In her side event remarks, Director Cassie Flynn of UNDP’s Climate Hub, stated that “we cannot achieve the SDGs without energy – it powers schools, it powers hospitals. It is energy that is one of the levers by which we can achieve the Goals.”
Although access to clean energy has improved globally, 675 million people still lack access to electricity, and 2.3 billion people do not have access to safe fuel sources for cooking, according to the 2023 SDG Special Edition report. The IAEA assists countries in their attainment of the SDGs through its technical cooperation programme. Capacity building and transferring technology enables the generation of key scientific data that can be used by countries in decision making.
Intervening at a UNESCO side event on science-based water assessment, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation Hua Liu highlighted that “using a science-based assessment, scientists can provide policymakers with the information that is necessary to manage, protect and preserve water resources; making clean water available to everyone would be ground-breaking for sustainable development.”
Globally, 2.2 billion people still have no access to safe water and 3.5 billion lack sanitation services. Climate change and conflict have worsened water scarcity issues in some regions. The Permanent Representative of Tajikistan to the UN, Ambassador Jonibek Hikmat, described how Tajikistan is currently experiencing water security challenges that are being exacerbated by climate change. The IAEA has provided bespoke technical cooperation support to Tajikistan to assess groundwater resources in the Aral Sea basin, and a national project on glaciers has just begun.
Member States and UN partners provided new insights and fostered awareness of science-based tools that could accelerate progress in key areas. On the margins of the High-Level Political Forum, the IAEA met with UN organizations to explore possibilities to enhance cooperation and leverage the contribution of nuclear technology to support countries’ attainment of the SDGs.
