Green leaves of a tree against the blue sky and the sun.
Natural Resources and the Environment, Health

Racing for clean air. Every breath matters

Air pollution is a major environmental health risk that worsens climate change, harms economies, and reduces agricultural productivity. It affects everyone, highlighting the need for a collective approach to protect our atmosphere. By working across borders, sectors, and communities, we can reduce pollution through shared efforts and investment. On International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (7 September), we urge governments, corporations, civil society, and individuals to act. By tackling air pollution proactively, we can achieve significant change and ensure healthy air for all.

Air pollution disproportionately affects women, children and older persons, and also has a negative impact on ecosystems.
Photo:Adobe Stock/ woff
A displaced mother struggles to address the complex needs of her seven-year-old severely malnourished daughter with cerebral atrophy.

Attacks across Gaza intensify amid fear and hunger: ‘Leave me here,’ injured girl told fleeing family

3 September 2025 — Thousands of Palestinians have been caught in the crossfire while trying to escape attacks and dire food shortages in war-torn Gaza, with extraordinary challenges for some,...

Families in northeastern Afghanistan have been devastated by last Sunday's earthquake and have appealed for help to find and bury the dead..

Afghanistan quake: Rescuers arrive on foot, survivors need everything

3 September 2025 — A massive assistance mission for earthquake survivors continued in Afghanistan on Wednesday as aid teams tackled blocked roads and downed communications lines in a bid to reach...

Two women stand in front of their damaged home in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Finding strength amid sleepless nights: Ukraine’s hidden mental health toll

3 September 2025 — Nearly four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and 11 years since conflict began, the toll on mental health across the country is severe.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals

17 Goals to transform our world

The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries — poor, rich and middle-income — to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.

hands holding megaphone and speech bubble

ActNow Campaign

ActNow is the UN campaign to inspire people to act for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the lead up to the Summit of the Future, join the 1 Million Actions for our Common Future challenge to contribute to a more sustainable and peaceful world. Find new inspiring actions on the app and at un.org/actnow.

Thomas the Tank engine

Student Resources on the SDGs

Learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals! On our student resources page you will find plenty of materials for young people and adults alike. Share with your family and friends to help achieve a better world for all.

children holding up books

SDG Book Club

Reading and learning are essential to children’s growth and development; stories can fuel their imagination and raise awareness of new possibilities. The SDG Book Club aims to encourage them to learn about the Goals in a fun, engaging way, empowering them to make a difference.

Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Goal of the month

 

Goal 9: Industries, Innovation and Infrastructure

Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

More about the UN Sustainable Development Goals

More from the
United Nations

Featured stories from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

A classroom scene where a group of students gather around a teacher seated at a desk with a laptop. Éducation, Artificial Intelligence

Teachers cannot be coded

Teachers cultivate essential skills like critical thinking and emotional intelligence that machines cannot teach. However, there's a global shortage of qualified teachers, with a need for 44 million more by 2030 to meet educational goals. Digital Learning Week 2025 addresses the challenges and opportunities AI presents in education. Militza Saavedra Montero, a teacher from Chile, views AI as beneficial, having gained valuable digital competencies through UNESCO training that helps her save time in the classroom. Militza feels that her role as a teacher is essential in helping students use technology with a critical mindset. The challenge is to teach people how to use AI responsibly.

A close-up scene of two hands exchanging a blister pack of pills. Health, UNFPA

No, contraceptives don’t cause abortions

Misinformation about contraception poses serious risks. Just ask Evaline Chepkemol from rural Kenya, where maternal death rates are high. Many women fear contraceptives, believing they lead to loss of children or infertility. Evaline, however, received accurate information from a UNFPA-supported hospital, allowing her to space her pregnancies safely. Unfortunately, global funding shortages threaten contraceptive availability, potentially resulting in unintended pregnancies and maternal deaths. The spread of myths, such as the idea that contraceptives can induce miscarriage, contributes to this issue, despite being factually incorrect.

American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift holding a guitar during one of her concerts. WIPO, Intellectual and Cultural Property

Taylor Swift trademark strategy: a model for artist IP protection

As Taylor Swift announces her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, all that goes into it behind the scenes showcases her ability to blend creative vision with strategic IP management seamlessly. This is the complete breakdown of her branded universe. With over 400 trademarks globally, she safeguards her name, song and album titles, tour names, and even the names of her cats. This strategy empowers her brand, protects her legacy, and sets a precedent for artists worldwide to treat IP as essential to creative and commercial success.

A group of youth .
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, OHCHR

Justice, identity, action now

As the Second International Decade for People of African Descent begins, voices are calling for justice, recognition, and real change through activism, art, and inclusive policy that centers the lived experiences of people of African descent worldwide.

Two farm workers in an open field.
Health Interventions, FAO

Don’t sweat it... or do!

As rising global temperatures push heat stress to dangerous new levels, especially for outdoor workers, understanding its symptoms, risks, and prevention strategies is vital to protecting your health and saving lives.

A mother feeding her son with her daughter watching.
Migrants, IOM

Home, hope, and healing

After a decade apart and years of hardship abroad, sisters Doha and Natija return to Syria to rebuild their lives with the support of community-based services that offer legal, psychosocial, and housing assistance.

A worker in the Linhai, Zhejiang Province, China
Trade and Commerce, UNCTAD

Uncertainty: The new tariff

UNCTAD’s latest Global Trade Update reveals that systemic uncertainty, driven by shifting policies and geopolitical instability, is reshaping global trade, raising costs, and disproportionately harming developing economies.

What we do

Due to the powers vested in its Charter and its unique international character, the United Nations can take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, including:

A UNIFIL peacekeeper from Spain on a regular patrol in the vicinity of Al Wazzani, south-eastern Lebanon as the sun sets in the horizon. Since 1948, more than a million women and men have served as UN peacekeepers.

Maintain International Peace and Security

The United Nations came into being in 1945, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN does this by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective. The UN Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. The General Assembly and the Secretary-General play major, important, and complementary roles, along with other UN offices and bodies.

Students at Butkhak High School in Kabul, Afghanistan, cheer in unison on the last day of Global Action Week, an international campaign advocating free, quality education for all.

Protect Human Rights

The term “human rights” was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding Charter, making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization.  In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into the realm of international law.  Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities.

A child has a meal at a food distribution centre in the Rwanda camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), near Tawila, North Darfur. More than 8,000 women and children living in the camp benefit from nutrition programmes run by the World Food Programme

Deliver Humanitarian Aid

One of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in its Charter, is "to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character."  The UN first did this in the aftermath of the Second World War on the devastated continent of Europe, which it helped to rebuild.  The Organization is now relied upon by the international community to coordinate humanitarian relief operations due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone.

Grace, a farmer from Kipilat village, and a leading member of the forest community in Ainabkoi, Kenya, planting a tree in 2012.

Promote Sustainable Development

From the start in 1945, one of the main priorities of the United Nations was to “achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”  Improving people’s well-being continues to be one of the main focuses of the UN. The global understanding of development has changed over the years, and countries now have agreed that sustainable development offers the best path forward for improving the lives of people everywhere.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its order on the request for the indication of provisional measures filed by Nicaragua on 11 October 2013 in the case concerning Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River.

Uphold International Law

The UN Charter, in its Preamble, set an objective: "to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained."  Ever since, the development of, and respect for international law has been a key part of the work of the Organization.  This work is carried out in many ways - by courts, tribunals, multilateral treaties - and by the Security Council, which can approve peacekeeping missions, impose sanctions, or authorize the use of force when there is a threat to international peace and security, if it deems this necessary.  These powers are given to it by the UN Charter, which is considered an international treaty.  As such, it is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it.  The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.

Structure of the
United Nations

The main parts of the UN structure are the General Assembly, the
Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. All were established in 1945 when the UN was founded.

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. All 193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body with universal representation.

Security Council

The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members). Each Member has one vote. Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.

Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals.

Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter, under Chapter XIII, to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed under the administration of seven Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government and independence.

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of America).

Secretariat

The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization's other principal organs.

More about the structure of the United Nations

Learn more

General Assembly hall with the Secretary-General at the podium

The Essential UN

The United Nations is the only place on Earth where all the world's nations come together to discuss common problems and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity. Learn about the main areas of the UN’s activities; how it makes a difference to the world’s people; and how every citizen can get involved and make a contribution. 

Climate Change

Climate change is the defining issue of our time and now is the defining moment to do something about it. There is still time to tackle climate change, but it will require an unprecedented effort from all sectors of society.

Women at UN CSW63 Side Event - “Take the Hot Seat”. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Gender Equality

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. Gender equality, besides being a fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is greeted on his visit to the Central African Republic

Ending Poverty

While global poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 2000, one in ten people in developing regions still lives on less than US$1.90 a day — the internationally agreed poverty line, and millions of others live on slightly more than this daily amount.

Watch and Listen

Video and audio from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

A decade of change, big dreams realized

In Bahrain, retired civil servant Eman Fareed turned her love for sweets into a business with help from Kaaf Humanitarian, showing how grassroots support can drive self-reliance and Sustainable Development Goals.

Learning through the rubble

After losing her family to war, Sondos finds hope and strength through UNRWA training, continuing her education despite crisis.    

Safe care, right from the start

On World Patient Safety Day, Amiya’s story highlights why children need specialized, safe, and collaborative health care from day one.

UN Podcasts

Group photo with a large assembly of women, children and men outdoors surrounded by trees and fragile homes some seated on a UNICEF banner

Working for peace in the DR Congo, with Vivian van de Perre (AAN S11-E5)

“It's tragic and it's unimaginable, but at the same time, people live their lives and they do the best they can, and they remain generous and warm, despite the circumstances that they live in. You go to these places and you see the worst and you see the best, and it's all in one package, and it is just something that really, really touches you. It's not like a regular job.”

Vivian van de Perre’s calling is to help nations transition from conflict to peace. Now the deputy head of peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), she leads a life-saving operation in the rebel-held city of Goma.

A recent peace accord has raised hopes of an end to the violence that has plagued eastern DRC for the past three decades. In this episode, recorded before the peace agreement, Vivian van de Perre reflects on the impact of funding cuts on active war zones, on peacekeeping as a delicate balancing act, and shares why she falls for every place she serves.

Photo: ©United Nations/MONUSCO

Latest Audio from UN News

The United Nations in Pictures

Images from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

child hanging off electrical wire as other children look on
Photo:OCHA/Ismael Abu Dayyah

Gaza through the eyes of its photographers

“I took this picture at the border, on my first day in Rafah, after having fled Khan-Younis. I saw children swinging on electrical wires. They seemed happy, and it shocked me. The electricity wires themselves had been rendered dead like so many things; at least it provided this happiness.” - Ismael Abu Dayyah 

In 2024, OCHA worked with 16 photojournalists in Gaza on an exhibition to each share a photo through their lens of a moment they wanted the world to never forget. On 24 August 2025, one of these photojournalists, Mariam Abu Dagga, was killed in a strike on Nasser hospital.  We are republishing this photo gallery in her honor, and in solidarity with all those – journalists, humanitarians, other civilians – caught in Gaza’s nightmare and risking their lives to show the world what is happening.

"We share these images with the outside world, hoping to convey the reality of our experiences. Yet, we understand that those who view our work may never fully comprehend the depth of our pain, the constant threat to our safety, and the psychological toll of living amidst conflict and uncertainty."- Mohammed Zaanoun

 

smiling female agricultural workers on a road
Photo:UNOPS

Breathing new life into rural communities in southern Madagascar

In Madagascar, over 80 per cent of the population lives on agriculture. But in some areas of the country, farmers face struggles getting sufficient water for crops while difficult road conditions make it hard to transport goods and access services.

Combined, both problems hamper socio-economic development.

The Inclusive Agricultural Value Chains Development Programme – which UNOPS is implementing in collaboration with the government of Madagascar in two rural regions, with financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development – is buidling new roads and solar-powered pumping stations to jumpstart agricultural development.

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