Today acclaimed Chinese actress and film director Zhao Wei was appointed the National Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China. In her new role, the actress will focus on raising awareness for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular highlighting poverty reduction and gender equality.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today honoured 17 ‘Panda Champions for the Global Goals’ at a ceremony to appoint them as advocates for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) around the world.

The first phase of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP’s) ‘Youth Solution Trip’ officially comes to an end today, with the final submission of solutions by the participants. Four driven and determined young leaders have now completed the three-week research programme in Guizhou, Southwest China, and will submit their innovative ideas for solving local challenges.

An assessment tool for Chinese cities has been developed to measure Chinese cities’ performance on sustainable development, based on a set of measurable indicators ranging from income, education, health to pollution, and resource consumption, with an aim to help drive urban development towards a more inclusive and resilient future, says a new urbanization report by The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China.

25 Nov 2016 –The report "The Living Standards Dimension for the Human Development Index: Measuring poverty with Big Data' brings a measure called the Living Standards Index that addresses the multi-faceted and complex nature of poverty by combining eight indicators to evaluate the provision of services of the 2,284 counties across the country. The data collected from this report is now available in an interactive visualization map.

Shanghai, 23 November - ‘Internet philanthropy has the potential to transform the philanthropic sector and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) was the key message highlighted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China at the launch of their new report today.

To raise public awareness on the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and help China reach the goals and targets set forth by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) China today launched its Massive Open Online Course on Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals (UNDP SDG MOOC) developed in cooperation with NetEase Media, as the first knowledge product to combine the global Agenda and China’s current situation.

At the fifth Responsible Business Forum, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today called on business leaders to take a greater role in the new development era in order to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This Forum, opened in Singapore by UNDP and Global Initiatives, aims to address a sea change in the nature of development funding by creating a new partnership for sustainable development.

While foreign funding (Official Development Assistance) is still essential for the development system, it now accounts for 0.7 percent of total financial flows in Asia-Pacific (down from 13.5 percent in 1990), while domestic public and private finance accounts for 89 percent, according to a UNDP report launched last month.

It is one year since every country in the world signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals. They form a blueprint for addressing the most significant challenges facing our planet and its people. Challenges like climate change. This is likely to be the hottest year on record and here in Asia, climate change is a cause of the natural disasters that have claimed half a million lives in the last decade. Challenges like inequality, which has been growing for four-fifths of Asia-Pacific’s population over the last 20 years. Challenges brought on by the accelerating process of ageing, which will make it harder for many Asian states to provide basic services to their people. The 17 SDGs will address these challenges and other interlinked issues, including education, hunger and security. But governments cannot implement this blueprint on their own. Nor can the UN and other development organizations.

This study explores the extent to which persons with disabilities (PWD) in China can effectively navigate the judicial system. Using Article 13 of the United Nations “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” and China’s “Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities” and “Legal Aid Regulations” as analytical tools and reference points, the authors of this report have undertaken empirical research to illuminate the current situation and problems that PWD face when seeking access to justice and realizing their basic rights. By exploring a number of practical experiences, this report concludes with various policy recommendations that might rectify the problems delineated herein

In the last few decades, fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have become a serious concern of researchers and policy makers. The transportation sector is the second largest energy consuming sector after the industrial sector and accounts for 30% of the world's total energy use. Within this sector, vehicles dominate oil consumption and energy demand. Since the mid-1970s, driven by mounting concerns over oil security, the expense of imported oil, and global warming, several industrialized countries including the United States, Japan, Canada, South Korea and Australia and the European Union, have adopted either voluntary agreements or regulatory standards to improve the fuel economy and reduce GHG emissions of their vehicles

Endosulfan is an insecticide that has been phasing out globally due to its acute toxicity, potential for bioaccumulation, and its role as an endocrine disrupter that can cause cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other developmental disorders. Because of its threats to human health and the environment, a global ban on the manufacture and use of endosulfan was negotiated under the Stockholm Convention in April 2011.

By Patrick Haverman. I just came back from Wuzhen, a nice ancient touristic town in Zhejiang province. Since president Xi attended last year’s “world Internet forum”, it has gained the attention of the Internet World. The ideas of these conferences are not only focusing on applying big data in justice systems, poverty and living standards, but also inspiring us to think about how technology will transform the next generations in the future. It gave me a lot of food for thought on several topics of the future.