ESCWA WEEKLY NEWS No. 28

Two events around disability in New York

In New York, ESCWA discussed on 11 June the improvement of social statistics for the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Arab countries, and especially ESCWA preparations of an “Arab Disability Indicator Framework” that will allow for better monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the CRPD.
 
In addition, ESCWA tackled on 12 June the necessity to address more systematically the right of persons with disability so they live independently and be included in the community, as enshrined in Article 19 of the CRPD.
 
Both events were organized in cooperation with the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Chair of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs on the sidelines of the annual Conference of State Parties to the CRPD.

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18th meeting of the Mediterranean commission on sustainable development

ESCWA participated along with UN-ECE and UN-ECA/North Africa in a roundtable on implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the regional level, organized by the UN-Environment-Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP-MAP) within the framework of the 18th Meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) held from 11 to 13 June 2019 in Budva, Montenegro.

ESCWA focused on mainstreaming implementation of the environmental dimension in the 2030 Agenda, and the roundtable highlighted the need for concrete actions to integrate sustainability considerations at the local level, for increasing transboundary cooperation, as well as for synergies between environmental and socio-economic targets.

The MCSD recommended to develop cooperation with the three UN Regional Commissions that cover the Mediterranean basin (UN-ECA, UN-ECE, UN-ESCWA) and to provide relevant inputs to their respective Regional Fora for Sustainable Development so as to enrich their contribution to the High-level Political Forum (HLPF).
 

Policy briefs on food security issues in the Arab region

The policy briefs provide key policy recommendations to enhance food security in the Arab region, with a focus on issues pertaining to agriculture productivity, engagement with world food markets and food loss and waste. These were extracted from the joint ESCWA and FAO report: “Arab Horizon 2030: Prospects for Enhancing Food Security in the Arab Region.”
 
Policy Brief 1: Agricultural production has increased across the region through land under cultivation expansion rather than crop yields improvement.
 
Policy Brief 2: World food markets help Arab countries fill their widening production-consumption gap arising from population growth, high urbanization and shifting dietary preferences.
 
Policy Brief 3: Food loss and waste imposes multidimensional challenges on regional food systems and affects the resiliency of markets, producers and vulnerable consumers.

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Did you know...

… that, while the global electrification rate rose to 89% in 2017, the Arab region’s electrification rate rose to 93.4% in 2017, although access is a bit lower at 89% in the largely rural countries?
 
The Arab region is the only region around the world where energy intensity has been increasing, with a significant gap in energy efficiency regulation and the actual progress achieved. In some Arab countries, progress in energy efficiency also lags vastly behind income levels.
 
Virtually, all the deficit in electricity access across the Arab region is concentrated in the Arab least developed countries.
 
Renewable energy has huge potential in the Arab region: the share of renewables in final energy consumption increased from 16.6% in 2010 to 17.5% in 2016, with the fastest growth in electricity thanks to the rapid expansion of wind and solar technologies.

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