Month: April 2020

What COVID-19 can learn from climate change: establishing crisis governance

In 2020, we are faced with two simultaneous global crises. The only comfort we may take from this is that both climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic require systems of global governance, and establishing this for one will most likely benefit the other. Climate change experts shed light on this hypothesis at a panel discussion […]

Protect workers during and after lockdowns, urges UN labour agency

Sang Huachao/ Huachao Sang, a doctor from Jiangsu Province is looking at patients’ documents in a shelter hospital in Wuhan.     Marking the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has urged States to take action to prevent and control COVID-19 in the workplace. “The safety and health of our entire workforce […]

As famines of ‘biblical proportion’ loom, Security Council urged to ‘act fast’

FAO/IFAD/WFP/Michael TeweldeIn 2019, Ethiopia experienced the fifth-worst food crisis of all the countries on earth.     The world is not only facing “a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe”, the UN food relief agency chief told the Security Council on Tuesday via video link. WFP Chief warns of hunger pandemic as #COVID19 spreads. […]

Onset of COVID-19 pandemic boosts support for international cooperation

Initial results of a UN initiative to help decide the future direction of the Organization have revealed overwhelming support for international cooperation, which has grown significantly since COVID-19 began spreading around the world. The data, gathered from hundreds of conversations, and an online survey involving some 186 countries, form part of the United Nations’ 75th […]

UN heads warn of coronavirus risk in weakest countries

The heads of all the UN’s major agencies have issued a graphic warning of the risk of coronavirus to the world’s most vulnerable countries after disclosing that international donors had pledged around a quarter of the $2bn the UN requested for its emergency Covid-19 response in March. In an open letter shared before publication with the Guardian, […]