Appeal for global ceasefire

Opening remarks of the United Nations Secretary-General's appeal for global ceasefire

Our world faces a common enemy: COVID-19.  

The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith.  It attacks all, relentlessly. 

Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world. 

The most vulnerable — women and children, people with disabilities, the marginalized and the displaced — pay the highest price.

They are also at the highest risk of suffering devastating losses from COVID-19. 

Let’s not forget that in war-ravaged countries, health systems have collapsed. 

Health professionals, already few in number, have often been targeted.  

Refugees and others displaced by violent conflict are doubly vulnerable. 

The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war. 

That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world. 

It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives. 

To warring parties, I say: 

Pull back from hostilities.   

Put aside mistrust and animosity.  

Silence the guns; stop the artillery; end the airstrikes.  

This is crucial… 

To help create corridors for life-saving aid. 

To open precious windows for diplomacy.  

To bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.  

Let us take inspiration from coalitions and dialogue slowly taking shape among rival parties in some parts to enable joint approaches to COVID-19.  But we need much more. 

End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world. 

It starts by stopping the fighting everywhere. Now. 

That is what our human family needs, now more than ever.  

António Guterres

World Meteorological Day 2020, March 23

Every 23 March, the World Meteorological Organization commemorates the coming into force of the Convention establishing the World Meteorological Organization on 23 March 1950. 

Every drop counts; Count every drop.

World Meteorological Day 2020, March 23.

Theme: Every drop counts; Count every drop.

Opening remarks by the United Nations Secretary- General at press conference on WMO State of the Climate 2019 Report

Thank you, Professor Taalas.

The indications are crystal clear.

Global heating is accelerating.

2019 was the second hottest year on record, with the past decade the hottest in human history.

Greenhouse gas concentrations are at the highest levels in 3 million years – when the Earth’s temperature was as much as 3 degrees hotter and sea levels some 15 metres higher.

Ocean heat is at a record level, with temperatures rising at the equivalent of five Hiroshima bombs a second.

We count the cost in human lives and livelihoods as droughts, wildfires, floods and extreme storms take their deadly toll.

We have no time to lose if we are to avert climate catastrophe.

This is a pivotal year for how we address the climate emergency.

We have to aim high at the next climate conference in Glasgow in November.

We need all countries to demonstrate that we can achieve emissions reductions of 45 per cent from 2010 levels this decade, and that we will reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.

We know this is the only way to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In Glasgow, success will depend on countries, the private sector and civil society demonstrating that they are taking significant steps to raise ambition on mitigation, adaptation and finance.

I see four main priorities for COP26.

First, national climate plans – the Nationally Determined Contributions, as they are called – must show more ambition.

Even if countries fully implement their existing plans under the Paris Agreement, and many are not doing so, we will still be on course to reach 3 degrees of heating this century.

Revised NDCs - Nationally Determined Contributions - must set clear targets for 2025 or 2030 that will help us stick to the 1.5-degree limit.

Second, all nations need to adopt strategies to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

So far, 70 countries have announced that they are committed to carbon neutrality by 2050.

Many other constituencies are doing the same, such as cities, banks and businesses.

But this still only represents less than a quarter of global emissions.

The largest emitters must commit, or our efforts will be in vain.

The third priority is for a robust package of programmes, projects and initiatives that will help communities and nations adapt to climate disruption and build resilience.

Let us have no illusions. Climate change is already causing calamity, and more is to come.

Supporting investment in adaptation in developing countries is a political and moral imperative.

The fourth priority is finance.

By COP26, developed countries must deliver on their commitment to mobilize 100 billion dollars a year by 2020.

Investments in renewables and green technologies must increase.

We need to end the vast and wasteful subsidies for fossil fuels, which actually increased last year.

And we need to put a price on carbon and see a commitment to end the construction of new coal power plants.

It’s time to end our addiction to coal.

Ultimately, COP 26 needs to demonstrate that the world is moving quickly in the right direction.

I count on the UK COP26 Presidency, on Member States, and on the full constellation of partners, including cities, the private sector, finance institutions, and the philanthropic community and civil society to commit to meaningful climate action before it is too late.

Thank you.

António Guterres

International Women's Day 2020, March 8

Observance of International Women's Day.

Remarks by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on International Women's Day 2020, March 8.

I wish you all the best for International Women’s Day on Sunday.
 
Gender inequality is the overwhelming injustice of our age and the biggest human rights challenge we face.
 
I have said it before, and I will say it again: gender equality is a question of power.
 
Men have used and abused power to control women and prevent them from achieving their potential for millennia.
 
Deep-rooted patriarchy and misogyny have created a yawning gender power gap in our economies, our political systems, our corporations, our societies and our culture.
 
Women are still very frequently denied a voice; their opinions are ignored and their experience discounted.
 
In recent months, there have been plenty of examples.
 
High-profile peace agreements have been signed without any women at the table.
 
Emergency healthcare meetings on the new coronavirus were convened with few or no women.  
 
But women need peace, and contribute to peace, just as much as men – maybe more.
 
Women are as vulnerable to illness as men and they make up the majority of the healthcare workforce.    
 
There is no justification for women’s continued exclusion.
 
Dear Friends,  
 
In recent years, I have seen a change.
 
Women have had enough.
 
They are protesting against femicide – the killing of women – in the streets; they are on strike for equal pay and conditions; they are calling out powerful men for violence and abuse.
 
Young women are redefining what power looks like.
 
They are creating new, inclusive forms of leadership that unite people across borders and around common goals.
 
I welcome some of these young leaders here today.
 
Thank you for your activism and your advocacy.
 
Please keep up the pressure. Please hold the world to account.
 
We need your passion and conviction as we face a whole range of global challenges, from climate change to conflict.  
 
Generation Equality cannot be Generation Gradual Improvement or Generation Incremental Change.
 
Generation Equality means equal rights and opportunities for all women and girls, now.
 
That is why I am determined to achieve gender parity at all levels at the United Nations, and I am pleased that we have done so at senior levels two years ahead of schedule.  
 
Dear Friends,
 
Without women’s leadership and full participation, we will never achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development or defeat climate change.
 
Women, particularly young women, are leaders on climate action.
 
But I was not aware until recently that one of the “founding fathers” of climate science was a woman – a “founding mother”.
 
In 1856, Eunice Foote, an American scientist and women’s rights campaigner, believed changes in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could affect the Earth’s temperature. She conducted an experiment with glass cylinders and thermometers to prove it.
 
Her paper was presented at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science – by a man.
 
Three years later, another man published his own research on heat-trapping gases which is considered the foundation of climate science. It started with a woman but it was covered. 
 
Gender equality means finding and honoring women whose achievements were erased and ignored in their own time.
 
Women like Eunice Foote.
 
Women like Katherine Johnson and her colleagues who worked for NASA on the Apollo moon landings, whose story was told in the book and film Hidden Figures.
 
Women like Tu Youyou, who turned to traditional Chinese medicine to look for a cure for malaria in the 1970s.
 
Her discoveries saved millions of lives around the world and were finally recognized with a Nobel prize in 2015.
 
Women’s stories matter. Representation matters.
 
As Simone de Beauvoir said: “Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men: they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the absolute truth.”
 
Dear Friends,
 
When I was a child, in many places, women were legally dependents of their husbands; they could not open a bank account or own property in their own name; and they were completely excluded from all positions of power.
 
The change we have seen in my lifetime shows that progress is real, and possible.
 
But it has also led to a pushback.
 
Twenty-five years after the Beijing conference, progress on women’s rights has stalled and even reversed.
 
Some countries have rolled back laws that protect women from violence; others are reducing civic space; still others are pursuing economic and immigration policies that indirectly discriminate against women.
 
Women’s autonomy, including full access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, is far from universal.
 
Bias against gender equality is growing in some countries.
 
The first gender social norm index, published this week by the United Nations Development Programme, found that almost 90 percent of people, including women, interviewed across 75 countries have “at least one clear bias against gender equality in areas such as politics, economics, education, intimate partner violence and women’s reproductive rights”.
 
Almost 30 percent of people in the world think today that it is acceptable for a man to beat his partner.
 
We must push back against the pushback.
 
We cannot give way; we refuse to lose the ground we have won.
 
It is more important than ever for men to stand up for women’s rights and gender equality. 
 
That is why I am a proud feminist. And why I am personally committed to increasing support for women’s rights across the board at the United Nations.
 
In the next two years, I will do everything in my power to make sure women are represented in all decision-making at the United Nations, including in peace processes.
 
Only through the equal participation of women can we benefit from the intelligence, experience and insights of all of humanity.
 
Thank you. 

António Guterres.

64th Commission on the Status of Women
Remarks by the U.N. Secretary-General to 64th Commission on the Status of Women.

I am very pleased to join you for the 64th Commission on the Status of Women.
 
I am truly saddened that the extraordinary circumstances ushered in by the spread of the coronavirus have left us no choice but to postpone the full session of the CSW and, instead, gather for just this one day.
 
I know that activists and women’s groups around the world share my disappointment.
 
But I also take heart because I know we remain committed to the cause of gender equality.
 
We all understand the imperative of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality.
 
This is, quite simply, a question of justice.
 
As a student volunteer in the slums of Lisbon, throughout my political career, and as the leader of the United Nations refugee agency, I have always felt compelled to fight for justice, equality and human rights.
 
As Secretary-General, I see one overwhelming global injustice: gender inequality and discrimination against women and girls.
 
Gender equality is fundamentally a question of power.
 
We still live in a male-dominated world with a male-dominated culture, and have done so for millennia.
 
Centuries of discrimination, deep-rooted patriarchy and misogyny have created a yawning gender power gap in our economies, our political systems and our corporations.
 
This simply has to change.
 
This year, the world marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action.
 
Together, they define the most comprehensive and transformative global agenda for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
 
With nations around the world searching for solutions to the complex challenges of our age, one way to get us on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals is to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
 
As we look back on Beijing, I am particularly heartened to see a new generation of inspired young activists across the globe taking forward its spirit of constructive action and fearless resilience.
 
Their efforts are sorely needed.  The vision of Beijing has been only partly realized.
 
Women in parliaments are still outnumbered three-to-one by men, women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, and unpaid care and domestic work remain stubbornly feminized the world over.
 
In some areas, progress towards gender equality has stalled or even gone into reverse.
 
Some countries have rolled back laws that protect women from violence; others are reducing civic space; still others are pursuing economic and immigration policies that indirectly discriminate against women.
 
Women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services is far from universal.
 
We must push back against the pushback.
 
Dear friends,
 
A key legacy of the Beijing process was movement-building.
 
These past 25 years have seen growing, strengthened, vibrant, transnational and diverse women’s movements that are increasingly challenging slow and piecemeal progress by calling for urgent systemic change.
 
They are advancing gender equality and demanding accountability from governments and other powerful actors.
 
They are forging coalitions and working across themes, sectors and political boundaries to advance the rights of women and girls and show how they are inextricably linked to economic, social and environmental justice for all.
 
These movements are proposing bold new alternatives for a different world.
 
For example, young women’s activism for environmental justice in Africa has put the spotlight on the impacts of extractive industries and unsustainable patterns of consumption and production.
 
And the Ni una menos movement in Latin America has built strong alliances across classes and generations to demand action on violence against women and girls.
 
Now is the time to build alliances and stand together for women’s rights.
 
One such alliance is the Generation Equality Forum, being convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France to achieve tangible results on gender equality during the Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals.
 
Its vision is clear: equal participation of women and girls in political life and decision-making in all areas of life.
 
Here at the United Nations we are determined to lead by example. 
 
In January this year, we achieved gender parity – 90 women and 90 men – in the ranks of our full-time senior leadership, two years ahead of the target that I set at the start of my tenure, and we have a roadmap for parity at all levels in the coming years.
 
This long overdue change is an essential recognition of the equal rights and value of women staff, and a fundamental instrument to change power relations within our Organization.
 
It is also about improving our efficiency and our effectiveness for the people we serve.
 
This Commission is an opportunity to further galvanize the momentum for gender equality and women’s rights that has been growing around the world.
 
I urge you to use this session to focus on what unites us and to strongly reaffirm the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and its full, effective and accelerated implementation.
 
Let us send a clear message to the world that women’s rights are human rights, and that gender equality is central to all the Sustainable Development Goals.
 
Thank you. 

António Guterres

What is Earth Hour?

This Earth Hour is going to be the largest yet, with millions of people in over 180 countries taking part to raise their voice for people and nature. 

The Earth from space showing Australia and Indonesia 

Find out why 2020 is the super year for our planet.

2020 VISION

Past decades have been defined by trends, world-stopping events and cutting-edge advancements. From the 90s emerged the Hubble Space Telescope, the World Wide Web and The Backstreet Boys. The 2000s were defined by Beyonce’s solo debut (of course) and a new and frightening War on Terror. And we all know that the past 10 years have been about smashed avo, climate marches and the world catching on fire. 

2020 is the beginning of the decade that will be defined by the environment, because it needs to be. We need to make wise, science-backed decisions over the next 10 years if we want to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. If we don’t, we run the risk of locking in a grim, infertile future for people and nature. 

Luckily, 2020 is a ‘super year’ for the environment; a year of important global meetings on environmental policy. If we can persuade global leaders to make decisions at these meetings to benefit our planet’s future, we can protect and restore nature before it’s too late. 

So, what can we expect this year?

High-Level Political Forum, 7-16 July 2020, New York, USA 

Despite sounding like a bit of a snooze fest, we have the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) to thank for some of the most interesting things to come out of the United Nations; the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

There are 17 SDGs, and their purpose is to cover just about everything we need to work on to make the world safe, sustainable and enjoyable for everyone by 2030. The list of SDGs is short but interesting, you can read more about them here.

Each goal has a subset of targets, and some of the environmental targets under the SDGs will expire in 2020, so it’s time for 193 member states to show the world what they have (or haven’t) achieved.

75th UN General Assembly (UNGA), 15-30 September 2020, New York, USA

The United Nations General Assembly is the only time that all 193 member states are allowed equal representation. Even the world’s smallest nations - those most impacted by climate change - can be heard and can try to influence global policy. 

The 75th United Nations General Assembly will look forward to what the state of the world may be at its 100th assembly if we don’t act now. In response to global, youth-led climate marches, the future of the next generation will be central to deliberations at the UNGA.

Leaders’ Biodiversity Summit, ~20 September 2020, New York, USA

The Leaders’ Biodiversity Summit is exactly what it sounds like. It’s very similar to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, just a little more exclusive. The rationale behind this leaders-only summit is to highlight the urgency of the biodiversity issue we face at the highest levels.

UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-15), ~5-10 October 2020, Kunming, China

In 2010, the number one target determined by the UN CBD for the decade ahead was:

“By 2020, at the latest, people are aware of the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably.”

You can read more about biodiversity here.

At the 2020 UN CBD, member states will establish a new 10-year framework, and re-assess their progress towards the convention's ultimate long-term goal, that people will be living in harmony with nature by 2050. 

The members of the UN CBD have established achievable, modern goals for our modern world. 

Working within our current economic, political and social systems means that we lose nature when we gain progress as a species, but we can’t be expected to forego the systems that we rely on for the sake of nature.  

 And we don’t have to. 

What we can do is improve these systems to make them work harder and smarter for us and for the environment. This way, when we thrive, nature can thrive too. That’s what the UN CBD is all about!

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-26), 9-20 November 2020, Glasgow, Scotland

Chances are, at some point you’ve heard someone talk about ‘The Paris Agreement’ as if they wrote the thing (they didn’t). This agreement is probably what the UNCCC is best known for. 

Aimed at limiting global warming to 2 degrees or less, the agreement established guidelines and targets to limit CO2 emissions worldwide. Sadly, current efforts, especially from larger, powerful countries, are insufficient to keep global warming at a safe level. 2020 is the year the agreement will be re-assessed, so it is the first time since it’s adoption that countries will come together to evaluate how much they’ve been able to do, and how much more they can do. 

___

While many of these meetings were established with the best intentions, unfortunately their goals are not being realised swiftly enough. With only 10 years left to achieve these goals and a lot of work ahead, 2020 is going to be the biggest year yet for the United Nations, and for the planet. It is the reason why we are calling it a ‘super year’. The future of our planet is at stake, and we need our world’s leaders to act with urgency if we are to save the one home we all share.

There is a way you can help ensure that the future of our planet is at the top of the agenda.

Earth Hour 2020

2020 has already been a big year for Australia. In only two months, we’ve seen droughts, catastrophic bushfires and floods. But 2020 is also a year of great hope and change.

That’s why Earth Hour 2020 is the most important Earth Hour ever.

2020 is the year everything changes, which is why this Earth Hour is the most important hour for our planet. 

Will you sign up to #SwitchOff and raise your voice for nature on Saturday 28 March 8.30pm your local time?

Sign up to #SWITCHOFF

This year we’ll be switching off on Saturday 28 March 8:30pm local time.

Become a voice of Nature