Blogs / Essays

#EarthDay2020 The Green Academy Project proved to me yet again that if we as academics participate in co-designed projects with social enterprises and NGOs, we can create real community value as well as scientific papers! This project is also a milestone for SITE4Society for it is ser

By Praachi Kumar, PhD Fellow at United Nations University-MERIT Inequities are exacerbated during global crises, and we need to put the spotlight on domestic violence. I wouldn’t be the first to suggest that violence against women is a pandemic. According to 2017 estimates, 137 women

Hello everybody, I write this letter to you from my room in Medellín, Colombia, where I am isolating myself. I live and work here. Before writing the rest – let me tell you – my main message: Under the COVID-19 siege, as it has been shown in other times in the past, the va

The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been spreading rapidly but at a different rate in different countries. A variety of emergency responses and policy strategies have been implemented with different outcomes so far. The Asian countries and territories that were first hit by the

Waste management is a massive problem for many of the world’s fastest growing economies, as sacrifices are made on the altar of ever-expanding consumption. Ghana, a country in West Africa, is no different. In 2012, a World Bank report said that as many as 19,000 Ghanaians were dying p

Universities are increasingly entrepreneurial, working with partners across borders while navigating ever-more-complex international, national and regional policies. In an ideal world, universities would lead the “ecosystem of knowledge” in which researchers, business leaders and poli

In May 2019, the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a summary report for policymakers, “suggesting that around 1 million species already face extinction, many within decades, unless action is taken to reduce the intensity

Our researchers regularly meet and interact with policymakers, not only in New York and Geneva at UN level but also in Brussels for EU events. In March 2019, Maria Tomai joined an event on the Circular Economy, where she was able to brief EU policymakers on the work done at UNU-MERIT,

“The last lesson I learnt is that sustainability is not in the future but in the present. Personal experience taught me that most people want to be reassured that they are going to survive 2019.” Silvio Funtowicz, Philosopher of Science, University of Bergen During the first week of F