In progress at UNHQ

Environmental issues and sustainable development


Following explosions in Beirut on 4 August, the United Nations is requesting $565 million to help Lebanon move towards recovery and reconstruction.  Peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are also donating blood and have joined the “#UN4Beirut” initiative to clean up devastated city streets.

In Sudan’s Khartoum state — where food security has deteriorated due to inflation and economic decline — the World Food Programme (WFP) launched its first programme providing nutritional support to 175,000 pregnant and nursing women and children under five.  Precautions are in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

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.

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.