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.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed today that a 71-year-old Rohingya man is the first refugee in the Cox’s Bazar camp to die from COVID-19 and some 30 other people have tested positive so far, yet the numbers are likely higher as testing is ramping up.
The Secretary-General welcomed the agreement between representatives of the Government of Venezuela and the Advisory Team of the National Assembly on responding to COVID-19. He encouraged parties to respect humanitarian principles in implementing the accord and to continue seeking common ground to overcome the protracted crisis.
Some 50 people died in three attacks in Burkina Faso’s northern regions — the Sahel, North, Centre-North and East — marking the deadliest violence since March, when 43 civilians were killed during two attacks on northern villages. Rising insecurity is making it difficult to reach the 2.2 million people in need of aid throughout the country.
An Ebola outbreak has been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s western Equateur province. The health ministry has identified six cases, including four people who have died. The World Health Organization has staff in Mbandaka, the main city impacted by the outbreak, to support the response.
The twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will now take place from 1-12 November 2021, in Glasgow. United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said that if done right, recovery from the COVID-19 crisis can foster a more inclusive climate path.
More than one in six young people have stopped working since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said today. The latest ILO analysis of coronavirus’s impact on the labour market notes that those youth who remain employed have seen their working hours cut by 23 per cent.
The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Global Vaccine Alliance, warned today that COVID-19 is disrupting routine vaccination efforts around the world, putting about 80 million children under the age of one at risk of diseases including diphtheria, measles and polio.
The Secretary-General’s annual report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict has been released. Covering 2019, it documents the death and injury of tens of thousands; the displacement of millions; as well as widespread reports of sexual violence, noting children were forced to take part in fighting.
Global human development — which is the combined measure of the world’s education, health and living standards — is set to decline this year for the first time since 1990, when the concept was first developed, the United Nations Development Programme reported today, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a determining factor.