Today, the UN General Assembly made history. Today, the General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Today, the General Assembly delivered a victory for people and planet. The resolution adopted today was five decades in the making. From a foothold in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, the right […]
United Nations Environment (UNEP)
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Religious leaders, UNEP appeal for climate-responsible finance as a moral imperative towards children
Geneva/Nairobi/New York, May 9, 2022 – The World Council of Churches (WCC), United Nations Environment Programme, Muslim Council of Elders, and NY Board of Rabbis have signed a landmark joint appeal, “Climate-Responsible Finance – A moral imperative and responsibility to all children and the living world“. “Let us come together and influence how money is invested in […]
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Our use of sand brings us “up against the wall,” says UNEP report
Geneva, April 26, 2022 – 50 billion tons: enough to build a wall 27 metres wide and 27 metres high around planet Earth. This is the volume of sand and gravel used each year, making it the second most used resource worldwide after water. Given our dependency on it, sand must be recognised as a strategic resource […]
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Number of Wildfires to Rise by 50% by 2100 and Governments are not Prepared, Experts Warn
Nairobi, 23 February, 2022 – Climate change and land-use change are projected to make wildfires more frequent and intense, with a global increase of extreme fires of up to 14 per cent by 2030, 30 per cent by the end of 2050 and 50 per cent by the end of the century, according to a […]
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Deadly wildfires, noise pollution and mismatches: UN report identifies looming environmental threats
Nairobi, February 2022 – Wildfires are burning more severely and more often, urban noise pollution is growing into a global public health menace, and phenological mismatches – disruptions in the timing of life-cycle stages in natural systems – are causing ecological consequences. These critical environmental issues, requiring greater attention, are highlighted in the new Frontiers […]
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Step up climate change adaptation efforts or face huge disruption: UN report
Glasgow, November 4, 2021 – As nations gather for the latest round of climate talks in Glasgow, a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has called for urgent efforts to increase the financing and implementation of actions designed to adapt to the growing impacts of climate change. The Adaptation Gap Report 2021: The Gathering […]
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UNEP: Updated climate commitments ahead of COP26 summit fall far short, but net-zero pledges provide hope
Nairobi, October 26, 2021 – New and updated climate commitments fall far short of what is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, leaving the world on track for a global temperature rise of at least 2.7°C this century, according to the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) latest Emissions Gap Report 2021: The Heat Is On. […]
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UN: 17% of all food available at consumer levels is wasted
Nairobi/Paris, 4 March 2021 – An estimated 931 million tonnes of food, or 17% of total food available to consumers in 2019, went into the waste bins of households, retailers, restaurants and other food services, according to new UN research conducted to support global efforts to halve food waste by 2030. The weight roughly equals that […]
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Climate-friendly cooling could cut years of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and save US$ trillions: UN
Nairobi, July 17, 2020 – Coordinated international action on energy-efficient, climate-friendly cooling could avoid as much as 460 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – roughly equal to eight years of global emissions at 2018 levels – over the next four decades, according to the Cooling Emissions and Policy Synthesis Report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) […]
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Unite human, animal and environmental health to prevent the next pandemic – UN Report
Nairobi, July 6, 2020 – As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take lives and disrupt economies across the world, a new report warns that further outbreaks will emerge unless governments take active measures to prevent other zoonotic diseases from crossing into the human population, and sets out ten recommendations to prevent future pandemics. The report, Preventing the […]
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UN report: As the world’s forests continue to shrink, urgent action is needed to safeguard their biodiversity
Rome/Nairobi, May 22, 2020 – Urgent action is needed to safeguard the biodiversity of the world’s forests amid alarming rates of deforestation and degradation, according to the latest edition of The State of the World’s Forests released today. Published on the International Day for Biological Diversity (22 May), the report shows that the conservation of the world’s biodiversity is […]
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Cut global emissions by 7.6 percent every year for next decade to meet 1.5°C Paris target – UN report
Geneva, November 26, 2019 – On the eve of a year in which nations are due to strengthen their Paris climate pledges, a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report warns that unlessglobal greenhouse gas emissions fall by 7.6 per cent each year between 2020 and 2030, the world will miss the opportunity to get on […]
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Costa Rica named ‘UN Champion of the Earth’ for pioneering role in fighting climate change
September 20, 2019 – Costa Rica has received a 2019 Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honour, for its role in the protection of nature and its commitment to ambitious policies to combat climate change. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recognized Costa Rica in the policy leadership category. A world leader […]
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UN calls for urgent rethink as resource use skyrockets
NAIROBI, March 13, 2019 – Rapid growth in extraction of materials is the chief culprit in climate change and biodiversity loss – a challenge that will only worsen unless the world urgently undertakes a systemic reform of resource use, according to a report released at the UN Environment Assembly. Global Resources Outlook 2019, prepared by […]
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Air pollution linked to “huge” reduction in intelligence
Oct. 16, 2018 – Air pollution can have a “huge” negative effect on cognitive intelligence – especially amongst older men – according to a study released this past August. The research is one of the first of its kind to focus on the links between air pollution and cognition in older people. It was undertaken […]
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UN Environment statement on US decision to leave Paris Agreement
June 1, 2017 – UN Environment chief Erik Solheim released the following statement on the US decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change: “The science on climate change is perfectly clear: we need more action, not less. This a global challenge. Every nation has a responsibility to act and to act now. […]
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A victory for Lewis Pugh’s ‘Speedo diplomacy’ as Russia and the world agree monumental marine protection deal
October 27, 2016 – After five years of protracted negotiations, and tireless ‘Speedo diplomacy’ from endurance swimmer and UN Environment’s Patron of the Oceans Lewis Pugh, Antarctica’s Ross Sea has finally been declared a Marine Protected Area. The Ross Sea is widely considered to be the last great wilderness area on Earth and known as […]
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Of the 1.3 million people dying each year from traffic accidents, 49 per cent are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists
Oct. 20, 2016 – Lack of investment in safe walking and cycling infrastructure is contributing to the deaths of millions of people and overlooking a great opportunity to contribute to the fight against climate change, a new UN Environment report says today. In Global Outlook on Walking and Cycling, UN Environment calls on countries to […]
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Hundreds of Millions Face Health Risk as Water Pollution Rises Across Three Continents
August 30, 2016 – Water pollution has risen across three continents, placing hundreds of millions of people at risk of contracting life-threatening diseases like cholera and typhoid, United Nations Environment warns today. The worrying rise in the pollution of surface waters in Asia, Africa and Latin America also threatens to damage vital sources of food […]