Environmental issues and sustainable development

The UN and its humanitarian partners, in support of the authorities in Niger, have released this year’s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. It calls for $674 million to support 2 million people in the country, where insecurity, forced displacement and climate shocks have left 3 million people in need of aid.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime today released an analysis showing illegal waste flows are causing economic, public-health and environmental damage, especially in low-income countries. It found that organized crime groups and corporations are involved in waste crime estimated to be worth billions of dollars.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for World Wildlife Day, observed on 3 March:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for urgent funding to scale up life-saving aid in Burundi. The country is under intensifying humanitarian pressure as it hosts over 90,000 refugees who have escaped conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the past three months.

On the humanitarian front in Sudan, a UN convoy carrying supplies for more than 130,000 people has reached the cities of Dilling and Kadugli in South Kordofan State after weeks of delays due to high levels of insecurity along the route.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the International Energy Agency (IEA) Ministerial Meeting, in Paris today:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the sixth World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum, in Manama, Bahrain, today:

In Ethiopia, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights today urged all parties to take urgent steps towards de-escalation, warning that recent fighting in Tigray risks deepening the human rights crisis in the country’s north.

In Somalia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that severe drought conditions continue to displace people across the country. According to authorities and UN agencies, nearly half a million people have now abandoned their homes since September 2025.

In support of the Lebanese Armed Forces, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) conducted four-day coordinated activities with Lebanese Army personnel to enhance operational readiness and joint capabilities, including foot and vehicle patrols, checkpoints and equipment use.