News

In mid-November, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) hosted a summit in Nairobi, Kenya to rally the political will and financial commitments urgently needed to implement the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) adopted

Philip Beale, Yuri Sanada and a crew of about 10 people have embarked on an expedition to prove the possibility of the Phoenicians as the first ancient sailors to have reached the Americas over 2,000 years before Christopher Columbus.

Over the past few months, a series of air pollution episodes have set new records across Asia. Earlier this summer, hundreds of people were evacuated, and schools had to be closed due to poor air quality in many parts of Indonesia, during a crisis that made the skies over the region turn red. More recently, air quality levels have worsened in India creating public outcry with dire consequences for large swaths of society.

Go into any beauty store and you will see shelves full of products that promise to fix every problem with your appearance that you didn’t realize you had. Is your hair too oily or too dry? There’s a shampoo for that. Got flaky skin? Take this exfoliator. Is your skin discoloured? Use this colour-correcting foundation or check out this blusher.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has won an award from the Group on Earth Observations’ Earth Observation for Sustainable Development Goals Initiative and the Group on Earth Observations’ Sustainable Development Goals Awards Panel for its “remarkable efforts to integrate Earth observation data into a global methodology to enable the official monitoring and reporting of

It is well known that peatlands matter for livelihoods, carbon storage, flood mitigation, and water quality, but a recent study has shown that peatlands also matter for human health.

One of the most threatened yet overlooked ecosystems on Earth, seagrass could have a promising future thanks to its ability to absorb carbon.

The Interamerican Scout Region and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) team up to reward young people who drastically reduce their plastic footprint. Scouts in the region will undertake the Clean Seas Badge Challenge to reduce single-use plastics. Young leaders will inspire their families, schools and communities to change their consumption habits. Panama City, 01 November 2019 -

Over half the world’s people live in cities. As more and more people move into cities from rural areas a number of environmental and social challenges arise, including overcrowding in slum areas, poor sanitation and air pollution.

The tiny island of Sylt, a United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage site, has been hosting the world windsurfing championship since 1984 along its 40 km, low-lying coast that makes for ideal windsurfing conditions.

Without nitrogen, most of the world’s crops wouldn’t exist. Nitrogen is to corn, wheat and rice, what water is to fish. Yearly, more than 100 million tonnes of nitrogen are applied to crops in the form of fertilizer, helping them grow stronger and better. But issues arise when nitrogen run-off occurs, polluting air, water and land in the process.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment Programme publish first annual New Plastics Economy Global Commitment progress report Companies set out actions to eliminate problematic plastic packaging, and increase the use of recycled plastic in packaging by more than five-fold by 2025 Unilever, Mars, Incorporated, and PepsiCo announce significant reductions in virgin plastic use by 2025 More businesses and gove

A biological remediation pilot project seeking to enhance nature’s own ability to clear up oil spills in Iraq’s conflict-affected areas has been launched in Kirkuk by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the state-owned North Oil Company and the Ministry of Health and Environment, and facilitation support from the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq.

An interview with UN Environment Programme’s peatlands expert Dianna Kopansky

A Q&A with Nitrogen expert Mark Sutton of the United Kingdom Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Waste is money. At least that’s what Mark Sutton of the United Kindgom Centre for Ecology & Hydrology wants policymakers to understand. Sutton, who has studied nitrogen pollution for more than three decades, is convinced that there is a way to harvest emitted nitrogen to be reused by farmers as nitrogen fertilizer.

The environmental interest in nitrogen (N2), an essential component of the air we breathe, focuses on the conversion of N2 into other chemically reactive forms. Some are vital for life itself and some cause costly and dangerous nitrogen pollution.

Air pollution affects us all to some degree. Whether we live in highly polluted cities or the countryside, there is no escaping the impact dirty air has on our bodies and—as is now becoming apparent—our minds. Seven million people die every year from breathing unclean air.

On this World Mental Health Day, we draw attention to the relationship between mental health and the environment. 

Chugging engines, smoking chimneys and thick ambient smog. Air pollution is directly responsible for up to one in five premature deaths in 19 Western Balkan cities, suggest preliminary results from a report led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Insurance payments for restoring a coral reef after it has been smashed by a hurricane may seem a bit far-fetched. Nevertheless, this is one of a raft of measures being proposed for the world’s second largest reef.

Industrial legacy has left behind carcinogens such as chromium and cobalt Project to monitor soil pollution identifies 14 priority industrial sites for remediation First-ever nationwide effort to improve sustainable land management in the Republic of Serbia Belgrade, 7 October 2019 – Fourteen former industrial sites have been shortlisted for remediation under the first-ever nationwide effor

A new UN Environment Programme report shows how waste management is closely linked to gender inequality “Women can’t be truck drivers because it is dirty work. How would she cook for her family in the evening with dirty hands?”

The global transport sector accounts for almost one quarter of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, and this proportion is rising.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage site, is one of the most iconic coral reefs. But it’s in serious trouble due to bleaching: a new Australian Government report has officially downgraded the reef’s outlook from poor to very poor.

New York, September 22, 2019 – A meeting of ministers and high-level representatives of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) today agreed to accelerate efforts to significantly reduce short-lived climate pollutants by the end of the next decade in order to put the world on a “pathway that rapidly reduces warming in the near term and maximizes development, health, environmental, and food security benefits”.