A UNICEF research brief published today warns that at least 40 million children around the world have missed out on early childhood education in their critical pre-school year as COVID-19 shuttered childcare and early education facilities. Lockdowns also left parents struggling to balance childcare and paid employment.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched today its Global Forest Resources Assessment report and its first online interactive platform containing detailed regional and global analyses of forests in 236 countries and territories, enabling the agency to better respond to deforestation and biodiversity loss.
Officials at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) say locust swarms linked to climate change remain a serious threat to food security in parts of East Africa, India and Pakistan. United Nations agencies are helping affected areas by providing data on weather, climate and the desert locust life cycle.
Severe flooding in Bangladesh is currently affecting some 1.4 million people, with United Nations agencies providing $5.2 million in early funding. In China, heavy rains have impacted more than 38 million people, while floods and landslides in Nepal have led to more than 100 deaths.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s 2020 Multidimensional Poverty Index reveals progress in tackling poverty before the onset of COVID-19, with 65 out of 75 countries showing significant reductions. However, experts warn the pandemic now threatens to set back development gains by up to 10 years.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund warned today that disruptions in the delivery and uptake of immunization services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is causing an alarming decline in the number of life-saving vaccines for children around the world, threatening hard-won progress.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome launched a new comprehensive COVID-19 response and recovery programme today, with the aim of preventing a global food emergency during and after the pandemic, while working on medium- to long-term development responses for food security and nutrition.
The local de facto authorities in Yemen have officially communicated to the United Nations their approval for a UN-led technical assessment and repair mission on board the oil tanker Safer off the coast of Ras Isa. The experts will advise on any remaining measures that would be needed to avoid a catastrophic oil spill.
Wildlife crime threatens both biodiversity and human health, according to a new United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report. It finds that many illegally trafficked animals may spread diseases to people, and the pangolin — a possible source of COVID-19 — remains the most trafficked mammal in the world.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme today jointly warned that funding shortages, conflict and disasters — as well as supply chain challenges, rising food prices and loss of income due to COVID-19 — threaten to leave millions of refugees across Africa without food.