In collaboration with partners, the United Nations has launched a mobile application to provide a global forum for industry, governments and individual citizens to collectively realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 “What is special about this app, is that it connects people and activists who want to make a difference in this world,” says Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information (DPI) Cristina Gallach at the launch.

Collaborating with the Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSMA), which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, and non-profit global campaign Project Everyone, the UN created the Action app, which also includes associated SDG targets, explanatory videos, key data, and suggestions on how people can take action to help achieve them.

The Obama administration has ordered a halt to construction of part of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and hundreds of other tribes from across the U.S. and Canada. Last Friday, a federal judge rejected the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request for an injunction against the U.S. government over the pipeline.

Then the Army, Department of Justice and Department of the Interior responded with an announcement that the Army Corps will not issue permits for Dakota Access to drill under the Missouri River until the Army Corps reconsiders its previously issued permits. Francine Garreau Hall, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe: “I am very grateful, because in our government-to-government relationship, the federal government is bound by treaty law to protect our interests. And I’m glad that they stepped up to the plate today and did that.” The agencies also asked Dakota Access to voluntarily cease construction 20 miles east and west of the Oahe Dam.