News stories by Alison Kentish, page 7

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 09 (IPS) - Before the COVID-19 pandemic upended every sphere of life, the world was lagging on a goal to end hunger by 2030. According to the United Nations, more than 820 million people had already been categorised as food insecure, meaning they lacked access to reliable and sufficient amounts of affordable, healthy food.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 06 (IPS) - The world is facing rising hunger and food insecurity, biodiversity loss and the impacts of a changing climate. Experts are increasingly looking to agroecology for sustainable food production.

In three weeks, the United Nations will bring together farmers, scientists, policymakers and civil society for the last major event ahead of the September UN Food Systems Summit.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 23 (IPS) - One hundred and thirty countries have signed a statement recognising the efforts of health care workers, first responders and essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic – "one of the greatest global challenges in the history of the United Nations".

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 18 (IPS) - People with disabilities were particularly hard hit by the social and economic impacts of efforts to control COVID-19.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 17 (IPS) - In 1956, the Caribbean held its first major scientific meeting, organised by the Standing Advisory Committee for Medical Research in the British Caribbean. At the time, the Mayaro Virus, a dengue-like viral disease often called ‘jungle flu’ had just been identified as a new human disease agent by W.G Downs and G.H Wattley in Trinidad.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 16 (IPS) - Jun. 17 is World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Amid reports that half of the earth’s agricultural land is degraded, countries are reporting on progress to revive arable land and restore biodiversity and ecosystem functions.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told the first United Nations General Assembly meeting on desertification and drought in a decade, that his country’s report card will show it is well on track to meet its land restoration commitments.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 11 (IPS) - Earth is in the throes of multiple environmental crises, with climate change and the loss of biodiversity the most pressing.

The urgency to confront the two challenges has been marked by policies that tackle the issues separately.

Now, a report by a team of scientists has warned that success on either front is hinged on a combined approach to the dual crises.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 09 (IPS) - World leaders, those on the frontlines of the AIDS response, civil society, academics and youth have agreed that there is no way to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 without tackling persistent inequalities among marginalised groups.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 02 (IPS) - President of the United Nations General Assembly Volkan Bozkir has told a high-level debate on oceans that the world cannot afford to delay action on ocean protection. “There is simply no scenario wherein we live on a planet without an ocean,” he said.

UNITED NATIONS, May 28 (IPS) - Major Steplyne Buyaki Nyaboga of Kenya singles out the establishment of gender-responsive military patrols in farming communities in Central Darfur, Sudan as one of the proudest moments of her two-year mission with the African Union–United Nations Hybrid Operation (UNAMID).