The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a report today saying that the demand for sand has led to pollution, flooding, drought, beach erosion and reduced deposits in river deltas. With global demands at 40-50 billion tonnes a year, UNEP warned that sand is being used faster than it can be replenished.
Libya
Around 1 million species are threatened with extinction as nature declines at unprecedented rates, a global assessment launched today by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services warns, listing amphibians, corals and marine mammals as among the most threatened.
In Libya, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ghassan Salamé, continues his outreach to interlocutors, meeting with Government officials, a group of elders and tribal leaders to offer the United Nations full support to help thousands of civilians affected by heavy fighting in southern Tripoli.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says most Ebola response activities have been relaunched in Butembo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province following a slowdown caused by the attack that left Cameroonian doctor Richard Valéry Mouzoko dead and two other people injured.
Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed grave concern today that thousands of civilians remain stranded in conflict-affected areas of Tripoli. She stressed in a statement the urgent need to create safe humanitarian corridors for trapped civilians, for an immediate ceasefire and for resumed talks.
Responding to record flood levels in Iran, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the country, Ugochi Daniels, today asked the donor community for $25 million to cover the emergency and early recovery needs of 115,000 highly vulnerable people in the most hard-hit Provinces of Golestan, Khuzestan, Ilam and Lorestan.
The United Nations refugee agency said today it is deeply concerned about the fate of at least 21 Venezuelans missing after their boat sank yesterday morning on the way to Trinidad and Tobago. It was carrying at least 25 people, and the Trinidad and Tobago authorities said four were rescued.
This week is World Immunization Week, and UNICEF is highlighting the dangers of the global rise in measles cases. Executive Director Henrietta Fore said today: “If we are serious about averting the spread of this dangerous but preventable disease, we need to vaccinate every child, in rich and poor countries alike.”
High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet today strongly condemned the beheading of 37 men in Saudi Arabia, most of them Shi’a Muslims, despite the repeated appeals by the United Nations about the lack of due process and fair trial guarantees. She appealed to the authorities to halt pending executions.
The World Health Organization today welcomed the launch of the world’s first malaria vaccine. It will be made available in Malawi, followed by Ghana and Kenya, through a pilot programme aimed at reaching 360,000 children under the age of 2 every year.