Dec 21, 2020

Human Development Report 2020: The next frontier - Human development and the Anthropocene

Thirty years ago, UNDP created a new way to conceive and measure progress. Instead of using growth in GDP as the sole measure of development, we ranked the world’s countries by their human development: by whether people in each country have the freedom and opportunity to live the lives they value. The 2020 Human Development Report (HDR) doubles down on the belief that people’s agency and empowerment can bring about the action we need if we are to live in balance with the planet in a fairer world. It shows that we are at an unprecedented moment in history, in which human activity has become a dominant force shaping the planet. These impacts interact with existing inequalities, threatening significant development reversals. Nothing short of a great transformation – in how we live, work and cooperate – is needed to change the path we are on. The Report explores how to jumpstart that transformation. The climate crisis. Biodiversity collapse. Ocean acidification. The list is long and growing longer. So much so that many scientists believe that for the first time, instead of the planet shaping humans, humans are knowingly shaping the planet. This is the Anthropocene – the Age of Humans - a new geologic epoch. Though humanity has achieved incredible progress, we have taken the Earth for granted, destabilizing the very systems upon which we rely for survival. Covid-19, which almost certainly sprang to humans from animals, offers a glimpse of our future, in which the strain on our planet mirrors the strain facing societies. It took Covid-19 very little time to expose and exploit overlapping inequalities, as well as weaknesses in social, economic, and political systems, and threaten reversals in human development.

Nov 12, 2020

COVID 19 Socio-Economic Response Plan

The socio-economic response plan (SERP) is set within the overall UN COVID-19 “recovery pathway” framework and follows the initial analysis and programmatic activities carried out by the UN system since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. The response plan is based on key gaps identified in the socio-economic impact assessment (SEIA) conducted earlier this year. The SEIA features findings and analysis of the impact of COVID-19 based on data collected through a series of thematic assessments and surveys conducted by UN agencies, and civil society organizations, and from official government statistics and assessments. The response plan provides a series of recommendations for the country to address the short and long term challenges created by the pandemic, in 6 areas of focus: Health, Social Protection, Jobs, Employment and Small Medium Size Enterprises, Macro economy and international cooperation, Resilience, Environment and Climate Change. This response plan constitutes “Phase 3” of the UN team in Serbia’s response to COVID-19.

Oct 14, 2020

Depopulation As A Policy Challenge In The Context Of Global Demographic Trends

Depopulation is a recurring theme, but its contemporary causes tell a new story. Population decline today is the partial result of a natural development process. A smaller population does not have to be the defining factor of a country in economic or geopolitical considerations. A population’s composition is more consequential than simply its size. This report addresses depopulation from a multi-dimensional demographic perspective, not only looking at population size and age structure, but also differentiating by level of education and labor force participation.