Curitiba, Brazil, 9 July 2020 - New technologies have had unprecedented impacts on industries and on the performance of professionals. The so-called fourth industrial revolution provided the citizens of the 21st century with a set of technologies with unprecedented historical impacts, materialized in the wide digitalization and technological convergence of the most diverse aspects.

UNOSAT is the operational satellite applications programme of UNITAR, promoting evidence-based decision making for peace, security and resilience by using geospatial information technologies (GIT). One of UNOSAT’s main strategic objectives is to build and develop capacities of Member States to use earth observation (EO) and GIT. As a part of its capacity development activities, UNOSAT delivered a one-week training entitled “ASEAN Regional Training Course on Geospatial Big Data Applications for Sustainable Development” from 05-09 August 2019, together with regional partners in Sri Racha, Chon Buri, Thailand.

7 July 2020, New York, USA, Zoom Workshop - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Office in New York, in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), hosted the first workshop “Learning and Training for SDG implementation in the COVID-19 era” of the High-level Political Forum (HLPF).

3 July 2020 - UNITAR-UNOSAT and the University of Copenhagen co-organized and delivered a 3-week Masters level course entitled “Geo-information in disaster situations” ending on 3 July 2020. The beneficiaries were University of Copenhagen students registered in the Master of Disaster Management programme. Instruction during the first week focused on introductory concepts and essential software applications as well as data analysis and cartographic modelling; it was delivered by the Geography Section of the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources Management at the University of Copenhagen.

A record 53.6 million tonnes (Mt) of e-waste was produced globally in 2019 — the weight of 350 cruise ships the size of the Queen Mary 2; $57 billion in gold and other components discarded — mostly dumped or burned.

30 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – The first phase of United Nations Institute for Training and Research's (UNITAR) Training Programmes on International Diplomatic Law for Honorary Consuls was successfully launched on Tuesday 30th June 2020.

29 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland, The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) - Division for People and Barbara Harrison Media Inc. (BHM) have joined forces to produce podcast episodes dedicated to cover a wide variety of topics that both entertain and educate young listeners on sustainable development related topics.

On 11 June 2020, UNITAR participated in the launch of a new system for university ranking, the World’s Universities with Real Impact (WURI).

22 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR’s Division for People launched the “Webinar Series Management Practices for Safer Roads” to raise awareness about practical interventions and best practices that contribute to improve road safety. Mr. Nikhil Seth, Executive Director of UNITAR, kicked off the series and highlighted the importance of remaining focused on issues like road safety during these unprecedented times. “Let’s continue to take bold steps to reduce road traffic crashes and let’s further collaborate so that when the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, we stand ready to bring new learnings and best practices to the next decade of action for road safety”, stressed Mr. Seth.

Collegium Civitas has become the first Polish university to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Division for Peace. The MoU outlines the scope of prospective collaboration that includes: training and degree programmes in various thematic fields such as sustainable development, international security and the rule of law.