SDGs

A lighthouse off the coast of Florida in the United States.
Coral Reef Image Bank/David Gros

Oceans under threat like never before, warns World Meteorological Organization 

22 March 2021
Global

Climate change has hit the world’s oceans hard, UN weather experts said on Monday, in a call for lifesaving monitoring and early warning services that were interrupted by COVID-19 to be ramped up again, to protect shipping and coastal communities at risk. 

More than 900 million tonnes of food is thrown away every year.
Unsplash/Sanjog Timsina

Wasting food just feeds climate change, new UN environment report warns 

4 March 2021
Global

More than 930 million tonnes of food sold in 2019 landed in waste bins, according to new UN research, released on Thursday, in support of global efforts to halve food waste by 2030. 

A horse rider heads towards mountains in Kyrgyzstan .
© UNESCO

UN offers science-based blueprint to tackle climate crisis, biodiversity loss and pollution

18 February 2021
Global

Without nature’s help, “we will not thrive or even survive”, the UN chief said on Thursday, launching a major report on the environment. 

Children at the Oruchinga refugee settlement in Uganda are being taught critical development skills, as the world is encouraged to foster policies that tackle high and rising inequality. (file)
© UNICEF/Kalungi Kabuye

Social development key pillar for ‘sustainable and resilient’ world – Commission hears 

8 February 2021
Global

As coronavirus vaccines provide a glimmer of optimism around the world, a high-level UN official said on Monday that it was “painful to witness” the dashed hopes of most people in the Global South who have little chance of receiving an inoculation anytime soon. 

A school of fish in Quintana Roo, on the Yucatán Peninsula's Caribbean coast of Mexico.
Coral Reef Image Bank/Philip Ham

‘Make peace with nature’, UN chief urges at Ocean Decade launch

3 February 2021
Global

January marked the beginning of what many within the UN and beyond view as “the most critical decade of our lives”, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said on Wednesday, launching a major initiative to protect the world’s oceans through the next ten years.

 

A nurse provides care for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in a hospital in Burera District, Rwanda.
© UNICEF/Karel Prinsloo

Impact of COVID-19 on cancer care has been ‘profound’, warns UN health agency 

2 February 2021
Global

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a “profound” impact on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer around the world, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, before highlighting that breast cancer has become the most common type of the disease. 

Some 20 million children in the EU are at risk of poverty according to the Special Rapporteur's report.
World Bank/Mano Strauch

EU must place social justice ‘at its core’ to lift people out of poverty

29 January 2021
Europe

The European Union’s failure to lift 20 million people out of poverty by 2020, is “a defeat for social rights”, an independent UN human rights expert said on Friday, urging the bloc to boldly rethink its whole socio-economic approach.

A vaccination programme against peste des petits ruminants is carried out in Samburu in central Kenya in September 2017.
©FAO/Luis Tato

UN reports major progress towards eradicating sheep and goat plague

13 January 2021
Global

The world is moving closer to stamping out a highly contagious disease that affects sheep and goats, but also the livelihoods of millions of families who depend on these animals for food and income, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Wednesday. 

The UN undertook a global crowdsourcing opinion campaign as part of its 75th anniversary celebrated in 2020.
United Nations

Citizens globally affirm belief in international cooperation

8 January 2021
Global

People worldwide have overwhelmingly highlighted their faith in multilateralism to address global challenges, the results of a year-long survey by the United Nations have shown.