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Ancient forests. Snow-capped mountain peaks. And towering waterfalls cascading down rocky slopes. China’s Shennongjia National Park is the stuff of legends, providing inspiration to thousands of years of Chinese poets, artists and authors.

It’s also home to one of the world’s most elusive primates, the endangered golden snub-nosed monkey, who spends winters in large groups of mostly males deep in the mountain forests of Asia.

The world is in the midst of a climate emergency, with growing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions endangering human and environmental health.

It’s 9 a.m. and the rural district of Mount Airy in central Jamaica is already sweltering. As cars trundle along the region’s unpaved roads, chocolate-brown dust clouds burst from behind their back wheels. 

In May 2022, global leaders are meeting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire for the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

In Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, one of Africa’s fastest growing cities, families come to enjoy the scenic coastline along Barack Obama Drive, gazing out into the vast Indian Ocean.

This piece was originally published on 16 December 2021 and the latest update is based on UNEP's ActNow Speak Up! campaign.

From Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to the highlands of Armenia, the climate crisis is being increasingly felt in vulnerable mountain environments. Amplified warming at higher elevations, changing precipitation patterns and intensified natural hazards are adding substantially to development challenges.   

Energy security is in the spotlight as many countries seek to reduce their reliance on foreign fossil fuels due to rising fuel prices spiked by the war in Ukraine, and the resulting geopolitical uncertainty.

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.