News

Fighting in the Tigray region of Ethiopia is “spiralling out of control”, and there is no military solution to end nearly two years of brutal conflict which has left tens of thousands reportedly dead, while the “social fabric, is being ripped apart”.

Plastics used in farming activities are accumulating in agricultural soil worldwide at an alarming rate, a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) published on Monday reveals.

A flagship UN poverty study released on Monday, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, finds that significant poverty reduction is possible, and new ways of calculating the problem can help humanitarians and governments better target aid.

Rising inflation and the Ukraine war have triggered a 19 per cent increase in child poverty across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to a study by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), published on Monday, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

The UN’s deputy relief chief Joyce Msuya stressed on Sunday that life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection in Yemen must be ramped up to protect the lives of millions of vulnerable people across the war-ravaged country.

In Mozambique, more than 20 per cent of girls aged between 13 and 17 have been married or live with someone as if they were married. Women’s support groups are putting thousands of them on the road to financial independence, making them less vulnerable to gender-based violence.

From devastating floods in Pakistan, to wildfires in Siberia, the effects of the climate emergency are being felt across the world, and the United Nations is calling for more investment now, to help nations to adapt to an increasingly unstable environment.

The UN Secretary-General issued a statement on Saturday expressing grave concern over the escalation of fighting in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, where Government troops and separatist forces have been locked in conflict since November 2020.

An unrelenting series of crises has trapped vulnerable Haitians in a cycle of growing desperation, without access to food, fuel, markets, jobs and public services, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday.

In the face of the growing hunger crisis, the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization stressed on Friday, ahead of World Food Day, the need to “harness the power of solidarity and collective action” to build a sustainable world with enough to eat for everyone.

A new report from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

As protection, healthcare and essential services break down, the violence and volatile political and economic crisis engulfing Haiti has rapidly deteriorated into what the UN has described overall as a humanitarian catastrophe.

The world is at risk of yet another year of record hunger as the global food crisis continues to drive more people into worsening levels of acute food insecurity, The World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday.

African States are on the front line of the climate crisis, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday, but far more action is needed to turn the tide on rising emissions, and reduce global warming.

Top business executives joined the UN chief on Wednesday to present transformative solutions for bridging the estimated $4.3 trillion-dollar financing gap for countries the reach the ambitious 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - the world’s agreed roadmap for a more peaceful and inclusive world.

Fifty-four countries that are home to more than half of the poorest people on the planet need urgent debt relief now, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said in a paper published on Tuesday that calls for rich countries to step up. 

The UN weather agency issued an urgent appeal on Tuesday for governments everywhere to switch to cleaner forms of energy, such as solar, wind and hydro-electric power.

Heatwaves already kill thousands of people every year and they risk overwhelming the world’s aid response, unless action is taken to mitigate climate change, the UN’s emergency relief chief said on Monday.

Amid a deteriorating security situation in Haiti, UN Security-General António Guterres called on Sunday for the Security Council to consider deploying armed forces to help the country address immense humanitarian concerns.

State members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted a long-term goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, following two weeks of intensive diplomacy at the UN agency’s 41st Assembly, on Friday.

Surfers have an intimate knowledge of the ocean, but have not been seen as leading figures amongst groups leading on climate change solutions. Thanks to groups such as Surfers for Climate in Australia, that perception is starting to change.

After a period of plummeting tourism numbers during the pandemic, tourism is having a resurgence. This is good news for many workers and businesses, but it could be bad for the planet. Here is a selection of ways tourists can ensure that their holidays don’t harm the environment.

Greater action is needed now to avert the recurrence of disastrous heatwaves, which are being intensified by the climate crisis, the UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA, and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), said in a report issued on Monday. 

Cotton is a constant thread in our lives, from field to fabric, the UN agriculture agency, FAO, upheld on Friday, World Cotton Day, drawing attention to the natural fibre’s contribution in weaving socio-economic development and championing its advancement in sustainable livelihoods.

Urgently needed aid relief has reached areas of northeast Ukraine recently reclaimed from Russian control amid ongoing fighting, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

The people of Pakistan are the victims of “a grim calculus of climate injustice”, Secretary-General António Guterres told the UN General Assembly on Friday, reminding that while the country was responsible for less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it is paying a “supersized price for man-made climate change”.

Trade growth is expected to lose momentum in the second half of this year and remain subdued in 2023, as the global economy sustains multiple shocks, such as ripple effects from the war in Ukraine, the latest forecast from the World Trade Organization (WTO) has revealed. 

A year on from the Taliban takeover in Kabul, Afghanistan is gripped by “cascading crises”, including a crippled economy that humanitarian aid alone cannot address, according to a 

A new UN report presented on Wednesday to the Organization’s highest pan-European environmental policy body, covering 54 countries, is calling for greater action to tackle the triple environmental crisis roiling the planet.

Climate change and environmental degradation are escalating the risk and prevalence of violence against women and girls across the world, a UN-appointed independent human rights expert warned on Wednesday.