Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks. People and ecosystems least able to cope are being hardest hit, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
The Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of IPCC provides a detailed assessment of climate change impacts, risks and adaptation in cities, where more than half the world’s population lives.
People’s health, lives and livelihoods, as well as property and critical infrastructure, including energy and transportation systems, are being increasingly adversely affected by hazards from heatwaves, storms, drought and flooding as well as slow-onset changes, including sea level rise.
The report provides extensive regional information to enable Climate Resilient Development.
Wildfires are becoming more intense and more frequent, ravaging communities and ecosystems in their path. Recent years have seen record-breaking wildfire seasons across the world from Australia to the Arctic to North and South America. With global temperatures on the rise, the need to reduce wildfire risk is more critical than ever.
A new report, Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires, by UNEP and GRID-Arendal, finds that climate change and land-use change are making wildfires worse and anticipates a global increase of extreme fires even in areas previously unaffected. Uncontrollable and extreme wildfires can be devastating to people, biodiversity and ecosystems. They also exacerbate climate change, contributing significant greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere.
UNEP is issuing an urgent call to governments to rethink their approach to extreme wildfires. By calling for a new ‘Fire Ready Formula’ and recognizing the important role of ecosystem rest
Sonja Leighton-Kone is the Acting Deputy Executive Director at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.
She has been the Director of the Corporate Services Division at UNEP since 2018, leading the organization’s strategic engagement with Member States, UN agencies and partners in global environmental financing mechanisms, resource mobilization and, financial and human resource management.
Ms. Leighton-Kone has more than 30 years of experience in international development overseeing operations in complex environments, including emerging and fragile States. As a senior member of the UNEP leadership team, she has introduced a wide range of initiatives to strengthen the organization’s systems, donor partnerships and capacity building programmes.
Prior to joining UNEP, Ms. Leighton-Kone served as Deputy Director of Operations and Finance at UNICEF in Geneva, where she led the development of the management framework for private sector pa
Air quality is a major challenge globally and is the single greatest environmental risk to human health. More than 90 per cent of the world’s population lives in areas that exceed the World Health Organization guideline for healthy air. In North America, Canada and the United States of America have made large improvements in air quality through regulatory measures and regional cooperation. However, more work is needed to reduce the negative health and environmental impacts of air pollution in the region.
This report reviews North American regional conditions, trends, and policy responses to the challenge of air quality in response to the mandate provided by United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) Resolution 3/8. It provides an overview of the relevant legislative and management structures in North America and describes in-depth policy responses in the following key sectors: industrial emissions, vehicles and transport, waste management, indoor air quality, and agriculture. Case
A bamboo agroforestry project in Indonesia demonstrates how investing in nature-based solutions can lead the way in tackling climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity loss.
Despite having the fourth largest population in the world, Indonesia contains 10% of the world’s tropical forests, 60% of Asia’s tropical forests, and a significant amount of the world’s remaining virgin forest stands1. A whopping 144 million hectares, or 75% of Indonesia’s land area, is classified within forest boundaries. Within this, 45% of the land is managed for timber and forest production, and 21% is allocated to other conversion uses1. As such, secondary forest products, such as plywood, timber, rattan, and paper make up the most important non-oil exports, accounting for 25% of total industrial exports1. Although the exploitation of natural resources was once the primary goal of Indonesia’s forest management plans, there has been a shift to instead support a forest-based ind