WMO makes urgent call to action over melting cryosphere

WMO makes urgent call to action over melting cryosphere

WMO warned on Tuesday that glaciers and ice sheet melt in Greenland and Antarctica accounts for some 50 per cent of sea level rise, which is accelerating, with disastrous impacts on small island developing states (SIDS) and densely populated coastal areas. Glacier melt The average thickness of the world’s glaciers has plummeted by almost 30 metres since 1970. “The cryosphere…

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Fresh diplomatic gains must match action on the ground in Syria to end war

Fresh diplomatic gains must match action on the ground in Syria to end war

“It is vital that the recent diplomatic moves are matched with real action,” said Geir Pedersen, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, briefing the Security Council on recent political and humanitarian developments. A range of diplomatic initiatives have quickened the pace towards finding solutions on, among other things, continuing a direct dialogue with the…

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G7 nations, ‘central to climate action’ says Guterres, calling for global reset

G7 nations, ‘central to climate action’ says Guterres, calling for global reset

The G7, which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, together with the European Union, is meeting in the city where the first atomic bomb was dropped in 1945, a place which Secretary-General António Guterres described, as a “testament to the human spirit”. “Whenever I visit, I am inspired by…

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‘Unprecedented insecurity’ in Haiti requires urgent action: new UN envoy

‘Unprecedented insecurity’ in Haiti requires urgent action: new UN envoy

Gang violence is expanding at an alarming rate in areas previously considered relatively safe in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and outside the city, with a shocking increase in criminality and abuses, and a police force that is unable to handle the situation.  At the same time, almost half the population, 5.2 million people, needs humanitarian aid,…

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Guterres: Urgency of global challenges demands bold, swift action

Guterres: Urgency of global challenges demands bold, swift action

“We face unprecedented and interlocking crises,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his briefing at the Council’s ministerial-level open debate on effective multilateralism through the defence of the principles of the UN Charter. “Tensions between major powers are at an historic high, so are the risks of conflict, through misadventure or miscalculation. It is time…

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