2018 was a rough year. Communities across the globe experienced the real and worsening effects of climate change; conflict continued to displace a record number of families; and refugees, migrants, and minorities continued to be scapegoated for economic, political, and social instability. But this year also ushered in some positive developments — and many of these stories didn’t make the headlines. While it may not make the news, time and again, we’ve seen that collective […]

It’s clear: The world faces complex challenges that extend beyond borders, from disease outbreaks to terrorism to climate change and migration. What’s also clear, but not always recognized is that international cooperation and action through the United Nations is driving progress. Without a doubt, big problems remain, and it can be tough to rally the world around common goals, but important steps are happening and international cooperation is yielding progress. While this is not a

Update: Read 5 Global Issues to Watch in 2020 As expected, 2018 was a doozy for international cooperation and global development, featuring a mixture of highs, lows, and anxiety (at unhealthy doses) all around. Threats to international cooperation posed risks to tackling pressing challenges. But bright spots emerged, including the rise of new and refreshing voices standing up for collective action and global progress. In the face of this uncertainty, 2019 will be a critical year

As part of our “Americans in the UN” project to share the stories of Americans who work for the United Nations, we talked to U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Snyder, who currently serves as a military liaison officer for the Africa division at the Department of Peacekeeping operations. Lieutenant Colonel Snyder has served in the U.S. military for 21 years and has deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently to Mali with the UN. Originally from

A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), released during the 2018 climate negotiations in Katowice, Poland, reveals that climate change is not just a serious problem for ecosystems across the globe: Delaying climate action has serious consequences for human lives and health. The report, which was written by over 80 health professionals, academic experts, and representatives of civil society and international agencies, details how the biggest drivers of climate change are also a

The ever-mounting urgency of meeting the climate change challenge has prompted some minds to turn to novel and untested solutions: hyperloop transportation, nuclear-fusion energy, carbon dioxide-absorbing concrete, and even lab-grown meat. But what if an enormous solution to climate change was already all around us? Scientific research has shown that natural climate solutions such as conservation, forest restoration, and land and soil management could provide as much as one-third of the climate mitigation needed to

By Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya When most girls should be starting middle school, my grandmother was getting married. I never asked her about what it was like to grow up as a child bride in India, to give birth to her first baby at the age of 11. Though it was never explicitly forbidden, her lost childhood remained undiscussed in my family. Instead, it was dismissed as simply how things were done

The World Health Organization just declared “vaccine hesitancy” — the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate — as one of the planet’s top 10 global health threats in 2019. While more children worldwide are receiving immunizations today than they were 20 years ago, health officials across the globe are grappling with outbreaks in countries with weak health systems, as well as in countries like the United States and Australia that had nearly eliminated vaccine-preventable diseases like

While the standoff over a U.S. border wall continues to dominate headlines, there is another wall that deserves primetime coverage: a “Women’s Wall” of unity and equality on the other side of the world. On New Year’s Day, more than 3 million women banded together to form a ‘Women’s Wall,’ spanning 385 miles along highway 66 in the Indian state of Kerala. It is reportedly the largest public gathering for gender equality in India’s history,