Nuclear and renewables, education opportunities and the growing number of international migrants. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
Nuclear and renewables: playing complementary roles in hybrid energy systems
Hybrid systems could also foster cogeneration for seawater desalination, hydrogen production, district heating, cooling and other industrial applications. Research and innovation, the introduction of appropriate policies and market incentives are an important next step.
“Future energy systems will have to meet considerably stricter requirements not only on GHG emissions but also other pollutants such as sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, mercury, heavy metals and particulates,” said IAEA Acting Director-General Cornel Feruta. “Nuclear power can meet these stringent requirements — and does so competitively.”
Promoting education opportunities across six EU partnership countries
Funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by UNOPS, the Eastern Partnership European School Scholarship Programme has welcomed 35 new students in the second part of its programme.
“This is [an] important investment made in the future generation and in the region as well, as we together provide the opportunity to students to study [the] International Baccalaureate programme, and afterward enroll in any university in the world,” said the EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, as he welcomed the students in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The student housing was constructed and funded by the New School, while UNOPS provided technical support and oversight of the process. The five-story building comprises 28 apartments for up to 56 students, four apartments for mentors, as well as a games room, study room, kitchen and common areas. The dormitory was built in accordance with Georgian and European standards, including fire safety considerations.
Number of migrants now growing faster than world population, new UN figures show
The figures reflect a jump from 2010, when the global number was at 272 million, and currently international migrants – defined as anyone who changes their “country of usual residence” – make up 3.5 percent of the global population, compared to 2.8 percent in the year 2000, according to the latest figures.
Estimates are based on official national statistics of foreign populations gathered from censuses. These numbers reflect any person who is moving or has moved across an international border, regardless of citizenship status or motive – meaning the data encompass people who have moved either intentionally or involuntarily.
Europe hosts the largest number of international migrants, at 82 million; followed by North America, at 59 million; with 51 million in the United States alone – the largest number in a single nation. Finally, North Africa and Western Asia host around 49 million migrants, and along with sub-Saharan Africa, are seeing the most significant influx in foreign populations.
Here’s what else has happened
Cities: Cities around the world are the “main cause of climate change” but can also offer a part of the solution to reducing the harmful greenhouses gases that are causing global temperatures to rise according to UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif.
Ms. Sharif will be joining world leaders at United Nations headquarters in New York next week at the Climate Action Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
WU and UNIDO: The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) have agreed to intensify their cooperation towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through a cooperation agreement signed by the UNIDO Director-General and the WU Rector.
IAEA and Islamic Development Bank: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) launched a drive to raise funds for projects helping countries tackle cancers that affect millions of women every year.
The Partnership Initiative to Increase Access to Diagnostics and Treatment of Women’s Cancers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries is an IAEA joint effort with the IsDB and other partners to increase cancer services for women in priority countries. During the opening of the 2019 IAEA Scientific Forum, the Bank announced a plan to mobilize the initial US $10 million in grant funding, which will help unlock further IsDB resources for the initiative.
Reports
IRENA urges leaders to build climate response around renewables
Public and private sector leaders are being urged to double annual investments in renewable energy to keep the world well below 2°C of warming, says a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.
With just 11 years left for action to limit the effects of climate change, annual investments of USD 4.3 trillion in the energy sector until 2030 is the world’s most practical and readily available climate solution.
Read and download the report: Transforming the energy system.
Lagging in climate action, G20 nations have huge opportunities to increase ambition
G20 nations are collectively not on track to meet their Paris Agreement commitments, but they have huge opportunities to undertake rapid and deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, according to new UN research.
An advance chapter of the 2019 Emissions Gap Report, released ahead of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, says that G20 members, which account for around 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, are not yet taking on transformative climate commitments at the necessary breadth and scale.
Read and download the advance chapter of the 2019 Emissions Gap Report.
More women and children survive today than ever before
More women and their children are surviving today than ever before, according to new child and maternal mortality estimates released by United Nations groups led by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Since 2000, child deaths have reduced by nearly half and maternal deaths by over one-third, mostly due to improved access to affordable, quality health services.
Download the report here.
Events
AidEx Nairobi 2019
Nairobi, Kenya
11-12 September 2019
More than 500 professionals from the aid and development sector will engage with thought leaders and policymakers as they incite discussion reflective of the most important and timely topics centred around this year’s theme: The importance of inclusiveness to regional progress – is the aid and development doing enough?
World Bank Youth Summit 2019: Smarter Cities for a Resilient Future
Washington, DC, USA
2-3 December 2019
The primary goals of the Summit are: to empower youth to explore innovative ideas to tackle emerging development challenges, provide youth with the tools to build and engage in impactful projects, and promote dialogue between youth, the WBG, and other key stakeholders globally.
2019 Goalkeepers event
New York, USA
24 – 25 September 2019
This year, Goalkeepers will focus on the challenge of fighting global inequality to ensure no one is left behind.
In previous years, speakers at Goalkeepers have included President Barack Obama, President Emmanuel Macron, and Deputy UN Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed; Nobel Peace Prize winners and inspiring young leaders such as Malala Yousafzai, Nadia Murad, and Trevor Noah; and musical performers Ed Sheeran, Lily Allen, and Fatoumata Diawara.
UNDP: The Digital Future of Development
New York, USA
25 September 2019
UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner, is pleased to invite to the high-level event on the side of the 74th UN General Assembly. Entitled ‘The Digital Future of Development’, the event will explore digital transformation as a sustainable development pathway.
Joining the event are digital transformation experts and pioneers from government, private sector and civil society, as well as development practitioners at the forefront of innovative efforts.
12th International Conference on “Energy and Climate Change”
The 12th International Conference on “Energy and Climate Change” will take place at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) on 9-11 October 2019, in Athens-Greece. It is set under the auspices of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) and the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI).
Athens, Greece
9-11 October 2019
