climate crisis

Progressively more acute droughts in Somalia have prompted people to move – undermining food security and leaving women vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
IOM/Celeste Hibbert

UN chief: Window to avert devasting climate impacts ‘rapidly closing’

23 September 2021
Climate and Environment

No region is immune to climate disasters the UN chief told the Security Council on Thursday, warning that “our window of opportunity” to prevent the worst climate impacts is “rapidly closing”.

From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale.
WMO/Shravan Regret Iyer

Climate action essential to cool ‘season of fire and floods’ worldwide: Deputy UN chief 

6 September 2021
Climate and Environment

With extreme weather events increasingly impacting countries across the world, the deputy UN chief on Monday underlined the importance of limiting temperature rise to the internationally agreed goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. 

A boy drags possessions through the flooded streets of Manila in the aftermath of a typhoon. (file)
© ADB

COVID, natural hazards and climate crisis in Asia and the Pacific expand ‘riskcape’

25 August 2021
Climate and Environment

The convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic with natural hazards, made worse by climate change, has reshaped and expanded the disaster “riskscape” in Asia and the Pacific, according to a new report published on Wednesday by the UN’s regional commission there.

Young boys stand in front of a destroyed building in Benghazi Old Town in Libya. (file)
UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

News in Brief 2 August 2021

2 August 2021
News in Brief
  • Libyan coastal road reopening welcomed by UN chief
  • UN envoy concerned by increased violence in southwest Syria
  • Launch of #TheHumanRace UN-led campaign for climate action
Audio -
3'55"
Families fetch water from a UNICEF supported well in Kilte Awlalo in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
© UNICEF/Zerihun Sewunet

News in Brief 27 January 2021

27 January 2021
News in Brief
  • UNICEF chief’s appeal for access to children caught up in Ethiopia’s Tigray
  • Tens of thousands in northwest Syria lose shelters after floods
  • ‘Biggest’ climate change poll reveals most people believe it is a ‘global emergency'
Audio -
3'18"