Afflicted by decades of conflict, recurrent climatic shocks, disease outbreaks and poverty, Somalia was often called a ‘failed state.’ The narrative is now changing, and although fragile, Somalia is on a path to stability and the resilience of the Somali people is second to none.
Children returning to schools, workplaces re-opening, and vaccines all seemed to point to a return to normal but like 2020, 2021 has been a year of hope, loss, and uncertainty for people around the world. Stories of innovative ways to connect, protect our planet from climate change, and ways we, as a society, have joined forces to protect each other from the pandemic that has ravaged all our lives.
Not all innovations are based on new technologies. Sometimes, they have to do with procedures or practices — that is, how people work together. That’s largely the case with a new method of responding to climate shocks and other humanitarian emergencies. Climate change is driving more extreme and frequent natural hazards, and that means that humanitarian need will only increase.
The United Nations Country Teams from Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina recently completed a ten-day mission by visiting several communities in the largest dry forest in the world and the second-largest forest biome in South America: the Gran Chaco, which extends over an area of over 1,14 million square kilometres, distributed in central and northern Argentina, southeastern Bolivia and western Paraguay.
SG, António Guterres is headed to Colombia this week to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the peace accords that ended 50 years of conflict in the country, and his activities will include travel to the village of Llano Grande, where the townspeople and former combatants are working together to secure a better future.
One year ago, the combined impact of the Eta and Iota storms caused widespread devastation in Guatemala and other Central American and Caribbean countries, affecting nearly 9.3 million people and displacing around 1.7 million people across the region.
Shortly before world leaders convened in Glasgow for COP26, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council adopted a groundbreaking resolution to recognize “access to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a fundamental right”.
The just closed Climate Conference in Glasgow COP 26 coincided with an important milestone on Montenegro’s development path – its 30th anniversary of declaring itself as an ecologic state. Nothing speaks more about the strength of such commitment than Montenegro’s determination to embed it into the heart of its Constitution.
