Development

Progress in protecting the world’s forests — and the people who rely on them — is at risk due to the devastating impacts of the coronavirus and the escalating climate and biodiversity crises, according to a new report released today by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Courtenay Rattray of Jamaica as High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.  He will succeed Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu of Tonga, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedication and commitment to the United Nations.

The first members of the International Organization for Migration’s emergency response team arrived in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines today to deliver essential shelter and emergency items to thousands of people forcibly displaced after the eruption of La Soufrière volcano.

Facing challenging virtual negotiations and a history of gridlock, the Economic and Social Council’s Commission on Population and Development marked a major achievement today as it adopted its first consensus outcome document in five years, at the conclusion of its fifty-fourth session, with delegates praising the timely focus on links between food security, nutrition, sustainable development and the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

Population experts from the United Nations and Governments around the globe explored populating ageing and other emerging demographic trends, and weighed innovative ways to collect and use data, as the Economic and Social Council’s Commission on Population and Development continued its annual session today.

Following the recommendation of the Secretary-General, after consultation with Member States, the General Assembly confirmed Achim Steiner of Germany as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a further four-year term of office beginning on 17 June.

Public health researchers examined links between the planet’s rapidly evolving food systems, emerging social trends and access to healthy, nutritious human diets, as the Economic and Social Council’s Commission on Population and Development continued into the third day of its annual session.

Experts today outlined innovative approaches to transform global food systems — assuring that an end to hunger can be within reach — as the Economic and Social Council’s Commission on Population and Development opened the second day of its annual session.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks to the twenty-second inter-agency consultative group meeting of the United Nations system and international organizations on the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020, today:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohamed’s opening remarks at the fifty-fourth session of the Commission on Population and Development, held today: