This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
Humanitarian plan aims to assist 109 million vulnerable people in 2020
A record 168 million people worldwide will need help and protection in 2020, or roughly 1 in every 45 people on the planet, the UN’s top humanitarian official said on Wednesday.
Mark Lowcock was speaking in Geneva, where the UN and its humanitarian partners launched a plan to assist 109 million of the most vulnerable.
The Global Humanitarian Overview 2020 aims to save more lives and alleviate suffering in crises spanning from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and will cost around $29 billion dollars.
Mr. Lowcock said climate change, protracted conflicst and economic instability are devastating millions of lives, and the international community “must stand up, face facts, and fight back.”
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“More people were affected by conflict and more people were affected by climate change-related events than we had projected. On current trends, our projections show that more than 200 million people could be in need of assistance by 2022.”
He added that Yemen will remain the world’s worst humanitarian crisis next year, with some 24 million people in need.
That number, which is roughly 80 per cent of the population, is close to the 2019 levels.
Transport-related emissions from tourism on the rise
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is calling for enhanced cooperation between the transport and tourism sectors to transform tourism for climate action.
On the sidelines of the UN climate summit underway this week in Madrid, the agency has released a report which analyzes the environmental impact of different modes of transport within the tourism sector.
The study estimates that transport-related emissions from tourism will comprise 5.3 per cent of all man-man carbon dioxide emissions by 2030; up from five per cent in 2016.
Carbon dioxide, or CO2, contributes to the greenhouse gases which cause global warming.
UNWTO said transport-related CO2 emissions remain a major challenge and requires tourism to work closely with the transport sector to reduce their levels.
Leaders urged to increase people’s participation in meeting the SDGs
A group of UN human rights experts is calling on countries to boost people’s participation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
World leaders meeting at the UN in 2015 agreed the 17 SDGs, which aim to deliver a more equitable future for all people and the planet by 2030.
It is critically important for States to ensure the broadest public participation in decision-making about development action, the experts said on Wednesday in a statement to mark the 33rd anniversary of the UN Declaration on Right to Development.
The UN experts stated that immediate action is “imperative”, not only because the SDGs are not on schedule, but also because popular dissatisfaction continues to grow, as evidenced by rising protests across more than 30 countries this year.
“One of the main reasons implementation of the SDGs continues to lag behind is that policies and programmes fail to identify and address people’s real needs,” they said, adding that “if efforts to achieve the Goals are not based on these needs, they cannot succeed.”
Dianne Penn, UN News.
