News
FROM THE FIELD: Weathering a tourist downturn in Kyrgyzstan
The residents of a small traditional village high in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, which once attracted a steady stream of visitors, are learning how to adapt to the reality of a world where the COVID-19 pandemic has all but frozen
‘Growing momentum’ to make 2021 the global action year for sustainable energy
In a bid of optimism for the new year, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) expressed confidence that clean energy would grow in 2021.
First Person: family tragedy and the UN as ‘saviour’ in Darfur
The people of the restive region of Darfur in Sudan have seen the joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) as a "saviour" according to a writer for UN News who grew up in Darfur.
Millions of children in crisis hotspots ‘on the brink of famine’, warns UNICEF
More than 10 million children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeast Nigeria, the Central Sahel, South Sudan and Yemen will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday, warning
The virus that shut down the world: Economic meltdown
With millions forced to work from home this year, offices and shops closing as part of containment measures, and travel severely curtailed everywhere, it was inevitable that the economy would suffer.
COVID-19 threatening development gains in Cape Verde: a UN Resident Coordinator blog
Progress made towards sustainable development by the Atlantic Ocean nation, Cape Verde, is under serious threat due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to the United Nations’ most senior official in the country.
After year of ‘trials, tragedies and tears’, UN chief sends message of hope for 2021
As the world enters 2021, after a “year of trials, tragedies and tears”, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has delivered a message of hope for the new year.
25,000 refugees in unsettled Tigray region receive urgent UN food supplies
Some 25,000 Eritrean refugees, sheltering in two camps in the unsettled Tigray region of Ethiopia, have received desperately needed food aid for the first time since mid-October.
Young Champions of the Earth: Peru’s elemental innovator
A Peruvian biologist and inventor who is turning wind into water has been named as a winner of an annual UN environmental award.
2020: ‘Biggest international challenge’ ever taken on by UN humanitarians
The COVID-19 pandemic has been the “biggest international challenge” since the Second World War, according to the United Nations and has been the focus of the work of the UN’s humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, throughout 2020.
Young Champions of the Earth: trashing barriers to boost recycling in Kuwait
An electrical engineer from Kuwait is being recognized by the United Nations for her success in raising the environmental importance and economic value of recycling in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
FROM THE FIELD: Warlords and warehouses; reflections of retired Myanmar WFP staffer
Negotiating with warlords in Somalia and rebels in the South Sudanese bush, and salvaging food from the chaos of the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, was once routine for a retired staff member of the World Food Programme (WFP) from Myanmar.
Young Champions of the Earth: turning plastics into paving in Kenya
A Kenyan entrepreneur is being lauded by the UN for developing a machine that recycles discarded plastic into paving stones for use in construction projects.
The virus that shut down the world: The yawning gulf between rich and poor
Inequality between the rich and poor worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic and poverty increased, for the first time in decades.
Young Champions of the Earth: mapping clean water in China
A mobile app which tells the inhabitants of rural China if their water is safe to drink, has won a young woman from Beijing a top UN environmental award.
Planet-warming trend continues: 2020 closes hottest decade on record – UN weather agency
As 2020 draws to a close, it leaves in its wake the warmest decade on record and one of the three hottest years ever measured, according to the UN weather agency.
Central African Republic: Pre-election violence ‘must stop’ – UN envoy
Days before Sunday’s election, armed clashes in the Central African Republic (CAR) have prompted the “serious concern” of the UN aid coordinator in the country.
Uganda: UN food assistance programme hit as COVID-19 dries funding
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) will have to further reduce food rations and cash assistance for more than 1.2 million refugees in Uganda due to a funding shortfall, the agency has said, calling for urgent resources to sustain aid efforts.
Mozambique: 250,000 displaced children facing deadly disease threat
A lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene services have put approximately 250,000 children, displaced by escalating crises in a northern province of Mozambique, at risk from deadly diseases, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.
COVID-19 hits trade in Asia-Pacific, but impact ‘less bad’ than elsewhere
Despite a sharp fall in global trade in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and lingering trade tensions, Asia and the Pacific is expected to perform relatively “less bad” than the rest of the world, the United Nations development arm in the regi
Tigray: Hundreds of civilians reported killed in artillery strikes, warns UN rights chief
Reports of artillery strikes on civilians and mass killings of non-combatants in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, must be investigated and full access granted to independent investigators, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday.
World could lose coral reefs within this century, UN environment report warns
Every one of the world’s coral reefs could bleach by the end of the century, unless there are drastic reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned.
Fruits and vegetables crucial for healthy lives, sustainable world: Guterres
The United Nations is marking 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, spotlighting their vital role in human nutrition and food security, as well as urging efforts to improve sustainable production and reduce waste.
Conflict, floods and COVID-19 push South Sudanese into extreme hunger
Driven by insecurity, the effects of COVID-19, an on-going economic crisis, and the impact of flooding on livelihoods, three UN agencies called on Friday for immediate humanitarian access to eastern South Sudan’s Pibor county, where people are fac
Fighting displaces over 500,000 in northern Mozambique, reports UN refuge agency
Attacks by armed groups in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Zambezia and Niassa provinces have displaced more than 530,000 people, many of whom have been forced to move multiple times, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.
Global challenges require global solutions: UN chief
UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the Bundestag, the German parliament, on Friday, where he warned of a deficit of international cooperation and underscored that global challenges require global solutions.
UN releases emergency funding for civilians in Ethiopia’s Tigray, as Africa’s battle against COVID-19 intensifies
The UN has released $36.6 million for civilians caught up in the conflict that has roiled Ethiopia’s Tigray region since early last month, in order to secure water, sanitation and lifesaving medical supplies.
Funding needed to halt ‘life threatening crisis’ facing refugees in Kenya
Amidst a “critical shortage” of resources, hundreds of thousands of refugees in Kenya will lack food unless new funds are swiftly received, the UN’s food relief agency warned on Thursday.
UNICEF supporting emergency food aid for UK children over holidays
Thousands of families in the United Kingdom impacted by COVID-19 are to receive “one-off…emergency” food assistance from UN Children’s Fund UNICEF over the upcoming holiday period and beyond, it has announced.
Vaccines for all, an ‘acid test’ in COVID-19 battle
Equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines will represent an “acid test” for the international community, the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) told journalists on Wednesday, highlighting the importance of global cooperatio