SDGs

Some areas of Niger have been degraded due to unsustainable land practices.
© FAO/Giulio Napolitano

UN builds momentum for restoring forests as world enters key decade for ecosystems 

28 October 2020
Global

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is leading a push for the world to scale up efforts to restore landscapes and forests over the next decade, with eyes on a target to salvage 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands, an area bigger than India in total. 

Drought in Africa will adversely impact the productivity of major cereal crops, says a report launched by WMO today.
WMO/Cornel Vermaak

Africa climate change report reveals heat rising north and south, Sahel getting wetter

26 October 2020
Africa

Africa needs to prepare better for climate change by responding to a wide range of potential risks, a multi-agency report led by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday, the first in a series of continent-by-continent assessments.

The capital of Japan, Tokyo, requires huge amounts of electricity to power the city.
Unsplash/Jezael Melgoza

Climate action: UN chief encouraged by Japan’s 2050 net zero pledge 

26 October 2020
Asia Pacific

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed Japan’s announcement on Monday that it would reduce carbon emissions to zero, by 2050, as part of the global effort to slow the worldwide rise in temperatures, and prevent the most damaging effects of human-made climate change. 

Teachers and students wear face masks and maintain physical distance at a school in Cambodia.
© UNICEF/Chansereypich Seng

Classroom crisis: Avert a ‘generational catastrophe’, urges UN chief

22 October 2020
Global

The world is at risk of suffering “a generational catastrophe” as COVID-19 wreaks havoc on the education of students globally, the UN chief said on Thursday. 

A data map shows the latest coronavirus case load across the world.
Unsplash

Trusted data helps us all ‘understand the changing world’: Guterres

20 October 2020
Global

Current, reliable and trusted data help us to “understand the changing world” in which we live, the UN chief said on Tuesday in his message for World Statistics Day.

COVID-19 and its fallout has pushed millions around the world deeper into poverty. According to UNICEF, many families are experiencing levels of deprivation they have never seen before.
© UNICEF/Fazel

Stand in solidarity with world’s poor, UN chief says in message for International Day

17 October 2020
Global

The UN Secretary-General has called for solidarity with all people living in poverty, during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. 

Members of a farmers cooperative harvest beans in Mwingi, Kenya.
© FAO/Luis Tato

LIVE: World Food Day

16 October 2020
Global

Hunger is rising, due to factors including conflict, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which is putting a strain on food systems that are already failing in many countries. In today’s LIVE blog, marking World Food Day, we will look at some of the many issues and possible solutions.


Highlights
•    UN chief video message
•    What is sustainable agriculture?
•    Food and the COVID-19 pandemic
•    The business of food

•    UN commits to transforming food systems

A woman in Mali takes care of a community garden which is part of the World Food Programme's capacity building project.
WFP/Simon Pierre Diouf

UN chief announces major push to transform harmful food systems

12 October 2020
Global

The UN chief António Guterres set out a new plan to transform the world’s food systems on Monday - coinciding with the start of World Food Week - which will culminate in a major summit, scheduled to take place in September next year.

Extreme weather events are devastating many countries, including Fiji which was hit by a cyclone in 2016.
OCHA/Danielle Parry

‘Staggering’ rise in climate emergencies in last 20 years, new disaster research shows

12 October 2020
Global

The first 20 years of this century have seen a “staggering” rise in climate disasters, UN researchers said on Monday, while also maintaining that “almost all nations” have failed to prevent a “wave of death and illness” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A laboratory technician works at a health and science centre in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a WHO Collaborating Centre for research and training on viral zoonoses.
WHO/P. Phutpheng

Universal Health Coverage ‘more urgent than ever’ – UN chief

8 October 2020
Global

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that “our health systems are inadequate”, the UN chief told a ministerial meeting on Thursday, citing weak structures and unequal access to healthcare as “major reasons” why the coronavirus has killed one million people and infected more than 30 times that, globally.