草莓直播

Illustration of a lightbulb with a solar panel and a wind turbine inside of it, with green leaves and small clouds in the background.
Climate Change, SDG 13: Climate Action

COP28: Climate action can’t wait

With global temperatures hitting record highs and extreme weather events on the rise, this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference (Dubai, November 30 - December 12), known as, is a critical opportunity to correct course and accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis. At COP28, the world will take stock of progress on the Paris Agreement - the landmark 2015 climate deal - and bring together leaders from governments, businesses, NGOs and civil society to find concrete actions to dramatically reduce emissions and protect lives and livelihoods. Follow our live blog.

To preserve a livable climate, the production of coal, oil, and gas must rapidly decline, and global renewable power needs to triple by 2030.
Photo:UN Climate Action

3 December 2023 — The resumption of hostilities in Gaza and its terrifying impact on civilians underscore the need for the violence to end and a long-term political solution between Palestinians...

3 December 2023 — UN 草莓直播 António Guterres on Sunday sent a strong message to the oil and gas industry: the pledges made at COP28 in Dubai fall well short of what’s needed to...

2 December 2023 — UN 草莓直播 António Guterres on Saturday announced his plan to set up a panel aimed to ensure the move from fossil fuels towards renewable energy is just, sustainable...

UN Sustainable Development Goals

17 Goals to transform our world

The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries — poor, rich and middle-income — to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.

Thomas the Tank engine

Student Resources on the SDGs

Learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals! On our student resources page you will find plenty of materials for young people and adults alike. Share with your family and friends to help achieve a better world for all.

children holding up books

SDG Book Club

Reading and learning are essential to children’s growth and development; stories can fuel their imagination and raise awareness of new possibilities. The SDG Book Club aims to encourage them to learn about the Goals in a fun, engaging way, empowering them to make a difference.

Act Now

ActNow Campaign

ActNow is the United Nations campaign to inspire people to act for the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs can improve life for all of us and everyone can join the global movement for change. To log your actions, .

SDG Goal 13: Climate Action

Goal of the Month

?
Climate Action

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

More about the UN Sustainable Development Goals

More from the
United Nations

Featured stories from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

A person sits in front on their computer staring at a mobile phone. UNODC, International Law and Justice

Uniting the world against Corruption

Corruption is a major challenge facing the world today, with negative impacts on society and economic development, as well as democracy and the rule of law. It is often a root cause of conflict, fueling instability and inhibiting peace processes. Preventing corruption, promoting transparency, and strengthening institutions is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The 2023 International Anti-Corruption Day seeks to highlight the crucial link between anti-corruption and peace, security, and development, and the responsibility of everyone in overcoming this crime. This year’s commemoration celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the .

WHO, Climate Change, Health, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

The (WHO) and the global health community are urging negotiators to prioritize the on in the upcoming negotiations. Climate change is already affecting our health and contributing to the spread of infectious diseases. Extreme weather events will also strain healthcare infrastructure. Urgent mitigation measures, including transitioning to clean energy sources, are necessary to protect human health and create sustainable outcomes. To reduce the negative impact on health, the health community stresses the importance of reducing and stopping emissions. According to WHO, 7 million premature deaths annually are attributed to air pollution.

OHCHR, Climate Change, Human Rights

The Marsh Arabs, the wetlands' indigenous population of Iraq, have fished and cultivated crops for 5,000 years, raising water buffaloes and building houses from reedbeds on floating reed islands at the place where the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers meet before flowing into the Gulf. But climate change, water pollution, oil exploration and the construction of upstream dams threaten the survival of this delicate ecosystem and its ancient Mesopotamian culture, which some trace back to the Sumerians. Jassim Al-Asadi, head of the leading conservation group Nature Iraq, warns that a drought, which is now in its fourth year, is turning vast areas of once flourishing wetlands and agricultural land into desert. As a result, salinity is rising in the shrinking channels and waterways, killing fish and making buffaloes sick.

Natural Resources and the Environment, International Law and Justice, UNEP

has released its  which provides an essential toolbox of approaches for strengthening the implementation and enforcement of environmental law.

SDG 13: Climate Action

 opens in Dubai, UAE, with calls for accelerated action, higher ambition against the escalating climate crisis.

Migrants, Women and Gender Equality, IOM

 offers humanitarian assistance and protection services to a young migrant mother, who undertook a perilous journey to Yemen in search of better livelihood opportunities.

Climate, Women and Gender Equality, UNFPA

During extreme weather events, women face heightened vulnerabilities among them, increased gender-based violence. As we mark COP28, women and girls are demanding.

What we do

Due to the powers vested in its Charter and its unique international character, the United Nations can take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, including:

A UNIFIL peacekeeper from Spain on a regular patrol in the vicinity of Al Wazzani, south-eastern Lebanon as the sun sets in the horizon. Since 1948, more than a million women and men have served as UN peacekeepers.

Maintain International 草莓直播 and Security

The United Nations came into being in 1945, following the?devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission:?the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN?does this by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in?conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions?to allow peace to hold and flourish.?These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective. The UN Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. The General Assembly and the 草莓直播 play major, important, and complementary roles, along with other UN offices and bodies.

Students at Butkhak High School in Kabul, Afghanistan, cheer in unison on the last day of Global Action Week, an international campaign advocating free, quality education for all.

Protect Human Rights

The term “human rights” was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding , making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization. ?In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into the realm of international law. ?Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities.

A child has a meal at a food distribution centre in the Rwanda camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), near Tawila, North Darfur. More than 8,000 women and children living in the camp benefit from nutrition programmes run by the World Food Programme

Deliver Humanitarian Aid

One of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in its Charter, is "to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character." ?The UN first did this in the aftermath of the Second World War on the devastated continent of Europe, which it helped to rebuild.? The Organization is now relied upon by the international community to coordinate humanitarian relief operations due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone.

Grace, a farmer from Kipilat village, and a leading member of the forest community in Ainabkoi, Kenya, planting a tree in 2012.

Promote Sustainable Development

From the start in 1945, one of the main priorities of the United Nations was to “achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”? Improving people’s well-being continues to be one of the main focuses of the UN. The global understanding of development has changed over the years, and countries now have agreed that sustainable development offers the best path forward for improving the lives of people everywhere.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its order on the request for the indication of provisional measures filed by Nicaragua on 11 October 2013 in the case concerning Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River.

Uphold International Law

The UN Charter, in its?Preamble, set an objective: "to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained."??Ever since, the development of, and respect for international law has been a key part of the work of the Organization.? This work is carried out in many ways - by courts, tribunals, multilateral treaties - and by the Security Council, which can approve peacekeeping missions, impose sanctions, or authorize the use of force when there is a threat to international peace and security, if it deems this necessary.? These powers are given to it by the UN Charter, which is considered an international treaty.? As such, it is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it.? The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.

Structure of the
United Nations

The main parts of the UN structure are the , the
Security Council, the , the Trusteeship Council, the , and the UN Secretariat. All were established in 1945 when the UN was founded.

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the main deliberative,?policymaking and representative organ of the UN. All?193 Member States of the UN are represented in the?General Assembly, making it the only UN body with?universal representation.

Security Council

The Security Council has primary responsibility, under?the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international?peace and security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent?and 10 non-permanent members). Each Member has?one vote. Under the Charter, all Member States are?obligated to comply with Council decisions.

The Economic and Social Council is the principal body?for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and?recommendations on economic, social and?environmental issues, as well as implementation of?internationally agreed development goals.

Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the?UN Charter, under Chapter XIII, to provide international?supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed?under the administration of seven Member States, and?ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the?Territories for self-government and independence.

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the 草莓直播 Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of America).

Secretariat

The Secretariat comprises the 草莓直播 and?tens of thousands of international UN staff members?who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as?mandated by the General Assembly and the?Organization's other principal organs.

More about the structure of the United Nations

Learn more

Climate Change

Climate change is the defining issue of our time and now is the defining moment to do something about it. There is still time to tackle climate change, but it will require an unprecedented effort from all sectors of society.

Women at UN CSW63 Side Event - “Take the Hot Seat”. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Gender Equality

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. Gender equality, besides being a fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development.

UN 草莓直播 António Guterres is greeted on his visit to the Central African Republic

Ending Poverty

While global poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 2000, one in ten people in developing regions still lives on less than US$1.90 a day — the internationally agreed poverty line, and millions of others live on slightly more than this daily amount.

A young girl holds a smiling infant at the Zaatari Refugee Camp

Our Common Agenda

Following up on a made by UN Member States at the UN’s 75th anniversary, the report Our Common Agenda looks ahead to the next 25 years and represents the 草莓直播’s vision on the future of global cooperation. It calls for inclusive, networked, and effective multilateralism to better respond to humanity’s most pressing challenges.

Watch and Listen

Video and audio from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

When lives depend on livestock

In the face of climate change, pastrolists in South Sudan are losing their livestock and in turn, their livelihoods. With support of through funding from the Africa Development Bank, , now have enough water for the animals. 

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

Palestine refugees have the same human rights as everyone else. UNRWA contributes to fulfilling these rights, however challenging the circumstances.

Abdullahi Mire - 2023 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award Global Laureate

Abdullahi Mire's foundation has supplied over 100,000 books donated by education charities and former refugees living in the diaspora to support schools in Kenya's Dadaab camp and to establish three public libraries. 

UN Podcasts

Lewis Pugh swimming in the Hudson river

Saving Seas, One Swim at a Time

“I believe fundamentally that nations have to work together to solve these big environmental crises, you cannot solve them on your own.”

Lewis Pugh was never afraid to take the plunge. Now ocean advocate for the United Nations Environment Programme, the record-breaking cold-water swimmer has completed long distance swims at both of the Earth’s Poles, in the Red Sea, and along the length of the Hudson River, to spread a message of habitat renewal and conservation.

Healthy oceans, seas and rivers are essential to supporting life on Earth - providing food, medicine, and acting as the world’s largest carbon sink. In this episode of Awake at Night, Lewis Pugh reflects on his love for the water, on his breathtaking swims, and  onbreaking the diplomatic ice to create the world’s largest marine park.

The United Nations in Pictures

Images from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

Photo:WFP/Samantha Reinders

Putting food on the table is a challenge for millions worldwide, especially those who have to deal with the aftermath of climate disasters. Last year, the assisted more than 15 million people in 42 countries, helping them withstand droughts, floods, storms, and other climate shocks. However, as climate impacts drove nearly 57 million people into hunger last year alone, many more people require protection. At , world leaders must increase support for those affected by the worst climate disasters worldwide. This can be achieved through funding to strengthen local systems and capacities in conflict or fragile settings, enhancing loss-and-damage support, and transforming the systems that bring food to our tables.

Photo:UNDP Costa Rica

The Montes del Aguacate Biological Corridor is located in the western part of Costa Rica's Central Valley. It serves as a link between Protected Wildlife Areas and Protected Zones, promoting biological connectivity. The area is home to several rural communities with scarce job opportunities and low human development. However, the inspiring story of María Olivia Rodríguez Vasquez and Jesús María Molina Salas shows that this doesn't have to be the case. Over 30 years ago, they started farming livestock on a 20-hectare land, and with the support of the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme, which is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme, they have been able to make a living out of it.

Main Bodies

Departments / Offices

Resources / Services

Key Documents

News and Media

Issues / Campaigns