Photo Credit: A general view of Long Street, usually one of the busiest and most popular entertainment areas in Cape Town, South Africa, under a billboard reading ‘Stay Home’ amid a coronavirus lockdown, on April 3, 2020. (Rodger Bosch/AFP) The United Nations have expressed concerns through its Secretary-General report regarding the reversal tendency of COVID-19 on the decade long progress in the fight against poverty. In the report, a declaration that, ‘This is much more than a
The spread of the novel COVID-19 pandemic has changed the interaction between people and the food system at a drastic speed. At present, some 820 million people around the world are experiencing chronic hunger and of these, 113 million are coping with acute severe food insecurity where any further ‘access to food’ disruptions may pose an immediate threat to their lives or livelihoods. With border closures, quarantines and market, supply chain and trade disruptions, the global economy is being challenged
Governments’ pledges for sustainable development are flourishing, most notably as they signed up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. But how can they translate such pledges into practice? Voluntary Sustainability Standards, or VSS, have been recognised as potentially transformative tools for sustainable trade, and they offer great potential for governments to realise their sustainability commitments through two main avenues. First, public procurement represents, on average, 12 percent of GDP in OECD countries, and up to 30 percent of GDP in
Reflecting to the UNFSS research element cornerstone, the Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) Academic Advisory Council (AAC) (hereinafter “AAC”), composed of renowned academic experts from across the globe, has been established to function as a think-tank that brings together a wide variety of academic backgrounds, ranging from public international law, global governance, international political economy, economics and public management, to human rights and sustainability studies. This type of multidisciplinary approach not only reflects the implicit acknowledgement of the
In the interest of facilitating the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM)’s goal to strengthen trade-related quality infrastructure, the validation workshop held in Saint Lucia in 21-23 January 2020 aims to improve capacity in Standards and technical regulations development and implementation in CARICOM and to conduct a feasibility study for developing trade capacity enabling Sustainability Standards and associated conformity assessment modalities by the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), modelling the success of African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO). Part
The increasing attention towards bio-based economy is partly due to the existing production practices that are contributing significantly to environmental and climate problems. Global challenges like climate change, land and ecosystem degradation, coupled with a growing population is a turning point towards producing and consuming that respect the ecological boundaries of our planet. ‘Bioeconomy’ in this sense has become an important agenda in political and technological interests internationally and nationally as it is considered to have strong links with the
Concept Note Programme in PDF Coherence, Collaboration, Cooperation, Convergence and Consensus were five of the most widely ‘referred to’ concepts that highlighted the key-takeaway of the 2nd International Convention on Sustainable Trade and Standards (ICSTS) held in Rio de Janeiro in September 2019. These are the 5 important C’s that could potentially reinforce the positive impacts of sustainability standards systems. Being one of the proud co-organizers of the 2nd ICSTS, the convention
Now in its sixth year, the annual Trade for Sustainable Development Forum is one of the leading global events focused on major trends in sustainable value chains and voluntary sustainability standards. Organized by the International Trade Centre (ITC), the T4SD Forum will again take place in conjunction with the WTO Public Forum, from 7-9 October. How long before sustainability becomes the norm? This year, the T4SD Forum will reflect the new realities of international trade and focus on sustainability mainstreaming – the
To boost ambition and accelerate actions to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will host the 2019 Climate Summit on 23 September to meet the climate challenge. The UNCTAD Trade Forum is meant as a contribution to the Summit from the trade and developmental community. It will bring into focus the need for action on the means of implementation – finance, technology and capacity building – and the role of trade
The Brazilian Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (Inmetro), the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan) and the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) proudly organizes the 2nd International Convention on Sustainable Trade and Standards Date: 16-18th of September 2019, Venue: Casa Firjan, Rua Guilhermina Guinle, 211 City: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Convention Page
