In his report to the UN Security Council on the activities of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa and on the Lord's Resistance Army-affected areas, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, highlighted that increases in poaching, mainly targeting elephants, are a growing security concern in Central Africa.

During the Eleventh International Meeting of the East Atlantic Biosphere Reserve Network (REDBIOS), the biosphere reserves of the REDBIOS Network agreed to reinforce their commitment to the development of the MAB programme and established different priority work areas.

The Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and partners have released a book titled 'Best Practices of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves,' which compiles the presentations of the Island Biosphere Reserves that attended the 2nd meeting of the World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves: Sustainable Development and Climate Change, held in Jeju, Republic of Korea, in September 2012.

Mongolia and Luxembourg have ratified the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, bringing the total number of ratifications to 14.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has reported on a Sandwatch stakeholder workshop involving SMA Negeri 1 and MTsN Lhoknga, teachers from schools in coastal Aceh Besar district, government officials, Panglima Laôt and local NGOs, which was held in Lhoknga, Aceh, Indonesia, on 15 May 2013.

'Water and Biodiversity' was the theme for this year's International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB), celebrated on 22 May, to coincide with the UN designation of 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation.

The Program on Forests (PROFOR) has examined and used the number of bonobo orphans arriving at a sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as an indication of pressure on rainforests in the country.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in its role as Secretariat of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP 10YFP), has launched The Global SCP Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse uses social networking principles to create a “one-stop hub” for SCP knowledge and cooperation.

Organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), this online conference aims to continue the exchange of views and synthesis of information and experiences regarding socio-economic considerations arising from the impact of living modified organisms (LMOs) on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, especially with regard to the value of biological diversity to indigenous and local communities.

Organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), this online conference aims to continue the exchange of views and synthesis of information and experiences regarding socio-economic considerations arising from the impact of living modified organisms (LMOs) on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, especially with regard to the value of biological diversity to indigenous and local communities.