SDGs

Conservation and sustainable use can work together to protect the plants and animals living in forests.
©UNEP/Jessica Kerr

Shrinking forests need bold action to safeguard their biodiversity

22 May 2020

Amidst alarming rates of deforestation and land degradation, urgent action is needed to safeguard the biodiversity of the world's forests, according to a new United Nations report, released on Friday.

Tea is a cultural and social tradition in Kyrgyzstan.
FAO/Vyacheslav Oseledko

International Tea Day: Trusty cuppa represents ‘crux’ of today’s issues – UN General Assembly president

21 May 2020
Global


Art, culture, heritage, and a source of livelihood for millions. Because tea is so much more than just a drink, on Thursday, at a virtual event commemorating the first-ever International Tea Day, the president of the UN General Assembly lauded the plant for its role in pursuing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Noel Dickinson is a research technician for the Breadfruit Institute at Hawaii's National Tropical Botanical Garden.
ILO Photo/John Isaac

Cultivating a taste for traditional crops in Hawaii

16 May 2020
Americas

Hundreds of millions of people go hungry around the world, and there are fears the COVID-19 pandemic could make matters worse. In Hawaii, researchers think that bringing back overlooked, traditional crops, could help feed many vulnerable people. As part of an ongoing series focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals and ahead of International Day of Biodiversity marked annually on 22 May, UN News travelled to Hawaii with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to see how researchers are trying to cultivate a taste for indigenous crops.

 

During the coronavirus pandemic, mental health tips are being disseminated to children and families in the Rongwai community in Bangkok, Thailand.
© UNICEF/Sukhum Preechapanic

UN leads call to protect most vulnerable from mental health crisis during and after COVID-19

14 May 2020
Global

Decades of neglect and underinvestment in addressing people’s mental health needs have been exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN said on Thursday, in a call for ambitious commitments from countries in the way they treat psychological illness, amid a potential global spike in suicides and drug abuse.

A beach clean-up in Mumbai, India, illustrates how plastic debris in the ocean leads to the deaths of millions of seabirds every year (file photo).
UN Environment Programme

COVID-19 could help turn the tide on ocean health in Asia-Pacific

13 May 2020
Asia Pacific

The COVID-19 pandemic could help turn the tide on the well-being of oceans in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a UN report published on Wednesday.

The UN in Bangladesh is prioritising gender-based violence services in communities affected by COVID-19.
UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaizer

‘Urgency to act’ for sustainable development, greater than ever as coronavirus pandemic continues

11 May 2020
Global

As COVID-19 upends lives and livelihoods across the planet, the UN on Monday held a wide-ranging policy discussion stressing a range of multilateral solutions to ease the pandemic, while also getting back on track towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

One-year-old Lighton receives her pediatric HIV medicine at the same time at home every day in Mbarara, Uganda.
© UNICEF/Karin Schermbrucke

UN issues ‘wake-up call’: Don’t sideline AIDS response during COVID-19 crisis

11 May 2020
Global

As the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus, decades of advances made in the battle against HIV are under threat, noted two UN agencies on Monday, point out that disruptions to treatment could cause hundreds of thousands of HIV-related deaths.