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Delhi, 12 February 2021 – India’s Bihar State will pursue a climate resilient and low-carbon development pathway with the support of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the two entities announced today. UNEP will provide an array of support for the state’s climate goals, including through advocacy, developing climate analyses and supporting its government’s capacity to handle climate-related issues.

• What does it take to be a United Nations worker in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous locations?
• How are health workers, humanitarians and peacekeepers racing to protect the most vulnerable populations from the threat of the COVID-19 virus?
• Stationed in remote locations and far from family, how are they coping themselves?

These are some of the questions that the

Nairobi, 26 January 2021 - Climate litigation cases have spiked in recent years, making the courtroom increasingly relevant to efforts to address climate change around the world.

Implementation of nature-based solutions has been growing.

According to the report, cutting greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the impacts and costs associated with climate change. Achieving the 2°C target of the Paris Agreement could limit losses in annual growth to up to 1.6 per cent, compared to 2.2 per cent for the 3°C trajectory. While the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to hit the ability of countries to adapt to climate change, investing in adaptation is a sound economic decision.

• Almost three-quarters of nations have some adaptation plans in place, but financing and implementation fall far short of what is needed
• Annual adaptation costs in developing countries are estimated at USD 70 billion.

For our “Ask a Scientist” video series, Valerie Kapos, answers some of the most commonly asked questions on adaptation.

Planning for adaptation is progressing, although nature-based solutions are lagging. As temperatures rise and climate change impacts intensify, nations must urgently step up action to adapt to the new climate reality or face serious costs, damages and losses, the 2020 edition of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Adaptation Gap Report finds. 

Finance for nature-based solutions should be strengthened and diversified. As temperatures rise and climate change impacts intensify, nations must urgently step up action to adapt to the new climate reality or face serious costs, damages and losses, the 2020 edition of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Adaptation Gap Report finds.   

State of the Planet is a podcast produced and developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

UNEP is the leading environmental authority in the United Nations system. Our work focuses on climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, sustainable development and other issues affecting the planet.

2020 was not only the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the year of intensifying climate change: high temperatures, floods, droughts, storms, wildfires and even locust plagues. Even more worryingly, the world is heading for at least a 3°C temperature rise this century.

Date and time: 12 December 2020 - 09:00 ET / 17:00 EAT

With many people around the world in COVID-19 lockdowns, International Mountain Day on 11 December might be the perfect moment to escape on a journey of discovery to the mountains. Mountains are a hugely important refuge for biodiversity – the theme for this year’s Day.

When it comes to the environment, the United Nations and its affiliates are walking the talk, according to a new report.

Despite a dip in greenhouse gas emissions from the COVID-19 economic slowdown, the world is still heading for a catastrophic temperature rise above 3°C this century – far beyond the goals of the Paris Agreement.

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