New York, 11 September — Achieving human well-being and eradicating poverty for all of the Earth’s people—expected to number eight and a half billion by 2030—is still possible, but only if there is a fundamental—and urgent—change in the relationship between people and nature, and a significant reduction in social and gender inequalities between and inside countries, according to a new United Nations report by an independent group of scientists to be launched at the 2019 SDG Summit, but made available today.
World leaders have offered their support to Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's president, after a string of public insults from Brazilian leaders targeting her appearance.
Major oil companies have approved US$50 billion of projects since last year that will not be economically viable if governments implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, think-tank Carbon Tracker said in a report published on Friday.
Wildfires raging in Bolivia's forests and grasslands since May have destroyed 1.7 million hectares, officials said on Wednesday, amid a US$11 million effort by the government to contain them.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday he was eager to speak about the Amazon fires that have drawn world attention at the next U.N. General Assembly in September, as the issue appeared to erode his support at home.
Canada will continue its trade negotiations with Mercosur, the South American trading bloc that includes Brazil, despite demands to call a halt to the talks until more action is taken to protect the Amazon rainforest.
Weak rainfall is unlikely to extinguish a record number of fires raging in Brazil's Amazon anytime soon, with pockets of precipitation through to Sept 10 expected to bring only isolated relief, according to weather data and two experts.
The fires tearing through the Amazon represent a “tipping point” for the health of the rainforest, the head of a top global forestry management body said on Wednesday, urging the world to do more to save the trees.
Peru and Colombia proposed on Tuesday an emergency Amazon summit for countries in the region in order to coordinate a strategy to protect the vast rainforest currently blighted by numerous fires. The Amazon is known as the “planet's lungs” but is suffering from its worst outbreak of fires in years, which has sparked a global outcry.
Hundreds of new fires have flared up in the Amazon in Brazil, data showed on Monday, even as military aircraft dumped water over hard-hit areas and G7 nations pledged to help combat the blazes.