Environmental issues and sustainable development

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video remarks to the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) event on making climate action count, held today:

Responding to the violent clashes in Beirut today, Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, condemned the use of armed violence outside of State authority and underscored the need for restraint, maintaining calm and stability and ensuring the protection of civilians.

United Nations officials in Mali welcomed the Government’s pledge to reintegrate 13,000 former combatants by the end of 2021 and additional 13,000 within the next three years.  They also praised willingness of the Malian parties to proceed with the socioeconomic reintegration of ex-combatants that are already registered.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary‑General Amina J. Mohammed’s video message to the high-level plenary on Data for Accountability to the People at the United Nations World Data Forum 2021, held in Bern, Switzerland, from 3 to 6 October:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary‑General Amina J. Mohammed’s remarks at the TED countdown, in Edinburgh today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video remarks to the sixth ministerial meeting of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, held today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message to the Leaders Summit of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, in Kunming, China, and online, virtually, today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message for the European Union Sustainable Investment Summit, held virtually today:

In northern Syria, a reported 5 million people lack reliable access to and suffer from insufficient levels of safe water due to low water levels and disruptions to water systems.  The United Nations and aid partners have released a plan to target 3.4 million of those most affected by the water crisis in the next six months.

In Afghanistan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that its first aircraft carrying life‑saving medical supplies arrived yesterday in Kabul through the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations Airbridge.  It will cover the needs of 100,000 children and women for the next three months.