News

The students in the Tanzanian town of Bagamoyo once had to decide between getting sick or being thirsty all day long.

2019 is a critical year, the “last chance” for the international community to take effective action on climate change, General Assembly President Maria Espinosa said on Thursday, during a briefing to announce the UN’s roadmap to the Climate Summit in September.

Unemployment is down globally but workers’ conditions have not improved, the UN said on Wednesday, warning that some businesses driven by new technology “threaten to undermine” hard-won social gains of recent decades.

After completing a historic 500km journey from the Kenyan island of Lamu to the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, the world’s first ever traditional “dhow” sailing boat made entirely from recycled plastic, known as the Flipflopi, has successfully raised awareness of the need to overcome one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges: plastic pollution.

Each year, food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins or chemicals cause more than 600 million people to fall ill, and 420,000 to die worldwide, prompting a call from world leaders on Tuesday for greater international cooperation to make the food chain safer.

Many of the world’s biggest problems may be going unsolved because too many women and girls are being discouraged from the sciences.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – the UN’s blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for all – calls for a reduction in inequality between and within countries. Nevertheless, global inequality is increasing. So what can be done?

Although more children than ever before are being vaccinated against measles across Europe, overall infection rates are the highest in a decade, and a three-fold increase on last year, according to new data published on Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO).

More than six in 10 children globally lack access to social protection, leaving them particularly vulnerable to falling into chronic poverty, the UN said on Wednesday, warning also that some governments are cutting State cash entitlements, amid continuing economic uncertainty.

The food we eat has huge potential to improve both human health and environmental sustainability, but too often today it is posing a threat to both people and planet, according to a new report by the EAT-Lancet Commission, launched on Tuesday at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

In the wake of data released by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO), showing the past four years were officially the ‘four warmest on record,’ UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent climate action and increased ambition, ahead of his climate summit in September.  

With some 60 million people affected by extreme weather in 2018, according to a new study, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) called for better management of the issue worldwide, in a statement published on Thursday.

Education is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development because it gives people across the world the skills needed to realize all 17 Global Goals (SDGs), said the UN chief on Thursday, marking the first-ever International Day of Education.

Around 50 million tonnes of electronic waste, or e-waste, is being thrown away each year, according to a new joint United Nations report – which exceeds the combined weight of all the commercial airliners ever made, or alternatively, enough Eiffel Towers to fill the whole of Manhattan.

He is best known for his bare-chested appearances at the Rio and Pyeongchang Olympic Games, but Pita Taufatofua now wants to use his social media muscle to empower youth, and get them to share their stories. 

The United Nations needs to spend more time talking directly to young people across the world, beyond simply talking about their concerns, said the President of the General Assembly on Wednesday, opening a major Youth Dialogue event at UN Headquarters in New York.  

Changing how countries across the world produce food is “fundamental” to protecting the future of the Earth’s ecosystem, said the head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Tuesday.

Praising efforts by African countries to alleviate poverty and build more stable societies, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres pledged his on-going support for ending conflict and building peace across the continent.

International efforts to create a world where no one is left behind will only become a reality if all sectors in society participate, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General told ambassadors in New York on Wednesday.

Cooperation over development is critical in delivering the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN deputy chief said on Monday, calling for strengthened “multi-stakeholder” partnerships, and better policy coordination.

The welfare and prosperity of people now and in the future, depends on a “rich variety of life on earth” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in his message for the International Day for Biological Diversity, marked on Tuesday. 

The United Nations and the World Bank Group on Friday signed an agreement to work closer together to help countries implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve measurable results to transform their economies and societies.

Marking the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, the United Nations is calling for strengthened partnerships to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and their families.

Global economic growth is exceeding expectations this year but heightened geopolitical tension and uncertainty over international trade could thwart progress, according to a new United Nations report.

None of the world’s challenges loom as large as climate change, the United Nations chief told a major climate action summit on Tuesday, reiterating his belief that global warming poses an “existential threat” to humanity.

Industrially-produced trans-fats may give food a longer shelf life, but each year they also lead to the death of more than 500,000 people from cardiovascular and heart disease, according to the United Nations health agency.

With concern growing that the divide between rich and poor is continuing to widen – especially in the Asia-Pacific region – top United Nations officials are calling for greater emphasis on growth that leads to fairer societies and a healthier planet.

As they make their global journeys, migratory birds not only set birdwatchers’ binoculars agog, they also help the planet maintain its essential ecological balance.

New guidelines designed to give poor and isolated communities more of a say in how tropical forests are used and preserved around the world were published on Thursday, by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

At an event commemorating the Day of Vesak, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged the global community to draw inspiration from the Buddha’s teachings and message of tolerance, empathy and humanism.