In order to tackle the growing connections between climate change and conflict, the UN must undergo an organisational shift to connect different actors at local, national, regional, and global levels.

Recent public opinion surveys spotlight overwhelming support for climate action and indicate the shared values of urban communities that could shape equitable, ethical development.

To combat climate change, we need to value and measure our collective well-being, the sustainability of our actions, and the ability of our production to contribute to a cycle rather than an endless output of carbon.

A new study indicates that people in urban areas, on average, have the smallest carbon footprints, while those living in the suburbs have the highest.

With less than half a year until COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, UNU researchers outline key realisations needed to guide the conference towards effective climate action.

The year 2020 continued a decade-long trend of increasing climate change-induced food insecurity and human displacement, highlighting the necessity to modernise human mobility policies and platforms for cooperation.

As climate change continues to impact lives and livelihoods, the international community needs to be acutely aware of how armed groups are taking advantage of it, and how conflict prevention efforts can be adapted to be climate-sensitive.

UNU research in the context of COVID-19 indicates that governments must shape social protection and small business support policies that protect informal workers from the consequences of the pandemic.

Monitoring wastewater for COVID-19 provides real-time community insights into viral spread, offering an early warning system for outbreaks and enabling timely preventative and coping measures.

Regional and local governments are demonstrating new forms of cooperation and policy influence that can guide the future of international relations and multilateralism.

Twenty years after their adoption, the Palermo Protocols can make use of new technology to combat the roots of human trafficking by identifying hotspots, patterns, and factors that exacerbate vulnerabilities beyond gender.

Although Chinese investment in Africa has helped spark economic growth and improve social outcomes across the continent, new research reveals that Chinese projects often seem to go hand in hand with civil protests.

Water scarcity issues have been vexing experts for decades, but the experiences in many countries clearly suggest an urgent paradigm shift of water management and use is needed to ensure global taps don’t run dry sooner than we expect.

With the COVID-19 pandemic setting back Sustainable Development Goal progress even further, now is the time for intense focus on the world’s most chronic water, sanitation, and hygiene problems.

As COVID-19 vaccination programmes scale up globally, policymakers need to incorporate three realistic assumptions into their immunization plans: delays are inevitable, inequality will increase, and vaccine procurement could be a proxy for geopolitics.

Research in Ghana shows that future virus containment policies will need to be coupled with protective measures that prevent the most vulnerable workers from being left behind.