Urgent action is needed to safeguard the biodiversity of the world’s forests amid alarming rates of deforestation and degradation, according to The State of the World’s Forests. The report, produced by FAO and UNEP, shows that conservation of the world’s biodiversity is dependent on the way we interact with the world’s forests. The COVID-19 crisis has thrown into focus the importance of sustainably using nature and recognizing the link between the ecosystem’s and people’s health.
UNEP
UNEP reports on chronic bee paralysis, a viral disease of honeybees. It can cause rare, but severe, symptoms, including colony loss. Trade in honeybees has increased its prevalence.
A celebration of the incredible biodiversity in the national parks of Colombia, the host of World Environment Day 2020. Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries on Earth, home to over 51,000 species.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is stepping up its work on mapping zoonotic threat and protecting the environment to reduce the risk of future pandemics, such as the COVID-19 crisis.
UNEP presents the new video showing the delicate relationship between humans, wildlife and the pathogens that circulate among them, in the context of COVID-19.
An unprecedented coalition launches “Earth School,” providing free, high-quality educational content to help students, parents and teachers who are currently at home.
If the world has seen a scary future with the emergence of COVID-19, the future of our planet in a 3-4° C scenario takes us to an entirely different level of uncertainty, including in terms of health. UNEP understands that fundamental to a transformational and green recovery will be early action on a longer-term agenda to address climate change, avoid habitat loss and fragmentation, reverse the loss of biodiversity, reduce pollution and improve waste management and infrastructure.
While the coronavirus has been spreading around the world and dominating news headlines, UNEP asks climate action to remain urgent. Earth day is now more important than ever.
Nature is sending us another wake-up call with the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside Australian bushfires, broken heat records and the worst locust invasion in Kenya for 70 years. Our destruction of nature is hurting humanity. While our immediate priority must be to protect people from COVID-19 and prevent its spread, our long-term response must tackle climate change and biodiversity loss. To prevent further zoonotic disease outbreaks the destruction of nature for farming, mining and housing must end.
UNEP partner, Ocean Agency, invites parents and children to experience the ocean and its astounding life forms from their homes. Remote diving is the new remote working.
Both humans and great apes are susceptible to infectious diseases; and introducing human pathogens to the great ape population could result in catastrophic losses.
It may be difficult to occupy your children as you also work from home. Here are some ideas to engage your children to teach them about the plastic pollution problem.
Coral reef ecosystems cover just 0.1 per cent of the ocean, yet they support 25 per cent of its life and the lives of half a billion people on land. In the face of climate change and destructive human activities like overfishing and pollution, it is important to understand the interconnectedness of organisms. Protecting coral reefs means protecting the ocean’s variety of life, which in turn means protecting our own lives as well. Experience a coral reef through the eyes of a sea turtle to understand its unique role in maintaining nature’s balance.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat, and the Commonwealth Secretariat, in collaboration with several United Nations entities, have developed a law and climate change toolkit to promote climate-smart urbanization.
