International Civil Aviation Day 2021; December 7th.

FORUM: “Advancing Innovation for Global Aviation Development” International Civil Aviation Day 2021.

Air tourism is important to geographic, cultural and personal discovery. It can also help restore prosperity and critical revenue streams to communities affected by the pandemic.

The purpose of International Civil Aviation Day is to help generate and reinforce worldwide awareness of the importance of international civil aviation to the social and economic development of States, and of the unique role of ICAO in helping States to cooperate and realize a truly global rapid transit network at the service of all mankind.

 

As the UN and world nations have now adopted Agenda 2030, and embarked on a new era in global sustainable development, the importance of aviation as an engine of global connectivity has never been more relevant to the Chicago Convention’s objectives to look to international flight as a fundamental enabler of global peace and prosperity. The work programme and activities conducted under the Strategic Objective on Safety cross-referenced six of the 17 SDGs, showing the strong benefits of enhancing aviation safety. These areas of work included:


•​ ​the prevention and management of public health events in civil aviation through the Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA);

•​ capacity-building projects aimed at air cargo services to support improved and efficient movement of sensitive cargo, such as vaccinations, medications and technical equipment;

​• provision of air traffic flow data for UN field operations, including Peacekeeping Operations, in case of epidemics or infectious diseases;

​• development and conduct of training and instructional material in the area of safety;

​• support for the development of reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure through the effective implementation of safety-related Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs);

​• ensuring, through the No Country Left Behind initiative, that all States have access to the socio-economic benefits of a safe air transport system; and

​• ​strengthening the implementation of safety-related SARPs by promoting existing partnerships and developing new partnerships.

​• Recognizing that investments are necessary to maintain or further enhance aviation safety, ICAO developed a tool to assist States in analysing the economic benefits of safety improvement investments.

Regarding Environmental Protection, ten of the 17 SDGs relate directly to global environmental and climate change mitigation objectives, in particular SDG 7 “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” and SDG 13 “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”. Regarding Economic Development, ICAO undertook to be recognized as a main contributor to the monitoring of SDG 9, “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.” It was expected that by early in 2016 ICAO would eventually be identified as the lead agency responsible for providing Member State air transport-related data towards SDG Target 9.1 – “Passenger and freight volumes by mode of transport”.