SDGs

Fish swim around a coral reef in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt.
Coral Reef Image Bank/Alexander

Biodiversity at risk, threatens human survival, UN forum hears 

24 March 2021
Global

As the living tissue of the earth, biodiversity is “intimately linked to human health” the head of the UN’s scientific agency told a global forum on Wednesday, noting that “we are part of that living tissue”. 

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.

 

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. 

Secretary General’s New Year message.
UN News

After year of ‘trials, tragedies and tears’, UN chief sends message of hope for 2021

28 December 2020
Global

As the world enters 2021, after a “year of trials, tragedies and tears”, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has delivered a message of hope for the new year. 

Local school children water a vegetable garden at their Primary School in Laos.
© FAO/Manan Vatsyayana

Contribution of life in soil ‘remains largely underestimated’, says UN agriculture agency 

4 December 2020
Global

Even though soil organisms play a crucial role in boosting food production, enhancing nutritious diets, preserving human health, and combating climate change, the real contribution of these tiny life forms remains largely underestimated, the UN agriculture agency (FAO) said on Friday. 

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and partners arranged the delivery of biosecurity equipment, face masks and food kits to indigenous communities in Cauca, Colombia.
UNDP Colombia/Jurany Carabani

‘Foundational and necessary change’ needed to heal post-COVID world

24 November 2020
Global

With the COVID-19 pandemic precipitating one of the world’s worst health, socioeconomic and humanitarian crises in over a century, the UN chief told a high-level discussion on Tuesday to seize the opportunity “to make real, foundational, and necessary change”. 

A park in Brooklyn, New York, has marked out circles in order to enforce social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson

WHO’s Tedros says it is time for the world to heal, pushing back on ‘misguided nationalism’ 

9 November 2020
Global

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told Member States on Monday that efforts to tackle climate change and poverty had been set back by a lack of global unity since major agreements were struck five years ago, and welcomed the chance to work with the presumptive new US administration of president-elect Joe Biden.