SDGs

A strong, sustainable and inclusive recovery from the COVID pandemic is needed to keep the promise of the 2030 Agenda.
© UNICEF/Ashmita Parelkar

UN chief says race to reach SDGs ‘can and must’ be turned around 

13 July 2021
Global

The COVID pandemic has taken four million lives, devastated the global economy, pushed a further 124 million people into extreme poverty and continues to inflict profound suffering – dramatically impacting progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN chief said on Tuesday at a key international forum. 

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity aims to provide solutions to help humans live 'in harmony with nature' in places like the Amazon forest in Brazil.
IMF/Raphael Alves

UN body unveils new plan to end ecological destruction, ‘preserve and protect nature’

13 July 2021
Global

Equitably “redirecting, repurposing or eliminating incentives” that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year is just one of the 21 ambitious targets of a new draft agreement released by a UN body in the lead up to the landmark November climate conference, COP26, in the United Kingdom.

 

A Somali resident sells meat at a market in Hudur, where food shortages continue to cause suffering.
UN Photo/Tobin Jones

‘Tremendously off track’ to meet 2030 SDGs: UN chief  

12 July 2021
Global

Between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020 – some 161 million more than for 2019  – the UN Secretary-General said on Monday; “new, tragic data”, which indicates the world is “tremendously off track” to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. 

A woman sorts French beans that she harvested at a cooperative farm in Taveta, Kenya.
© FAO//Fredrik Lerneryd

Conflict, climate change, COVID, forces more people into hunger

12 July 2021
Global

Global hunger levels have skyrocketed because of conflict, climate change and the economic impact of COVID-19; and one in five children around the world is stunted, UN agencies warned on Monday. 

Young displaced people who have returned home in South Sudan are learning new engineering skills.
IOM 2021/Aleon Visuals

FROM THE FIELD: South Sudan’s displaced youth, help power change

10 July 2021
Africa

Young people who were displaced by conflict in South Sudan have returned home to power change in their community.

Nearly one-third of all children in Haiti are in urgent need of emergency relief
© UNICEF/Manuel Moreno Gonza

A third of Haiti’s children in urgent need of emergency aid: UNICEF

9 July 2021
Americas

Nearly a third of all children in Haiti – numbering around 1.5 million - are in urgent need of emergency relief due to rising violence, insufficient access to clean water, health and nutrition, said the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF on Friday.

Psychologists are supporting vulnerable teenagers across eastern Ukraine as the COVID-19 lockdown takes its toll on their mental health.
© UNICEF/Aleksey Filippov

Child mental health crisis ‘magnified’ by COVID, warns UN chief

8 July 2021

Half of the world’s children experience violence on and offline in some form every year, with “devastating and life-long consequences” for their mental health, the UN chief warned a symposium on the issue on Thursday.

Displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo do not always have access to the land they need to grow food.
© UNICEF/Patrick Brown

Sustainable development report shows devastating impact of COVID, ahead of ‘critical’ new phase

6 July 2021
Global

The world was not on track to meet the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before COVID-19 struck, and now the challenge has been magnified many times over, according to a new flagship UN report that indicates countries must take ‘critical’ steps on the road out of the pandemic, during the next 18 months.

Women grow vegetables on a farm in India as part of a UNICEF-supported rural development programme.
© UNICEF/Vinay Panjwani

Turning crisis into opportunity: World leaders meet at UN to help drive pandemic recovery

5 July 2021
Global

Leading figures from government, business and civil society are preparing to take part in this year’s High Level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF), where they will discuss ways to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and turn the deadly crisis into an opportunity for a major shift towards a more sustainable global economy.

Violence against women and girls has increased 83 per cent from 2019 to 2020, and cases reported to the police have grown by 64 per cent, according to the United Nations.
© UNDP India

Generation Equality: Alongside COVID lies an ‘equally horrific pandemic’ threatening women

29 June 2021
Global

As the world grapples unevenly with the effects of COVID-19, “a parallel and equally horrific pandemic” has threatened half the world’s population, the UN chief said on Tuesday, in the lead up to the Generation Equality Forum in France.