SDGs

Collen Vixen Kelapile of Botswana, the newly-elected President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
UN Photo/Mark Garten

New ECOSOC President aims to maximize ‘reach, relevance and impact’

23 July 2021
Global

The role of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in promoting development has become “even more critical” as a way of guiding and informing the COVID-19 pandemic response worldwide, Collen Vixen Kelapile said on Friday, speaking for the first time as the UN body’s president. 

FAO has provided aquaculture training to displaced men and women so they can breed fish for their own consumption and for sale.
© FAO Cameroon

FROM THE FIELD: Cameroon’s displaced, get hooked on fish

18 July 2021
Africa

Cameroonians who have been displaced by conflict and climate change in the north of the West African country are turning to aquaculture as an alternative source of income, thanks to support from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Floods have affected cities across Europe, including Zurich in Switzerland.
Unsplash/Claudio Schwarz

Deadly flooding, heatwaves in Europe, highlight urgency of climate action

16 July 2021

Heavy rainfall that has triggered deadly and catastrophic flooding in several western European countries, is just the latest indicator that all nations need to do more to hold back climate change-induced disasters, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday.

Workers stack bricks at a factory near Dhaka in Bangladesh.
World Bank/Scott Wallace

‘Deeply negative impact’ of COVID pandemic, reverses SDG progress

15 July 2021
Global

Closing a key international development forum on Thursday, the deputy UN chief observed that a year of “immense challenges” has reversed progress on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

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.