Environmental issues and sustainable development

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, observed on 16 September:

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ press conference, held in New York today:

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the High‑Level Dialogue of the Americas on Climate Action, held today:

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has declared an outbreak of meningitis in Tshopo Province, in the country’s north-east, with some 261 suspected cases, including 129 deaths.  National health authorities have deployed an initial emergency team and efforts are under way to quickly ramp up the response.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Global Centre on Adaptation’s high-level dialogue on “Adaptation Acceleration Imperative for COP26”, in Rotterdam, Netherlands today:

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that, in September, it started delivering emergency relief food assistance to communities in regions bordering war-torn Tigray.  According to WFP, across Ethiopia, more than 13.6 million people are estimated to be food insecure due to a number of factors.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, observed today:

The Office for Children and Armed Conflict says the United Nations and the Plateforme coalition of armed movements in Mali signed new action plans by which the latter committed to release all child recruits, end military use of schools, and guarantee unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to all children.

Weather-related disasters have risen five-fold since 1970, killing $2 million people, mostly in developing countries, and causing $3.64 trillion in losses, the World Meteorological Organization reported today.  However, the number of deaths fell significantly thanks to better early warning systems and disaster management.

At least 527 civilians were killed, injured, abducted or just disappeared, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) says in its quarterly report on trends in human rights violations and abuses, an overall increase of more than 25 per cent from the first quarter.