SDGs

Digital connectivity, in places like India, is indispensable to overcome the pandemic, and for a sustainable and inclusive recovery.
United Nations/Chetan Soni

COVID-19 highlights ‘life and death’ stakes for greater digital cooperation

11 June 2020
Global

Managing the digital divide better, has become “a matter of life and death” for people unable to access essential healthcare information during the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN chief has told a virtual high-level meeting on rapid technological change.

A camel stand in a windmill park on the outskirt of Nouakchott, Mauritania.
© UNDP Mauritania/Freya Morales

Throughout COVID-19 recovery, 'plummeting’ clean energy costs can help climate action

10 June 2020
Global

As COVID-19 hits the fossil fuel industry, a new UN report published on Wednesday shows that renewable energy is more cost-effective than ever – providing an opportunity to prioritize clean energy in national economic recovery packages and bring the world closer to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
 

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.

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.

Research is underway to find a vaccine against the coronavirus.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

‘Global solidarity’ needed, to find affordable, accessible COVID-19 vaccine

4 June 2020
Global

In the race to end the coronavirus pandemic, the UN chief reminded a virtual medical conference on Thursday that “a vaccine, by itself, is not enough”.  

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.