- UN telecomms agency chief: One third of humanity still offlineon March 7, 2024 at 12:00 pm
The benefits of cutting-edge technology remain out of reach for around 2.6 billion people globally who are still waiting for an Internet connection the head of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said on Thursday, outlining the agency’s plans to narrow the gap.
- World News in Brief: Climate change in the countryside, Yemen polio drive success, development and peaceon March 5, 2024 at 12:00 pm
Climate change is disproportionately affecting the incomes of rural women, the poor and older populations, who also have the least capacity to adapt to extreme weather events, a new report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) revealed on Tuesday.
- UN issues global alert over teacher shortageon February 29, 2024 at 12:00 pm
The world urgently needs 44 million teachers by 2030 in order to make the Sustainable Development Goals a reality, a new report from UNESCO, the UN agency championing education, announced this week.
- UN forum: Nations must collaborate now or risk further setbacks in sustainable developmenton February 21, 2024 at 12:00 pm
Today’s multilateral arrangements – global and regional organizations and major development banks – are “not up to the job” of helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the deputy UN chief said on Tuesday.
- Asia-Pacific off track on path to SDGs, UN data showson February 15, 2024 at 12:00 pm
A new UN report has revealed a concerning trajectory for the Asia Pacific region, projecting a delay until 2062 to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), overshooting the schedule by a staggering 32 years.
- Guterres urges G77 and China to drive momentum for global governance reformon January 21, 2024 at 12:00 pm
Developing countries must lead efforts to reform outdated multilateral institutions and frameworks, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in remarks to the third summit of the Group of 77 (G-77) and China, which opened in Kampala, Uganda, on Sunday.
- WMO confirms 2023 as warmest year on record ‘by a huge margin’on January 12, 2024 at 12:00 pm
With the annual average global temperature fast approaching the critical threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, last year officially smashed the global temperature record, the UN weather agency (WMO) confirmed on Friday.
- Flagship economic report highlights why global cooperation is keyon January 4, 2024 at 12:00 pm
The UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects report for 2024 projects a slowdown in global growth from an estimated 2.7 per cent in 2023 to 2.4 per cent in 2024.
- INTERVIEW: AI expert warns of 'digital colonization' in Africaon January 2, 2024 at 12:00 pm
Artificial intelligence (AI) is ripe to help resolve certain major problems in Africa, from farming to the health sector, but Senegalese expert Seydina Moussa Ndiaye is warning of a new “colonization” of the continent by this new technology if foreign companies continue to feed on African data without involving local actors.
- Report card 2: Half-way to the global goals deadlineon December 29, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Halting unsustainable consumption and production which have contributed to the decline of biodiversity and the health of the world’s marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems was central to the establishment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Report card 1: Half-way to the global goals deadlineon December 29, 2023 at 12:00 pm
The global push for a safer, greener and more just world, as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, has reached its halfway mark, but what progress has been made so far?
- INTERVIEW: Actor Natalie Portman celebrates women and girls’ voiceson December 23, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Investing more in women and girls’ education, safety and economic and social empowerment will speed the drive towards gender parity. That’s according to Academy Award-winning actor, director and activist Natalie Portman.
- COP28 ends with call to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels; UN’s Guterres says phaseout is inevitableon December 13, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Nations at COP28 in Dubai approved earlier on Wednesday a roadmap for “transitioning away from fossil fuels” – a first for a UN climate conference – but the deal still stopped short of a long-demanded call for a “phaseout” of oil, coal and gas.
- ‘Rebuild a foundation of hope’ for global human rights: Türkon December 12, 2023 at 12:00 pm
World leaders gathered in Geneva on Tuesday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), calling for new guardrails to protect rights amid a surge of conflict and other challenges.
- Climate advocates demand stronger COP28 language on fossil fuelson December 11, 2023 at 12:00 pm
The latest COP28 draft outcome text released to negotiators in Dubai Monday evening dropped a call to ‘phaseout’ fossil fuels, prompting outcry from climate vulnerable countries and civil society.
- World News in Brief: UN anti-corruption conference, global hunger ‘set to soar’, healthy diets unaffordable in Asia-Pacificon December 11, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Corruption not only robs resources, it robs people of hope, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, as nations gathered in Atlanta, United States of America, for the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
- Stop ‘kicking the can down the road,’ UN chief urges COP28 deal on phaseout of fossil fuelson December 11, 2023 at 12:00 pm
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday urged a deal at COP28 on the phaseout of fossil fuels, telling negotiators that “now is the time for maximum ambition and maximum flexibility,” as UN climate talks in Dubai head into the home stretch.
- COP28: The UN’s net-zero food plan to save the 1.5-degree goal, combat climate ‘doomisim’on December 10, 2023 at 12:00 pm
As COP28 heads into its final working days in Dubai, the UN’s agriculture wing launched on Sunday a ground-breaking plan that looks to transform the world’s agrifood systems from a net emitter to a carbon sink by 2050.
- Our voices and needs must be put first in climate talks, young people tell COP28on December 8, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Young climate advocates at COP28 in Dubai on Friday said they will not sit idly by while climate change threatens their futures. They said their voices and ideas can help rescue the planet and demanded that government policymakers put the needs of the world’s nearly 2 billion children first.
- COP28 in Dubai enters final week, negotiations ramp up on emissions cuts, fossil fuelson December 7, 2023 at 12:00 pm
After a break, COP28 continues its work on Friday, also the day talks on an outcome text kick into high gear. Negotiators are aiming to agree on how to bolster emissions-cutting targets set by the Paris Agreement and what to do about the future of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal.
- COP28 is about action, not politics and point scoring, says UN climate chiefon December 6, 2023 at 12:00 pm
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said on Wednesday that COP28 delegates are not in Dubai to “score points” and play at “lowest-denominator politics”; they must take ambitious action on curbing global warming and ending the climate crisis.
- COP28: Over 60 countries pledge to slash cooling emissions amid rising temperatureson December 5, 2023 at 12:00 pm
With rising temperatures leading to demand for more air conditioners and other cooling equipment, a new UN report launched Tuesday at COP28 climate talks in Dubai lays out a pathway to cut emissions across the cooling sector worldwide.
- COP28: To save the planet, we need a just and fair renewable energy revolutionon December 5, 2023 at 12:00 pm
The key to ensuring that communities – especially the most vulnerable – can leave fossil-fuel based economies behind, is to create space for a just transition to a green economy, clean energy advocates and representatives of indigenous groups argued on Tuesday at COP28.
- UN cites ‘alarming surge’ in climate change over the past decade as COP28 pushes for global emissions cutson December 5, 2023 at 12:00 pm
The past decade has been confirmed the warmest ever recorded, continuing an alarming 30-year trend that the UN weather chief said on Tuesday is “unequivocally driven by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.”
- COP28: The climate crisis is also a health crisison December 3, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Health has made it onto the agenda of a UN climate conference, and health advocates at COP28 in Dubai on Sunday said the topic was long overdue for discussion as climate inaction is costing lives and impacting health every single day.
- COP28: Methane pledge by the ‘giants behind the climate crisis’ falls short, says Guterreson December 3, 2023 at 12:00 pm
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday sent a strong message to the oil and gas industry: the pledges made at COP28 in Dubai fall well short of what’s needed to meaningfully tackle the climate crisis.
- Tackling health impacts of climate change and scaling up digital climate action in the spotlight at COP28on December 2, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Delegates at COP28 in Dubai on Saturday called for stronger and more resilient global health systems, which are indispensable to protecting populations from the negative impacts of climate change on health.
- COP28: Extraction of minerals needed for green energy must be ‘sustainable and just’, says Guterreson December 2, 2023 at 12:00 pm
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday announced his plan to set up a panel aimed to ensure the move from fossil fuels towards renewable energy is just, sustainable and benefits all countries.
- Global agrifood systems are the climate solution, new FAO report highlights on December 1, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Agrifood systems and the communities that support and depend on them are on the front lines of loss and damage linked to climate change, a new report released on Friday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has revealed.
- COP28: As ‘humanity’s fate hangs in the balance’, UN chief calls for urgent action to prevent planetary crashon December 1, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Earth’s vital signs are failing and to prevent planetary crash and burn, “we need…cooperation and political will”, UN Secretary General António Guterres said on Friday, challenging world leaders gathered in Dubai for COP28 to show real global climate leadership.