News

A Global Forum highlighting the UN’s Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) got underway on Monday, aimed at identifying priority policies to boost support for family farmers and agricultural development worldwide.

Achieving a just and equitable energy transition is “one of the biggest challenges facing our world,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Global Compact Board meeting on Sunday.

On average, women globally are paid about 20 per cent less than men, the International Labour (ILO) Organization said on Saturday, International Equal Pay Day.

Education systems around the world need “more, not less money” the UN chief told journalists on Saturday during a joint press stakeout on the Transforming Education Summit and the International Finance Facility for Education.

An escalation in what the UN is calling “violent civil unrest” in Haiti, and the subsequent blockading of roads across the country, is making it “very challenging for humanitarian partners to provide assistance” according to the UN Spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric.

As the Montreal Protocol to Protect the Ozone Layer turns 35 on Friday, World Ozone Day, the United Nations has said that continuing the level of cooperation that led to the treaty’s adoption and success is just what is needed to protect life on Earth, end the climate crisis and ensure a brighter future for us all.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, exports of grain from Ukraine, as well as food and fertilizers from Russia, have been significantly hit. The disruption in supplies pushed soaring prices even higher and contributed to a global food crisis. The Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye, was set up to reintroduce vital food and fertilizer exports from Ukraine to the rest of the world. Here are some key points to understand.

As risks of conflict-induced famine and widespread food insecurity continue to rise, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator urged the Security Council on Thursday to address the interlinked crises, and work towards establishing lasting peace in affected regions.

World leaders arriving at UN Headquarters for next week’s High Level General Assembly meetings, will be greeted by a powerful and striking new mural from renowned Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra, focusing attention on climate change and stewardship of the planet.

Rising global inflation is expected to hit emerging and developing economies particularly hard this year, adding to a “confluence of crises” that threatens us all, the UN’s acting human rights chief has warned.

“Progress is possible” to end more than 11 years of war in Syria, in order to produce a peaceful future for all, the UN’s Deputy Special Envoy for the country told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Two vital objectives of the Black Sea grain deal brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye are already being achieved, a senior UN official said on Tuesday, pointing to the steady decrease in international food prices and the increasing availability of badly needed grain from Ukraine as signs of early success.

“Climate science is clear: we are heading in the wrong direction”, declares a major, multi-agency UN climate science report released on Tuesday, with a focus on increasing fossil fuel emissions and rising greenhouse gases, now at a record high, which risk thwarting plans to reduce global temperatures and avoid climate catastrophe.

Catastrophic hunger levels in Somalia have left more than 513,000 children at risk of dying, 173,000 more than during the 2011 famine, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.

The UN Security Council has urged warring parties in Yemen to urgently intensify negotiations towards expanding their historic truce, according to a statement issued on Monday. 

From climate change to worsening inequalities and COVID-19 fallouts, top UN officials told a major forum in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday that greater cooperation among developing countries, known as the global South, was needed to overcome a multitude of challenges.

In this era of unprecedented challenge and upheaval, “solutions lie in solidarity,” the UN chief said in his message commemorating United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, on Monday. 

Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday reiterated that the needs in flood-ravaged Pakistan are enormous and called for massive and urgent financial support, as he wrapped up a two-day trip aimed at raising awareness of the climate-driven disaster with flights over some of the hardest hit areas. 

China has a dizzying range of rich natural resources. The country is home to 10 per cent of all known plant species, and 14 per cent of all known fauna. The UN, with the Chinese authorities, is working to ensure that the benefits from these resources are shared in a fair and equitable way.

A $7 million disbursement from the UN’s Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF), announced on Friday, will bolster response to the devastating monsoon floods in Pakistan, the worst in more than a decade. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Pakistan on Friday to show solidarity with the people of the country following the loss of life and destruction caused by this year’s devastating floods. He appealed for massive international support to tackle this “climate catastrophe”.

Water stress and hazards like withering droughts and devastating floods are hitting African communities, economies and ecosystems hard, according to a new report launched on Thursday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

The latest flagship UN report on human development, released on Thursday, warns that multiple crises are halting progress on human development, which is going backwards in the overwhelming majority of countries. Here are five things to look out for in the report.

As the war in Ukraine “continues to rage,” the UN political and peacebuilding chief updated the Security Council, saying on Wednesday that 5,718 people have been killed, including 372 children.

The political climate in Somalia is now more conducive to addressing key national priorities following the end of the “contentious” electoral process in May, UN Special Representative James Swan told the Security Council on Wednesday.

A rise in the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves will not only increase wildfires this century but also worsen air quality – harming human health and ecosystems, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) launched on Wednesday, the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.

International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, marked on 7 September, takes place in a world where almost all the air we breathe is polluted, and some seven million people die from air pollution every year. Ahead of the Day, UN News spoke to two experts about the scale of the problem, and the solutions that already exist.

Denied decent work opportunities and highly vulnerable to systemic shocks such as pandemics or economic downturns, workers in Asia and the Pacific are under pressure, according to a report launched on Tuesday by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Somalia is at a “tipping point”, with hundreds of thousands of people at immediate risk of famine, the heads of the UN’s highest-level humanitarian coordination forum have warned. 

As UN relief chief Martin Griffiths warned of an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe on Monday, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it is delivering more food aid to Somalia than ever before.