Environmental issues and sustainable development

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the World Bank board meeting on progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in New York today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message on the Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, in New York today:

United Nations teams in Brazil, Colombia and Peru issued a joint statement calling for increased COVID-19 pandemic-related support and response efforts in the Amazon region.  The pandemic is impacting hundreds of thousands of indigenous people, including 170,000 people living in remote areas along the Amazon River.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to Tsinghua University:  “Global Lecture on Climate Change — Recover Better Together”, in New York today:

The World Health Organization warned today of the threat that COVID-19 poses to health workers across Africa, with more than 10,000 in 40 countries having been infected with the virus so far.  The warning comes as COVID-19 cases in Africa appear to be gathering pace, with more than 750,000 cases and over 15,000 deaths.

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. 

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed’s remarks on the “SDG Moment”, in New York today:

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.

War-torn Yemen and the wider Red Sea region face an environmental catastrophe of epic proportions if United Nations experts fail to get swift access to the ageing — and now leaking — offshore oil storage vessel FSO Safer, briefers warned during a 15 July videoconference meeting of the Security Council.