Rescued from Fire: the World in 2025

Our traditional “year-ender” usually kicks off with a grim litany of world disasters and crises over the past 12 months, highlights IPS partners and contributors and culminates in a more positive-sounding finale. This time I’d like to begin on a more personal note intended also as a metaphor.

Escalating Food Insecurity in Asia-Pacific Undermines Health, Economic Growth, and Stability

2025 marked a notable year of progress in reducing global hunger; yet climate pressures, economic instability, and ongoing conflicts continue to push agri-food systems to their limits, undermining food availability. In a new report, UN agencies raise the alarm on how these factors are particularly pronounced in the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for 40 percent of the world’s undernourished.

‘We Need a New Global Legal Framework That Rethinks Sovereignty in the Context of Climate Displacement’

 
CIVICUS discusses climate displacement and Tuvalu’s future with Kiali Molu, a former civil servant at Tuvalu’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and currently a PhD candidate at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji and the University of Bergen in Norway. His research focuses on state sovereignty and climate change in the Pacific.

Farmers Can Now Measure and Benefit From Fruit Tree Carbon Trade

Farmers can now know and benefit from their contribution to climate change thanks to a formula that can be used to calculate the amount of carbon stored in fruit trees.

Ahead of Brutal Winter Season, Intensified Attacks Cripple Basic Services Across Ukraine

In recent weeks, the Russo-Ukrainian War has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with armed hostilities escalating in both frequency and intensity, causing extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and a significant loss of life across Ukraine. Attacks on energy infrastructures and the resulting power outages are forcing the most vulnerable civilians to deal with a “cold, frightening ordeal” in the winter season, warned the United Nations (UN) human rights chief.

Kenyan Court Restores Seed Freedom: Landmark Ruling Boost for Food Security and Sovereignty

For years, smallholder farmers across Kenya have been engaged in a legal battle with the government over a law that criminalizes the practice of saving, sharing and exchanging indigenous seeds.

When Frontline Communities Lead: Lessons From Five Years of Just Climate Action

Efforts to combat climate change too often sideline the very communities hit hardest by the crisis and who have contributed the least to it. This injustice was the core idea of the Voices for Just Climate Action (VCA) program. Now that VCA has concluded after five years, Job Muriithi and Winny Nyanwira from Hivos reflect on its achievements and share recommendations for governments and donors to ensure fair and equitable climate action.

Refugees Forced to Fill Gaps as Funding, Power and Legal Recognition Move Out of Reach

The global refugee system is entering a period of deep strain. The delivery of protection and assistance is undergoing a transformation due to funding cuts, institutional reforms, and shifting donor priorities.

Millions at Risk in 2026 as Aid Budgets Hit Historic Lows

2025 has been an especially turbulent year for humanitarian aid operations as global aid budgets have experienced record declines in funding. As conflicts, environmental disasters, and economic crises intensify and disproportionately impact the world’s most vulnerable communities, the resources available in global emergency funds are falling far short of rapidly growing needs.

Trump Reboots US National Security Strategy, Foreign Policy

The new US National Security Strategy (NSS) repositions the superpower’s role in the world. Hence, foreign policy will be mainly driven by considerations of ‘making America great again’ (MAGA).

Will the Song “White Christmas” Become a Clarion Call for Climate Change Action?

As each Christmas approaches, one song permeates the airwaves across the United States and elsewhere: White Christmas. According to the Guiness Book of World Records, “White Christmas” is the #1 selling physical single of all times with over 50 million copies sold.

Will Low Fertility Rates Return to the Replacement Level Any Time Soon?

Will low fertility rates return to the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman any time soon? A simple answer to this vital demographic question is: unlikely.

Venezuela Needs More Local Data To Understand the Impacts of Climate Change

A group of 55 researchers gathered and analyzed 1,260 bibliographic references to compile the Second Academic Report on Climate Change in Venezuela. Their final conclusion is that more local studies are still needed to record the direct impacts across different Venezuelan regions and, in particular, to provide data to design the adaptation plans necessary to address climate change.

UNDP’s Digital Rights Dashboard: A Conversation Starter on Human Rights in the Digital Age

Within a generation, digital systems have changed much of how we learn, work and participate in civic life, especially in more connected regions. This shift is unfolding at different speeds in developing countries, but the direction of travel is unmistakable.

Sindh People’s Housing Redefines Post-Disaster Adaptation Success

By any comparison, the statistics for Sindh People's Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) are phenomenal. In 2022, photographs from the region showed people treading carefully through waist-deep water with their few belongings grasped firmly above their heads in an attempt to escape the flooding caused by 784 percent more than average monsoon rains.

From Law to Lives Saved: How the Maternal Newborn and Child Health Bill Can Deliver Universal Health Coverage

For women in labour across Kenya, reaching a health facility, finding skilled health workers, and affording care can be a matter of life and death. These challenges are not rare, but daily realities for many families.

CIVICUS 2025 Report Reveals Widespread Attacks on Civic Freedoms Worldwide

Over the course of 2025, global civic space conditions have deteriorated sharply, with most countries experiencing some degree of obstructed civil liberties. As authoritarian governments strengthen their hold and have even escalated the use of military force to suppress public dissent, civilians report facing increasing limitations of freedoms of association, peaceful assembly, petition and religion, as well as notable crackdowns on press freedoms.

Funding for Human Rights Organizations – including at the Grassroots Level – have Been Slashed Worldwide

Human rights are underfunded, undermined and under attack. And yet. Powerful. Undeterred. Mobilizing. This year no doubt has been a difficult one. And one full of dangerous contradictions. Funding for human rights has been slashed, while anti-rights movements are increasingly well-funded.

International Funding for 30×30 Biodiversity Target Falls Billions Short of Global Goals

A new study and interactive dashboard released today in Nairobi at the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) finds that current international financial flows remain billions of dollars short of what is required to achieve the global biodiversity target of protecting and conserving at least 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 (30x30).

How Community Radio Is Powering Tanzania’s Climate Resilience

At dawn in the mangrove-choked Rufiji estuary, paddles from wooden canoes slice through still waters as a soft voice drifts across the tide.

UN Pact for the Future Requires Global Solidarity and Localized Solutions

More than one year since its adoption, the UN Pact for the Future is held up as a critical framework for countries to address today’s issues through global cooperation. Its agenda for global governance and sustainable development is ambitious, and it is for this reason the Pact poses implementation challenges when it comes to the direct impact on local communities. It will require the joint efforts of governments, civil society and international organizations to achieve the goals laid out in the Pact.