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Women Sweep UN’s 2021 Champions of the Earth Awards

NAIROBI, Kenya, December 23, 2021 (ENS) – Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has been awarded the 2021 Champions of the Earth Award, the United Nations’ highest environmental honor, for her policy leadership. Mottley heads the first entirely female selection of awardees; others were recognized for their work on coral bleaching in the Pacific, protecting wildlife health in Uganda, and entrepreurship in Kyrgystan. […]

Gov/Politics

Youth Urgency Influenced COP26 Climate Negotiations

GLASGOW, Scotland, November 15, 2021 (ENS) – Young people have long fought at the forefront of social justice movements and environmental justice is no exception. Youth roles in the battle against climate change were highlighted throughout the COP26 climate summit, and in particular, during a panel discussion among young climate leaders. […]

Latest News

Invaluable: Waters Clean Enough to Drink

NEW YORK, New York, March 22, 2021 (ENS) – Clean drinkable water is rare and precious. Of the waters that cover 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, roughly 97 percent is the salt water of the oceans; just three percent is freshwater. Of that, only 1.2 percent can be used as drinking water; the rest is locked up in glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost, or stored too far beneath the surface to be retrieved. Much of the accessible freshwater has become polluted. […]

Latest News

Building a ‘World That Works for Women’

WASHINGTON, DC, March 8, 2021 (ENS) – “Simply put, our world does not yet work for women as it should,” Vice President Kamala Harris today told the European Parliament on the occasion of International Women’s Day, marked annually on March 8. The first woman in U.S. history elected to the vice presidency, Harris said, “…The question before us is simple. How do we build a world that works for women?” […]

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Air/Climate

Emergency or Not? Peoples’ Climate Vote Polls 1.2 Million

NEW YORK, New York, January 27, 2021 (ENS) – “Urgent climate action has broad support amongst people around the globe, across nationalities, age, gender and education levels,” declared United Nations Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner today as he released the results of the first Peoples’ Climate Vote. With 1.2 million respondents, it’s the largest survey of public opinion on climate ever conducted. […]

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Air/Climate

World Leaders Reach for Climate Adaptation Strategies

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, January 26, 2021 (ENS) – As Earth’s climate heats up, a new international coalition is forming to tackle the impacts of global climate change, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday. Johnson was speaking at the virtual Netherlands-hosted Climate Adaptation Summit- the first global summit focused solely on adaptation and resilience. […]

FSO Safer
Latest News

Leaking Oil Tanker Abandoned Off Yemen a Red Sea Risk

NEW YORK, New York, November 17, 2020 (ENS) – Technical experts must be granted immediate access to a rusting oil supertanker threatening an environmental calamity in the Red Sea, an independent United Nations expert is demanding. Abandoned five years ago when its engine room flooded with seawater, the leaking 44-year-old tanker FSO Safer still holds 1.1 million barrels of light crude oil. […]

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Air/Climate

UN Virtual Climate Dialogues to Fill COP26 Gap

BONN, Germany, October 27, 2020 (ENS) – The Climate Dialogues, a series of virtual climate change events, will be offered by the United Nations from November 23 to December 4, 2020. This year, virtual events are taking the place of the annual in-person UN climate change conference, so that all work on implementing the Paris climate accord does not grind to a halt in the face of the pandemic. […]

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At Risk

Virus Lockdown: Violence Behind Closed Doors

NEW YORK, New York, April 9, 2020 (ENS) – “Peace is not just the absence of war. Many women under lockdown for COVID-19 face violence where they should be safest: in their own homes. Today I appeal for peace in homes around the world,” UN chief António Guterres said Sunday. “I urge all governments to put women’s safety first as they respond to the pandemic.” […]