An environmental lawyer has told UN News how children and teenagers from some of the most vulnerable neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, have been moved to tears after encountering nature for the first time.

The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Syria announced on Saturday that the Organization is removing non-critical staff from the country, emphasizing that this is a precautionary step to protect UN personnel “while maintaining essential operations”. 

There can be “no life without healthy land as we cannot survive,” according to an Olympic athlete who has been attending a global meeting being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, focused on halting desertification and land loss and promoting the restoration and sustainable use of land.

One of the last partially functional health centres in besieged northern Gaza was hit several times overnight into Friday, leaving four health workers among the casualties and the dead, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

There have been significant developments in Iraq in recent months – which  has so far avoided being dragged into the widening Middle East conflict – but  corruption and other challenges persist, the new UN Special Representative for the country told the Security Council on Friday.