News

Samarkand, 3 June 2026 – The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved a new project to safeguard socio-economic activities and promote sustainable land management through nature-based solutions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

Costa Rica is stepping up efforts to tackle mercury pollution in artisanal and small-scale gold mining through the launch of the US$ 41.5 million planetGOLD Costa Rica, a five-year initiative funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the project is led nationally by the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), together with the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM).

“When we are diving and fishing, we find a lot of fish stuck—turtles, crabs, all stuck inside the plastic,” says fisherman Sir Sinho from Salvador, Bahia.

Along Brazil’s extensive coastline, fishing, tourism and marine life exist side by side. In Bahia, one of the country’s most ecologically rich coastal regions, the ocean supports local livelihoods while reflecting the imprint of everyday choices made on land.

Early in the morning, before the heat becomes unbearable, Phillip Williamson hacks his way through dense scrubland, surrounded by swarms of mosquitoes. He cuts tangles of vines and carefully avoids rash-inducing leaves.

In the rural community of El Mora in Turrialba, Costa Rica, a long-standing commitment to collective water stewardship has laid the foundation for an innovative transformation. Known for its organised community water system and strong culture of conservation, El Mora is now demonstrating how local leadership can drive regional progress through the UNEP and IADB–led, GEF-funded and Cartagena Convention-executed  CReW+ project.

Cambodia’s coastal landscape is a mosaic of vital ecosystems: mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, and wetlands. These habitats are the lifeblood of the region, providing food security and livelihoods for millions; protecting them is central to the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand Large Marine Ecosystems (LME).

The indigenous communities of Yaxley, San Antonio Segundo, and Yodzonot Nuevo share not only the scenic beauty of Mexico's Caribbean coast, its customs, and way of life, but they have also experienced common challenges in water and sanitation. Paradoxically, water surrounds them; their proximity to the ocean and the Sian Ka'an reserve contrasts with the lack of water for everyday use, a common element of daily life.

Santiago, 3rd July 2025- The Government of Chile has launched the Net-Zero Nature-Positive Accelerator Programme, a four-year, USD 5.3 million initiative aimed at accelerating climate action and reversing nature loss.

When passengers step out of the arrivals’ terminal at Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaría International Airport, there’s a chance they’ll be greeted by what is a rare sight in Central America: an electric taxi. 

The bright red sedans—of which there are six—whir passengers to the nearby Costa Rican capital, San Jose, and other parts of the country.   

Miriam Abarca is standing on a wooden platform overlooking the Cahuil Lagoon, a small, salty pine-fringed body of water on Chile’s central coast. In the distance, birds weave through waist-high reeds and tourists paddle a rowboat over the lagoon’s placid surface. 

In San Ramón, Bolivia - an area known for its biodiversity and tropical climate - the planetGOLD project is partnering with women miners to provide training in gastronomy, helping them to incorporate cooking businesses as an alternative source of income for themselves and their families. The course is grounded in the Manq'a approach of using locally sourced ingredients.

Monterrey, 20 November 2024.- Mexico's Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) is joining forces with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other partners in a new project to eliminate the use of mercury in the chloralkali sector to protect human health and the environment while promoting sustainable industrial practices.

In June 2020, Tropical Storm Amanda descended on El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador. Gale-force winds and torrential rains triggered more than 150 landslides and 20 major floods, tearing apart roads, electrical lines and almost 30,000 homes.

Set amid the rapidly growing city of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, is a small commercial garden run by the community group the Abilities Foundation. Neat rows of fruits and vegetables line the plot, which helps fund vocational training for students with special needs.  

My grandfather would routinely remove debris from the water’s surface and unclog the outlet as part of maintenance for ensuring an unrestricted flow of surface water, which would later be treated and stored by the water utility. This impressed upon me the value of environmental protection and conservation for supporting vibrant ecosystems and keeping good surface water quality.

The city of Xalapa, Mexico is bordered by more than 5,300 hectares of mountain forest, a sprawling green sponge that soaks up rainwater and slowly, predictably, releases it to residents downstream.

At least, it used to.

As the sun rises across Mexico’s Sierra Gorda nature reserve, a golden light illuminates its nearly 400,000 hectares of mountains, gorges and valleys.

Set amid this vast wilderness is the Bucareli mercury mine.

Just after dawn, a metal door to the mine opens. The morning’s silence is broken by the dull sound of a generator and workers traipsing to their posts.

The Caribbean island of Barbuda still bears the battle scars of its most brutal encounter with climate change. In 2017, Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 leviathan of unprecedented power, roared across its pristine turquoise waters.

The island’s only storm shelter collapsed, with 300 people hiding inside. Around 95 per cent of Barbuda’s buildings were wrecked, including homes, schools and critical infrastructure.

A few dozen kilometres inland from northern Panama’s coast is the Hato Chami school.

Set amid winding roads, green trees and stunning mountains, it has more than 1,000 pupils, most of whom hail from one of Panama’s largest indigenous groups, the Ngäbe.

Colombia, Jamaica and Panamá have joined forces to reduce plastic pollution from coastal and urban environments Plastic waste harms human health and the environment, releasing toxic persistent organic pollutants if improperly managed $42-million initiative will support a holistic approach to improve circularity at city level 

Panamá City, 15 August 2023 – The Gove

Rosa Cordero, who is diabetic, remembers a time when she couldn’t store her insulin safely. Her refrigerator was old and unreliable, and she never knew if the temperature was cool enough to store the drug.

From record-breaking storms to floods and fires, perhaps more than any year before it, 2021 has underlined the position of our cities as frontlines in the global struggle to rebalance our relationship with nature.

On January 20, 2021, the day of the inauguration of American president Joe Biden, two ducks named “Joe” and “Kamala” took flight from a remote wetland near Negril, Jamaica. And, like their namesakes, the fowl will be the focus of international attention.

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.

For World Cities Day on 31st October, we follow the story of how the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is working with San Salvador city and its surrounding coffee farms to create a ‘natural’ defence against floods.