“Go vote” is the resounding message that 20-year-old climate activist Sophia Kianni wants everyone to hear, because the only way to effect real change to slow global warming, is through better public policy, she says. 

One of seven activists who make up the Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, the young American bemoaned the failure of the US Congress to pass ‘Build Back Better’ legislation, to tackle the climate emergency. 

If people want to be engaged, they need to be involved in their political processes, she told Liz Scaffidi, but she began by explaining how she took up the mantle of climate activist. 

Audio Duration: 3'42"

Photo Credit: UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi

Imataca is a vast tropical forest in southeast Venezuela spanning 38,000 square kilometers. Rich in biodiversity, the forest is home to thousands of plant and animal species. Decades of illegal logging and mining have led to deforestation and loss of wildlife. The Karina indigenous people living in the forest are working hard to change this. Through a women-led initiative, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), they’re ensuring the forests of Imataca are now protected for generations to come.

Producers: Marina Sánchez Castelo, Charlotta Lomas, Anais Hotin.
Presenter: Charlotta Lomas, FAO.
Photo credit: ©Jesús Contreras/FAO.

Social media influencers are glamourizing the use of cannabis, heroin and other controlled substances, and governments and companies need to do more to stop these kinds of messages being spread on popular platforms, the head of a UN-backed drug control body warned on Thursday. Jagjit Pavadia, the President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News on the launch of the organization’s annual report, which also shows that many potentially harmful drugs are easily available online. Ms. Pavadia began by outlining the scale of the problem, and the danger it poses, particularly to young people and children.

When was the last time you used cash? In his latest book, Eswar Prasad looks at a world, not that far off, where using cash will no longer be an option. Prasad is a professor of economics at Cornell University, and his book, The Future of Money, describes how digital currencies and other financial technologies are reshaping everything from consumer banking to monetary policy and international payments.

In this IMF podcast, he discusses the book with Finance and Development Magazine editor Chris Wellisz. 

Transcript

Amid growing international condemnation over Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, tens of thousands of people are still trying to escape to neighbouring countries, fleeing en masse. This has brought huge numbers to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where UNICEF’s spokesperson James Elder has been giving an update on the emotional and tense scenes he’s witnessed, to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

The Africa Renewal Podcast is about people, who, through their stories and actions, are advancing hope in Africa. On it you will hear true stories directly from people from within and beyond Africa about the possibilities on the continent.

In the inaugural episode, Joy Kategekwa, a trade law expert who is one of the architects of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), talks about the historic agreement that set the stage for the creation of one single African market for goods and services.

Dr. Joy Kategekwa (Uganda) is the regional strategic advisor to the Assistant Administrator and Director for the Regional Bureau Africa at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

Despite rising global wealth, most people today feel anxious about the future, according to a new report from the UNDP. Dianne Penn from UN News spoke to Heriberto Tapia, the Research and Strategic Partnership Advisor in the Human Development Report Office at UNDP.  

In this episode of UNEP's Resilience: The Global Adaptation Podcast, Lis and Marcus find out about some really creative and practical solutions to the climate threats faced by coastal communities and people living on low-lying small islands. Eritai Kateibwi, from the Te Maeu Project, talks about introducing hydroponics to Kiribati so his community can grow food without monthly ‘king’ tides washing away their crops. And world-renowned Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who specialises in climate-resilient architecture, talks about floating cities and building flood barriers that double as parks, skateboard ramps, and bike storage - drawing on a concept known as ‘hedonistic sustainability.’

On the eve of the International Day in Commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust, UN News brings us this conversation by Julia Dean from our UN Country Team in Australia and Dr Frances Newell, whose mother and grandfather were part of this network who together with the Schindlers, helped Jews, political dissidents and other persecuted groups, escape the horrors of the Nazi regime.

A powerful and haunting exhibition featuring the Hibakusha – the Japanese survivors of the nuclear bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki more than three-quarters of a century ago – has just been staged at UN Headquarters in New York.

It’s not the first exhibit dedicated to the issue of nuclear disarmament that Japanese art director Erico Platt has created for the UN, and although she is far too young to be a hibakusha, she is proud to amplify their voices against the horrors of nuclear weapons.

Ms. Platt explained to Liz Scaffidi, how her studies in Japan linked her to the right people, who, in turn, helped highlight again the urgency of banning nuclear weapons in what she describes as a “strong, powerful” and also beautiful exhibition, that’s the best she’s done…

Photo: UNODA/Diane Barnes

Creative Development with IFC - S1E2

IFC Managing Director Makhtar Diop talks with world-renowned Senegalese musician Baaba Maal about how music can help raise awareness of a changing climate, give voice to the issues that matter to people, and bring people together to make change happen. He also discusses his efforts to combat desertification in the Sahel and to raise awareness for gender equality.

Photo Credit: IFC

In the three decades leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, world tourism grew steadily year on year. But in 2020, the industry suffered an unprecedent hit, accounting for a staggering 70% of the fall in global gross domestic product (GDP).

The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has been constantly assessing the impact of the pandemic, and working hard to help kickstart the industry on behalf of millions around the world who rely on it.

Zoritsa Urosevic, UNWTO’s Executive Director spoke in depth to UN News’s Bessie Du, and highlighted the need to rethink the whole sector, boost rural tourism, and improve safety for travellers.

Audio Credit: Bessie Du, UN News - Chinese

Photo Credit: UNWTO

About 10 per cent of people are left handed, yet the world of work is overwhelmingly set up for right-handers. There are also numerous examples – historical and contemporary - of discrimination and stigma in relation to left-handed people.

In this edition of the ILO's Future of Work podcast, Sophy Fisher speaks to Dr Marietta Papadatou-Pastou, Assistant Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Dr Papadatou-Pastou's research interests include various aspects of neuropsychology, as well as cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology. Her work focuses on handedness and brain lateralization, using behavioral and brain imaging techniques in healthy individuals as well as populations with special education needs.

While the world has been focused on the pandemic for the past two years, the rapid rise of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias pose another threat to global public health.

Nathaniel Counts is Senior VP for Behavioral Health Innovation at Mental Health America and Assistant Professor at Albert Einstein's School of Medicine. In this IMF podcast, Counts says dementia will vastly increase across the globe as the population age rises with increasing life expectancy and have profound impacts on welfare and economic growth, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Photo: An old lady at her window in a Nepalese village. ©UN Photo/John Isaac

How did a boy raised in a small village in Barbados become one of the top United Nations officials tackling climate change?

In this latest interview with Melissa Fleming, Selwin Hart takes us on his inspiring life journey -- from growing up in a home without electricity to being at the centre of global negotiations to tackle the climate emergency. The first person in his family to attend university, Selwin talks about the transformative power of education. He also explains how determination and a sense of community have served as driving forces in his career.

“If we give up, it means that my people in Barbados, my neighbors in the Caribbean, my friends in the Pacific, my friends in Africa, my friends in the developing world, and even folks in rich countries, we would seal their fate… So I refuse to give up.”