Environmental issues and sustainable development

In Sri Lanka, the World Food Programme (WFP) is launching its emergency response in the country amid the escalating food crisis.  WFP is working to provide life-saving food, cash and voucher assistance to 3 million of the most vulnerable people who can no longer meet their food needs due to the economic crisis there.

Almost one third of the food insecure South Sudanese that the World Food Programme (WFP) planned to support in 2022 will be without humanitarian food assistance due to funding shortages.  WFP said that the suspension of aid comes as South Sudan faces a year of unprecedented hunger.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the sixth Austrian World Summit, in Vienna, today:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today released new data showing that while reported numbers of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe are fewer than in 2015, journeys are becoming more fatal.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for World Oceans Day, observed on 8 June:

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called for urgent humanitarian action in 20 hunger hotspots, where food insecurity is likely to deteriorate in the next three months.

STOCKHOLM, 3 June — A green economic transformation that diversifies foodways and creates sustainability jobs is crucial, experts and activists from around the world emphasized, as they gave their clear-eyed assessments of the opportunities and perils of pandemic recovery in a leadership dialogue alongside the “Stockholm+50” international meeting.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for World Environment Day, observed on 5 June:

STOCKHOLM, 3 June — Financing for environmental action must be massively scaled up, diversified and quickly disbursed if countries are to stand a chance in reversing the business and policy trends that have long degraded their natural ecosystems, delegates said today during the third and last leadership dialogue held alongside the Stockholm+50 international meeting.

STOCKHOLM, 3 June — The international community must urgently transition from unsustainable patterns of consumption and production to circular economic models that promote reusability and reduce waste, speakers stressed as the Stockholm+50 international meeting concluded today, also expressing support for a binding international treaty on plastic pollution.