Central America

UNDP announced the winners of the eleventh Equator Prize, recognizing indigenous communities that create innovative, nature-based solutions to biodiversity loss and climate change.  They are from Canada, Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico and Thailand.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

In Bangladesh, the United Nations and partners have bolstered the response to COVID-19 in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar following the first confirmed case there, amid serious concerns that the virus could severely impact the densely populated settlements, which shelter some 860,000 refugees.

The Food and Agriculture Organization launched a $7.1 million project supported by the Global Environment Facility to make forest data more accessible, transparent and available.  The project aims to help developing countries to meet the Paris Climate Agreement's enhanced transparency requirements, and will benefit 26 targeted countries.

In Central America, subsistence farmers and some larger-scale farming operations in “the Dry Corridor” have lost 50 to 75 per cent of their crops due to irregular weather conditions, including high temperatures, below average rain and long dry spells.  The 2018 drought affected more than 2 million people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery by Jens Wandel, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Reforms, at the opening ceremony of the third edition of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, in Santiago today:

The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is providing logistical support and the World Health Organization is sending medical supplies and expertise to the Ministry of Health and its partners to facilitate ground operations in response to the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu Province.

In a report published today, the United Nations Human Rights Office and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya say violence continues to have a devastating impact on health care in the country with hospitals and other medical facilities bombed, shelled and looted; medical personnel targeted; and patients attacked.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message, delivered by Miroslav Jenca, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Salvadorian Peace Accords, in New York today:

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Benito Andión of Mexico as his Special Envoy to facilitate dialogue in El Salvador.  The new facilitator has the mandate to facilitate dialogue among Salvadorians and to address the key challenges affecting their country.