United Nations

UN Seeks Massive Infusion of Sustainability Funding

August 31, 2016

President-elect of the UN General Assembly, Peter Thomson, called on governments to "be creative in mobilizing finance," in the amount of $5 to $7 trillion per year, toward fulfilling the UN's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals and transforming the global financial system to promote the organization's social and environmental agenda.
Key Details Remain Unresolved in UN Climate Deal

August 31, 2016

As the UN climate deal agreed in Paris last year nears the threshold of signatures required to enter into force, an article on the website Climate Home makes clear that several key details of the agreement, including how the review mechanism of national climate plans will work and how much support poor countries will receive to counter global warming, must still be negotiated.
UN Peacekeepers Refuse to Intervene in South Sudan Attack

August 31, 2016

The Guardian reports that UN peacekeeping forces refused to intervene in an attack by South Sudanese forces on a hotel complex less than a mile from their operations center that included assaults and rapes of foreigners and aid workers and the execution of a local journalist.
UN Agents Seek Rights-Based Conservation

August 30, 2016

Arguing that "a healthy ecosystem is important for the full enjoyment of a wide range of human rights," two UN human rights mandate holders have issued a statement calling for countries to base their policies on biodiversity and environmental conservation on the global human rights agenda.
UNICEF Group Criticizes Australian Asylum Policy

August 30, 2016

Citing reports of ill treatment of asylum seekers by Australian authorities on the island of Nauru, the UN Children's Fund ("UNICEF") Australia has called on the Australian Government to reform its immigration laws to provide for a "legitimate resettlement plan" that will permanently settle an increased number of asylum seekers in the country.
UNEP, Norway Sign Cooperation Agreement

August 30, 2016

The UN Environment Programme has announced that it has signed a new agreement with the Government of Norway to cooperate on issues related to the UN's sustainable development and environmental agendas.
Countries Target Climate Deal Ratification in 2016

August 29, 2016

Karl Mathiesen writes that a sufficient number of countries have agreed to ratify the UN climate deal, agreed in Paris late last year, to ensure that the deal enters into force by the end of 2016.
Schaefer: US Should Freeze UN Funding in Gaza

August 29, 2016

Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation writes that, as Israel moves forward with charges against a contractor of the UN Development Programme for diverting aid funding to terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the US should deny further funding of UN efforts in the region until the organization shows no funds are going to Hamas.
Editorial Pushes More Global Aid on Climate Change

August 26, 2016

An editorial in The New York Times calls on rich countries to ramp up their funding promises from a 2009 UN climate summit in Copenhagen to build infrastructure in poor countries to help them resist and adapt to the ongoing impacts of global warming.
UN Deal Spurs City Climate Reporting

August 26, 2016

Reuters reports that the number of cities around the world participating in a climate change data reporting initiative run by environmental group CDP has spiked since the conclusion of a UN deal on greenhouse gas emissions in Paris late last year.