A new Kenyan initiative is helping farmers better understand their soils in a bid to improve crop yields amid intensifying climate shocks.

Fewer than half of the national targets set to protect the world’s plants, animals and ecosystems are on track, the UN warns in a new report, days before countries gather in Yerevan, Armenia, for the COP17 biodiversity conference.

The United Nations Secretary-General appealed on Friday for governments, businesses and communities to accelerate efforts to protect biodiversity for future generations and all life on Earth.

Biodiversity losses continue to upend the lives of billions of people whose future prosperity depends on countries taking urgent action to protect our planet, the top UN official leading talks at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Yerevan, said on Monday.

The UN Secretary-General has called for an end to the “war on nature”. On Monday, governments gathering in Yerevan, Armenia, will have to confront a more practical question: are they doing enough to win the peace and put the world’s biodiversity goals back on track?

The UN and its partners are stepping up preparations in Gaza for the approaching cold and rainy season, even as attacks affecting civilians continue, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday.

The UN Special Representative on Violence Against Children has called for stronger global action to protect boys and girls caught up in a growing number of crises, as current efforts fall short.   

Adam Ouattara and Makongo Traoré have four children and a home on the edge of Torla village in Côte d’Ivoire. He herds cattle. She grows vegetables on a small plot nearby. For years, the dry season pitted their two livelihoods against each other.

The number of people living in “multidimensional” poverty has risen for the first time in 15 years, reaching 1.2 billion, as families struggle to meet their basic needs. 

Years of conflict, displacement, economic disruption and climate shocks in Myanmar have led to the “simultaneous collapse” of shelter, healthcare, schooling and livelihoods affecting millions of people, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said in a report issued on Thursday.