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United Nations University

The United Nations University (UNU) is a global research and postgraduate teaching organisation headquartered in Japan. The mission of the UNU is to contribute, through collaborative research and education, to efforts to resolve the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of the United Nations, its Peoples and Member States, working with leading universities and research institutes and functioning as a bridge between the international academic community and the United Nations system.

The University encompasses 14 institutes located in 12 countries around the world. Through postgraduate teaching activities, UNU contributes to capacity building, particularly in developing countries. As part of the UN family of organisations, the University maintains close working relationships with other UN agencies, programmes, commissions, funds and convention secretariats.

The UN University undertakes cross-cultural, interdisciplinary research (utilising innovative, science-based techniques and methodologies to study important global processes and elaborate forward-looking solutions) and targeted foresight and policy studies (aimed at developing policy-relevant prescriptions and evaluating the feasibility and comparative advantages of each option). It provides postgraduate-level education (degree-oriented programmes and specialised training focused on problems and solutions rather than academic disciplines) and capacity development activities (aimed at helping developing and transitional countries to enhance local potential to address current problems/confront emergent challenges). It also promotes knowledge sharing and transfer (to deliver relevant information about UN University research, current scientific advances and best practices, in a timely manner and in a usable form, to those who most need it and can best use it).

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Displaying 141 - 155 of 155 articles
Australia has isolated sustainable development projects, like Adelaide’s Bowden precinct that got Princes Charles’ attention in 2015, but lacks an overarching commitment to sustainability. AAP

Times demand a Sustainable Development Commission to replace the Productivity Commission

Barbara Norman, University of Canberra; Ida Kubiszewski, Australian National University; Robert Costanza, Australian National University; Tony Capon, United Nations University, and Will Steffen, Australian National University

The challenges we face demand profound changes in our thinking and priorities. Replacing the Productivity Commission with a National Sustainability Commission would help us make this paradigm shift.
Most of the world’s poorest people now reside in middle-income as opposed to low-income countries. Reuters/James Akena

Development aid works over time, but must adapt to 21st-century needs

Channing Arndt, United Nations University; Finn Tarp, United Nations University, and Sam Jones, University of Copenhagen

Recent studies show that development aid to poor countries contributes in the long term to their economic growth. But the aid architecture has adapted slowly to a new reality.
A Malawian mother and her child in front of maize harvested in Lilongwe. A fertiliser programme has increased crop yields. Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko

Malawi’s farm subsidy benefits the poor but doesn’t come cheap

Channing Arndt, United Nations University; James Thurlow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) , and Karl Pauw, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Malawi’s large-scale subsidy for farmers has resulted in higher maize production, lower food prices and higher wages. But this has come at significant costs.
Mozambique has improved access to education, but it has to do more to meet the high expectations of its young and rapidly growing population. Reuters/Grant Lee Neuenbur

What Mozambique can do to achieve rapid economic and social progress

Channing Arndt, United Nations University

Agriculture, which employs about 80% of the working population, and political stability are key to Mozambique’s rapid economic and social progress.
Remittance recipients whose priority is the socioeconomic improvements of their lives were found to be less engaged with democratic processes. Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

Towards another resource curse? Remittances and support for democracy in Africa

Maty Konte, United Nations University

Remittances may hinder the development of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. A lot depends on whether recipients value rights and freedom much more than improving their standard of living.
Japan’s harvest of endangered minke whales was ruled not to be for scientific purposes. EPA/Tim Watters/Sea Shepherd Australia/AAP

Whaling win will be a hollow victory without updating the rules

Peter Bridgewater, United Nations University

The International Court of Justice’s ruling this week that Japan’s Southern Ocean whaling program is not scientific does not represent an ultimate victory over whaling. The finer points of the court’s…
The grey-faced sengi, found only in remote East African forests, is related to elephants. Francesco Rovero

‘Irreplaceable’ homes of endangered animals mapped – but did they get it right?

Shireen Chan, The Conversation

Kakadu National Park, Western Australia’s Shark Bay and Queensland’s wet tropics are among the world’s most important protected areas for conserving species, according to a study published today in the…
Fixing our oceans is going to take a new perspective. Flickr/Carmyarmyofme

Solutions for our ‘broken’ oceans

Peter Bridgewater, United Nations University and Robert Blasiak, University of Tokyo

We’ve heard quite a bit about the health of our oceans lately. Australian yachtsman Ivan Macfadyen recently retraced his oceanic voyage of ten years ago from Melbourne to Japan, finding an absence of sea…
For new national parks to succeed, people need to get behind them. Flickr/jwbenwell

Without public support, new national parks will fail

Peter Bridgewater, United Nations University

A new national park has been mooted for Victoria, with proposals for a Giant Forest National Park in the Central Highlands. Well managed, a park such as this would offer conservation and economic benefits…
Buffalo might be introduced to Kakadu, but maybe we need to embrace the change. Flickr/George Olcott

National parks need to embrace global change

Peter Bridgewater, United Nations University

On land and in the seas our world now resembles a series of badly run zoos, set in an even more badly run botanic garden. The badly run zoos, our global set of national parks, are often seen as the jewels…

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