Today, the world is embarking on a green transition. The shift towards an environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly world is critical not only for responding to the global climate crisis but also for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A successful transition towards a greener world will depend on the development of green skills in the population. Green skills are “knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society”.

On 23 December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly decided, in its resolution 49/214, that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year. The date marks the first meeting, in 1982, of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

The International Day observance will take place online on Wednesday, 9 August 2023 from 9:00 am to 10:30 am Eastern Standard Time (EST).

The report of the 22nd session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2023) was presented by the Chair of the Forum to the Economic and Social Council Management Segment Meeting on 25 July 2023.

Click here to read the report.

Website of the 22nd  session of the PFII.

The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) will be held from Monday, 10 July, to Wednesday, 19 July 2023, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council . This includes the three-day ministerial segment of the forum from Monday, 17 July, to Wednesday, 19 July 2023 as part of the High-level Segment of the Council. The last day of the High-level Segment of ECOSOC will be on Thursday, 20 July 2023.

The Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) is organizing a VNR-Lab on 11 July 2023 in support of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.  It is also an occasion to commemorate the 2023 International Day of Cooperatives.

A “cascade of crises” is putting global progress towards ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities in danger, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Tuesday in New York. 

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted by the General Assembly by its resolution 61/106 of 13 December 2006. It came into force on 3 May 2008 upon its 20th ratification.

If the world really wants to step back from the brink, it had better “walk the walk” towards a more sustainable future for all, young speakers said on Tuesday, as thousands of their counterparts from across the world gathered, in person and online, for the opening of the annual Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum at UN Headquarters in New York.

Their call was answered by top UN officials.

The United Nations will welcome hundreds of Indigenous Peoples from around the world for the 22nd session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) to be held in New York from 17 to 28 April. They will be discussing the most relevant and pressing issues with members of the Permanent Forum, Member States, and UN entities. Here are some key topics to look out for:

Health of the Planet = Health of Peoples

The twenty-second session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will take place in the United Nations Headquarters, New York, from 17-28 April 2023.

The priority theme of the session is: “Indigenous Peoples, human health, planetary and territorial health and climate change: a rights-based approach”.

For more information, please click here.