UN body agrees framework to make trade work for global south
The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) wrapped with agreement on a 4-year framework, largely focused on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mount Kenya conquered in name of SDG awareness
To bring attention to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change signing ceremony on 22 April, a team from the United Nations Information Centre in Nairobi set off to climb Mount Kenya, where glaciers are rapidly diminishing.
Displaced people need more opportunities, Ban says at camp in DR Congo
"We have to do much more to protect human dignity and human rights of women and girls to save them, to protect them from sexual violence," Mr. Ban said.
Visiting drought-hit region of Ethiopia, Ban urges support
The international community must stand with the people of Ethiopia [...]
Funding shortfall threatens UN efforts to counter drought in southern Africa
With 14 million people facing hunger in southern Africa as the El Niño weather pattern exacerbates drought, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that it faces critical funding challenges.
World Bank unveils $16 billion business plan to boost climate resilience, adaptation in Africa
Noting the significant impact climatic activities have on African people and countries, the World Bank Group announced today a new plan outlining actions required to increase climate resilience and low-carbon development in an effort to maintain the continent’s current and protect future growth and poverty reduction goals.
On Africa Industrialization Day, Ban warns gender inequity, youth unemployment risk continent’s progress
Marking the Africa Industrialization Day, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is calling for job creation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for women and youth to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable industrial development on the continent.
Ban lauds steps taken for Africa’s long-term development agenda
Africa Week 2015 kicked off at Headquarters Monday with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commending African Member States of the United Nations for taking an “important step” this year toward the establishment of a Continental Free Trade Area envisioned in the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Africa moves a step closer to polio eradication, but more work to be done – UN
Africa has made great strides towards eradicating polio but the job remains to be finished through strengthened immunization campaigns and surveillance measures, according to the United Nations.
UN health agency welcomes European regulators’ initial green light on malaria vaccine
The World Health Organization today welcomed a major regulatory hurdle cleared by a malaria vaccine, saying it expects to make a policy recommendation later this year on its use in the context of an overall panoply of public health tools for combatting the disease which kills one African child a minute.
Financing for Africa’s Transformation- by Carlos Lopes and Amina J. Mohammed
As the race to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) draws to a close, the momentum will only intensify as the baton passes to the post-2015 development agenda.
Forecasting positive 2015 world crop prospects, UN agency warns of food insecurity ‘hotspots’
Favorable worldwide conditions for cereal crops will lead to better-than-expected production this growing season at the global level, today said the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
UN and regional leaders launch effort to put Ebola-affected West Africa on path to recovery
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today focused world attention on the “final stretch” of the response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, an epidemic that has killed more than 11,000 people.
At academic event, UN officials spotlight data and technology as key to sustainability
The importance of quality data and cutting edge information communication technologies (ICTs) is increasingly critical to the shaping of the future sustainable development agenda, the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) confirmed today.
Robert Redford urges youth to join battle against climate change before it is too late
“Only by acting now and standing together behind a universal climate agreement can we live up to the UN’s founding promise. Only by acting now and standing together can we achieve the results we need in the time we have left. Only by acting now and standing together can we tip the scales and change the course of history.”
Despite gains, 2.4 billion people worldwide still lack basic sanitation – UN report
United Nations agencies tracking access to water and sanitation targets against the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) warned today that the lack of progress on sanitation threatens to undermine the child survival and health benefits from gains in access to safe drinking water.
Better science needed to guide policy decisions for sustainable development – UN report
A new United Nations flagship report launched today finds that solutions to the challenges to people and planet must build on clear scientific findings in order to be sustainable.
New UN study calls for major surge in AIDS treatment to avoid ‘catastrophic’ resurgence of HIV
The world risks a deadly AIDS rebound unless the countries most affected by the virus expand access to antiretroviral treatments and boost their focus on stopping new infections, a new United Nations report has warned.