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PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA, SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT VOLKAN BOZKIR United Nations Headquarters, New York 9 February 2021 LACK OF ACCESS TO HYGIENE & SANITATION DURING PANDEMIC IS “UNFATHOMABLE”, PRESIDENT TELLS WATER GROUP This morning, the President delivered remarks to a virtual meeting of the Group of Friends on Water, which is…

We live in an interconnected world, a fact that has never been as clear as it is now, during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are very few issues that can be considered simply ‘health problems’, as nearly every aspect of life is connected to other societal, economic and environmental issues. That is why the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is “a plan of action for people, planet and…

After returning home from college to northwest Cameroon in 2004, Tabi Joda felt a sense of profound loss. Trees that once bore fruit, provided medicine, and created shade had been cut down. Rich soils had turned to dust. “The land I used to know as a forest was no longer a forest,” he recalls. Joda, a business consultant, got to work, calling on what he’d learned in school and from local…

With the COVID-19 pandemic exposing social and economic inequalities rooted in racism, discrimination and xenophobia, recovery must lead to more inclusive societies, the UN Secretary-General told Member States on Thursday. António Guterres was among leaders addressing a Special Meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to investigate the links between structural racism,…

IBADAN and MEXICO CITY, Feb 17 2021 (IPS) - 17 February – African smallholder farmers have no choice but to adapt to climate change: 2020 was the second hottest year on record, while prolonged droughts and explosive floods are directly threatening the livelihoods of millions. By the 2030s, lack of rainfall and rising temperatures could render 40 percent of Africa’s maize-growing area unsuitable…

Without nature’s help, “we will not thrive or even survive”, the UN chief said on Thursday, launching a major report on the environment. “For too long, we have been waging a senseless and suicidal war on nature. The result is three interlinked environmental crises”, Secretary-General António Guterres told a virtual press briefing on the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, Making Peace…