Biblioteca

The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2024 report warns that unprecedented ocean warming, sea level rise, and extreme weather are endangering lives, ecosystems, and economies across the region—especially in coastal and island communities.

2024 saw record sea-surface temperatures and near-record ocean heat content, with marine heatwaves affecting over 10% of the global ocean. On land, extreme heat, intense rainfall, and a historic cyclone season caused devastating impacts, while Indonesia’s last tropical glacier nears extinction.

The report highlights the importance of strengthened early warning systems, featuring success stories from the Philippines and Fiji that demonstrate how anticipatory action and community-led responses can protect lives and preserve cultural heritage. It calls for urgent investment in adaptation, early warnings, and climate-resilient development.

Accelerating efforts to manage climate and water and sanitation in a more coordinated and sustainable manner is a cross-cutting theme with the UN System-Wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation. This background document clarifies the purpose of global and national monitoring, and the scope of indicators, measures and methods that should be considered for inclusion for this project. It also presents a conceptual framework or ‘theory of change’ that locates these indicators, measures and methods in relation to existing theories and definitions of resilience and related concepts in climate change adaptation

The 2025 WHO Health and Climate Change Global Survey: Support Document has been developed to support Member States in completing the 2025 WHO Health and Climate Change Global Survey. The Global Survey tracks the health sector’s response to climate change. The document includes guidance on survey registration and completion, background information, expected outputs, and a glossary of key terms.

WHO has been working on climate change and health for over 25 years and has developed a comprehensive approach aiming to support countries to assess and manage the health impacts posed by climate variability and change.

WHO’s approach aims to strengthen national capacities and improve the resilience and adaptive capacity of health systems to deal with the adverse health effects of climate change.

The package of technical support being provided by WHO to Member States ranges from specific topics (e.g. development of plans and strategies or climate-informed health early warning systems) to more programmatic approaches to those countries implementing projects on climate change and health.

This visual guide provides an overview of the various means of support WHO offers to member states to advance climate-resilient health. The guide offers answers to key questions to understand WHO’s support to countries on climate change and health, including:

• What are the impacts of climate change on health and the potential health co-benefits of climate change mitigation?
• How do we develop comprehensive plans and strategies to address climate-sensitive health risks and build climate-resilient health systems and facilities?
• How do we access climate financing for climate change and health, including the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness programme?
• What interventions can be implemented to address climate-sensitive health risks and strengthen the resilience and environmental sustainability of health systems and facilities?
• How do we monitor progress made at national level on climate change and health?

A review of the work on climate change and health was carried in 10 member states of South-East Asia region between 2014 and 2015. The review explored awareness levels of the impact of climate change on health among key stakeholders and capacity of health sector to respond and adapt. The country findings were analyzed and synthesized into a regional report. The report details out status of work on climate change and health and provides directions for strengthening health adaptation to climate change in future. This report was supported by the Global Program Adaptation to Climate Change in the Health Sector implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Climate change undermine global food systems, increases food and nutrition insecurity and and exacerbates malnutrition in vulnerable populations. In the next decade, climate change is likely to reverse many of the gains made in improving nutrition of populations, unless countries urgently implement transformative policies that address nutrition and climate change.

While the Regional Resolution on addressing the double burden of malnutrition urges countries to prioritize actions to malnutrition, climate change requires multi-sectoral adaptation actions across sectors and systems: health, agriculture and food systems, social protection, water and sanitation systems, industry and others. This Regional workshop brought key stakeholders from nutrition and climate change together to discuss and prioritize actions to mainstream nutrition considerations in the context of climate change actions.

In July 2022, the UN General Assembly passed a groundbreaking resolution affirming the universal human right to access a clean, sustainable, and healthy environment. This resolution calls upon countries, international entities, governments and the private sector to increase their endeavours in guaranteeing a clean and healthy environment for all while addressing the triple planetary crisis confronting our planet: the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

The interconnected and interdependent connection between human health and a healthy environment is becoming increasingly clear. An unhealthy environment can result in a myriad of significant negative health outcomes for humans and given this fluid and symbiotic relationship between the two, cross-sectoral cooperation, as well as the dismantling of the barriers between the conservation and public health sectors, should be encouraged to attain healthier ecosystems and healthier people.

Acknowledging that human health and a healthy environment are interconnected and interdependent, the concept of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can act as a way to bridge the gaps between conservation and public health for holistic approaches. NbS are actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or human-modified ecosystems, offering benefits for both environmental preservation and human well-being. Adopting NbS as a means to tackle human health issues derived from an unhealthy environment aligns with One Health, an integrated approach that recognises the interdependence of animal, ecosystem and human health.

The purpose of the joint WHO-IUCN report is to break the silos between conservation, climate and health sectors, and explore the interplay between biodiversity conservation and global public health while highlighting how NbS can yield mutual benefits.

Healthy communities rely on well-functioning ecosystems. They provide clean air, fresh water, medicines and food security. They also limit disease and stabilize the climate. But biodiversity loss is happening at unprecedented rates, impacting human health worldwide, according to a new state of knowledge review of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and WHO.

The report synthesizes the available information on the most important inter-linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem stability, and epidemic infectious diseases such as the Ebola virus; and the connection between biodiversity, nutritional diversity and health. It also covers the potential benefits of closer partnerships between conservation and health, from improved surveillance of infectious diseases in wildlife and human populations, to promoting access to green spaces to promote physical activity and mental health. It also highlights the many areas in which further research is needed.

The Joint report hopes to provide a useful reference for the Sustainable Development Goals and post-2015 development agenda, which represents an unique opportunity to promote integrated approaches to biodiversity and health by highlighting that biodiversity contributes to human well-being, and highlighting that biodiversity needs protection for development to be sustainable.

The world is facing a new and intensifying era of crisis for children. Many of these crises – including climate change, conflict and economic instability – are closely interconnected. They reflect a world of rising geopolitical tensions and competition among nations, which are hindering the implementation of solutions.

To uphold children’s rights and well-being, action is needed to rethink and strengthen systems. Systems approaches (i.e., approaches that go beyond mere service delivery) are essential to build resilience into every area of children’s lives, whether it is disaster preparedness frameworks that safeguard schools and communities, education systems that can adapt during emergencies, or inclusive health-care systems that respond to immediate needs while planning for future risks.

These systems must not only address current global challenges but also anticipate and prepare for what lies ahead, including in the thematic areas covered in this report’s ‘Issues to watch’ section.

Climate shocks are disrupting children’s education, putting their learning and their futures at risk.

A new UNICEF analysis reveals that at least 242 million students in 85 countries or territories had their schooling disrupted by extreme climate events including heatwaves, tropical cyclones, storms, floods and droughts in 2024, exacerbating an existing learning crisis.

Globally, Thailand is ranked as the 9th most affected country by climate change according to the Global Climate Risk Index. In UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI), Thailand is ranked 50th out of 163 countries with children most at risk living in the northeastern and southern provinces of Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Rachasima, Sri Saket, Nakhon Srithammarat and Narathiwat facing the highest risks. This snapshot provides an overview of the climate impacts on children in Thailand and how it is affecting their education.

This solutions book provides practical guidance for policymakers, program developers, and international development partners to support youth on the move, particularly those living in poverty or with low educational attainment, in accessing green skilling opportunities. It highlights the importance of including youth migrants, refugees, and forcibly displaced youth in discussions and efforts related to the green transition. The book emphasizes the need for tailored, context-specific solutions to address the unique challenges faced by youth on the move, recommending three main approaches: leveraging successful skilling programs, promoting access to green job opportunities, and fostering self-employment and entrepreneurship in green sectors. In implementing these solutions, principles of inclusion, empowerment, and protection should guide policymakers to address the diverse needs and vulnerabilities of youth on the move. Ultimately, by prioritizing the skilling needs of these youth, policymakers can contribute to a just, green transition and support their active participation in the workforce.

Recognizing children’s heightened vulnerability to climate change, this policy brief urges the inclusion of childsensitive and child-specific indicators for measuring progress achieved towards the targets referred to in  paragraphs 9–10 of decision 2/CMA.5. It outlines five core principles – child rights-based, disaggregated, ageappropriate, holistic, and participatory – to guide the development of these indicators, crucial for ensuring that  climate policies and actions effectively safeguard children.

NDCs are one of the key national climate plans that 195 countries and territories have agreed to prepare, implement and update as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement and to report their progress to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This document seeks to guide policy-makers, ministry of health staff, and staff of other government departments leading and contributing to NDCs to integrate health in their countries’ NDCs. It aims to support the health sector to understand the international and national climate plan processes, plans and terminology and the key entry points for health.

It provides an overview of the structure, quality criteria for health integration, examples, and useful resources for the main components of NDCs: leadership and enabling environment; national circumstances and policy priorities; mitigation; adaptation; loss and damage; finance; and implementation.

The aim of this publication is to provide overarching guidance to national governments to raise the quality and ambition of NDCs, which can be adapted and modified according to the local context and priorities.

The quality criteria are not intended to be prescriptive. The overall objective of promoting healthy NDCs is to address the health impacts of climate change, support climate-resilient and low-carbon sustainable health systems, and identify and maximize the health-related co-benefits of climate policies and plans across all relevant sectors.

The climate crisis unfolding today risks reversing centuries of progress for humanity. Though actions needed to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis are much broader than the polio eradication effort, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) recognizes the urgent need to take stock of its role and responsibility to help address this planetary emergency. This technical brief serves as a starting point, presenting areas for polio eradication stakeholders to explore to both deliver a polio-free world and ensure a climate-resilient future. It is not intended to be a final guidebook but is meant to inspire reflection, further investigation, and action. This brief:

• Explains why building a climate-resilient polio eradication programme is a vital step towards ensuring a safer, healthier future for all;
• Explores how the polio eradication programme is impacted by and contributes to the climate crisis throughout its life cycle – from vaccine production to delivery and disposal; and
• Outlines critical areas for the polio eradication programme to explore to reduce its carbon footprint (mitigation) and protect polio staff, activities and the communities it serves from the effects of a hotter world (adaption).

The Green Club (GC) will be established to provide the values of environmental stewardship among the students. It aims to work towards an eco-friendly environment in and around colleges and education institutions by efficient use of resources like water, waste, energy and circularity.

The formation of Green Clubs will primarily focus on coordinating with youth in universities and colleges to support environmental activities and projects within colleges and communities as extension services. Under this program, the aim is to empower students to participate in and take up meaningful environmental activities and projects. Green Clubs would be imbibed in college-level curricular activities to ensure effective implementation and act as a platform to develop sustainable lifestyles, knowledge, and leadership skills.

Climate shocks are disrupting children’s education, putting their learning and their futures at risk. A new UNICEF analysis reveals that at least 242 million students in 85 countries or territories had their schooling disrupted by extreme climate events including heatwaves, tropical cyclones, storms, floods and droughts in 2024, exacerbating an existing learning crisis.

Our relationship with our natural world is broken. This is why it is important that more and more people get involved in action to protect and restore nature and biodiversity.

Everyone deserves to have a voice and this is easier when we have a common understanding of the key terms used to discuss what’s happening. That is why we have produced this guide to the most frequently used and important terms and concepts, keeping the facts but leaving out the jargon.

We invite you to download it here, or explore our online version, and share it with anyone who might find it useful.

Around 47% of youth aged 18–29 live in countries with extreme or high levels of conflict, and 75% reside in less developed regions. Among them, 250 million are in least developed countries (LDCs), where climate change hits hardest, especially in the Sahel, Horn of Africa, and Central Africa. These areas face overlapping challenges of climate hazards, insecurity, and youth vulnerability.

In response, young people are driving efforts in climate mitigation, adaptation, and peacebuilding, reducing resource conflicts, enhancing carbon storage, and promoting sustainable livelihoods. Global youth networks also advocate for disarmament to reduce military emissions and engage in legal actions and activism for policy change.

This Guidance Note, developed by the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), with input from a Sounding Board of experts, is the first of its kind to bridge the Climate, Peace, and Security (CPS) and Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) agendas. It highlights youth-led efforts to address climate-related security risks and provides practical guidance for advancing a unified agenda on youth, climate, peace, and security, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and supporting youth’s transformative role.