Confronting major setbacks due to the coronavirus pandemic, countries in Asia and the Pacific “must now seize the moment” to rebuild and recover better together, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General said on Tuesday. 

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. 

Tea garden workers in Bangladesh, who are mainly women, are one of the most marginalized groups in the country, with limited access to education for their children and prone to dire health risks. A programme supported by the UN’s Joint SDG Fund, which funds initiatives focused on sustainable development, aims to boost social protection for these works, helping them access their rights and improve their life prospects.

Although the world’s indigenous peoples live in areas that contain around 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity, many still struggle to maintain their legal rights to lands, territories and resources, according to a new UN report published on Friday.