenous peoples — guardians of nature — must be consulted before States greenlight development projects, members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues stressed today, as the body concluded a discussion on its six mandate areas — economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and human rights.
The Forum on Forests, meeting in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, concluded its sixteenth session today with speakers calling for more effective use of its trust fund, which currently stands at $2.8 million, as the United Nations promotes its Strategic Programme for Forests and its six global forest goals.
The Forum on Forests, meeting via video-teleconference, continued its sixteenth session today with speakers discussing the progress achieved so far in launching the Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network clearing house, as well as monitoring, assessment and reporting issues.
The Forum on Forests focused on ways to better implement the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests and its six global forest goals, particularly in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and the upcoming fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the second day of its sixteenth session today.
Speakers in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today called for greater efforts to protect and revitalize native languages, as they explored actions to be taken during the International Decade of Indigenous Languages starting from 2022.
The Forum on Forests began its sixteenth session in a virtual format today with the launch of its inaugural Global Forest Goals Report, as speakers highlighted the myriad ways in which the world’s forests, if sustainably managed, can contribute to “building back better” from the COVID-19 pandemic while also achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Climate change — and the megaprojects aimed at attenuating its effects — are presenting life-threatening challenges to traditional ways of life, experts told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today, as participants explored ways to better include indigenous people in the sustainable development decisions affecting their survival, especially at the United Nations.
