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The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is calling for enhanced cooperation between the transport and tourism sectors to combat climate change.

A recap of Wednesday’s stories: A record number of people will need humanitarian aid in 2020; WHO calls for more funding to protect women and children from malaria; the transport and tourism sectors are urged to tackle carbon emissions; a group of rights experts want to see more people helping make the SDGs a reality; Fall Armyworm pest sparks new global action plan; and how the UN is helping impoverished landlocked nations develop.

A record 168 million people worldwide will need help and protection in crises spanning more than 50 countries in 2020, the UN’s emergency relief chief has said, in an appeal for nearly $29 billion in humanitarian aid from donors.

Peacekeepers have been sent to the northern Lakes region in South Sudan in a bid to deter further violence between communities there, the UN Mission in the country, UNMISS, said on Tuesday.

A recap of Tuesday’s stories: New climate change reports on human health and global warming; Zimbabwe’s ‘worst hunger crisis in a decade’; protests and civil unrest show ‘renewed sense of patriotism’ in Iraq; UN ‘determined to lead by example’ on disability rights.

Exceptional global heat driven by greenhouse gas emissions mean this decade will most likely go down as the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which released its provisional statement on the State of the Global Climate on Tuesday.

Protecting people’s health from climate change dangers such as heat stress, storms and tsunamis has never been more important, yet most countries are doing too little about it, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The recycling of plastic waste in India is boosting the incomes of impoverished women and helping build roads and fire cement furnaces, thanks to support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

A green economy is “not one to be feared but an opportunity to be embraced”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, in a keynote speech to delegates at the opening of the COP25 UN climate conference in Madrid on Monday.

The UN Secretary-General has outlined the “increased ambition and commitment” that the world needs from governments during the coming days of the COP25 UN climate change conference which opens in Madrid on Monday, calling for “accountability, responsibility and leadership” to end the global climate crisis. 

A recap of Friday’s stories in brief: attacks on communities in an Ebola outbreak hotspot in eastern DRC sparks a humanitarian crisis; Guterres expresses concerns at continued protester deaths in Iraq; UN-appointed panel raises concerns about violence against indigenous rights defenders in Colombia; 5 things you need to know about COP25; UN rights chief urges dialogue to ease Ecuador unrest. 

Access to electricity has transformed the world, helping countries to develop their economies, and lifting millions out of poverty. However, this success has come at a great cost: the energy sector, heavily reliant on fossil fuels, is responsible for some 40 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions – one of the so-called greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere and warm the Earth – and almost two-thirds of these emissions come from coal.

Climate change is happening—the world is already 1.1°C warmer than it was at the onset of the industrial revolution, and it is already having a significant impact on the world, and on people’s lives. And if current trends persist, then global temperatures can be expected to rise by 3.2 to 3.9°C this century, which would bring wide-ranging and destructive climate impacts.

The number of international migrants in 2019 is now estimated at 270 million and the top destination remains the United States, at nearly 51 million, the UN migration agency said on Wednesday.

A recap of Tuesday’s stories in brief: UNEP calls for emissions to be cut by more than half, AIDS down but thousands of children still missing out on treatment, UN chief warns of “digital divide”

Even if countries meet commitments made under the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world is heading for a 3.2 degrees Celsius global temperature rise over pre-industrial levels, leading to even wider-ranging and more destructive climate impacts, warns a report from the UN Environment Programme, released on Tuesday. 

Levels of the three main heat-trapping gases emitted into the atmosphere – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide – have reached yet another high, the UN meteorological agency, WMO, said on Monday.

Tony Dearsley was left stunned when he was told he could keep his lifetime pet cover – but only if he was prepared to pay an annual premium three times higher than the year before, a massive £7,410.

Not only do customers have to pay off the entire remaining cost of their contract but EE also imposes extra charges on them.

Being newly qualified or near retirement can make you a ‘mortgage misfit’...but don’t worry, the good news is that there are lenders prepared to take on borrowers who are not quite the norm.