SDGs

Malala Yousafzai, UN Messenger of Peace and Nobel Laureate (on screen), delivers remarks at the first virtual Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Moment of the Decade of Action.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Sustainable Development goals are ‘the future’ Malala tells major UN event, urging countries to get on track

18 September 2020
Global

The Global Goals represent the future for millions of girls who want education, women who fight for equality, and youth fighting for clean air, UN Messenger of Peace Malala Yousafzai said on Friday, at a side event of the General Assembly, challenging Member States, “when are you planning to do the work”? 

More than 78,000 acres of forest in the Sierra mountains in California has been lost due to wildfires.
San Francisco Fire Department

Climate change: Record northern heat, fuels concerns over US wildfire destruction

15 September 2020

The northern hemisphere experienced its warmest August ever, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday, amid searing conditions that have contributed to devastating wildfires on the west coast of the United States.

India and Honduras have been working together on boosting the use of sustainable energy sources.
UNDP Honduras

Nations of the South display spirit of ‘global solidarity’ – UN chief

12 September 2020
Global

“The spirit of South-South cooperation and global solidarity”, is alive and well across the hemisphere as the word grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, said the UN chief in a message relayed to countries of the Global South on Thursday. 

Women of the Batwa community tilling the soil with hoes in preparation for planting potatoes, in Gashikanwa, Burundi.
FAO/Giulio Napolitano

‘Hunger is a solvable problem’: UN envoy’s plan to transform food systems for all

4 September 2020
Global

Agnes Kalibata, the former Rwandan Minister for Agriculture, has been tasked with leading the first-ever UN Food Systems Summit. In an interview with UN News, she outlined her vision for a transformed international system that is more resilient, fairer, and less harmful to the planet.

Students use laptop computers provided by UNICEF at a secondary school in Sana’a Governorate, Yemen.
© UNICEF/Hani Alansi

‘No hope’ of reaching climate, development goals, without youth optimism and know-how

1 September 2020

Without harnessing the energy, tech savvy and optimism of young people, the world has no hope of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the Paris Agreement on climate change, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday.

Tourists in India take an elephant ride at the Amber Fort, outside of Jaipur.
©Eric Ganz

Devastated by pandemic, tourism sector must be rebuilt in a safe, equitable and climate friendly way – UN chief

25 August 2020

Tourism is much more than visiting cultural landmarks or swimming in tropical beaches; it is “one of the world’s most important economic sectors”, the UN chief said on Tuesday.




 

High school girls from Long Island, New York, join other youth climate activists in a demonstration calling for global action to combat climate change. (20 September 2019)
© UNICEF David Berkwitz

UN praises resilience and vision of younger generation, marking International Youth Day  

12 August 2020
Global

Commemorating International Youth Day, top UN officials have called on leaders around the world to “do everything possible” to enable young people to reach their fullest potential.

In Afghanistan, a father cradles his child as female health workers administer polio vaccines.
© UNICEF

Polio vaccination campaigns restart in Afghanistan and Pakistan after COVID-19 hiatus

11 August 2020
Asia Pacific

Polio vaccination campaigns have resumed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, months after having been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday. 

A baby sleeps in his mother's arms at a mother and child health centre in Mauritania during African Immunization Week.
© UNICEF/Raphael Pouget

Spread of hepatitis B in children under five, lowest in decades: WHO

27 July 2020

The global prevalence of potentially-deadly hepatitis B in children under age five, dropped to under one per cent in 2019 – down from five per cent in the pre-vaccine decades between the 1980s and early 2000s, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Monday.

Hundreds of wildfires have broken out in Siberia, some of which can be seen in this image captured from space on 28 July 2019.
ESA

Dramatic Arctic fires and sea ice melt, show need for urgent climate action

24 July 2020

“Exceptional and prolonged” temperatures in Siberia, have left parts of the Arctic warmer than sub-tropical Florida, and fuelled “devastating” wildfires for a second consecutive year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday, while warning also of rapidly decreasing sea ice along the Russian polar coast.