United Nations in India

India is critical in determining the success of the SDGs, globally. At the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted, “Sustainable development of one-sixth of humanity will be of great consequence to the world and our beautiful planet. It will be a world of fewer challenges and greater hope; and, more confident of its success”. NITI Aayog, the Government of India’s premier think tank, has been entrusted with the task of coordinating the SDGs, mapping schemes related to the SDGs and their targets, and identifying lead and supporting ministries for each target. In addition, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has been leading discussions for developing national indicators for the SDGs. State governments are key to India’s progress on the SDGs as they are best placed to ‘put people first’ and to ensuring that ‘no one is left behind’. The UN Country Team in India supports NITI Aayog, Union ministries and state governments in their efforts to address the interconnectedness of the goals, to ensure that no one is left behind and to advocate for adequate financing to achieve the SDGs.

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02 October 2026

Winners: Show Us Your India: Biodiversity Photography Contest

The five photographs above are the selected entries from the first Show Us Your India photography contest, held on the theme of biodiversity. The winning images have also been showcased across our social media platforms, including X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. The month-long contest, led by the UN Information Centre New Delhi, invited photographers from India and around the world to capture the variety of life found in India. More than 600 entries were received. Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, from animals and plants to the ecosystems they are part of. It supports the food, water and natural resources that people depend on. Protecting biodiversity is central to Sustainable Development Goals 14 and 15, Life Below Water and Life on Land. In October 2026, countries will meet in Yerevan, Armenia, for CBD COP17, the 17th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity. It will be held in conjunction with the twelfth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CP-MOP-12) and the sixth meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing (NP-MOP-6). COP 17 will mark the first global review of collective progress towards the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). Thank you to everyone who took part and shared a photograph with us.>>

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26 September 2026

In Abyei, Indian peacekeepers strengthen presence as calm returns

Indian peacekeepers are among the United Nations personnel helping restore calm in Abyei, where deadly violence at a busy market earlier this month left 40 people reportedly dead and more than 100 injured.The violence took place on 15 September at Amiet Common Market, a vital commercial hub and source of livelihoods for predominantly Misseriya and Ngok Dinka communities.The security situation at the market is now relatively calm, but remains fragile. The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, UNISFA, has increased its troop deployment and reinforced patrols in and around the market as part of efforts to de-escalate tensions, prevent further violence and protect civilians.Indian personnel are deployed in Sector Center, where many people were displaced, according to information provided by UNISFA. Alongside the increased security presence, UNISFA has intensified engagement with traditional leaders from the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya communities.During the week, the mission held discussions with leaders from both communities focused on rebuilding trust, preventing renewed hostilities and promoting peaceful coexistence.UNISFA has welcomed efforts by local communities to deter further violence and restore calm, while urging all communities to exercise maximum restraint.“While we are encouraged by the return to calm at Amiet market, the number of casualties highlights the significant impact of the violence,” said Lieutenant General Ganesh Kumar Shreshta, Acting Head of Mission and Force Commander.“We remind the communities that differences can only be resolved through dialogue,” he said.The Force Commander said UNISFA would continue to prioritise the protection of civilians and engagement with key stakeholders to prevent retaliation and create favourable conditions for the safe return of normal life and trade at the market.As the situation remains fragile, UNISFA will continue its efforts to support calm, protect civilians and engage with communities to prevent further escalation.The mission reiterated its commitment to implementing its mandate and protecting civilians in Abyei.As of June 2026, India was contributing 4,254 uniformed personnel to United Nations peacekeeping operations, according to UN figures.***

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25 September 2026

Right to development: A blueprint for unmet promises

Ahead of the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking Declaration on the Right to Development this December, world leaders gathered at a High-Level Week meeting on Wednesday to map progress made and the 21st century challenges still ahead – from narrowing the digital divide to levelling the AI playing field – as the UN chief presented a “blueprint” to address promises that remain unfulfilled. What you need to know:The declaration broke new ground in the universal struggle for greater human dignity, freedom, equality and justice when the UN General Assembly adopted it in 1986The declaration can help provide guardrails on issues from AI to internet access, as well as accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development A legally binding treaty on the right to development has been in the works since 2018 What is the declaration?Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1986, it makes access to development an inalienable right.While a legally binding treaty has been in the works since 2018, the declaration states that everyone is “entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realised”. The declaration unequivocally puts people at the centre of the development process. Read the full declaration here.‘A call to action’UN Secretary-General António Guterres told world leaders the declaration’s anniversary is more than a moment of reflection, “It is a call to action.”For millions around the world, promises made in the declaration remain unfulfilled, “yet we know how to make it real,” he said, pointing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that “provide the blueprint to leave no one behind”.Under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 17 SDGs contain goals and targets that are lifting people out of poverty and protecting their rights.Progress since the declaration’s adoption has been driven by the foresight, dedication and resilience of countries, communities and activists of all ages, he said.Extreme poverty has fallen dramatically, nearly half the world is now covered by some form of social protection, people are living longer and scientific and technological advances have transformed lives and livelihoods and expanded opportunity, he noted. New tests awaitBut today, the promise of development faces new tests, Mr. Guterres said, from widening inequalities and persistent food insecurity to rising debt, conflicts and economic instability that are impeding development and economic growth.In addition, the climate crisis is reaching devastating new levels each year, reminding the world that there can be no development on a degraded and unhealthy planet.While the digital revolution and artificial intelligence hold enormous potential to improve lives, these frontline technologies can also be drivers of exclusion and division.“The declaration unequivocally establishes development as a right and puts people at the centre of the development process,” he said.“Development, human rights and peace are not separate ambitions. They advance together. In today’s divided world, this vision can still unite us, and the Sustainable Development Goals are the roadmap to get us there.”What does people-centred development look like?UN agencies have long integrated human rights into projects around the world.The right to development extends to people enduring humanitarian crises and beyond – from war zones to disaster recovery.Here’s what putting people first means:Colombia: Indigenous Peoples’ groups have participated in the South American country’s peace accordsGaza: Women engineers are turning e-waste into opportunityNepal: Lethal floods in August wiped out communities that are now recovering and rebuilding better, with support from UN agencies Morocco: Vocational-training programmes are helping women launch income-generating activities in MoroccoSouth Sudan: UN peacekeepers built a reservoir to accommodate communities that had been fighting over scarce water resourcesVenezuela: UN agencies partnered to respond to deadly twin earthquakes in JuneThis article was first published here

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25 September 2026

Guterres: ‘Cracks have become canyons’ as world faces four tests of power

Humanity faces four defining “tests of power” – around war or peace, inequality, climate change and AI – that will determine whether the world moves towards a new era of cooperation or deeper division, the UN chief warned the General Assembly on Tuesday.Key pointsUN chief urges binding international cooperation on AI governance, warning that life-and-death decisions must never be handed to machinesCalls for Security Council reform, highlighting the continued “indefensible” absence of permanent African representationFor the first time in its history, UN has achieved full gender parity across senior leadership and staff With roughly 100 days remaining in his term as UN Secretary-General, António Guterres delivered a wide-ranging speech that framed the world’s most pressing crises not as isolated problems, but as different expressions of the same underlying struggle over how power is exercised and by whom.“The greatest power is not the power to dominate. It is the power to build a future that works for everyone,” he said, presenting his annual report of the Organization.Describing a decade of eroding international norms – from civilians targeted in war, and humanitarian workers killed, to international law “cast aside” and fraying trust between nations – he said power itself is being fundamentally reshaped in three ways:Emergence of new State powersSignificant transfer of authority from governments to private corporations and individualsGrowing role of AI and autonomous weapons in decisions once reserved for humans“The faultlines in our world are widening,” he said. “Cracks have become canyons.”Rather than accepting fragmentation as inevitable, he called for galvanizing cooperation and a truly global network built on interdependence and shared rules while warning against sliding into rival blocs with separate economic and security systems, a scenario he has termed in recent years the Great Fracture.No real ceasefire in sightPointing to cascading crises across the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar, Mr. Guterres argued that so-called ceasefires have often amounted to little more than “lesser fires”, with civilians continuing to pay the price.He renewed calls for compliance with International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders regarding Gaza and warned that settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank threatens to extinguish the two-State solution.He also condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a clear violation of the UN Charter.Renewing longstanding calls for Security Council reform, he singled out the continued absence of permanent African representation as “unjust and indefensible” given the 15-member organ’s founding in a starkly different geopolitical era.‘Equality is not a dream; it is a decision’Highlighting the gap between record global wealth and the billions still lacking access to food, clean water, education and healthcare, he said inequality is not merely an economic issue but a question of power over opportunity, resources and self-determination.He reiterated his long-held view that the international financial system leaves developing nations crushed by debt while facing climate disasters they did little to cause. In this vein, he called for faster debt relief, bolder multilateral development banks and fairer access to Special Drawing Rights created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Devoting particular attention to gender inequality, he announced that the UN has achieved full gender parity across senior leadership, headquarters staff, and professional roles for the first time in its history.“Equality is not a dream; it is a decision,” he said, citing progress at the UN as proof that entrenched power structures can change.Twin challenges: Climate and AIOn climate change, Mr. Guterres said the crisis is the “most profound intergenerational power imbalance”, warning of a near-certain breach of the 1.5°C threshold.Calling for polluters to “pay” and for developed nations to triple adaptation funding, he pointed out that major oil companies are reaping substantial profits since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while global adaptation finance for developing countries remains a fraction of that sum.Turning to AI, the Secretary-General warned that power is increasingly concentrated in data, computing capacity and algorithms, advancing faster than humanity’s capacity to govern it.“The danger is not technology,” he said. “The danger is technology without accountability.”Outlaw killer robotsGuard rails on AI must be built, the UN chief said, adding that children must never become the test-subjects for unregulated systems.“Life-and-death decisions must never be surrendered to machines,” he warned. “Killer robots must have no place in our future.”To address this, he called for a multilateral AI risk management framework with independent oversight, stating firmly that children must never become test subjects for unregulated systems and that life-and-death decisions must never be surrendered to machines.Stronger, not weakerMr. Guterres reaffirmed that peace, development and human rights are inseparable pillars of the UN Charter, rejecting any notion that dignity and rights can be divorced from security and opportunity.In the face of global catastrophe more than 80 years ago on the battlefields of World War Two, the United Nations was created as an act of defiance of hope, of people who refuse to surrender the future to fear and of countries that know their futures are bound together.Pledging to carry the “spirit of resolve” through his remaining time in office, he vowed to continue championing the UN Charter’s values, even after leaving his post as Secretary-General.“The world does not need a weaker United Nations,” he said. “It needs a UN strong enough to face the world as it is and determined enough to build the world as it should be.”This story was first published here

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22 September 2026

2197, Not 2030: The Long Road to Gender Equality

With a 13% reduction in funding for gender equality and a 28% reduction in funding for women’s rights organizations between 2023 and 2024, the goal of achieving gender equality by 2030 is slipping out of reach. At the current rate of progress, gender equality is projected to be achieved only by 2197, more than 160 years after the UN’s 2030 deadline. This stark realization has been brought forward by the Gender Snapshot 2026 report, released by UN Women and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).The findings of the Gender Snapshot 2026 report reveal a political retreat from gender equality that is crosscutting, measurable, and compounding. From 2020 to 2026, women’s share of seats in parliaments has declined in 54 countries, while one in three institutional mechanisms for gender equality has had its institutional power eroded over the past two years. Of these mechanisms, around one in four have seen their operating budgets cut over the same period, and nearly one in ten have lost control of their budget altogether. Funding for gender equality has fallen to its lowest level since 2021, with funding for women’s rights organizations most impacted. Meanwhile, amid funding cuts, 42 per cent of UN entities report a weakening of their gender equality efforts.The concentration of political power remains stark: six in seven countries are led by men. Women continue to face systemic barriers at every stage. The cost of running for office can exceed 100 times a country’s average per-capita income, excluding many women before the race even begins. In some countries, as many as eight in 10 women running for office face violence in public life. During electoral campaigns, 8 in 10 women candidates for parliament and 6 in 10 candidates for local government experience psychological, sexual, economic and/or physical violence. And when women do reach cabinet, they are still disproportionately steered away from the portfolios that command the highest security and economic power. Close to nine in 10 defense ministers and more than eight in 10 finance ministers are men.The road to justice and safety is even longer. Women comprise only 29.0 per cent of prosecutors in cases of gender-based violence and discrimination and are underrepresented in public service positions relative to their share of the national population in 62.1 per cent of countries. Only 31 out of 175 Chief Justices globally are women. Despite their abilities and contributions, women and girls, who neither choose nor lead conflicts, are sidelined from ending them. “The evidence is clear: when women lead, societies are stronger, economies are more resilient and outcomes are better for everyone. Yet as long as power remains concentrated in institutions that systematically exclude women, societies will continue to fall short of their full potential. Equality cannot be achieved without equal access to power—because equality without power is not equality at all,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. "The data leave no room for ambiguity: at current rates gender equality remains 171 years away. What the Gender Snapshot 2026 shows is that this is not inevitable — it is the result of choices, made visible through data. Investing in gender equality, institutions, and the statistical systems that hold them to account is not a cost. It is the fastest route back to the 2030 Agenda's promise of equal power for all," said Li Junhua, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.The pattern extends beyond government. Women hold only six per cent of corporate Chief Executive Officer positions globally, occupy just 11.6 per cent of managerial positions in Central and Southern Asia and lead fewer than 20 per cent of the highest courts, leaving the decisions shaping business, law, employment, and the global economy overwhelmingly in the hands of men.The findings of the report come at a consequential moment for the multilateral system. World leaders are gathering for the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA81) as the United Nations moves towards selecting its tenth Secretary-General – a position that no woman has held in the UN’s 80-year history. As governments debate the future of multilateralism, the report argues that no vision for the future of the world is credible without women and girls having an equal share of power in shaping it.As 2030 draws nearer, not a single SDG 5 indicator is currently on track yet. UN Women and UN DESA are calling for a reversal of the political retreat on gender equality - and for power to be shared more equally. This can be ensured by giving women an equal voice in political and economic decisions, properly funding gender equality institutions, protecting women’s rights organizations and civic space, and ensuring women have equal power to shape the decisions that affect economies, peace and security, technology and public life.Read more here Written by UNIC Intern Aishvarya Thakur***

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Press Release

05 October 2026

International Day of Non-Violence

On this International Day of Non-Violence, we pay tribute to the extraordinary life and legacy of Mahatma Gandhi.Throughout his life, Gandhi set an inspiring example of how to create deep, lasting change while holding fast to the principles of peace. He showed that the best way to counter injustice is not to mirror the cruelty and violence of systemic discrimination and oppression — but to employ instead the tools of dialogue and non-violence to build bridges of understanding, deliver dignity and create lasting change. In this time of rising division, tension and conflict, Gandhi’s lessons speak to us with renewed urgency. People are suffering. Poverty and inequality are driving a wedge between the haves and have-nots. And the very foundations of peace and development — the UN Charter, human rights, international law and diplomacy and dialogue — are being ignored and flouted with impunity. In these highly charged times, let’s summon the courage, empathy, dignity and shared humanity that Gandhi exemplified throughout his life. Let’s work to heal divisions through genuine dialogue and diplomacy, end suffering, and build a peaceful world through non-violence.

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Press Release

24 September 2026

UNCCD COP17

I would like to begin with a simple proposition:Healthy land is not an environmental luxury. It is productive capital. And drought resilience is not a sectoral concern. It is a sustainable, inclusive, economic growth.That distinction matters — because how we define the challenges determine how we will find the durable solutions.When land degrades and has been exhausted, we see the consequences in farmers’ and herders' incomes and household poverty. But we also see them in food-price inflation, declining agricultural productivity, lost jobs and export earnings. More importantly, pressure on water and energy systems, we see rising insurance losses, displacement and migration, and greater demands on already constrained public budgets.And when drought takes hold, governments pay an increasing price— through emergency responses, food and energy subsidies, reconstruction, lost tax revenues and, too often, additional borrowing.So, this is simultaneously a fiscal issue, a livelihood issue, a productivity issue, and a macroeconomic stability challenge, an environment crisis, and ultimately, we see development exacerbated.And yet our financial architecture still largely treats land degradation as an environmental externality — rather than as a deterioration of the productive asset base of an economy. As Environment Minister I experienced this firsthand in my country. That must change.The economics should compel us to act.On current trends, we are on course to invest only around $77 billion a year of the $355 billion that is needed annually. That gap gives us annually $278 billion. But here is the thing that should concern every finance minister; the estimated cost of inaction is already at least $878 billion a year, and that doesn't account for the lives that have been lost.The other side of that equation should interest every investor. Investments in restoration could generate approximately $1.8 trillion in annual benefits. For every dollar invested, the estimated economic return ranges between 7 and 30 dollars. So perhaps, as Yasmin said earlier this morning, we are asking the wrong question.The question is not, "Can we afford to finance sustainable land use?" It's more likely that we should be asking the question, "How much longer can economies afford not to?First, countries can make land and drought resilience a sovereign economic priority.That means moving it from the margins of environment ministries into national development strategies, medium-term fiscal frameworks, public investment plans and sovereign financing strategies.Finance ministries should know the value of their natural capital — and the fiscal exposure created by its degradation.Countries can begin to identify and phase out or repurpose subsidies that incentivize land degradation, inefficient water use and unsustainable agricultural practices — and redirect those resources towards farmers, herders, pastoralists and businesses investing in sustainable production.They can use environmental taxes, land-degradation charges and payment-for-ecosystem-services schemes to change incentives.And they can develop sovereign green and sustainability-linked bonds, resilience bonds and debt instruments whose financing terms are linked to measurable land, water and resilience outcomes.This is not simply about finding new money.It is also about making the trillions already flowing through national economies work differently.Second, we must turn investable potential into investable opportunities.There is private capital looking for long-term returns. There are farmers, SMEs and communities with viable solutions. Too often, however, the two do not meet.Projects are too small. Risks are perceived to be too high. Tenures are too short. Currency risk is too great, and revenue streams from ecosystem services remain uncertain.This is precisely where innovative finance has a role.We need blended-finance platforms that use concessional resources strategically to absorb risks rather than simply finance individual projects.We need guarantees and first-loss instruments that can crowd in institutional investors.We also need aggregation vehicles capable of bringing thousands of small farms and restoration investments together into portfolios of sufficient scale.We need greater use of drought insurance, parametric insurance and other risk-transfer instruments — connected to investments in prevention and resilience rather than simply paying after disaster strikes.And we need to build revenue models around the multiple benefits that healthy land produces — food, water, carbon, biodiversity, livelihoods and resilience — rather than expecting a land-restoration project to survive on a single revenue stream.Third, our multilateral development banks and international financial institutions must be bolder and more responsive.We should ask ourselves a difficult question.If land degradation threatens sovereign balance sheets, why is financing land restoration still largely organized project by project, grant by grant?MDBs have powerful balance sheets. The challenge is to use them with greater catalytic effect.That means using guarantees, risk-sharing instruments and concessional capital much more systematically to mobilize private finance.It also means using concessional resources where they have the greatest multiplier effect — to take risks that commercial investors cannot, rather than financing what markets can already finance.It means expanding local-currency financing, because farmers and local businesses should not bear foreign-exchange risks they cannot manage.It means moving from isolated projects towards country platforms and portfolio approaches, where governments, MDBs, development finance institutions, philanthropies and private investors can combine capital around nationally determined land and drought-resilience priorities.And it means recognizing investments in natural capital and resilience as part of the MDBs’ core development mandate — connected to food security, jobs, infrastructure, fiscal resilience and economic transformation.The objective should not simply be to increase the amount of concessional finance available.It should be to increase the amount of total finance that every concessional dollar mobilizes — while ensuring that finance reaches the communities and producers managing the land itself.COP17 gives us an opportunity to change the economics of this agenda.Imagine if we leave Ulaanbaatar and are committed to three things:Quantifying the economic and fiscal cost of land degradation and drought — and reflect it in national economic planning.Identify the public expenditures, subsidies and financial regulations that can be reformed to shift domestic capital towards healthy land.To work with MDBs and international financial institutions on national investment platforms capable of using concessional finance and balance sheets to mobilize capital at scale.Because ultimately, innovative finance is not primarily about inventing ever more sophisticated financial instruments,It is about changing where risk sits, changing the incentives that shape investment, and changing our understanding of what constitutes economic infrastructure.Soil is infrastructure.Watersheds are infrastructure.Rangelands are productive assets.And resilience is an investment in the future productive capacity of an economy.The countries that understand this earliest will build economies that are more productive, more resilient, more food-secure and less vulnerable to the shocks that increasingly define our age.The economics are compelling.The instruments increasingly exist.What we now need is the political and financial ambition and courage to deploy them at scale.I thank you.

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