Two senior fellows, Prof. Luc Soete and Dr. Alessio Brown, recently featured in articles by the Financial Times and T-Systems magazine. Both wrote about the future world of work amid accelerating technological change — touching on the risks and rewards and the assumptions and disruptions. In a guest post for the FT, Prof. Soete explored the challenges posed to labour markets by growing automation — a notion he roundly dispelled as a red herring. “Historically the evidence of di...
“This forum comes at a time when we need to disrupt the status quo in terms of how we do science and technology for development,” Dr. Gillian Marcelle, Trinidad & Tobago. “When you think about the industrial revolution, that is the biggest change we probably ever had. The SDGs could be the next revolution — they could constitute a new social contract for humanity to take a different road,” Prof. Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Serbia. These words — on the need for ch...
“The 2030 Agenda forms the new global development framework anchored around 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a total of 169 targets covering economic, social development, and environmental protection… In particular, Africa can take advantage of this universality of the 2030 Agenda to create partnerships across the goals and ensure effective implementation.” Maged Abdelfatah Abdelaziz, UN Special Adviser on Africa Our second international conference on ‘Sustainable D...
Prof. Shyama V. Ramani of UNU-MERIT has been voted one of the #100 Women Achievers of India in the category of ‘Hygiene and Sanitation’, as part of a contest organised by the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development in partnership with Facebook. The result was made public on 1 January 2016. Prof. Ramani will attend a reception lunch with the President of India, Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, on 22 January 2016 in the Ceremonial Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre, in the Pr...
A third of all humanity — around 2.4 billion people — have no access to adequate sanitation. Worldwide a billion people still defecate in the open. Poor sanitation increases the risk of disease and malnutrition, especially for women and children. Meanwhile, women and girls risk rape and abuse, because they have no toilet that offers privacy. World Toilet Day, held every 19 November, aims to raise awareness about the many people around the world who have no access to a toilet — ...
This article is part of UNU’s “17 Days, 17 Goals” series, featuring research and commentary in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, 25-27 September 2015 in New York City. Goal #10: Reduce inequality within and among countries A large share of the world’s population — those living in low-income communities of developing countries — are locked out of the global economy. They have limited access to products, markets, and opportunities to increase their well-being and develo...
This article is part of UNU’s “17 Days, 17 Goals” series, featuring research and commentary in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, 25-27 September 2015 in New York City. Halfway through our series we step back to reflect on the bigger picture, with a special focus on goal #9. Goal #9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation After an extensive process of consultation and lively online debates, world leader...
Around 3 billion people worldwide use traditional biomass and coal as their main sources of fuel at home, and 1.4 billion people have no access to electricity. To remedy this, the UN launched a call for universal access to modern energy in 2012, with a target year of 2030. Prof. Shyama V. Ramani sends this update from an international workshop on the issue. The Milan Expo 2015 is showcasing technology from more than 140 countries to help ensure “healthy, safe and sufficient food for everyone, wh...
Technology can buy us time in a failing environment, but ultimately it will not save us. To be effective, environmental policies need support from all levels of society: from national ministries to local communities. These are just two of the messages from Prof. René Kemp ahead of World Environment Day on 5 June. The bottom line is simple: World Environment Day will be needed for many more years to come. What I’m seeing now as an eco-innovation researcher is a kind of ‘relative decoupling&...
Described as “an astonishing inspiration for leaders around the world for how to mobilise people, create change in your local community and see the international effects,” PhD alumnus and affiliated researcher Dr. Carlos Cadena Gaitan has won the 2015 Future Sustainability Leader award. “This year’s… campaign searched for nominations for the best and brightest future leaders in sustainability that are mobilising for change and making us all seize new opportunities,”...