Environmental issues and sustainable development

The Acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine today condemned the deadly attack on Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast on 9 July. Reports are that a municipal dormitory for vulnerable people was hit, killing at least 34 civilians, including a child. Another nine people were rescued from the debris and are now hospitalized.

The voices of the truly marginalized must be incorporated into public policymaking, the high-level political forum on sustainable development heard today during its consideration of the role of civil society in post COVID-19 recovery and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the high-level political forum side-event titled “Transforming Learning for a Better Future:  Education for Sustainable Development”, in New York today:

The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide is in Bosnia and Herzegovina on an official visit to participate in events to commemorate the twenty-seventh anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide

​​​​​​​With agricultural expansion driving 90 per cent of global forest loss and risk of species extinction growing at an unprecedented rate, speakers in the high-level political forum on sustainable development today called for rebalancing the relationship between humans and nature, exploring ways to better protect terrestrial ecosystems, biodiversity and land resources on a large, impactful scale.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers on strengthening multilateralism, in Bali, Indonesia, today:

Calls to achieve gender equality and preserve the ocean’s vast marine resources dominated the high-level political forum on sustainable development today, as delegates explored the myriad policy, legal, financial and environmental reforms needed to jump-start a holistic transformation of their countries emerging from the COVID-19 crisis, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and create a world that supports all people.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the Economic and Social Council’s high-level political forum on sustainable development’s side event on education, in New York today:

Temporary school closures during the COVID-19 crisis left 1.6 billion children unable to learn — 91 per cent of students worldwide — including nearly 369 million who rely on school meals for daily nutrition, speakers in the high-level political forum on sustainable development stressed today, as they called for the wholesale transformation of education systems towards those that place student needs at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In Sri Lanka, the World Food Programme (WFP) today said that 3 in 10 households are food insecure, according to its latest food security assessment.  Food inflation is alarmingly high.  This month there was a 57 per cent increase in food prices, which has crippled the population’s ability to put food on the table.