SDGs

Women work in a field in Jubek State, South Sudan, where the World Food Programme is promoting sustainable agriculture to strengthen incomes and livelihoods.
WFP/Giulio D'Adamo

'Temporary Basic Income' could slow COVID surge, provide lifeline for world’s poorest

23 July 2020

The immediate introduction of a Temporary Basic Income for the world’s poorest people could slow the current surge in COVID-19 and enable close to three billion people to stay at home, according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report released on Thursday.

Papua New Guinea's rare cloud forests are a high elevation rainforest characterised by low-level cloud cover. (14 June 2011)
Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo

Deforestation has slowed down but still remains a concern, new UN report reveals

21 July 2020
Global

Although some 178 million hectares of forest has been lost worldwide over the past three decades, the rate of loss has declined substantially during this period, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Tuesday.

Teenage girls play chess at school in Sana'a, Yemen.
© UNICEF/Moohialdin Fuad

First-ever World Chess Day, helps calm nerves during COVID-19 pandemic

20 July 2020
Global

With the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a pause for most sport worldwide, the UN has been celebrating a highly-competitive game that you can play safely indoors or online – with the added bonus of helping reduce anxiety, and improving mental health: Monday marks the first ever World Chess Day.

Anna-Luisa Beserra from Brazil is a previous winner of the Young Champions of the Earth prize. She created Aqualuz, a low-cost filter that uses solar radiation to disinfect rainwater captured in cisterns (file photo).
UN Environment Programme/Todd Brown

Young innovators vying for top UN environmental prize

20 July 2020
Global

Thirty-five young people with innovative ideas for tackling challenges such as protecting indigenous Amazonian land through adventure travel, converting harmful emissions into valuable commodities in the United States, and generating electricity from water in Nigeria, have been named as regional finalists for one of the UN’s most prestigious environmental awards.

Northwest Somalia has suffered from recurrent droughts over decades.
UNDP Somalia

FROM THE FIELD: Frontline resilience in Somalia

18 July 2020
Africa

 One hundred thousand households in Somaliland in northwest Somalia have better access to water, protecting them not just from the ravages of climate change but also against the spread of COVID-19, thanks to a project supported by the UN Development Programme.  

Women in Nigeria collect food vouchers as part of a programme to support families 
struggling under the COVID-19 lockdown.


WFP/Damilola Onafuwa

World’s poorest being pushed ‘closer to the abyss’ of famine, warns WFP chief

17 July 2020
Global

Hunger threatens to soar to devastating levels in 25 countries in the coming months due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are warning.

Displays at the United Nations Headquarters in New York illustrate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UN Photo/Manuel Elías

COVID-19 highlights need for renewed, inclusive multilateralism: UN chief

17 July 2020
Global

With the COVID-19 pandemic putting development gains at risk, exposing vulnerabilities and inequalities both within and among nations, the UN Secretary-General is urging governments to reexamine how they work together to solve global challenges.

Development workers hand over relief aid to a woman amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
UN Women/Fahad Kaizer

‘Turn the tide’ across a turbulent world, UN chief urges key development forum 

14 July 2020
Global

“Concrete, bold and implementable solutions” are needed to turn the tide on the many challenges the world is facing, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, on the biggest day so far for the UN’s key international forum on sustainable development.  

A people-centred focus on the well-being of those in developing countries, such as Burkina Faso, must be applied in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
©UNICEF/Vincent Tremeau

Cities and local government must focus on well-being of people in developing countries

13 July 2020
Global

While the scale and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic is being felt in developing and developed countries alike, the President of the UN General Assembly maintained on Monday that the response must focus on “the two-thirds of the world’s population at risk of being left behind”. 

Women farmers harvest grains in Gisar, Tajikstan.
FAO/Nozim Kalandarov

UN report sends ‘sobering message’ of deeply entrenched hunger globally

13 July 2020
Global

In much of the world, “hunger remains deeply entrenched and is rising”, the UN chief said on Monday, launching this year’s major UN food security update, highlighting that over the past five years, tens of millions of people have joined the ranks of the chronically undernourished.