Once considered one of the world’s fastest-disappearing ecosystems, mangrove forests are showing remarkable signs of recovery. A recent global study using satellite imagery from the 1980s to 2023 found that global mangrove losses have slowed sharply, while natural regeneration and expansion are increasingly offsetting past declines. These coastal forests protect shorelines, store carbon, support fisheries and provide habitat for more than 1,500 species. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners are helping drive this recovery through science-based, community-led restoration efforts in countries including Kenya, Costa Rica, Benin and across the South China Sea region, combining conservation, sustainable livelihoods and innovative financing.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee meets annually to decide which cultural and natural sites deserve World Heritage status and to monitor the conservation of existing sites. At its 48th session in Busan, Republic of Korea, the Committee inscribed 25 new sites on the World Heritage List, including Wadi Wurayah (pictured), recognised for its ecological distinctiveness and biodiversity. The Committee adopted measures to strengthen the protection of heritage threatened by conflict and climate change, and reinforced efforts to make the List more representative, reaffirming a shared global commitment to safeguarding humanity’s cultural and natural heritage for future generations.

Tracking biodiversity progress is more than a technical exercise—it is how global action becomes more transparent, comparable, and effective. At a meeting in Nairobi from 27 July to 12 August, two subsidiary bodies will help Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity assess progress towards the global goals and targets, identify data and knowledge gaps, and explore the technical and financial support needed to strengthen implementation. Ahead of the 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference in October, in Armenia, these discussions will help shape more ambitious, evidence-based action for biodiversity worldwide.

At a pivotal moment for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other resource-rich regions, the Security Council is examining how transparent, inclusive and sustainable natural resource governance can transform minerals from drivers of instability into engines of peace, security and prosperity. As global demand for strategic minerals accelerates, this high-level debate explores how stronger traceability, accountability and regional cooperation can help disrupt the financing of armed groups, prevent conflict and ensure that mineral wealth benefits people and development rather than war. Watch the debate live.

A single pair of jeans carries a surprisingly large environmental footprint, consuming thousands of litres of water, generating greenhouse gas emissions, and contributing to chemical pollution and textile waste throughout its life cycle. As demand for fast fashion grows, these impacts are placing increasing pressure on natural resources and ecosystems. In a new UNEP documentary, supermodel and UNEP Goodwill Ambassador Amber Valletta travels to Tunisia to explore the hidden environmental cost of making jeans—and the innovations helping transform the denim industry. Valletta highlights how sustainable production, greater transparency, and informed consumer choices can help reshape fashion into a more responsible and circular industry.

In Peru's Oxapampa–Asháninka–Yánesha Biosphere Reserve, Indigenous and rural women are protecting native stingless bees while strengthening biodiversity, food security, and local livelihoods. Through UNESCO and Guerlain's Women for Bees project, participants receive training and resources to practice sustainable meliponiculture, combining traditional knowledge with modern techniques. The initiative empowers women with new skills, income opportunities, and leadership roles while helping conserve vital pollinators threatened by habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. 

The tropics are among the planet’s most vital regions. They are home to around 80% of global biodiversity, nearly half of the world’s forests, and a rapidly growing young population. Yet this extraordinary richness is accompanied by significant challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty, and water stress. Combined with the heightened risk of extreme weather events associated with El Niño, these pressures make tropical regions particularly vulnerable without timely anticipatory action. Learn more about the potential and challenges of the tropics.

Rangelands cover more than half of the Earth’s land surface and support nearly two billion people, yet they are often overlooked as barren or unproductive landscapes. These ecosystems sustain biodiversity, store around 30 per cent of the world’s terrestrial carbon and underpin the livelihoods of 500 million pastoralists. Across countries including Kenya, Mongolia, India, Brazil, Armenia, Sudan and Tajikistan, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is working with communities to restore degraded land, strengthen climate resilience and support sustainable livelihoods. From community-led conservation and climate-smart grazing to women’s leadership and innovative financial tools, these initiatives show that healthy rangelands and thriving communities go hand in hand. Investing in these landscapes is essential for biodiversity, food security and climate action.

Land is essential to life, providing food, water and raw materials, yet more than 2 billion hectares worldwide are degraded, affecting over 3 billion people. As droughts intensify and temperatures rise, restoring ecosystems is critical to protecting biodiversity, food security and freshwater resources. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), everyone has a role to play. Key actions include promoting sustainable agriculture, protecting soil health and pollinators, restoring freshwater ecosystems, reviving coastal and marine habitats, bringing nature back into cities, and increasing investment in ecosystem restoration. These efforts are central to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), a global initiative to scale up action for a healthier, more resilient planet.

UNESCO’s biosphere reserves reverse the traditional conservation model by treating local communities as partners rather than obstacles. With more than 700 reserves in 142 countries, covering 7.5 million square kilometers, these “living laboratories” integrate biodiversity protection, scientific research, and sustainable livelihoods. Last week, 250 experts from 34 countries gathered in Paraguay for the Man and the Biosphere Programme’s International Coordinating Council. The host, Paraguay’s Itaipu Biosphere Reserve, protects the country’s largest remaining Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest corridor while supporting 250,000 residents. Through restoration efforts, nearly 4 million trees have been planted. The meeting also welcomed 14 new reserves, including the first in Montenegro and Timor-Leste.

The Earth is sending clear warnings: record-breaking heat, wildfires, extreme storms, and melting glaciers. Scientists warn we are dangerously close to exceeding 1.5°C of global warming, a threshold beyond which climate impacts become far more severe. But there is still hope. Communities are restoring ecosystems, young people are driving change, and clean energy is building a more sustainable future. This World Environment Day (5 June), remember there is still time to act. The Earth is sending us a signal—what message will we send back? Join UNEP’s global campaign and act #ForClimateNow.

Inclusion means fostering respect, dignity, and safe spaces where diverse identities, backgrounds, and lived experiences are valued so that everyone can fully participate in shaping a more sustainable future.

In the Solomon Islands, the Kira tribe has secured a landmark victory for Indigenous-led conservation after years of resisting destructive logging and fighting to protect their ancestral rainforest. Led by community leader Andrew Taraha, the tribe combined traditional knowledge, grassroots organizing, and scientific biodiversity research to establish the Kira Forest Biodiversity Conservation Area in 2023 — the first protected tribal land in Malaita province. Supported by the UNDP-backed Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme, the initiative safeguards nearly 700 hectares of rainforest, endangered species, freshwater sources, and sacred cultural sites while inspiring neighboring communities to pursue their own conservation efforts

Across the high Andes, Indigenous communities protect vicuñas and fragile grasslands through chaku, preserving culture, biodiversity, and balance.

The International Day of Plant Health highlights the importance of protecting plants to improve food security, biodiversity and global economic growth. Healthy plants provide most of the world’s food and oxygen, making plant biosecurity essential for human survival.

Plant pests and diseases destroy up to 40 percent of global crops each year, causing billions of dollars in agricultural losses. Climate change and increasing trade are spreading pests faster, making stronger international plant health measures more important than ever.