Environmental issues and sustainable development

The World Meteorological Organization reports that the recent heatwave in Canada and the United States had major impacts on people, animals and vegetation, and that so many records were broken in June regarding high temperatures worldwide that it was hard to keep track.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Berlin Forum on Chemicals and Sustainability, today:

Long-term social protection measures must replace temporary COVID-19 pandemic responses to help countries regain traction towards realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, delegates and panel experts said today, as the high-level political forum moved into the second day of its two-week session.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is warning today that, without urgent funding, the displacement crisis in the north of Mozambique could become a hunger emergency.  Displacement has left at least 730,000 people in Cabo Delgado without access to their land and no means of earning a living.

Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating socioeconomic consequences must not leave anyone behind, speakers told the high-level political forum on sustainable development as it opened its 2021 session today.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Austria World Summit, held today:

The Ministerial Forums for the High-Level Dialogue on Energy ended today, with commitments announced by India’s major power supplier, NTPC; Power Africa pledging to the electrification of more health centres; and Student Energy aiming to mobilize $150 million to train 35,000 young energy leaders in 100 countries.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the fifth United Nations Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters:  “Building Back Better towards a More Resilient and Sustainable Post-COVID-19 World”, in Brussels today:

In Myanmar, the United Nations team remains very concerned about the humanitarian situation.  Some 230,000 people have been forced to flee their home due to clashes between the military and ethnic armed groups, or among ethnic armed groups, since the military takeover of the Government on 1 February.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the side event on climate change and green growth at the fifty-sixth annual meeting of the African Development Bank today: