This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

World must ‘work as one’ to end plastic pollution: Guterres

Every day, the equivalent of over 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic is dumped into our oceans, rivers, and lakes, with “catastrophic” consequences for people and planet.

This stark warning comes from UN chief António Guterres on Monday’s World Environment Day.

Mr. Guterres also stressed that the more plastic we produce, the more fossil fuel we burn, aggravating the climate crisis.

The UN chief called current international negotiations on a draft treaty to end plastic pollution “promising” and said that the world must “work as one” to kick its plastics habit.

He insisted that if the world acts now, plastic pollution can be reduced by a staggering 80 per cent by 2040, according to research from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Countries have committed to finalize the legally binding agreement by November this year.

This year’s World Environment Day is also the starting point of the Bonn Climate Change Conference, where countries discuss their commitments to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and look ahead to the next major UN climate meeting, COP28, which kicks off in Dubai in November.

Foot on ‘social justice accelerator’ as labour market inequalities deepen

The world’s largest gathering of organised labour saw government, employer and worker delegates from 187 countries convene in Geneva on Monday.

It’s a “pivotal” time for the labour market according to Gilbert Houngbo, head of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Speaking at the opening of the International Labour Conference, Mr. Houngbo warned against deepening labour inequalities, with low-income countries in debt distress facing an employment deficit three times that of high-income countries and struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels of development.

While hailing productivity gains enabled by lightning-fast technological progress, the ILO chief cautioned against an increasing gulf between growth in productivity and growth in wages.

Mr. Houngbo also deplored the fact that 240 million workers worldwide earn a salary which puts them below the poverty line.

He slammed as “absurd” the fact that four billion people did not have access to social protection and called out the persistent 20 cent per hour gender pay gap, as well as a rise in child labour and forced labour.

“We need to put our foot on the accelerator in pursuing social justice,” he said, before calling for a “global coalition” to turbocharge investment in social protection and decent work.

UN pilots reconstruction projects in Ukrainian cities

While the war raged on in Ukraine, reconstruction is already on the agenda at a meeting in Geneva on Monday which brought together the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the mayors of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, together with experts and donors.

Since April 2022, at the request of Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry, UNECE, together with 16 UN entities and international organizations, architects and engineers, has been implementing pilot projects in the two cities.

Under the “UN4UkrainianCities” initiative, the efforts aim to draw up reconstruction “master plans” and help build back more sustainably, with an approach that “links emergency and long-term strategic objectives”, UNECE said.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, over 3,300 apartment buildings have been destroyed or damaged, according to the City Council, while in Mykolaiv, the housing stock accounts for 77 per cent of the overall destruction.

Earlier this year, the World Bank said that overall damage to Ukraine’s housing sector following the full-scale Russian invasion is estimated at over $50 billion.

Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer, UN News.