New development agenda a generational challenge for world's parliaments

With catastrophic climate change threatening to hit many parts of the world in just over a decade, 149 national parliaments have adopted an emergency resolution calling for decisive action. Concluding the 139 th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the resolution, called Climate change – Let us not cross the line, follows the report published last week by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). According to the IPCC report, limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires urgent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.

Bridging the gap between global commitments and local realities, the IPU was at the opening of the 73 rd UN General Assembly (UNGA73) last week to help mobilize parliaments and MPs around UN events. Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), better nutrition, and access to health for women and children were at the top of the agenda.

Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General, talks about the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and how the IPU worked to bring parliaments into the preparatory process for the Agenda. He also explains how IPU helps parliaments to engage

What role can parliaments play in achieving universal health coverage and global health security? A vital one - according to a technical briefing co-organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the 71 st World Health Assembly in Geneva.

The IPU and the United Nations Environment Programme will be working together to ensure that parliaments have the tools they need to be able to tackle climate change and environmental degradation effectively. On 12 April 2018, IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong, and UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) setting out their joint cooperation on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those related to environment and climate change, as well as the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its associated treaties, including the Paris Agreement.

Nearly 750 MPs worldwide condemned the discrimination and abuse of refugees and migrants at the conclusion of the 138 th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Geneva. The Assembly Declaration emphasized the critical role of parliaments in transforming the aspirations of the two Global Compacts – one on migrants and the other on refugees - into national laws.