UN Day on 24 October marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter. Over the last 75 years, our understanding of environmental issues has advanced and has been accompanied by increasing international efforts to protect the planet on which we depend. Explore some of…

International institutions have a crucial role to play in safeguarding local and indigenous communities. At the United Nations Environment Programme, we’re helping to enhance protections for environmental defenders and, through technical and legal assistance, making it easier for them to lobby for change. We’re doing this in collaboration with civil…

Ready, steady, action! Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many across the world are figuring out how to move forward with day-to-day activities as the plans to address the health, socio-economic and recovery issues take shape. But nature, now more than ever, needs us to pay attention to its warning signals…

Chloe Harvey, Director, The Reef-World Foundation Global awareness of the threats faced by our oceans — with a particular focus on plastic pollution — has skyrocketed in recent years and new research continues to be published on the topic. For example, in March 2019 the UN Environment launched three reports…

Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment There is something in the air. I am not talking about pollution or greenhouse gas emissions. I am talking about the change humanity needs to address these and other environmental challenges, which have placed our planet and societies in imminent peril. We can all…

Siang Hee Tan, Executive Director, Croplife Asia Did you know that US$575 billion worth of annual global food production relies directly on pollinators? Species like bees, butterflies, birds, moths, beetles, and even bats, help plants reproduce. It is estimated that pollinators can increase farmers’ yields by 24 per cent on…

Oli Brown This post originally appeared on Oli Brown’s blog. As I write, delegates are starting to arrive in Nairobi for the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA). The Assembly starts in earnest on Monday 11thMarch and will run for five hectic days of meetings, side events and late-night negotiator huddles…

Dipesh Pabari One of the things I love most about being Kenyan is our “can-do” attitude. Everyone hustles daily to bring their dreams to life. To make it here, you need ingenuity, resilience and innovation. And those are exactly the qualities we called upon when we decided to build a…

Jean-Michel Dumond & Gary Lewis “Farmers always think with their eyes,” goes the saying. For communities living according to when, or whether, the rains come, it is practical solutions — not words — that count. Practicality certainly counts in Darfur, a region of Sudan where reduced rainfall has produced a…