United Nations University- CRIS

The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS), established in 2001, is one of the research and training institutes of the United Nations University (UNU) network. UNU is the academic arm of the United Nations, headquartered in Tokyo. The network consists of 16 institutes and programmes worldwide, engaging in research and capacity development in order to support the universal goals of the UN. Through UNU, leading scholars from around the world are brought together to generate innovative and policy relevant knowledge, contributing to a brighter future.

The Nature, Climate, and Health Cluster aims to examine how shared solutions to sustainability challenges should be best managed to balance environmental obligations and socioeconomic commitments, which governance structures, at which level, are needed to implement these best practices, and what is, or could be, the role of regional organizations in environmental governance. Noting that the challenges we face are cross-border and regional or even global, the activities and projects in this cluster will address aspects such as deforestation in the Amazon to the damming of the Nile, the energy transition in the Middle East to the melting ice of the Arctic. In other words, this cluster has a particular interest in the governance challenges of natural resources, in particular shared water systems that are located across borders. In addition, we will investigate the roles that regions can play in maintaining and ensuring global health, including: regulating trans-border human mobility and goods flows, understanding the water, climate change and health nexus, managing sanitary situations in border cities, securing cross-border flows of medicines, health appliances, and services, coordinating the cross-border sharing of health infrastructures in crises, pooling financial resources for investments in priority research in health, exchanging best practices, harmonising policy-interventions, and addressing health situations of migrants and refugees. The health component will also take note of the evolving “One Health” framework that calls for an inclusive and integrated approach to environmental and human health, including psychological, mental, and physical health.