Antarctica, the world’s coldest, windiest and driest continent, has often been referred to as a stable ‘sleeping giant’, but increasingly extreme temperatures, together with unusual rain and ice shelf shifts, remind us that it must not be taken for granted, the UN Weather Agency (WMO) warned on Friday.

A new flagship UN report on climate change out Monday indicating that harmful carbon emissions from 2010-2019 have never been higher in human history, is proof that the world is on a “fast track” to disaster, António Guterres has warned, with scientists arguing that it’s ‘now or never’ to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

An astonishing 99 per cent of the world’s population breathes polluted air that exceeds internationally approved limits, with negative health impacts kicking in at much lower levels than previously thought, UN medical scientists said on Monday.

Although once again the scientific community has made clear this week that we are not doing enough to limit global warming to the crucial 1.5°C threshold, the findings of the latest Intergovernmental Panel of Experts on Climate Change report, are not all doom, and gloom.

The world’s plant protection body met on Tuesday, aiming to set new plant health standards to both safeguard human wellbeing and preserve food security, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

An urgent call to protect health and mitigate the climate crisis was issued by the UN health agency on Wednesday, to mark World Health Day on Thursday.

Critical funding and timely action are needed to prevent a decaying tanker anchored close to Yemen’s coastline from sparking a major oil spill, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the country said on Friday in New York.

The threat of famine is very real in Somalia and South Sudan and urgent action is needed now to avoid a catastrophe, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.

Following a U-turn over re-opening girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the UN human rights chief shared her “profound frustration and disappointment” that six months after the Taliban seized power, high school girls have yet to return to the classroom.

The UN chief on Thursday strongly condemned the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, more commonly known as North Korea, its first such long-range test, since 2017.