Climate and Environment

Australia: Groundbreaking decision creates pathway for climate justice on Torres Strait Islands

The UN Human Rights Committee found on Friday that Australia’s failure to adequately protect indigenous Torres Islanders against climate change impacts, has violated their rights to enjoy their culture, free from “arbitrary interference” with their private life, family and home.

Canada braces for Hurricane Fiona after a week of lashing wind and rain in Caribbean

After lashing parts of Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands with 140 kilometres-per-hour winds, Hurricane Fiona is expected to make landfall in Canada late Friday and Saturday, the UN said.

 

Least developed countries impacted by ‘range of interlinked crises’ – Assembly President

The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ukraine war and rising costs are ‘severely and disproportionately affecting’ Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the President of the UN General Assembly told their annual ministerial meeting on Thursday.

Renewable energy jobs rise by 700,000 in a year, to nearly 13 million

Worldwide employment in the renewable energy sector reached 12.7 million last year, a jump of 700,000 new jobs in just 12 months, despite the lingering effects of COVID-19 and the growing energy crisis, according to a new report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in collaboration with the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO).

1.5 degree climate pledge ‘on life support’, Guterres tells leaders during frank exchanges

During a private meeting of Heads of State and Government, held on Wednesday at UN Headquarters in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for more action and leadership to tackle the climate crisis, warning that efforts to keep the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels is “on life support”.

Yemen: Marking ‘significant milestone’, UN says stricken tanker salvage operation can begin

The salvage of the ageing supertanker FSO Safer, off the Yemeni coast, can now begin, the UN said on Wednesday, after it announced that more than $75 million has been pledged to carry out the vital operation.

Famine looms in Somalia, but many ‘hunger hotspots’ are in deep trouble

The number of people facing life-threatening levels of hunger worldwide without immediate humanitarian aid, is expected to rise steeply in coming weeks, the UN said on Wednesday, in a new alert about looming famine in the Horn of Africa and beyond.

Irrational war on drugs, destruction of the Amazon, expose humanity’s failures, Colombia’s Petro tells UN

During his first speech at the General Assembly as the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro said that the world’s addiction to money, oil and carbon is destroying the rainforest and its people under the excuse of a “hypocritical” war against drugs.

Pakistan floods: Six month wait for water to recede, warn relief agencies

Millions of people in Pakistan are still deeply affected by catastrophic flooding which “is not going anywhere”, UN relief agencies said on Tuesday.

Guterres: ‘Global addiction to fossil fuels’ must end and a ‘renewables revolution’ jumpstarted

Achieving a just and equitable energy transition is “one of the biggest challenges facing our world,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Global Compact Board meeting on Sunday.