Climate and Environment

Women in Madagascar cultivate vegetables on land using a micro irrigation system, where the World Food Programme (WFP) is providing income generating opportunities to small-holder farmer organizations.
WFP/Giulio D'Adamo

Solidarity is the world’s ‘best line of defence’: UN General Assembly president

8 June 2020
Global

Back in September, the world committed to a landmark political declaration on universal health coverage. Now, in the throes of the COVID-19 crisis, the President of the UN General Assembly has reiterated the importance of investing in health as “an investment in human capital, social and economic development and the empowerment of all people”.

A school of Trevally fish in the Solomon Islands.
Coral Reef Image Bank/Tracey Jen

World Oceans Day: Don’t be colour blind, help blue oceans keep the planet green

8 June 2020
Global

The COVID-19 pandemic is a “sharp reminder” of how we are all intimately connected to each other and to nature, the UN chief said on Monday, World Oceans Day.

Kiribati is located in the central Pacific Ocean
UNDP/Azza Aishath

FROM THE FIELD: Pacific islanders confront twin threats of climate change and coronavirus

8 June 2020
Asia Pacific

People living on an isolated island community in the Pacific Ocean are finding ways to reduce their dependence on expensive imported food while promoting climate resilient farming techniques, thanks to a programme supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Coral reefs surround Coconut Island where a research centre of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology is based.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson

Bringing the coral reefs back to life

7 June 2020
Global

Coral reefs are being killed by the climate crisis, which is leading to rising sea temperatures. “Cryopreservation”, a pioneering scientific technique, could be one way to help save them.

The UN estimates that estimates that about 25 to 50 per cent of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed and another 60 per cent are under threat.
ILO Photo/John Isaac

First Person: Collecting the ‘Book of Life’ for coral reefs

6 June 2020
Americas

With the climate crisis threatening coral reefs around the world, a researcher in Hawaii is part of a team pioneering new techniques to preserve living coral sperm and larvae, and ultimately save the biodiversity and genetic diversity of coral reefs not just in Hawaii but across the world.

A man in Kenya shops for produce as the coronavirus pandemic brings into focus the interdependence between humanity and biodiversity.
World Bank / Sambrian Mbaabu

World Environment Day: COVID-19 crisis demands fundamental rethink

5 June 2020
Global

The COVID-19 health crisis should be seen as a clarion call to “fundamentally rethink our relationship” with natural ecosystems and shrinking biodiversity, the UN cultural agency chief said on Friday, World Environment Day.

Late September sunrise as seen from Paalijärvi observation tower in Alajärvi, Finland. May 2020, was the warmest on record, UN weather agency WMO has confirmed.
WMO/Tapio Niemi

May confirmed as warmest on record, CO2 levels hit new high despite COVID economic slowdown

5 June 2020

Last month was the warmest May on record and carbon dioxide levels also hit a new high despite the economic slowdown from COVID-19, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday, in an urgent appeal for Member States to renew their efforts to tackle climate threats.

A woman poses in a field in Ardabil, Iran.
Unsplash/Habib Dadkhah

Protect the environment, prevent pandemics, ‘nature is sending us a clear message’

5 June 2020
Global

On this year’s World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5, the UN is drawing links between the health of the planet, and human health, and highlighting the importance of protecting biodiversity, the system that supports life.

Billions of people around the world depend on the Ocean for their main source of protein.
Coral Reef Image Bank/Erik Lukas

‘Dogged pragmatism’ needed to save Ocean: UN Special Envoy

2 June 2020
Global

‘Dogged pragmatism’ is needed to save the Ocean as the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, according to the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean.