Argentinian meteorologist Celeste Saulo to lead U.N. weather agency
Saulo, who has led Argentina's National Meteorological Service since 2014, is the first woman elected as WMO's chief.
Climate & Health
Melting glaciers. Rising sea levels. Wildfires. Food shortages. Mass coral reef deaths and widespread species extinctions. Global pandemics. Every other issue is secondary. In a world of climate change, direct impacts on humanity already are evident on environments where we live and work and on the health and well-being of many populations.
Budget and broader access top assembly's global health agenda
The 76th World Health Assembly ended after moving to strengthen its budget and broaden access to health care.
Talks open on plastics treaty to defuse environmental 'time bomb'
About 69% of all the plastics produced, mainly through fossil fuel burning, are used just once or twice before they are thrown away. About 22% is mismanaged. Just 9% is recycled.
WHO chief opens assembly with push for 'historic' pandemic treaty
The COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus many of the world's glaring inequalities in health care and access to products such as vaccines, therapeutics and tests.
Cholera spread fueled by conflict and climate puts 1 billion at risk
Heavy rains and warmer temperatures make it easier for the bacteria that causes cholera to spread, posing a major setback for global efforts to eradicate the disease.
Odds are 2-1 of temporary breach to Paris treaty's lower limit in 5 years
The annual average near-surface global temperature between 2023 and 2027 will likely be more than 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels for at least one year.
U.N. proposes global 'roadmap' to 80% cut in plastic pollution by 2040
The estimated annual social and environmental costs of plastic pollution range from US$300 billion to $US1.5 trillion.
Progress in reducing deaths during pregnancy and birth has 'flatlined'
More than 4.5 million pregnant women and babies die each year during pregnancy, childbirth or during the first few weeks of life – about one death globally every seven seconds.
U.N. health agency declares COVID-19 no longer a global emergency
Though the emergency phase is over, the World Health Organization's pandemic designation still holds.
El Niño could push temperatures even higher: climate agencies
The onset of a possible El Niño climate event later this year combined with rising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could push global temperatures to a new warming record.
Human-induced climate change worsened Horn of Africa drought
Low rainfall and high evaporation rates 'would not have led to drought at all in a 1.2° C. cooler world,' scientists concluded.
'Continuous advance' of climate crisis pushes 1.15° C. warming
Droughts, floods and heatwaves drove food insecurity and mass migration as communities on every continent were hit by massive costs, the World Meteorological Organization said.
UNICEF raises alert over lagging confidence in childhood vaccines
Public perception of the importance of vaccines for children fell during the pandemic in 52 of 55 countries studied.
At 75, U.N. health agency is lightning rod for equity and cooperation
As the World Health Organization celebrated its 75th anniversary – commemorating World Health Day and the day its constitution took effect, recognizing health as a human right – the COVID-19 pandemic's lessons were inescapable.
Rapprochement could help address the Middle East's climate problem
The Middle East and North African region is among the most vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change but the public health impacts are relatively unknown, according to a new study published in The Lancet Planetary Health.
European court hears first citizen complaints over climate inaction
The European Court of Human Rights heard two climate cases brought by citizens against Swiss and French authorities complaining they must do more to reduce carbon emissions.