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Get the latest information and guidance on COVID-19 and its humanitarian and environmental impacts
Learn MoreGet the latest information and guidance on COVID-19 and its humanitarian and environmental impacts
Learn MoreThe Environmental Emergencies Centre (EEC) is a one-stop-shop of information relevant to the preparedness, prevention and response stages of an environmental emergency. EEC strengthens the preparedness capacities of responders and humanitarians, allowing users to build on their own mechanisms and to draw on the resources and services of EEC partners. The Environmental Emergencies Centre is hosted by the UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit (JEU).
The impact of Climate Change has already increased the insecurity of vulnerable communities in serval regions across the globe, including exacerbating the loss of livelihoods,...
Learn MoreA rapid environmental screening tool for humanitarian contexts, which allows humanitarian actors to quickly identify issues of environmental concern before designing longer term emergency or...
Learn MoreThe GRRT is a toolkit and training program designed to increase awareness and knowledge of environmentally responsible disaster response approaches.
Learn MoreThe course, available in English, French, Spanish and Russian, provides humanitarian actors with information on how to effectively integrate environmental issues into humanitarian response and...
Learn MoreThe Flash Environmental Assessment Tool (FEAT) is a tool which helps identify existing or potential acute environmental impacts that pose risks for humans, human life-support...
Learn MoreThe Rapid Environmental Assessment Guidelines are a tool which allow for defining and prioritizing potential environmental impacts during disaster situations.
Learn MoreAn oil spill at a refinery north of Lima on 15 January 2022 caused major damage. A UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit (JEU) team, embedding environmental expertise, was deployed to assist the government-led response. The full environment mission report is accessible here. Ancon district, Peru – The UNEP/OCHA Joint…
Between 1 and 16 November 2020, tropical storm Eta and hurricane Iota caused devastating impacts across Honduras, notably. United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) teams, embedding environmental expertise, were dispatched to support the government-led response. The full environmental mission report is available here. …
La Soufrière volcano entered in eruption on 9 April 2021, leading to ash plumes of up to 20,000 feet heading east. The UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit (JEU) dispatched a team embedding environmental expertise to support the government-led response. An environmental mission report is accessible here. The landscape of…
On 20 May 2021, the MV X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire and started sinking on early June, releasing fuel oil, dangerous chemicals, and plastic pellets – among other materials – in the Laccadive sea as it was anchored around 9 nautical miles (17 kilometers) northwest of the Port of…
Since May 2021, important floods consecutively to heavy rains impacted all regions of Guyana, leading to the official declaration of the situation as national disaster. In response to a request from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) – which was supporting the Government of Guyana to implement a…
On 14 August 2021, a major 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, and caused particularly severe damage to the departments of Nippes, Grand’Anse and Sud, in the country’s South. A United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team deployed and supported the government-led response by providing environmental expertise. Information on the…
This guidance accompanies the Environment Marker, and aims at giving specific guidance on mitigation measures for activities in “B”-coded projects (medium environmental impact). It provides...
Learn MoreThere is an inextricable link between the protection of the environment and the protection of civilians across in the armed conflict-affected areas. This publication explains...
Learn MoreThe research paper, "Faecal Sludge Management in Africa: Socio-economic aspects, human and environmental health implications", aims to explore how current trends in faecal sludge management...
Learn MoreThe United Nations Environment Programme/Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Joint Environment Unit (JEU), also known as the UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit, is housed within OCHA’s Emergency Services Branch in Geneva. Founded in 1994, it helps Member States prepare for and respond to environmental dimensions of emergencies. The…
Motivation On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. This global crisis has been a very powerful reminder of the links between environment and emergencies. Disasters, crises and the environment are intrinsically interconnected. Therefore, a key element of emergency response is the rapid identification and mitigation of…
A Joint Initiative to improve engagement and coordination between environmental and humanitarian actors The Coordination of Assessments for Environment in Humanitarian Action – The Joint Initiative – is a unique, multi-stakeholder project that convenes environmental and humanitarian actors to work together towards minimizing the environmental causes and consequences of…
The Adaptation to Climate Change in Sub-Saharan African Humanitarian situations is an inter-agency initiative which aims to strengthen climate change adaptation in target humanitarian hot spots. The project supports vulnerable communities, internally displaced people, refugees and host communities that face climate-related risks in Burundi, Chad and Sudan. The projects involves…
As the demand for humanitarian assistance grows, so does the need for more sustainable packaging solutions. Plastic waste in Haiti. Photo credit: UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit The Joint Initiative for Sustainable Humanitarian Packaging Waste Management is a unique collective that convenes humanitarian actors from the UN system, NGOs, bilateral and…
The Environment and Emergencies Forum (EEF) is a unique global event organized by the UN Environment/OCHA Joint Unit (JEU). The Forum brings together stakeholders from around the world to showcase innovations in environmental emergency preparedness and response, and to highlight current efforts on integrating environmental risk in humanitarian action.
#Climatechange affects everyone. But NOT EQUALLY.
Delivering a powerful address to world leaders gathered for the opening day of the General Assembly’s 77th session, Secretary-General António Guterres calls for ‘coalition of the world’ to overcome the big challenges of our age.
With the support of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and ECHO, the JEU deployed an environmental specialist in water and sanitation to complement the UNDAC Team in support of the Government of The Gambia following the floods in the country.
Over 40,000 people have recently been affected by historic floods in The Gambia. Our @UNOCHA UNDAC team deployed rapidly to support the country's response efforts.
Thank you for your engagement to assist flood-affected communities, with @UNGambia, @OCHAROWCA & partners.
The climate crisis doesn’t affect everyone equally. People in vulnerable communities are losing their homes, their livelihoods and their lives. But in crisis time, humanitarians are committed to deliver life-saving assistance every hour of every day.
#WorldHumanitarianDay
The JEU is continuing to work with the humanitarian community to enhance the environmental sustainability of humanitarian action, adapt to climate change in humanitarian settings and mitigate environmental risks in humanitarian projects and programmes. 10/10
Yesterday’ decision elevates the right to where it belongs: universal recognition which is a victory we should celebrate. My thanks to Member States and to the thousands of organizations who advocated relentlessly for this right. 9/10
At the same time, through a second resolution (48/14), the Council also increased its focus on the human rights impacts of climate change by establishing a Special Rapporteur dedicated specifically to that issue. 8/10
In resolution 48/13, the Council called on States around the world to work together, and with other partners, to implement this newly recognized right. 7/10
In October 2021, the @UN_HRC recognized for the first time, that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right. 6/10
One of the major results of the Stockholm conference was the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (@UNEP). 5/10
The Stockholm Declaration placed environmental issues at the forefront of international concerns and marked the start of a dialogue on the link between economic growth, the pollution of the air, water, and oceans and the well-being of people around the world. 4/10
In fact, the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm was the first world conference to make the environment a major issue. The participants adopted a series of principles for sound management of the environment. 3/10
The resolution adopted was five decades in the making. From a foothold in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, the right has been integrated into constitutions, national laws and regional agreements. 2/10
The resolution, based on a similar text adopted last year by the Human Rights Council, calls upon States, international organizations, and business enterprises to scale up efforts to ensure a healthy environment for all. 1/10
With 161 votes in favour, and eight abstentions, the UN General Assembly made history on Thursday by adopting a resolution declaring access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, a universal human right. [Thread]
We have #OnlyOneEarth and no second chance.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
The science is clear. Time is running out.
We must go from harming our planet to healing it.
We need to rethink the way we live & the way we consume.
There is #OnlyOneEarth.
We have to protect it.
@UNEP explains how on Sunday's #WorldEnvironmentDay:
https://t.co/jj8yX2dtul
Tomorrow at #Stockholm50, the JEU will participate in a side event that will discuss how planetary crises are increasingly felt as humanitarian crises, especially by vulnerable and marginalized communities and groups.
@ifrc @StockholmPlus50 @WWF @ICRC @KenyaRedCross
The Environmental Emergencies Centre (EEC) is an online preparedness tool designed to enable an effective response to the environmental dimensions of emergencies.
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