Climate and Environment

A Kenyan farmer prepares cowpea leaves to be dried for future use.
FAO

From farm to fork: How food systems can power climate action

1 September 2020
Global

Taking specific steps to transform national food supply systems can help countries achieve climate goals and limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius, a new joint UN report on climate action has found. 

Hurricane Laura made landfall in the US state of Louisiana, as a category 4 storm.
NASA

Hurricane Laura: Most dangerous hurricane to hit the US this season

28 August 2020
Americas

Hurricane Laura is by far the most intense and dangerous hurricane to hit the United States this season, the UN weather agency said on Friday, the day after it made landfall on the US Gulf Coast.
 

In India, a woman demonstrates how to use a solar dish for cooking.
UNDP India

India urged to lead global push for clean energy, climate action

28 August 2020
Global

India has a crucial role to play in promoting clean energy and climate action as the world looks to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday. 

Death Valley, USA.
Unsplash/Sarah Lachise

Death Valley temperature likely highest since 1931: UN weather agency

18 August 2020
Global

“All indications” suggest that the extreme temperature reading of 54.4 degrees Celsius recorded in California’s Death Valley on Sunday, is legitimate, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday.

Much of the mangrove forests on Cuba's coastline have deteriorated in recent decades.
UNDP Cuba

FROM THE FIELD: Protection among the mangroves

17 August 2020
Americas

The rehabilitation and replanting of mangrove forests in Cuba’s coastal regions is helping to protect the lives of people living on the Caribbean island, and reduce the effects of climate change, thanks to a UN Development Programme project. 

High school girls from Long Island, New York, join other youth climate activists in a demonstration calling for global action to combat climate change. (20 September 2019)
© UNICEF David Berkwitz

UN praises resilience and vision of younger generation, marking International Youth Day  

12 August 2020
Global

Commemorating International Youth Day, top UN officials have called on leaders around the world to “do everything possible” to enable young people to reach their fullest potential.

Artisanal brickmakers in Uruguay put the raw material into a mold, and then lay it out to dry.
Pablo Montes Goitia/UN Uruguay

Building a green economy, brick by brick

8 August 2020
Americas

In Uruguay, thousands of families earn a precarious livelihood making bricks, using traditional methods that are often inefficient and harmful to the environment. A UN project, in collaboration with the Uruguayan government, aims to make the industry less polluting, whilst preserving jobs for the many artisans who depend on it. 

Sophia Kianni is an 18-year-old climate and environmental activist from the United States
Joe Hobbs

First Person: Turning ‘apathetic people into climate activists’; a young person’s view

3 August 2020

An 18-year-old environmental campaigner from the United States has told UN News how she wants to “turn apathetic people into climate activists”. Sophia Kianni, whose family originally comes from Iran, is one of seven young people from across the world who have been selected to participate in the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. The group which was launched at the end of the July aims to engage young people in “an open and transparent dialogue” about climate issues.

A face mask found during a beach cleanup in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, USA.
Unsplash/Brian Yurasits

Five things you should know about disposable masks and plastic pollution

30 July 2020
Global

The fight against plastic pollution is being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the use of disposable masks, gloves and other protective equipment soars, but UN agencies and partners insist that, if effective measures are put into place, the amount of plastics discarded every year can be significantly cut, or even eliminated.

Migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea are rescued by a Belgian ship (file photo).
Frontex/Francesco Malavolta

Thousands suffer extreme rights abuses journeying to Africa’s Mediterranean coast, say humanitarians

29 July 2020
Africa

Thousands of refugees and migrants in eastern and western Africa, are dying while others face harrowing abuse in their attempts to reach the continent’s Mediterranean coast in search of a better life, a joint UN/Danish Refugee Council report said on Wednesday.