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The Mexican city of Xalapa is surrounded by ecosystems that not only harbor stunning flora and fauna, but also provide crucial services to the city and its 580,000 people.

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.

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have pockets of food insecurity. These can appear and develop for many reasons. And in some cases, simple nature-based solutions can make a significant difference to people’s lives.

In early 2019, The United Nations General Assembly declared 2021–2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Young people came out in force at September’s Global Landscape Forum in New York City.

When twenty-year-old Louise Mabulo and her family geared up to celebrate Christmas Eve in 2016, little did they know of the devastation about to hit.

In the early hours, the Philippines was rocked by Typhoon Nock-ten, the strongest Christmas Day tropical cyclone worldwide. It left 11,000 people stranded without electricity or food supplies and killed 11 more. 

As hurricane season bears down on many people and communities this month, one of the key factors linked to increasing severity of a storm’s impacts—sea level rise—sees new predictions emerge for “worst-case scenarios”.

Mathematicians and scientists calculate likely and possible outcomes based on probabilities, with computers able to crunch ever larger volumes of data to come up with more accurate predictions.

With the launch of a major report by the Global Commission on Adaptation on 10 September 2019, we follow the story of an environmental hero from the Seychelles and their quest to adapt by harnessing the power of trees. #AdaptOurWorld

When 27-year-old Peter Moll was young, his grandmother told him tales of the landscape and animals. From the semi-nomadic Maasai indigenous community in Kenya, his upbringing was closely tied to the environment.

But then he learned about deforestation, poaching, resource extraction and pollution. With environmental conservation rooted in his heritage, he felt compelled to act.

As scorching temperatures continue to break records across Europe, unprecedented wildfires break out in the Arctic, and polar sea ice cover drops—again—to an all-time low, never before has the climate crisis been so palpable, for so many people.

When 26-year-old Peter Sänger and 34-year-old Liang Wu got together, they realized right away that they had something in common. Both firm advocates in the fight against air pollution, they believe that if you can’t measure it, you can’t beat it.    

When a proven ecosystem restoration method also helps reduce poverty and build economic resilience, governments will often back them as a win-win solution.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme

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.

Buying carbon credits in exchange for a clean conscience while you carry on flying, buying diesel cars and powering your homes with fossil fuels is being challenged by people concerned about climate change.

People in the coastal districts of the eastern Indian state of Odisha are increasingly suffering from the effects of climate change. Most households in the area are dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods from fishing, forest foraging and paddy cultivation.

Between March and April 2019, two devastating cyclones hit the coast of Mozambique. Only six weeks apart, tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth killed hundreds of people and left 1.85 million more stranded with no homes, food, water or basic infrastructure.

“Supposing doesn’t fill the grain basket; if doesn’t fill the larder.” This African proverb sends an equivocal message—to see a change, we must act.

Afghanistan is home to a vast number of rugged, snow-capped mountain ranges. But instability and conflict still disrupt daily life, and the Taliban maintain their grip on at least 60 per cent of the country.  

Leyla Acaroglu was 19 years old when, sitting in her first design lecture, she heard something that would change the way she saw the world forever.

Burundi, Chad and Sudan are home to some of the world’s largest displaced populations and vulnerable communities.

Burundi’s Gitega Province, which has one of the country’s highest population densities, hosts several thousands of people in refugee settlements and camps. About 96 per cent of families use fuelwood as a primary energy source for cooking.

Beira, one of Mozambique’s oldest cities and the country’s fourth largest, is in ordinary times a spectacular port city overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Founded in the 19th Century by the Portuguese, the city’s landscape is dotted with buildings which evoke memories of colonial architecture in the world’s second largest Lusophone country.

“You are stealing our future.”

When Swedish 16-year-old Greta Thunberg first spoke out, she was alone. On Friday, 15 March 2019, she was joined by thousands of young people around the world, as demonstrations gathered momentum in the Belgium, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and beyond.

They are speaking out and their voices are thundering: “Act now!” 

Many people across the world, including schoolchildren, are demanding bolder action on climate change by governments, businesses and investors. There are tremendous opportunities here to “think beyond, solve different,” transform our economies, and change the way we live.

‘Seawater is coming into our farms and killing the plants’

The water from the wells in Kisakasaka used to be so salty that it would turn people’s teeth yellow. Children, no matter how thirsty, would often refuse to drink. But with no other water source in this farming village near Zanzibar’s capital Stone Town, around 1,000 residents were forced to drink increasingly salty water that gave them headaches and nausea.