Nations United explores the significance of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. In the midst of a pandemic radically transforming our world, it sets out what must be done.

Listen to a group of international celebrities exploring the challenge of the climate crisis, human rights and gender equality.

Read the transcript of the documentary

Julia Roberts:

This is a very important story. The important story.

I'm Julia Roberts and in the midst of COVID-19, we have an historic opportunity to look at the world as it is, the facts of the world as it is, and then to really focus on the solutions to some of our greatest problems. In the 75 years since The United Nations was founded, the human race has never had to face a set of challenges like we do right now. But together, we can overcome them.

Nelson Mandela said, "It always seems impossible until it's done."

This is Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times.... and there is still lots to be done.

September 2020, and the world is still in the grips of a global pandemic. There have been more than 27 million confirmed cases and more than 900,000 people have died. Billions of people have been in lockdown for months. Lives and livelihoods have been threatened and lost. As some lockdowns are easing, people are emerging into a different, uncertain world with a new appetite for change.

Antonio Guterres:

Today we feel the weight of history on our shoulders. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how fragile the world is.

Julia Roberts:

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Antonio Guterres:

A microscopic virus has put us on our knees and that fragility should make us humble and should make us recognise that we need solidarity and unity.

Julia Roberts:

COVID-19 has been likened to an x-ray - exposing fractures in the skeletons of the societies we have built. A world with great inequality - which must be righted - and a world which must win the battle against climate catastrophe.

Antonio Guterres:

The whole planet is at stake. So this is a moment to wake up and this is a moment to recognize that the way we have been moving it's nowhere and that we need to change course.

Julia Roberts:

The lockdowns also showed that our environment itself could change. In the Punjab, for the first time in generations, the Himalayas are visible once again. Lions have reclaimed the roads in the Kruger National Park, and in Venice the canals run clear once more.

In the first few weeks of lockdown, Andrea Bocceli stood alone and sang on the steps of the Duomo di Milano.

Andrea Bocelli: …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details