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To stave off a climate catastrophe, the world needs to cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gasses by 50 per cent within the decade.

For many, ambitious targets such as this can induce a sense of dread and paralysis.

As the sun sets in central Zambia, orange rays reflect across the Lukanga Swamp, a vast wetland spanning 2,600 km².

A watery path cuts through the swamp’s reeds and purple water lilies, where dugout canoes pass daily, ferrying fishers to and from their floating camps. Among them is John Chisela, one of more than 6 million people who rely on the wetlands – and the surrounding forests – for food, firewood and income.

In November 2021, scientists at the Famine Early Warning System Network sent out a warning that an unprecedented drought in the Horn of Africa was imminent if poor seasonal rainfall continued into 2022. Tragically, their prediction is turning out to be prescient. 

New documentary with UNEP Mountain Advocate Malcolm Wood shows the drastic loss of ice worldwide 

Geneva, Switzerland, 22 March 2022 – UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Mountain Advocate Malcolm Wood features in a unique new documentary released today, shining a spotlight on how the world’s water towers are being lost due to climate change.  

In the past three weeks, tens of thousands of Australians have had to evacuate their homes after devastating floods struck the eastern part of the country.

Some regions experienced their worst flooding in decades, as torrential rain submerged residential areas, cut power lines and caused reservoirs to swell past the bursting point, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in damage.

Whether it’s Europe, the Australian coast or the rainforests of Brazil, unrestrained wildfires – shrouded by black smoke and punctuated by the crackle of burning vegetation – have laid waste to some of the world’s most-iconic landscapes in recent years.

These blazes, directly and indirectly, impact millions of people and myriad habitats globally – and they’re becoming more common.

International Women’s Day on 08 March, offers an opportunity to call for climate action for women, by women – as the world comes together under the theme ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.’

Five decades ago in an opera house in Stockholm Sweden, world leaders opened discussions that would lead to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Since that meeting on 5 June 1972, UNEP has become the world's leading advocate for nature, using science, diplomacy and public outreach to counter a range of threats, from pollution to climate change.

On a chilly December day in 1972, the United Nations General Assembly passed what is formally known as UN-Resolution 2997.

It would be the last step in the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – an organisation conceived to spearhead a global effort to minimize humanity's footprint on the planet.

The flaring gas and smoke that bellow into the sky from Iraq’s southern oil fields are visible from miles away. 

Not only is the flaring unsightly but it is an environmental hazard, releasing black carbon, which is linked to air pollution, respiratory disease, and emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Wetlands are some of the planet’s most important ecosystems. They’re a haven for wildlife, they filter pollution and they’re important stores of carbon.

“Growth rooted in extracting from our planet – and our people – came at a cost,” says UNEP Goodwill Ambassador, Don Cheadle, as he narrates the history of how the climate crisis began and how everyone can look towards the future with hope.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – the atmospheric gases responsible for causing global warming and climatic change – are critical to understanding and addressing the climate crisis.

Last week, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed the highest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic, 38C, on 20 June 2020. This warming is causing previously permanently frozen permafrost below ground to thaw.

To most people, fins, masks and neoprene wetsuits are recreational gear. But to the non-profit group Sea Women of Melanesia, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, they are the tools of change.

Delegates at the recent UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties COP26 in Glasgow would have found it hard to ignore Scotland’s stunning scenery: dense woodlands, dark lochs and sweeping mountain ranges. But it was the peatlands that perhaps captured their attention the most, not only for their iconic beauty but for the role they can play in combatting climate change.

Antananarivo, 25 November 2021 - Parties to the Nairobi Convention for the Protection, Management, and Development of the Coastal and Marine Environment of the Eastern Africa region (Nairobi Convention) concluded the 10^th Conference of Parties (COP10) today with new ac