“Over 80% of the world’s wastewater is released to environment without treatment,” the UN World Water Development Report 2017 reads. On this year’s World Water Day themed around “Why Waste Water,” ESCWA hosted on 22 March 2017 a ceremony in Amman under the auspices of Jordanian Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazim El Naser, in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA) and the Swedish government.

Within the framework of the “Regional Initiative for Promoting Small-Scale Renewable Energy Applications in Rural Areas of the Arab Region (REGEND)” Project, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in partnership with the Municipality of Akkar Al-Atika, is organizing a capacity-building workshop on “Financial Management, Accounting, and the Economic Benefits of Access to Sustainable and Secure Energy”.
 
This workshop will build the capacities of the rural women in Akkar Al-Atika in the fields of financial management, accounting, cost accounting, and pricing of rural products. The workshop will also demonstrate the economic benefits of sustainable and secure energy, and its positive impact on rural development in Lebanon.

The second panel of the 28th ministerial session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) convened this afternoon to discuss the topic “Economic policies in support of social justice”, examining the connections between economics and social justice, and the impact of various economic and fiscal policies on social and economic development from an equity and justice perspective.

Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment Abdelkader Amara will open the regional conference on "Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development in Rural Areas of the ESCWA Region,” organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) from 26 to 28 November 2013, in Hotel Rabat, Morocco.