Stepping up global efforts to combat land degradation is the only way to safeguard food and water security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ward against future threats to health and the environment, the UN General Assembly President told ambassadors meeting in New York on Monday. 

Due to the ever-increasing demands of the global economy, the resources of the planet are being used up at an alarming rate and waste and pollution are growing fast. The idea of a more sustainable “circular economy” is gaining traction, but what does this concept mean, and can it help save the planet?

Lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines should be considered “global public goods”, the UN chief told journalists on Friday, covering the G7 Summit of leading industrialized nations taking place in the United Kingdom.  

New research co-authored by the UN Global Compact revealed on Thursday that none of the G7 leading industrial nations’ main stock indices are aligned with global emissions targets set out in the Paris Agreement, thwarting efforts to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. 

A football club in the west of England has been recognized by the United Nations for its leading role in setting goals to tackle climate change, from planning a low-carbon stadium, to selling only 100 per cent vegan food. Ahead of the kick-off  of the delayed Euro 2020 football competition, owner and chairman, Dale Vince, told UN News that the club aims to be a beacon of sustainability in the sporting world

Ending the “war on nature” must be part of global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday in his message for World Oceans Day. 

Confirmation that Europe has just had its chilliest Spring in years is cold comfort for the planet, amid rising greenhouse gas levels which will bring negative impacts for generations to come, UN weather experts said on Tuesday.

During the last decade, more people around the world have gained access to electricity than ever before. However, the number still not connected has grown in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia, according to a new UN report on universal access to energy, launched on Monday. 

Heads of Government, religious leaders, activists and artists joined the United Nations on Friday in a rallying cry to heal the planet, launching the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. 

Amidst the triple environmental threat of biodiversity loss, climate disruption and escalating pollution, Secretary-General António Guterres launched “an unprecedented effort to heal the Earth”, on the eve of World Environment Day. 

An area of land roughly the size of China needs restoring if the planet’s biodiversity and the communities who rely on it are to be protected, UN agencies said on Thursday.

Climate change is making pests which ravage important agricultural crops even more destructive, heightening threats to global food security and the environment, a UN-backed study published on Wednesday has found. 

The world must harness “clear, transformative and actionable solutions” to address the ocean crisis, the President of the UN General Assembly said on Tuesday, opening a meeting to generate momentum towards the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, when public health safety measures allow. 

“Ghost fishing” occurs when abandoned fishing gear dumped in the ocean traps and kills fish or other underwater life, and it is causing devastation to marine environments, warns the UN food agency, FAO.

Speaking in a key international partnerships summit, António Guterres said that if governments embrace together the goals of phasing out coal, enhancing climate commitments, and investing in the Global Goals, there is an opportunity to rise to 'the biggest challenge of our lives'.

Australian biologist Sacha Dench has been nicknamed “the Human Swan”, in recognition of her record-breaking, 7,000 kilometre, paramotor (motorized paraglider) flight, tracking Bewick swans across 11 countries, from Arctic Russian to the UK. Ahead of International Day for Biological Diversity, Ms. Dench explains why a drastic shift is needed in the global economy, to save endangered wildlife.

Annual investments in nature-based solutions will have to triple by 2030, and increase four-fold by 2050, if the world is to successfully tackle the triple threat of climate, biodiversity and land degradation crises, according to a new UN-backed study published on Thursday. 

Odds are increasing that the annual average global temperature will rise beyond 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in at least one of the next five years, the UN weather agency warns in a new report issued on Thursday.

Countries are on track to miss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to environmental protection, two UN entities warn in new report issued on Saturday to coincide with the International Day for Biological Diversity. 

Swarm grids, an innovative technology designed to work with renewable energy sources, are bringing reliable electricity to some of the world’s poorest and remote regions for the first time, providing a major boost to the livelihoods of those who live there.

Humanity is “waging a war on nature”, threatening biodiversity loss, climate disruption and escalating pollution, the UN chief said on Friday. 

Although the world has made major progress toward a decade-long target for environmental protection areas, it has fallen far short on commitments regarding their quality, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners said in a report published on Wednesday. 

For Diarmuid Gavin, a renowned Irish gardener and TV personality, horticulture has a role to play in all contemporary affairs, from the Black Lives Matter Movement to the ongoing pandemic, because “everything is connected, and everything is political”.

The UN agriculture chief warned on Monday that severe underfunding of Africa’s agri-food sector has boosted food insecurity and was hampering the future development of countries across the continent. 

A sure sign of spring in northern Europe is the arrival of the Arctic tern bird, but ahead of the UN’s World Migratory Bird Day  experts fear the warming of the oceans in its nesting grounds in the northern Atlantic is threatening its very existence. 

Methane emissions caused by human activity can be reduced by up to 45 per cent this decade, thus helping to keep global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change, according to a UN-backed report published on Thursday. 

All countries should commit to zero carbon emissions by 2050 if the world is to avoid a disastrous 2.4 degree Celsius temperature rise by the end of this century, UN Secretary General António Guterres said on Thursday.

People working in the petroleum industry or living near petroleum facilities are at increased risk of developing several different cancer types, according to a new report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARCWHO), part of the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

The “three planetary crises” of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution are reinforcing each other and driving further damage to the environment and to our health, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Tuesday. 

Forests are at the core of our efforts to restore our relationship with the natural world, the deputy UN chief said on Monday at the UN Forum on Forests.