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Sonia Gómez has spent her entire life around agriculture. She grew up on her parents’ plantation in the fertile mountains of Costa Rica before opening her own organic farm several years ago. But that experience did little to prepare her for what has become a dire threat to her business: climate change.

The United Nations Environment Programme is working with San Salvador city and its surrounding coffee farms to create a natural defence against floods. Known as CityAdapt, the project is restoring 1,150 hectares of forests and coffee plantations to revive San Salvador’s ability to absorb rainfall.

At the start of the 20th century, German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed a method for taking nitrogen from the air and melding it with hydrogen. It would prove to be one of the great scientific advances of the century.

Combined, the two elements made liquid ammonia, a key ingredient in synthetic fertilizers, which would drive an unprecedented agricultural expansion and help feed a fast-growing world.

Rice is a staple for more than 3.5 billion people, including most of the world’s poor. But it can be a problematic crop to farm. It requires massive amounts of water and the paddies in which it grows emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Nairobi/Baghdad, 21 September 2020 – The Government of Iraq, in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), has launched a process to develop a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) to build the country’s resilience to climate change.

Published today,  a new report, Shaping the Trend of Our Time, by the UN Economist Network, analyses five global megatrends - climate change; demographic shifts, especially population ageing; urbanization; digital technologies; and inequalities –that ar

World-renowned adventurer Will Gadd is having a rethink about his ice-climbing career and carbon footprint after discovering that his planned ascent of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro was no longer possible due to the extensive shrinking of its glaciers.

For the International Day for South-South Cooperation on 12 September, we follow a pioneering, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)-supported project that’s using nature to adapt to climate change in three ecosystems – the coasts of Seychelles, the mountains of Nepal and the deserts of Mauritania.

Every year, the world generates more than two billion tonnes of trash.  Even against the backdrop of a global pandemic, there is much being bought and sold, things are used and discarded.

New climate data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicts that the annual mean global temperature is likely to be at least 1.0°C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) in each of the coming five years (2020-2024) and there is a 20 per cent chance that it will exceed 1.5°C in at least one year

Accra, 02 July 2020 - The Government of Ghana has launched the process to develop a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) in efforts to build nationwide resilience to climate change impacts. The project is the first of its kind in Ghana to use future climate projections to plan over large timescales, up to the year 2080.

Healthy ecosystems can reduce the negative impacts of climate change. For instance, coastal habitats like mangroves provide natural flood defences, well-protected lakes retain water sources during droughts, and healthy forests reduce the risk of devastating wildfires. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is an approach that uses these ecosystem services as part of a holistic adaptation strategy.

With reports suggesting COVID-19 could spark food shortages around the world, food systems experts and United Nations officials say countries must increase the resilience of their agricultural systems.

When Albert Pati moved closer to the sea to open a beach bar overlooking the Mediterranean in Albania, he never imagined that the sea would also be moving closer to him, now eroding the soil around his restaurant floor.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS), such as the Caribbean Island of Grenada, face a double exposure to external economic and environmental shocks.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his recent report on the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 that governments should not respond to the COVID-19 crisis by making policy and investment decisions that exacerbate existing crises

Most of us spend a large chunk of our lives in one building or another, but have you ever stopped to consider the greenhouse gases linked to the construction of these buildings?

One way to reduce greenhouse gases is the use of recycled and more environmentally friendly building materials.

 Interview with Richard Munang, United Nations Environment Programme expert on climate and Africa

Durban, 3 February 2020 - Representatives from 22 African cities are visiting Durban to receive training on a pioneering initiative that matches real-world challenges in cities with local university students.

Nairobi, 21 January 2020 - The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are jointly launching the Global Fund for Ecosystem-based Adaptation [2020-2024], which aims to provide targeted and rapid support mechanisms through seed capital for innovative approaches to ecosystem-based adaptation.

NOTE: This story was originally posted in December 2019. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, all dates below have been changed or are subject to change.