SDGs

Women vendors sell fresh vegetables at a market in Limuru, Kenya.
FAO/Luis Tato

Food’s a human right, not just ‘a commodity to be traded’: Guterres 

23 September 2021
UN Affairs

Every day, hundreds of millions of people go to bed hungry. Three billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. Two billion are overweight or obese and yet 462 million, are underweight. Nearly a third of all food that is produced, is lost or wasted.  

A farmer harvests potatoes in Manchaybamba, Peru.
© IFAD/P. Vega

Decades of development efforts undermined by pandemic – FAO report 

22 September 2021
Economic Development

COVID-19 has set back progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), undermining decades of development efforts, according to a new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).  

In developing countries like Rwanda, high-risk populations are being prioritized for protection against COVID-19.
WHO

World leaders, BTS, join Guterres in call to get SDGs back on track 

20 September 2021
UN Affairs

The world “is challenged like never before”, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, but the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) still offer a roadmap to get back on track.  

A domestic worker from the Kalayanpur Slum in Bangladesh who lost her job due to the COVID-19 crisis.
WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmud

Annual Secretary-General’s report reveals a world tested ‘to the limit’

16 September 2021
UN Affairs

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be the greatest shared global challenge since the UN’s founding 75 years ago, according to the annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, published on Thursday. 

Kaede Maegawa is competing for Japan at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Kaede Maegawa

Tokyo Paralympics: leaping towards a more inclusive society

28 August 2021
SDGs

Innovators are joining Paralympians to discuss how sport can help to build a more inclusive society in a series of online discussions organized by the UN to coincide with the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, which continues until 5 September.

Air pollution from power plants contributes to global warming.
Unsplash/Maxim Tolchinskiy

News in Brief 26 July 2021

26 July 2021
News in Brief
  • Rome UN Food Summit action call
  • Nearly 200 nations start climate science negotiations online
  • More women and children killed and wounded in Afghan conflict than ever
Audio -
2'48"
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
SDGs

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
Economic Development

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.

A farmer in rural Nepal tends to the crops. Nature-based solutions are low-cost options to reduce climate risks, protect biodiversity and bring benefits for communities. (file photo)
UN Women/Narendra Shrestha

SDGs: Greater urgency needed to meet environmental goals, improved data likely key

22 May 2021
Climate and Environment

Countries are on track to miss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to environmental protection, two UN entities warn in new report issued on Saturday to coincide with the International Day for Biological Diversity. 

Protestors take part in a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the UK.
Unsplash/Arthur Edelmans

UN chief calls for ‘new social contract’ as part of post-pandemic recovery

18 February 2021
SDGs

With the COVID-19 pandemic exposing social and economic inequalities rooted in racism, discrimination and xenophobia, recovery must lead to more inclusive societies, the UN Secretary-General told Member States on Thursday.