Climate and Environment

Where Is Brazil as the UN Marks Its 75th Anniversary?

• August 12, 2020

RIO DE JANEIRO — This year marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. Amid the major economic and geopolitical effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is a time to reflect on the successes and failures of the UN system, Brazil’s role in its story and what needs to be done to improve the …

Climate and Environment, Governance, Human Rights, Latin America, World Bank

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THIS WEEK @UN

Climate Change Risks, Israel-Palestine Covid-19 Crisis, UN’s Partial Reopening

Allison Lecce

• July 24, 2020

The Security Council held a climate change and security debate, led by Germany, nearly 10 years since the first and last time the Council met on this specific issue and agreed to a presidential statement on it. The Dominican Republic also led a meeting on climate change in January 2019. Although no resolution was …

Climate and Environment, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

The UN’s 75th Birthday: A Critical Chance for the Globe to Save Itself

Giovanna Kuele

• July 22, 2020

As consensus was finally achieved on July 7, a final draft of the UN-75 political declaration has been approved and is expected to be adopted by world leaders on Sept. 21 at United Nations headquarters through virtual means. Given the political climate, the declaration is concise, clear, forward-looking and inspiring. But it is not …

Climate and Environment, Covid-19

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THIS WEEK @UN

US Severs Ties to the WHO, Security Council Vetoes, Counterterrorism Week

Allison Lecce

• July 10, 2020

In a final straw to the current troubles between the World Health Organization and the United States, the Trump administration notified United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on July 6 of its withdrawal from the agency, effective July 6, 2021. But the story may not be over, as Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, tweeted: …

Climate and Environment, General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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UN75

The UN-75 Declaration, a Daring Commitment for a More Perfect World

Richard Ponzio and Cristina Petcu

• June 23, 2020

On the heels of the 1930s Great Depression and in the midst of global turmoil — World War II — leaders from the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom gathered in 1944 at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., to consider a new postwar international architecture to succeed …

Climate and Environment, Governance, Secretary-General, UN75

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COVID-19

Where the Pandemic, the Environment and Gender Equality Meet: In Inger Andersen’s Home Office

Nate Bernard

• April 22, 2020

Inger Andersen is closing in on her first year as executive director of the United Nations Environment Program just as the Covid-19 crisis upends her agency’s work while also underscoring its critical need. “Never before have the mandate, mission and objectives of UNEP been more in focus,” she said in a recent interview, adding, …

Climate and Environment, Covid-19

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The UN Moves Toward ‘Climate Neutrality,’ but Is It Fast Enough?

Fiona Shukri

• February 18, 2020

The United Nations system has instituted some important changes toward becoming what it calls climate neutral. Some employees and former employees, however, think the UN could be doing much more to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint globally and to be a stronger role model in mitigating climate change. After all, Secretary-General António Guterres recently …

Climate and Environment, Secretary-General

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Why US Voters Shy Away From Global Topics: New Surveys Emerge

Barbara Crossette

• December 15, 2019

If people beyond North America are puzzled if public-opinion polls in the world’s most powerful country draw blanks from voters when asked about international affairs, two new surveys offer explanations. Schools and the Internet are prime suspects, many voters reveal when they say they don’t know enough to make informed opinions. Such an admission …

Climate and Environment, US Foreign Relations

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Airlines Counter Flight Shaming By Lobbying for More Outside Investments

Sonah Lee-Lassiter

• October 30, 2019

Before the teenage activist Greta Thunberg made headlines with her scathing speech at this year’s United Nations Climate Action Summit, she crossed the Atlantic Ocean by sailboat and entered New York Harbor in lower Manhattan. “I have, since a few years, stopped flying because of the enormous impact aviation has on the climate,” she …

Climate and Environment

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At the UN’s Major Climate Event, Greta Thunberg Asks, ‘How Dare You?’

Sonah Lee-Lassiter

• September 23, 2019

The United Nations Climate Action Summit kicked off in New York with powerfully direct statements by Secretary-General António Guterres and several youths invited to speak in a panel set up in the vast General Assembly Hall. They faced an audience of national leaders gathered from across the world at a conference that was not …

Climate and Environment

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By Using an Overseas Territory, France Tries to Save the Amazon

Stéphanie Fillion

• September 23, 2019

President Emmanuel Macron of France is using one of its overseas territory and a former colony, French Guyana, to reinforce France’s intervention in the region to save the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon. The move by France reflects its increasing efforts to expand its influence internationally in highly visible ways. That includes trying to …

Climate and Environment

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Women Leaders to Watch at the UN’s Big Meet

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• September 15, 2019

Men will dominate the podium during much of the United Nations General Assembly but, as Abigail Adams urged her husband and other founding fathers of the United States in 1776, “remember the ladies.” This is advice that the UN needs to be reminded of — just as the opening session begins, on Sept. 17. Women …

Climate and Environment, General Assembly, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The UN Headquarters Says Adiós to Single-Use Plastic

Kacie Candela

• August 27, 2019

People who regularly work or visit the United Nations headquarters in New York have surely noticed something new in the cafeteria this summer: no more single-use plastic, not even for takeout. The change also means that only metal cutlery is available at the condiment stations and the straws are now paper (plastic ones are …

Climate and Environment

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Strongmen to Kick Off the UN General Assembly Session in September

Stéphanie Fillion

• August 14, 2019

Donald Trump will shake hands with Emmanuel Macron, Jair Bolsonaro and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. But will Benjamin Netanyahu; Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel be there, too? The 74th opening debate of the United Nations General Assembly, which starts on Sept.17 and ends on Sept. 30; the general debate begins on Sept. 24. With most …

Climate and Environment, General Assembly, US-UN Relations

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The Climate Is on the Loose, Especially in Rotterdam

Jeroen Spangenberg

• August 12, 2019

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands — Record heat waves have crippled a number of cities this summer, one most visibly the Netherlands’ second largest, Rotterdam. Experts point to climate change. According to new data widely reported from the World Meteorological Organization and Copernicus Climate Change Program, July equaled if not surpassed the hottest month in recorded …