Urgent action is needed to decouple economic growth from CO2 emissions, ensuring a sustainable future for all.

Bodo and Sanda are reinventing entrepreneurship in Madagascar, creating jobs and empowering youth through IFAD's Agribusiness Hubs.

Rosa Sandoval, a fisherwoman from Lake Güija, adapts to climate change by diversifying income and empowering women for resilience.

In our digitizing world, science is essential for addressing urgent global challenges. This year’s World Science Day for Peace and Development (10 November) invites people to explore the transformative power of science. Young people can engage directly with distinguished scientists, asking questions that matter to them. Under the theme “Why Science Matters: Engaging Minds and Empowering Futures”, the observance will highlight the importance of science, in the context of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024 – 2033). Join the conversation with #ScienceDay.

Low growth, high debt, and fragmented trade are widening economic divides, urging the need for new development policies to promote sustainable growth.

Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance business leaders will meet UN officials for their 6th annual meeting (28-29 October, New York) to advance SDG financing. Discussions will support solutions for the UN’s reform agenda, boost and unlock private sector investment in sustainable development, and prepare for the 2025 Financing for Development Conference in Seville, Spain (30 June-3 July). The meeting comes at a critical time when the world needs transformative actions to bridge the SDG financing gap, which has ballooned to USD 4 trillion annually for developing countries. 

Nang San Hlaing , from Myanmar, was impressed by the crucial role of women in the development of farming communities in Thailand's highlands. She believes that Myanmar can achieve similar gender equality in the future, despite the challenges of changing attitudes and shifting away from illicit crops. Inspired by what she is learning in Thailand, she wants to implement new farming methods and create social enterprises in Myanmar.

On the cold, wet and foggy slopes of the Andes mountains in South America, a unique but fragile ecosystem illustrates the interconnection between the three most urgent global environmental crises we face today: biodiversity loss, climate change and land degradation. Known as páramos (alpine tundras), these high mountain ecosystems are found at altitudes higher than 3,000 metres. Considered sacred by Indigenous Peoples, the páramos of the Andes have been inhabited by humans for the past 15,000 years. However, with over 76,000 families living in the Colombian páramos today, unsustainable development has been pressuring this invaluable and delicate ecosystem. That is why the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), launched the Guardians of the Páramos alliance, in partnership with SWISSAID and World Women’s Corporation Colombia. Over the project’s three years of implementation, a total of 2,328 people participated, most of them rural women.

Augustina Akosua Asor Tufuor’s entrepreneurial journey started at the University of Ghana Business School. She founded Tropical Snacks to create all-natural plantain chips from surplus local produce, aiming to bridge the gap between small farmers and consumers. However, she faced challenges in accessing finance and market information. To address this, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Trade Centre launched a program called Empowering Women and Boosting Livelihoods through Agricultural Trade (EWAT) in 2021. This program aims to increase women’s competitiveness in trade through strengthened knowledge, skills, and access to finance.

How can we reimagine the global financial system for the 21st Century? How do we rebuild trust in the international community in the face of conflict and polarization? With only six years to go, how do we make up lost ground on the Sustainable Development Goals? These are some of the thorny questions that participants at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, initiated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other actors, will seek to answer. Bringing together leaders from government, the private sector and civil society, the Conference holds the potential to be a critical new forum to reshape and advance sustainable development for the 21st century.

Ecuador is pioneering sustainable agriculture with innovative practices to enhance productivity while preserving its rich biodiversity and forest ecosystems. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Lavazza have teamed up to produce the world's first certified 'deforestation-free' coffee. The initiative aims to improve the quality of coffee beans and protect nature and forests, working with farmers in the 23 provinces bordering Ecuador's Amazon rainforest. The initiative is part of the PROAmazonía program, a government-led initiative supported by UNDP, which has restored 15,023 hectares of Amazonian land.

Nisa is a mother of four from Bamyan, Afghanistan. She faced challenges in accessing education and later migrated to Iran. Like many Afghan women facing challenges in their migration journey, her priorities shifted to supporting her family. After a few daily-wage jobs, Nisa found stable work at a noodle-making factory in Iran. After 20 years, her family returned to Afghanistan. Nisa started a noodle business using her experience in Iran. With support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), she expanded her business and now plans to hire women and open a restaurant.

The International Labour Organization's Employment Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) helps countries around the world create more and better jobs through public investment in inclusive infrastructure. See how the programme works.

This initiative focuses on the sustainable production of essential oils, promoting bioeconomic activities that generate sustainable income without deforestation. By employing an agroforestry system, the initiative contributes to both the conservation and sustainable use of forest resources.

The world is facing an unprecedented development crisis: the debt crisis. UNCTAD warns that the global public debt has more than doubled from $51 trillion in 2010 and could exceed $100 trillion by 2024. Developing countries owe almost a third of this debt, and their debt is growing twice as fast as that of developed nations.