“The challenges are many and they are serious”, Amina Mohammed said, highlighting the plight of the planet. “Almost all our indicators on the climate and ecological crises are pointing in the wrong direction.” She praised China’s role in being an innovator and believer in the power of multilateralism to overcome...
“The effects of climate change are becoming more severe, and the number of people displaced across international borders is rapidly increasing,” said Ian Fry, independent human rights expert on climate change, who took up the new post last year. “In 2020 alone, 30.7 million people were displaced from their homes...
“It is troubling to see Tunisia, a country that once held so much hope, regressing and losing the human rights gains of the last decade,” Mr. Türk said, urging the country to “change course”. The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said that over the past three months, the Tunisian authorities...
WMO latest State of the Global Climate report shows that the last eight years were the eight warmest on record, and that sea level rise and ocean warming hit new highs. Record levels of greenhouse gases caused “planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere”. The...
Women farmers in Sudan are being encouraged to take a more active role in their communities. The livelihood of many farming families is under threat due to the cumulative effects of conflict, economic and political instability, coupled with increased water consumption from population growth and agricultural development; climate change is...
The WMO initiative would create a network of ground-based measurement stations that can verify worrying air quality data that’s been flagged by satellites or airplanes, potentially in the next five years. “At present, there is no comprehensive, timely international exchange of surface and space-based greenhouse gas observations,” the UN agency said, as it...
“The map is under threat (from cholera) everywhere,” said Dr. Philippe Barboza, from the World Health Organization, speaking in Geneva, via Zoom. Available data points to cases of infection in around 30 countries, whereas in the previous five years, fewer than 20 countries reported infections, on average. Reversing recent successes “The...
These systems are critical to maintaining the quality, nutritional value and safety of food, especially as an estimated 14 per cent of all food produced for human consumption is lost before it even reaches consumers. The increased investment is also required if the world is to meet the challenge of...
This sentiment echoed through dozens of pavilions and conference rooms in Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday as COP27 turned its attention to the vital issues of adaptation, agriculture and food systems in the context of climate change. “We need to help rural populations build their resilience to extreme weather events and...
“Today a new era begins – and we begin to do things differently. Paris gave us the agreement. Katowice and Glasgow gave us the plan. Sharm el-Sheik shifts us to implementation. No one can be a mere passenger on this journey. This is the signal that times have changed,” Mr....
The study gives the example of Dhaka, Bangladesh, where under a scenario of very high emissions by 2100, additional deaths due to climate change could rise to nearly twice the country’s current annual death rate from all cancers, and 10 times its annual road traffic fatalities. “Because of human action,...
The top rights official has written an open letter calling for human rights to be at the heart of efforts to tackle climate change. “The outcome of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference – COP27 – starting this weekend in Egypt, is critical for people’s effective enjoyment of human rights around the...