Survival at stake for small island States in sustainable development race and push for climate action

It has now been over 1,000 days since the Taliban, the de facto authorities in Afghanistan, banned education for girls beyond sixth grade, a figure described by the Executive Director of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, as “a blatant violation of their right to education” resulting in “dwindling opportunities and deteriorating mental health”.To raise awareness and support Afghan Girls, Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies and crises, has launched a new phase of its Afghan Girls Voices campaign, featuring inspiring works from some of the world’s leading artists.Many prominent voices are supporting the campaign, including the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, and former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who told Conor Lennon from UN News that the thousand day milestone was a “day of shame”.

The UN’s digital technology agency (ITU) launches ‘UN Virtual Worlds Day’ on Friday a pioneering event designed to integrate the metaverse – ‘an integrated ecosystem of virtual worlds’ – to improve how societies and governance work to greater benefit the public. Virtual reality offers new opportunities for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ITU experts believe, and the broader UN community sees tangible benefits if it’s used wisely.In an interview with UN News’ Anton Uspensky, Cristina Bueti, the ITU Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities and Counsellor for the Focus Group on the metaverse, explains how new technologies can improve lives, and help crack some intractable problems. 

Nuclear power has been a source of optimism and fear since the mid-Twentieth Century. On one hand, it evokes the destructive power of nuclear bombs, the catastrophic explosion of Chernobyl, the Fukushima disaster or, more recently Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, Europe’s largest, which has come under fire since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.But the image of nuclear power got a boost at the end of 2023, at the COP28 UN Climate Conference in Dubai. The 198 countries represented at the conference included nuclear energy in the list of low-emission technologies that need to be scaled up, if we are to succeed in decarbonizing our economies. In addition, 22 countries committed to tripling nuclear power capacity by 2050. Earlier I spoke to Rafael Mariano Grossi, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and asked him if he thinks nuclear is likely to become more popular and mainstream as an energy source in coming years.

Eight months into the war in Gaza, families have been forced to adapt to what humanitarians often call “negative coping strategies” to survive, as unemployment reaches a staggering 80 per cent.For many in the Gaza Strip, this has meant sending their children out to work, despite the dangers, the UN labour agency, ILO, has warned.Details of this worrying development the wider devastating economic impact of the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank are outlined in a new report from the agency.With more, here’s ILO economist Aya Jaafar, speaking from the Regional Office for Arab States in Beirut, with UN News’s Nancy Sarkis in Geneva.

The plastics industry needs to show more responsibility and put their money where their mouth is on cutting harmful waste and pollution, especially as it impacts small island States.That’s according to Director General of the Pacific islands environment agency, SPREP, Sefanaia Nawadra of Fiji, who told UN News the outcome document adopted at last week’s SIDS4 conference in Antigua and Barbuda does not go far enough on ocean management and cutting pollution.Mr. Nawadra told Matt Wells that the latest breakthrough in talks towards a global plastics treaty, known as the Bridge to Busan Declaration, was a positive step in the right direction as long as major producers sign on.

The international community must continue to pay attention to the humanitarian situation in Yemen, where hunger and malnutrition remain chronic after nearly a decade of war.That’s the opinion of Najwa Mekki, Chief of the Strategic Communications Branch at the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, in New York.Ms. Mekki is fresh from a visit to Yemen, where Government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi rebels are battling for power.The conflict has been further compounded by the war in Gaza, with Houthi attacks against the shipping trade in the Red Sea and their recent seizure of 11 UN national staff.Ms. Mekki spoke to UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri about her visit and the need to build on ‘fragile’ progress made so far on the humanitarian front.   

Sharks and dugongs serve as barometers of the marine ecosystem, but many people overlook their critical roles, perceiving sharks as menacing figures and dugongs as mythical creatures.Ahead of World Oceans Day on 8 June, UN News’s Jing Zhang spoke with Gabriel Grimsditch, a programme management officer at the UN Environment Programme’s marine and coastal ecosystem unit based in Nairobi, Kenya.In this exclusive interview, Mr. Grimsditch delved deep into the fascinating world beneath the waves, shedding light on the importance of these often misunderstood creatures in maintaining the health and balance of our oceans.

A devastating war in Sudan has left 800,000 people trapped in El Fasher in the west of the vast country, UN humanitarians warned on Friday, as they reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire to allow lifesaving aid in.The development comes as disturbing details continue to emerge of an alleged attack on the village of Wad Al-Noura in Jazira state south of Khartoum which left more than 100 dead, including dozens of children.To find out more, UN News’s Daniel Johnson spoke to Jill Lawler from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF. She’s working in Sudan and knows the area where the attack took place well. 

With only six years to the 2030 deadline, humanity is alarmingly off track in the bid to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. Keeping track of progress is a gigantic task but one of the global tech giants – Google - is answering the call.  At the recent AI for Good Global Summit, Melike Yetken Krilla, who’s in charge of Google’s relations with international organisations, brought UN News’ Anton Uspensky up to speed on big data solutions such as Data Commons for the SDGs, a platform aggregating data on the Goals, and Flood Hub – which provides early warning of natural disasters.

Since the Taliban took back power as the de facto authority in Afghanistan in 2021, women’s rights have come under attack.Today, the country barely makes the headlines despite the ongoing suppression of women’s rights and humanitarian crises, such as earthquakes and recent floods.Jorge Moreira da Silva, the Head of the UN Office for Project Services, recently returned from a visit to Afghanistan to inspect some of the Office’s initiatives. He told Mayra Lopes from UN News that, despite many difficulties, the UN has never left the country and continues to provide the support its people need.