24 January 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Center for Global Surgery (CGS), McGill University Health Care (MUHC), signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU was signed within the context of the activities of the Global Surgery Platform at UNITAR, which was recently presented at a special event during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

20 January 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is pleased to announce the official launch of the Global Surgery Foundation (GSF) at the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2020 in Davos, Switzerland. The launch will take place at a special lunch-event, hosted by Brand South Africa on Wednesday, 22 January 2020 at the Brand SA Pavilion.

When Lu’isa Uai Taunga, an officer with the National Emergency Management Office in the Kingdom of Tonga, participated in the UNITAR Disaster Risk Reduction Training which wrapped up in November 2017, she left with renewed energy and ideas for new initiatives to prepare her community in the island group of Ha’apai in the event of a disaster.

The UNITAR Operational Satellite Training Programme (UNOSAT) contributes to human security, peace and socio-economic development by providing integrated satellite-based solutions for governments as well as relief and development organizations within and outside the UN system.

The National Adaptation Plans (NAP), coordinated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aim to reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, by building adaptive capacity and resilience. It further facilitates the integration of climate change adaptation, in a coherent manner, into relevant new and existing policies, programmes and activities.

“We are vulnerable to tropical cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought and flash floods and it’s an all year cycle,” said Lu’isa Uai Taunga, a citizen of the Kingdom of Tonga, who participated in the UNITAR Disaster Risk Reduction Training which concluded in November 2017.

Further to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in September 2015, two rounds of Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) of its implementation have taken place at the global level in July 2016 and July 2017 in the context of the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development.

For the fourth consecutive year, UN CC:Learn delivered Climate Classrooms for delegates eager to learn more about climate change at COP25.

UN CC:Learn co-led the organization of two main sessions and delivered several climate classrooms to delegates and attendees at COP25 in Madrid.

UNITAR together with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and in collaboration with the custodian agencies as the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Women, the World Bank and the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre of the International Monetary Fund (IMF - PFTAC) conducted two regional workshops for 14 Asia – Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) on Monitoring the Tier 1 and Tier 2 SDG indicators.