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UN DESA Policy Brief No. 171: Leveraging Critical Energy Transition Minerals: policy pathways for sustainable development
Developing countries with extensive critical energy transition mineral reserves have the potential to harness these resources for economic growth and sustainable development. However, doing so involves significant economic, environmental and social risks. Strong governance, strategic national policies and effective international cooperation are essential to maximize sustainable development benefits and avoid the so-called resource curse.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 155: Accelerating middle-income countries’ progress towards sustainable development
Many MICs require international support to address current and long-term challenges. Eligibility criteria that rely only on income per capita limit available support – including access to concessional finance – without accounting for MICs’ multidimensional development needs.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 150: Economic well-being at older ages: prospects for the future
More must be done to tackle decent work challenges, promote transitions from informal to formal employment, combat long-term unemployment and strengthen mechanisms to set and adjust wages.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 146: Why safe, orderly and regular migration matters for sustainable development
Respecting, protecting and fulfilling the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their migration status, benefit migrants and countries alike. Addressing the adverse drivers and structural factors that hinder people from building and maintaining sustainable livelihoods in their own countries and communities can reduce the pressure to migrate.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 144: Moving Beyond GDP and Achieving Our Common Agenda with Natural Capital Accounting
With the climate and biodiversity crises raging, Our Common Agenda stresses the urgent need to go beyond GDP, including through country implementation of the SEEA.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 129: The monetary policy response to COVID-19: the role of asset purchase programmes
Central banks have relied heavily on unconventional monetary policy tools, especially large-scale asset purchases, to respond to the pandemic. These programmes have helped to stabilize financial markets and kickstart economic recovery. But the central bank asset purchases have also contributed to an underpricing of risk and sharp increases in asset prices.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 125: Improving compatibility of approaches to identify, verify and align investments to sustainability goals
Regulators and other market participants have introduced a variety of mandatory and voluntary approaches to help investors align investments with sustainability goals.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #120: Investing in the future of rural non-farm economies
Development strategies that focus solely on urban development and leave rural communities behind are not adequate to overcome the development challenges we face.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #109: Accelerate action to revamp production and consumption patterns: the circular economy, cooperatives and the social and solidarity economy
Achieving sustainable development requires determined actions to revamp production and consumption patterns, creating a resource-efficient and resilient post-pandemic recovery.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #108: Trust in public institutions: Trends and implications for economic security
Economic insecurity—which the COVID-19 crisis threatens to exacerbate—and perceptions of poor or corrupt government performance undermine the social contract and are closely linked to declines in institutional trust.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #107: Social protection in rural areas: achieving universal access for all
Government action is required to ensure social protection measures, including floors, are available for all in rural areas.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #105: Circular agriculture for sustainable rural development
The strengthening of institutions and incentives such as water user associations and secure water and tenure rights, along with enhanced international cooperation, can spur greater application of circular approaches in agriculture.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #99: Why does corporate sustainability reporting matter to rebuilding better?
Business and financials models must be rethought to accelerate and strengthen business’ contributions to sustainable development
UN/DESA Policy Brief #94: A changing world of work: implications for the social contract
COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the world
of work, hitting labour markets that were already weak
and fragile.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #86: The long-term impact of COVID-19 on poverty
As developing countries currently face the prospect
of costly debt crises with far-reaching consequences,
global action is urgently needed. The window to mitigate
the disastrous long-term consequences of COVID-19 on
poverty is closing rapidly.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #78: Achieving the SDGs through the COVID-19 response and recovery
The impact of COVID-19 on SDG achievement will only be known with certainty in the months to come, but assessments for 2020 are bleak. If responses are ad hoc, underfunded and without a view to long-term goals, decades of progress stand to be reversed. However, as countries begin to move towards recovery, coherent and comprehensive actions can place the world on a robust trajectory towards achieving sustainable development.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #71: COVID-19 pandemic deals a huge blow to the manufacturing exports from LDCs
The COVID-19 pandemic poses a significant economic challenge to LDCs that rely heavily on exporting manufactured goods, particularly clothing and apparel, amid global demand and supply-side shocks.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #66: COVID-19 and the least developed countries
Covid-19 threatens to have devastating consequences in least developed countries (LDCs). Unless bold policy actions are taken by the international community, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline will likely slip out of reach.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #65: Responses to the COVID-19 catastrophe could turn the tide on inequality
This brief identifies inequalities around the COVID-19
pandemic in exposure, vulnerabilities and coping capacity.
It suggests that crisis responses in four areas could turn
the tide on inequality. These include expanding systems
for the universal provision of quality social services;
identifying and empowering vulnerable groups; investing
in jobs and livelihoods; and acting through the multilateral
system to respond to disparities across countries.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #64: The COVID-19 pandemic puts Small Island Developing economies in dire straits
Scaled-up international development cooperation will
remain
critical for ensuring that small island economies
can strengthen their health response to the pandemic, while
safeguarding food security and averting an economic crisis.