The UN chief is marking World AIDS Day on Thursday with a call to action to end the inequalities which are blocking progress towards stopping the pandemic, and eradicating the virus.
On Thursday, the UN launched amplifyHER; a vibrant, music-filled podcast, celebrating exciting women artists from around the world.
After days of intense negotiations that stretched into early Sunday morning in Sharm el-Sheikh, countries at the latest UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, reached agreement on an outcome that established a funding mechanism to compensate vulnerable nations for ‘loss and damage’ from climate-induced disasters.
COP27 is scheduled to wrap up in 24 hours but countries remain divided on several significant issues including ‘loss and damage’, the UN Secretary-General said on Thursday, urging parties to rise to the urgency of the moment and agree on real solutions to solve the greatest challenge facing humanity.
For many years the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis have been treated as separate issues, but the reality – as highlighted on Wednesday at COP27– is that there is no viable route to limiting global warming to 1.5°C without urgently protecting and restoring nature.
On ‘Women and Water’ Day at COP27, the power of women as key drivers of climate solutions, and the crucial impact that the climate crisis is having on our water supply took centre stage in Sharm el-Sheikh. Meanwhile, the negotiations on the conference outcome continued, with UN officials calling for ‘building bridges’ to deliver on the important issue of loss and damage.
Small-scale farmers from developing countries produce one-third of the world’s food, yet they only receive 1.7 per cent of climate finance even as they are forced to cope with droughts, floods, cyclones and other disasters.
Negotiations, sharing solutions aimed at curbing emissions by the world’s biggest-polluting industries, as well as continued calls for climate justice and finance for hard-hit developing countries were in the spotlight on Friday as the latest UN Climate Conference reached its midway point in Egypt.
Next week, the world’s population is due to reach eight billion, which the UN chief is describing as “a testament to scientific breakthroughs and improvements in nutrition, public health and sanitation”.
Armed with banners, picket signs, megaphones, and especially with heart-wrenching testimonies backed by scientific and economic facts, the youth took over the halls of COP27 on Thursday to demand that negotiators address the issue of loss and damage.
