COP31

Hotter World, Older Population: How Long Can Climate COPs Ignore the Obvious?

As COP31 gets underway in Antalya, two realities demand attention. The World Meteorological Organisation reports that 2015–2025 were the 11 hottest years on record, with 2025 about 1.43°C above pre-industrial levels.

COP31: Why Africa Must Rethink Nuclear Energy

Gabriel Sheunopa Manyangadze holds a placard reading “No nuclear spin, let renewables win" as a campaigner leads protesters against nuclear energy in Africa at the United Nations climate summit in Antalya, Turkey.

1.5 Billion Women and Girls Live in Climate Hotspots, as UN Women Urges Stronger Action at COP31

More than one in three women and girls worldwide – at least 1.5 billion – live in climate hotspots, where high exposure to climate hazards, insecure jobs and deep gender inequality collide, according to a new UN Women fact sheet on “Gender Equality in the Age of Climate Crisis”. UN Women warns that while 73 per cent of countries recognize the climate risks facing women and girls, just over one in three address them comprehensively.

COP31: African Development Bank to Co-Lead Global Electrification Finance Initiative

Africa's transition to clean energy received a potential boost at COP31 with the announcement of a new international financing coalition, co-chaired by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and World Bank from 2027.

Drought Cripples Dairy Farmers in Maharashtra in ‘Off the Charts’ Weather Year

Dairy farmer Sagar Pawar has to buy water and fodder at inflated rates to feed his brood of two buffaloes, three Guernsey cows and a calf. He lives in the Solapur district, which is already drought-prone, but now has to deal with the impacts of a strong El Niño as well.

COP31 Litmus Test for International Cooperation

As the world heads toward COP31 Türkiye starting this week, I’ve been reflecting on how I think COP31 could prove to be a more revealing "Transition COP”. Let us remember that the Paris Agreement came from a series of "institutional heartbeat” COPs – NOT from annual blockbuster headlines.

Kenya’s Civil Society Calls on COP31 Climate Negotiators To Draw From Grassroots

As the world prepares for the 31st United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye, Kenya’s priorities for the negotiations are being shaped by lived experiences of communities who are on the frontline of the climate crisis.

Wealth Buys Protection in Climate Crisis – Oxfam

The world’s wealthiest people are driving a disproportionate share of climate pollution while poorer communities bear the heaviest costs of floods, heatwaves, food insecurity and other climate disasters, according to a new report by Oxfam International.

Pacific Scientists Build a Regional Picture of a Changing Ocean

The Pacific Ocean connects thousands of islands, and understanding how ocean acidification is unfolding across the region requires more than individual research projects or monitoring stations.

The Sámi People and Reindeer Herding – a Struggle for Sápmi’s Whole Nature

The Sámi, Europe's last recognised Indigenous community, have faced threats to their existence throughout history. Norway, in 2024, apologised for its forced assimilation policy following the findings of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, and in September 2026 Sweden has recently been told to do the same.

From Small Islands to Antalya: COP31 Must Move Climate Promises from Paper to People

When you grow up on a small island, the ocean is not scenery. It is your neighbour, your livelihood, and the measure of time itself. For decades, as I walked the beaches of Seychelles, I watched the subtle shifts that scientists were warning the world about. The tide crept a little higher up the sand each year. After a warm season, vibrant coral gardens turned ghost-white. Storms that once belonged to rare memory began arriving with unsettling regularity.

As El Niño Returns, East Africa’s Urban Poor Brace for Heavy Rains

Nearly three decades have passed, but Japhet Gimbi still remembers the rain. He was a Form 2 student in Tabora, western Tanzania, when the 1997 El Niño flooded the town. As the rain kept falling, fewer students made it to school. That was a super El Niño, one of the strongest on record. Since then there have been five other events including the 2014-2016 "super El Niño".

Afro-Brazilian Religious Communities Face Mounting Discrimination Amid the Climate Crisis

In 2024, as floodwaters approached Lutalo Canti’s home in Porto Alegre, Brazil, he lifted some furniture off the floor and left in a hurry. Extreme rainfall in the country’s southern region had caused local rivers to overflow. The flooding would eventually reach more than 400 municipalities and impact over 2 million people.

Finding Silver Linings Amid Haze of Climatic Uncertainty

With the city enveloped in a cloak of haze, the urgency of tackling the climate crisis could hardly have been clearer as the four-day Global Tipping Points Conference 2026 drew to a close at Malaysia’s Sunway University on Thursday.

World Lost More Than 7 Million Hectares of Forest in 2025

The world lost more than 7 million hectares of forest to deforestation in 2025, a modest improvement on recent years but still far from what is needed to meet global forest protection targets by 2030, according to a new assessment of international conservation efforts.

Climate Change Is Becoming a Pregnancy Hazard Worldwide, Survey Finds

Extreme heat is increasingly threatening pregnant women and newborn babies around the world, with almost all maternal health professionals surveyed across five continents saying they have cared for women or infants whose health was affected by high temperatures.

Climate Week NYC Kicks off With World Leaders’ Commitments to Action

The Climate Group’s annual conference in New York City has attracted thousands of attendees this year, among them world leaders, corporate heads, philanthropists, and climate advocates. Those leaders present at the opening ceremony of Climate Week have made clear calls to collectively tackle climate issues.

Why Pastoral Production Requires Regional Coordination, Harmonised Policy

At the 64th sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) under the UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany, the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) underscored the importance of ethically and equitably incorporating indigenous values and knowledge and local knowledge systems such as pastoralism into climate policies and actions ahead of the 31st Conference of Parties on climate change (COP31).

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