A new report by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) underscores the need to cut global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 in order to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. By contrast, recent data reveal that emissions are currently on track to increase by 16 per cent over 2010 levels by that date.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today that 18 months into the coronavirus pandemic, schools for nearly 77 million students in six countries remain completely closed. According to UNICEF, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Panama are among the countries that kept schools closed the longest.
The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) announced today a decision by the Secretariat to repatriate all Gabonese military units, effective immediately, following credible reports of sexual abuse by Gabon’s contingent deployed to the Mission.
Ahead of the historic Food Systems Summit on 23 September, the Secretary-General emphasized the moral imperative of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, stressing that a well-functioning food system can help prevent conflict, protect the environment and provide health and livelihoods for all. “In food, there is hope,” he said.
The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it will be forced to suspend food aid delivery to more than 100,000 displaced people in parts of South Sudan, beginning in October, due to funding shortfalls. It warned that further cuts may be inevitable if an additional $154 million is not raised in the next four months.
Food insecurity in Somalia is set to increase until the end of 2021 due to the impacts of poor rainfall and continued insecurity, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today. FAO said approximately 1.2 million children under the age of five are likely to be acutely malnourished during that period.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has declared an outbreak of meningitis in Tshopo Province, in the country’s north-east, with some 261 suspected cases, including 129 deaths. National health authorities have deployed an initial emergency team and efforts are under way to quickly ramp up the response.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said that, in September, it started delivering emergency relief food assistance to communities in regions bordering war-torn Tigray. According to WFP, across Ethiopia, more than 13.6 million people are estimated to be food insecure due to a number of factors.
About 540,000 children in the area impacted by last month’s earthquake in Haiti now face the possibility that water-borne diseases will re-emerge, UNICEF warns. The agency is working with Haitian authorities and civil society partners to improve access to water and sanitation, with the aim of reaching 500,000 people.
The Office for Children and Armed Conflict says the United Nations and the Plateforme coalition of armed movements in Mali signed new action plans by which the latter committed to release all child recruits, end military use of schools, and guarantee unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to all children.