Experts convened in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from Tuesday, June 20 to Wednesday, June 21, 2017 for the inaugural meeting of the Primary Health Care Advisory Group. The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Europe launched the Advisory Group to advance primary health care in the WHO European Region. At its first meeting, the Advisory Group engaged in discussions on the ...

The Delivery Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister of Guinea has launched a study on financing irrigation schemes for farmers in the pineapple value chain. Through the pilot initiative, the Delivery Unit will target several farmer cooperatives in Maférénya and Kindia regions, with the goal of increasing their farm yield (from 30 to +50 tons per hectare), farm ...

Key stakeholders from the public sector, private sector and civil society from Africa and beyond will meet next week in Cotonou, Benin, to take forward collaborative climate action for sustainable development in the region. At the 9th Africa Carbon Forum (ACF) scheduled to hold from Wednesday, June 28 to Friday, June 30, 2017, participants will focus on how to strengthen cooperation between ...

Five out of the world’s six largest listed oil companies risk wasting over 30% of their spending – with a total value of $2.3 trillion – on projects that are not aligned with goals of the Paris Agreement. They therefore need to reconsider investments in order to protect the interests of investors. This is the main conclusion of a new ...

United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has appointed Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka as his next Envoy on Youth.  She will succeed Ahmad Alhendawi of Jordan to whom the Secretary-General says he is grateful for his dedicated service in addressing the needs and rights of young people, bringing the work of the United Nations closer to them. The success of the ...

Researchers predict that in 2030, Lagos, Cairo and Kinshasa will each have to cater for over 20 million people, while Luanda, Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg will have crossed the 10 million mark. By 2035, close to 30 million people could live in Lagos alone, turning Nigeria’s commercial hub into the largest megacity on the continent. While Africa’s cities are ...

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), representatives of the Owan and Okomu communities and a host of civil society groups have urged the Dr. Godwin Obaseki administration in Edo State to uphold a revocation Order on 13,750 hectares of land expropriated by Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc in the rich forest reserves. In a letter delivered to ...

Parts of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the United States of America have seen extremely high May and June temperatures, with a number of records broken. The heatwaves are unusually early and are occurring as the Earth experiences another exceptionally warm year. Average global surface temperatures over land and sea were the second highest on record for the ...

The Republic of Moldova on Tuesday, June 20, 2017 deposited its instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Consequent upon this development, Moldova has emerged the 149th country to endorse the global treaty. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Moldova’s ratification of the pact will enter into force in a month’s time on Thursday, ...

The Governments of El Salvador, Latvia and the Republic of Moldova on Tuesday, June 20, 2017 deposited their instruments of ratification, thereby becoming the 61st, 62nd and 63rd future Parties to the Minamata Convention. Just a day earlier on Monday, June 19, the Government of Czech Republic and the Government of Sri Lanka also ratified the Convention, becoming its 59th ...