Economic conditions

This edition of The State of Food Insecurity in the World focuses on food price volatility. Our organizations continue to monitor food prices, and have alerted the world through a number of analytical reports on food price trends and ongoing volatility in recent years, as these continue to be a matter of concern for governments and people around the world. Indeed, high and volatile food prices are widely expected to continue in the future.

This report on Transport for Sustainable Development in the ECE region deals with issues and best practices in inland transport, i.e. in road, rail, inland waterway and intermodal transport. It also outlines key UNECE contributions and reviews progress towards the development of more sustainable inland transport. Chapter 1 gives a brief review of sustainable development and its implications for transport.

Essays in this publication offer perspectives and strategies to promote both environmental conservation and poverty eradication.

The objective of this report is to provide an overview of alternative macroeconomic indicators of economic progress and sustainable development, focusing in particular on efforts to incorporate environmental and natural resource measurements that are not typically included in traditional measures.

Groundwater provides a valuable supply of drinking water to millions in the Mekong Delta, yet because this resource is below ground, it is effectively invisible and often not seen as a priority by policy makers. The paper “Groundwater in Mekong Delta” looks at groundwater conditions and trends in the Vietnamese portion of the delta. It argues that the extensive changes of the natural water flow in the delta have severe economic, environmental, and social impacts.