The GEF actively supports climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods in Zanzibar, with a specific focus on the seaweed farming sector, which is crucial for over 20,000 farmers—mostly women—in the region. Here a woman identified as Jazaa is pictured working as a seaweed farmer. She carefully attaches little seaweed seedlings to the rope that she will harvest after two months. Credit: Natalija Gormalova/Climate Visuals Countdown

By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, India, Apr 16 2026 (IPS)

The Global Environment Facility, widely known as the GEF, plays a central role in financing environmental protection across the world. It supports developing countries in tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, pollution, and threats to ecosystems.

Since its establishment in the early 1990s, the GEF has grown as a multilateral environmental fund, supporting projects in more than 170 countries.

Over time, the GEF has evolved into what it calls a “family of funds”, each targeting a specific global environmental challenge while operating under a shared strategic framework.

This explainer looks at how the GEF funding works, the origins of its financing model, and the role of six major funds that channel resources toward global environmental goals.

While the GEF predates the 1992 Rio ‘Earth’ Summit, its importance as a financial mechanism grew after the summit. Here UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali opens the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, which aimed to develop a global blueprint for balancing economic development with environmental protection. Credit: Michos Tzavaras/UN Photo

Origins of the GEF Funding Model

The GEF was created in 1991, before the Rio ‘Earth’ Summit in 1992, which aimed to develop a global blueprint for balancing economic development with environmental protection; however, its importance grew after the summit.

The Rio Summit produced three major environmental conventions. These were the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity, and, later in 1994, the Convention to Combat Desertification. The GEF became the financial mechanism for these agreements, meaning it mobilises and distributes funds to help countries implement them.

Over the past 35 years, the GEF has expanded its mandate. Today it supports multiple conventions and environmental initiatives through a structured set of trust funds. This architecture allows the facility to coordinate funding across different environmental priorities while maintaining specialised programs for each global commitment.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is now focusing on solving environmental problems together instead of separately. It looks at climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution as connected issues and works with governments, international groups, civil society, and businesses to address them.

The GEF Trust Fund was initially created to support multiple environmental agreements simultaneously. Over time, countries preferred more specific funding for their particular needs.

Because of these changes, the GEF now has different funds, each designed for different purposes and methods of giving money.

Some funds – like the Trust Fund, the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), and part of the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) – use a system that helps countries know in advance how much funding they can expect.

The GEF Trust Fund

The Global Environment Facility Trust Fund is the main source of funds for the GEF. It provides grants to support environmental projects in developing countries.

The Trust Fund finances activities across several environmental areas.

These include

• Biodiversity conservation,
• Climate change mitigation,
• Land degradation control,
• International waters management, and
• Chemicals and waste reduction.

Countries receive funding through a system known as the System for Transparent Allocation of Resources, or STAR, which distributes funds based on their environmental needs and eligibility.

Projects funded by the Trust Fund often focus on creating global environmental benefits. These may include:

• Protecting endangered species,
• Restoring ecosystems,
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and
• Improving pollution management systems.

The Trust Fund operates through periodic “replenishment” cycles. Donor countries pledge new contributions every four years, which allows the GEF to finance programs during the next funding period. For example, the GEF-9 cycle will cover the period from July 2026 to June 2030 and focus on scaling up environmental investments while mobilising private capital and strengthening country ownership of environmental policies.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has created Integrated Programs. These are special programs designed to address multiple environmental goals at the same time in a more coordinated and efficient way.

For example, the Food Systems Integrated Program does not fund separate projects for climate change, biodiversity, and land degradation. Instead, it combines them into one unified project, which helps achieve stronger and longer-lasting results while making better use of funding.

The GEF helps fund biodiversity across the globe, helping to create conditions to prevent the further endangerment of species like the Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii). Credit: Thomas Gabernig/Unsplash

Global Biodiversity Framework Fund

The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund is a relatively new component of the GEF family of funds. It was created to help countries implement the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which was adopted in 2022 under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The biodiversity framework sets ambitious targets for protecting nature by 2030. Its most prominent targets include the “30 by 30” target, which calls for protecting at least 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean areas by the end of the decade.  The Framework also sets a 30 percent target for the restoration of ecosystems and a target of mobilising 30 billion dollars in international financial flows to developing countries for biodiversity action.

The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund supports actions that help countries meet these targets.

Actions that are supported include the following:

• Expanding protected areas,
• Restoring degraded ecosystems,
• Protecting endangered species, and
• Strengthening biodiversity monitoring.

Another important focus is the integration of biodiversity into economic planning. Many projects supported by this fund work with governments and businesses to match financial flows with biodiversity goals. This means reducing financial support for activities that damage the environment and encouraging more sustainable farming, forestry, and fishing practices.

By providing targeted financing for biodiversity commitments, the fund helps translate global agreements into practical actions at the national and local levels.

It is also important to highlight that the fund sets a target of providing at least 20% of its resources to support actions by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. This form of direct financing is unique for a multilateral environmental fund.  To date, this target has been exceeded and mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility are considering replicating this approach.

GEF-9 biodiversity investments will bring together four interconnected pathways:

• Scaling up financial flows to close the nature financing gap,
• Embedding environmental priorities in national development strategies,
• Mobilising private capital through blended finance, and
• Empowering Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and civil society as active conservation partners.

“A renewed emphasis on the Forest Biomes Integrated Program will continue directing investment into the landscapes most critical for achieving 30×30 – ensuring that GEF financing remains focused where the stakes are highest,” said Chizuru Aoki, the head of the GEF Conventions and Funds Division.

Medicinal and aromatic plant species, such as the baobab, are often exploited; however, the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing aims to ensure fair use of the planet’s genetic resources and secure benefits for Indigenous knowledge holders. Credit Noah Grossenbacher/Unsplash

Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund

The Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund supports countries in implementing the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing. This international agreement, part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, aims to make sure that the genetic resources of the planet are used fairly and equitably, with benefits shared with those who provide them.

Genetic resources include plants, animals, and microorganisms that are used in research and commercial products such as medicines, cosmetics, and agricultural technologies. Historically, many developing countries have expressed concerns that companies and researchers benefit from these resources without sharing profits or knowledge.

The Nagoya Protocol fixes these issues by requiring users to do the following:

• Get permission from the country providing the resources, and
• Agree on how benefits (like money or knowledge) will be shared.

The fund supports countries by helping them:

• Create laws and rules for using genetic resources,
• Improve monitoring systems, and
• Build skills among researchers and policymakers.

Projects funded also support Indigenous peoples and local communities, who often hold traditional knowledge associated with biological resources. Protecting this knowledge and ensuring fair compensation is a key objective of the Nagoya framework.

Least Developed Countries Fund

The Least Developed Countries Fund focuses on supporting climate adaptation in the world’s most vulnerable nations. These countries often face severe environmental risks but lack the finances and systems to respond efficiently.

The fund supports the preparation and implementation of National Adaptation Programs of Action and National Adaptation Plans. These are country-specific strategies that identify the most urgent climate risks facing each country and outline measures to reduce vulnerability.

Typical projects include the following:

• Strengthening climate-resilient agriculture,
• Improving water management systems,
• Protecting coastal zones, and
• Building early warning systems for extreme weather events.

Because many least developed countries face multiple environmental issues at once, the fund often supports integrated projects that address climate change alongside biodiversity conservation and land management.

This funding system makes sure that the poorest and most vulnerable countries get the help they need to deal with climate change, even though they did very little to cause it.

Villagers in Nyamisati, Rufiji District, wade through muddy tidal flats to plant mangrove seedlings—part of a grassroots effort to curb saline intrusion that has begun to poison nearby rice paddies as saltwater seeps underground. The initiative reflects growing local responses to environmental degradation driven by human activity along Tanzania’s coast. The GEF supports projects like these that help mitigate the impacts of climate change. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS

Special Climate Change Fund

The Special Climate Change Fund supports climate action in developing countries and works alongside the Least Developed Countries Fund.

While the Least Developed Countries Fund focuses on the poorest nations, this fund helps other developing countries that are also affected by climate change.

It supports projects that:

• Help countries prepare for climate impacts,
• Include climate planning in development and infrastructure,
• Improve water management and agriculture.
• Reduce disaster risks, and
• Promote environmentally friendly technologies.

The SCCF also, in some cases, supports mitigation efforts, particularly when they involve innovative technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By financing both adaptation and mitigation initiatives, the fund contributes to global efforts to stabilise the climate system.

Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency Trust Fund

The Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency Trust Fund supports countries in implementing transparency requirements under the Paris Agreement.

Under this agreement, countries must regularly report their greenhouse gas emissions and track their progress on climate goals. However, many developing countries do not have the tools or skills to do this properly.

This fund helps by supporting:

• Training for government officials,
• Creation of national emissions data systems, and
• Better monitoring and reporting methods.

Strong reporting systems are important because they:

• Help track climate progress,
• Build trust between countries, and
• Ensure countries meet their commitments.

The fund helps developing countries improve their climate reporting so they can fully take part in global climate efforts.

How the “family of funds” works together

One of the defining features of the GEF funding model is that each part speaks to the others.

Think of it like a team of funds working together, rather than separate, isolated programs.

These funds are coordinated so they can:

• Support the same project from different angles,
• Avoid duplication (no overlapping funding for the same purpose), and
• Align with global environmental agreements.

For example:

• A biodiversity project might use:
  • The main GEF Trust Fund
  • Plus the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund
• A climate adaptation project could combine:
  • Least Developed Countries Fund
  • Special Climate Change Fund

This ‘family’ structure improves:

• Coordination, so different funds work in sync,
• Efficiency, so funds work with less waste and duplication, and
• Flexibility, so projects can tap into multiple funding sources.

Environmental problems are interconnected. A single project (like forest conservation) can:

• Reduce carbon emissions,
• Protect biodiversity,
• Improve water systems, and
• Avoid land degradation.

Because of the integrated funding system, the GEF can support all these goals at once, rather than funding them separately.

The “family of funds” is a coordinated funding system that allows the GEF to:

• Combine resources;
• Support complex, multi-sector projects; and
• Maximise environmental impact

The Future of GEF Financing

As global environmental crises grow, so does the demand for money and resources to meet climate and biodiversity needs. International assessments suggest that hundreds of billions of dollars are needed each year.

The GEF aims to play a “catalytic” role in closing this gap – in short, the GEF acts as a “catalyst” or tool for using limited public funds to unlock much larger investments.

Its funding model mobilises additional resources from

• Governments,
• Development banks, and
• Private investors.

“In practical terms, the mechanisms being supported in GEF-9 include debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps, green bonds, pooled investment vehicles, and outcome-based financing structures. Each of these can serve a different purpose depending on the context – but the common thread is that they allow the GEF to use its resources strategically to unlock much larger pools of capital from the private sector, multiplying the environmental impact that public funding alone could achieve,” Aoki said.

Note: This feature is published with the support of the GEF. IPS is solely responsible for the editorial content, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of the GEF.

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The Global Environment Facility (GEF) announced that donor countries ​p​ledged an initial ​U​SD 3.9 billion to ​the facility for the ninth replenishment cycle​, indicating that nature remains a priority, as in this image, where a veterinary team applies a collar to a sedated elephant​ in KwaZulu-Natal​, South Africa, as part of an ambitious project aimed at conserving the animals. Credit: Dan Ingham/IPS

By Alison Kentish
SAINT LUCIA, Apr 9 2026 (IPS)

With just four years left to meet a series of global environmental targets, governments are committing to shore up one of the world’s main environmental funds, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with a $3.9 billion pledge.

The funding will form the backbone of the GEF’s ninth replenishment cycle, known as GEF-9, a four-year financing round running from July 2026 to June 2030. Those years are widely seen as decisive for slowing biodiversity loss, tackling pollution and keeping climate goals within reach.

While the $3.9 billion pledge signals renewed momentum, it comes at a moment of deepening environmental strain. Ecosystems are continuing to decline, coral reefs are bleaching at scale and small island states are already grappling with the economic and social fallout of environmental change.

“This replenishment sends a clear message: the world is not giving up on nature,” said Claude Gascon, the GEF’s interim chief executive. He noted that donor countries had “risen to the challenge and made bold commitments towards a more positive future for the planet” despite competing global priorities.

“The coming four years of the GEF-9 cycle will reflect this high-ambition push to achieve the 2030 environmental goals,” he said.

The GEF, the world’s largest multilateral environmental fund, supports developing countries in meeting commitments under major global agreements on climate change, biodiversity, land degradation, chemicals, and ocean governance. Since its establishment, it has provided more than $27 billion in grants and mobilised a further $155 billion in co-financing.

GEF’s next funding round, its ninth replenishment cycle, aims to scale investment and mobilise private capital to close widening environmental financing gaps. Credit: Kea Mowat/Unsplash

Rewiring Economies Around Nature

At the centre of the new funding cycle is a push toward what the GEF calls “nature-positive development”. It is an effort to embed environmental value into economic decision-making rather than treating it as a secondary concern.

That includes reworking systems that drive environmental degradation, such as food production, energy, urban development and public health, so they operate within ecological limits.

The strategy also leans heavily on attracting private investment. Around 25% of GEF-9 resources are expected to be used to mobilise private capital, reflecting a growing recognition that public funding alone cannot close the global environmental financing gap.

Focus on the Most Vulnerable

The allocation of funds carries a clear political signal.

At least 35 percent of resources are expected to go to Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), countries that contribute least to environmental degradation but face some of its most severe impacts. A further 20% is earmarked for Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

For Caribbean nations, where coastal erosion, stronger storms and coral reef loss are already reshaping economies, the funding could prove significant if it translates quickly into action on the ground.

“We need multilateral cooperation more than ever to protect our planet for future generations,” said Niels Annen, describing the replenishment as a “joint effort” between countries in the Global North and South. “Environmental action and sustainable development have to go hand in hand. In GEF-9, we see Germany’s priorities very well reflected: innovative finance for nature and people, better cooperation with the private sector and stable resources for the most vulnerable countries.”

Support for the funding round has also come from Spain and Mexico, with Inés Carpio San Román emphasising the importance of “effective multilateralism” and Mexico backing “country-driven solutions” to global environmental challenges.

Calls to Deliver Results

Civil society groups have welcomed the increased emphasis on inclusion, particularly the allocation for Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

“This will strengthen a whole-of-society approach,” said Faizal Parish, Chair of the GEF’s Civil Society Organization Network, while Aliou Mustafa, of the GEF’s Indigenous Peoples Advisory Group, said the shift reflects efforts to place Indigenous groups “at the centre of decision-making.”

Still, expectations are high and time is short.

“The environmental crises we face are accelerating,” said Richard Bontjer. He described the  replenishment as “a vote of confidence” while stressing that “every dollar must count.”

“This replenishment will sharpen the GEF’s focus on impact, drive greater efficiency and mobilize private finance alongside public investment. It will also strengthen support to SIDS and LDCs and give recognition to the importance of supporting Indigenous Peoples and local communities.”

With the 2030 deadline fast approaching, the success of this funding round will ultimately be judged not by the size of the pledges but by how quickly they translate into measurable gains—restored ecosystems, protected coastlines and more resilient economies.

For countries on the frontlines, including those in the Caribbean, the $3.9 billion is not just another funding cycle.

It is a narrowing window of opportunity.

Additional pledges are expected before the end-of-May GEF Council meeting, when countries will lock in the final size and ambition of the four-year funding round.

The 71st GEF Council meeting will be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from May 31 to June 3, 2026. The meeting will take place in advance of the Eighth GEF Assembly, when individual country pledges will be publicly announced.

Note: This feature is published with the support of the GEF. IPS is solely responsible for the editorial content, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of the GEF.

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Excerpt:

Kaveh Madani, Director of the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health and lead author of the report entitled “Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era” briefs reporters at UN Headquarters. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Umar Manzoor Shah
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 25 2026 (IPS)

Professor Kaveh Madani of Iran has been named the 2026 Stockholm Water Prize laureate. The award will be formally presented by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in August during World Water Week in Stockholm.

The Stockholm Water Prize is widely regarded as the highest global honour in water science and policy. Often called the Nobel Prize for water, it recognises individuals and institutions for exceptional contributions to the sustainable use and protection of water resources. This year’s selection stands out for both scientific impact and the extraordinary personal journey of the laureate.

At 44, Madani is the first Muslim and the youngest recipient in the prize’s 35 year history. He is also the first United Nations official and the first former politician to receive the award.

Madani currently serves as Director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. Once a senior official in Iran’s government, he later faced arrest, interrogation, and a sustained smear campaign that forced him to leave his country.

Born in Tehran in 1981, Madani grew up in a family deeply connected to Iran’s water sector. His early exposure to the country’s mounting water challenges shaped his academic direction. He studied civil engineering at the University of Tabriz before moving to Sweden to pursue a master’s degree in water resources at Lund University. He later earned a PhD from the University of California, Davis, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of California, Riverside.

By his early 30s, Madani had established himself as a leading systems analyst. He joined Imperial College, London, where his work focused on the mathematical modelling of complex human water systems. His research combined hydrology, economics, and decision sciences to improve policymaking in water management.

In 2017, he made a decisive move. Leaving a prestigious academic career in London, he returned to Iran to serve as Deputy Vice President and Deputy Head of the Department of Environment. Many viewed his appointment as a signal of reform and a bridge between Iran and its scientific diaspora.

During his tenure, Madani pushed for transparency and structural reforms in water governance. He used innovative public campaigns to raise awareness about environmental degradation. However, his efforts challenged entrenched interests.

State-aligned media accused him of espionage and labelled him a “water terrorist” and “bioterrorist”. Conspiracy theories circulated, linking him to foreign intelligence agencies and even to alleged weather manipulation schemes. His advocacy for international environmental agreements further intensified opposition.

In early 2018, a broader crackdown on environmental experts began. Madani was detained and interrogated multiple times. Several of his colleagues were arrested. One of them, Kavous Seyed Emami, died in custody under contested circumstances.

Facing mounting pressure, Madani left Iran and entered a period of exile. He joined Yale University, where he continued his research and advocacy. He began to focus more on bridging science and policy at the global level.

Madani’s academic contributions have been widely recognised. He is known for integrating game theory into water resource management. His work challenged traditional models that assumed cooperation among stakeholders. He demonstrated that individual incentives often lead to uncooperative behaviour, which makes many engineering solutions ineffective in practice.

This approach provided new tools to understand conflicts over shared water resources. It has been applied to transboundary water disputes and to policy design in regions with limited trust among stakeholders.

One of his most influential contributions is “water bankruptcy.” He introduced the term to describe a condition where water systems can no longer recover to their historical levels. Unlike a crisis, which implies a temporary disruption, water bankruptcy signals a long-term structural failure.

In a recent United Nations report, Madani argued that the world entered an era of global water bankruptcy in January 2026. The report highlighted that many river basins and aquifers have lost their capacity to regenerate. This framing has sparked debate among policymakers and researchers.

Madani uses simple financial language to explain complex ecological realities. He argues that humanity is no longer living off renewable water flows but is depleting long-term reserves. This framing has made the concept widely accessible and influential.

Beyond academia, Madani has built a strong public presence. With a large following on social media, he has used digital platforms to communicate scientific findings in accessible ways. His work includes documentaries and public campaigns aimed at increasing awareness and accountability.

He has also played key roles in international diplomacy. As Iran’s lead environmental diplomat, he participated in global negotiations and served as Vice President of the UN Environment Assembly Bureau in 2017. At the COP23 climate conference in Bonn, he called for greater attention to water in global climate agreements.

Today, as head of the United Nations water think tank, he continues to advocate for integrating water into climate and development policies. He has particularly focused on the Global South, where water stress closely links with food insecurity, migration, and conflict.

The Stockholm Water Prize Committee cited his “unique combination of groundbreaking research, policy engagement, diplomacy, and global outreach, often under personal risk” in awarding him the 2026 prize.

In an exclusive interview with Inter Press Service, Madani recalled the intense pressure and fear that defined his final days in Iran. He described repeated interrogations, surveillance, and a growing sense that his work had placed him in direct confrontation with powerful institutions.

Here are edited excerpts from the interview: 

IPS: You introduced the idea of “water bankruptcy.” How does this change how governments must act today?

Madani: Water bankruptcy is defined as a post-crisis state of failure in which the system is suffering from insolvency, meaning that water use has been more than the available water for an extended period, and also irreversibility, meaning that there are some damages to the ecosystem and the machinery of water production that are irreversible and cannot be fixed.

What that means is that some of the things that used to be just anomalies and abnormal conditions are now the new normal, and we’re no longer experiencing only a temporary deviation from what we are used to, but we have a situation that we have to get used to. Crisis management is about mitigation.

Bankruptcy management is about mitigating what can still be mitigated and adapting to new realities with more restrictions. Bankruptcy management calls for an honest confession, the admission of a confession that a mistake has been made, and the current business model is not working, so it calls for honestly admitting to the mistakes made and transforming the business model, that calls for a fresh new start and a change of course.

It is bitter. Bankruptcy is not a pleasant condition but admitting to it helps us prevent further irreversible damages and enables a future that is less catastrophic.

IPS: You faced arrest, exile, and serious accusations in Iran. What kept you going during that period?

Professor Madani: Hope. Hope is what kept me going because I had gone back there to help and at least at the start, I was trying to take what was happening to me as part of the job and as part of the adventure because I was there to make a positive impact, and if I had given up too quickly, then that would not have matched my essential motivation to help.

I knew that it would not be a very smooth path, but it turned out to be much more bumpy than what I had anticipated, and I think many also, you know, those who made that situation bumpy for me, also regret that today, but by the time they realised mistakes were made, it was too late to do anything about it.

Can you recall your arrest and interrogation? What do you remember most from that experience, and how did it affect you personally?

I think arrests and interrogations are very frustrating, especially when you haven’t done anything wrong.

What kills you is constantly worrying about what others think of you and coming up with different scenarios and conspiracy theories. Dealing with conspiracy theories and proving them wrong is not easy. Those were very hard times for me, but as you know, my background is in behaviour analysis. I was trying to put myself in the shoes of those who were suspicious of me, understand their concerns, and address them so I could help my homeland.

IPS: Many countries still treat water stress as a temporary crisis. What are the biggest policy mistakes they continue to make?

Madani: Yes, crisis management is all about mitigation. Those who deny the crisis and enter the bankruptcy state continue to borrow more from nature, build more infrastructure, dig deeper wells, add additional reservoirs and storage capacity, implement more water transfer projects and build more, and construct more desalination plants. Continuing to add to their supply, on the other hand, they think things would be temporary, and through some sort of rationing, things would be solved, but the continuation of that behaviour and the denial of that reality makes the problem worse.

They get drained into a deepening problem, and again, like the financial world, if your business model is not working and you’re in denial, you continue taking more loans and your expenses and your debt become higher and higher. By the time that people realise that there is no way out of that chaos and that failure, the cost is much, much higher. Remaining in denial would result in major significant irreversible damages that generations would have to pay for.

IPS: You combined science with diplomacy and public outreach. Which of these has had the most real impact on decision-making?

Professor Madani: It’s very hard to really say which one has the most impact, because they’re very complementary. The science is very good, but it’s not enough for decision-making. You still have to understand what the real world looks like and how incentives shape behaviour and actions and how interests promote conflicts and cooperation to be able to act.

Science, of course, opens doors and puts more solutions on the table, but still, without understanding the politics or navigating through politics, it would not work. Diplomacy is another one when it comes to the international scale; even when it comes to negotiating with stakeholders, that’s a skill that would be extremely helpful. So, in a way, these are the things that you need.

And on top of these, public outreach educates you about perceptions, how people and societies understand problems, how they judge different situations, and how their emotions and their perceptions shape their beliefs, and that tells you what you need to do when it comes to communicating your science better, changing their opinion, impacting their opinion, and even negotiating with them or convincing them that things might be different or a different pathway is required. I think they all help you create a recipe for something that might work.

IPS: Your work focuses on human behaviour in water management. Why do technical solutions alone often fail?

Madani: A lot of times, technical solutions developed by our computer models or in our labs don’t take into account the full elements of reality. When humans are involved, we deal with different motives, incentives, emotions, and psychologies, and that makes – that creates – some essentially unexpected realities that might tweak things. Simply put, a lot of times when it comes to developing a solution for a water problem or an environmental solution or a sustainability solution, we think that everyone agrees to making short-term sacrifices for the sake of long-term resilience, but that is not the case in reality because different stakeholders, different groups, farmers, urban users, and industrial users also have short-term goals.

They maximise profit, make sure that the quality of life is not impacted, and so on, which makes them non-cooperative to an extent. And if you miss this reality, then you think that the solution, the optimal solution, is very practical and everyone would cooperate, but then you get very disappointed.

Yet, you can take that into account to the extent possible, try to understand the behavioural element and incorporate those into your assessment and projections to be able to align those incentives and motives with the long-term interest to offer a solution that is more attractive and win-win.

IPS: You now advise governments globally. What is the one urgent action every water-stressed country must take in the next five years?

Madani: I think that by now, countries must understand the importance of water as an essential resource for establishing peace, national security, justice, prosperity, and development. I mean, it supports human development, health, and long-term resilience in society. So, countries must not take it for granted and understand that technological solutions would not be sufficient to address shortages.

They must revisit their practices. They must do a proper accounting to understand what, what’s, and how water is currently being spent and if it’s strategic – strategically speaking, that is the right way of doing things when it comes to matters of national security and long-term resilience. Bankruptcy management starts with accounting and transparency.

That’s something that is missing in many water-stressed and non-water-stressed countries, and I think that’s something that we can focus on, put the lens of science on, and not be afraid of accounting and measuring and monitoring what is happening in the system because that knowledge is required if you want to make improvements.

IPS: Thank you very much for taking the time and speaking to IPS  and congratulations again for the well-deserved award.

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Excerpt:

Cracked earth, from lack of water and baked from the heat of the sun, forms a pattern in the Nature Reserve of Popenguine, Senegal. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Umar Manzoor Shah
GENEVA, Switzerland & SRINAGAR, India, Mar 23 2026 (IPS)

The global climate system continued its alarming trajectory in 2025, with multiple indicators reaching record or near-record extremes, underscoring the accelerating pace of climate change and its cascading impacts on ecosystems and human societies, according to the latest State of the Global Climate 2025 report released by the World Metereological Organisation (WMO).

The report presents a stark assessment. Greenhouse gas concentrations, global temperatures, ocean heat, and sea levels all continued to rise, while glaciers and sea ice declined at unprecedented rates. Scientists warn that these changes are not isolated. They are interconnected signals of a rapidly warming planet.

“The Earth’s energy imbalance has become increasingly positive,” the report notes, referring to the growing gap between incoming solar radiation and outgoing heat. “This leads to an accumulation of excess energy” within the climate system.

Ko Barrett, Deputy Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization, during the report launch, told reporters  that  WMO has been issuing state of the global climate reports for more than 30 years to share the annual evidence basis for our key global indicators.

2025 was the third warmest year in recorded history. Credit: WMO

“Our report confirms that 2025 was among the hottest years ever recorded, about 1.43 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline, and part of an unprecedented streak where the past eleven years have all ranked as the warmest on record. What is particularly concerning is that this warming is not just reflected in temperatures but across the entire climate system. We are seeing glaciers continue to retreat, oceans warming at record levels, and sea levels rising as a result of both thermal expansion and melting ice. At the same time, extreme events such as heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and tropical cyclones are affecting virtually every continent, showing how societies are already experiencing the impacts of climate change in real time.”

She added that these findings identify why monitoring the climate system is so critical. “The data we collect is not abstract. It helps us improve forecasts, strengthen early warning systems, and ultimately protect lives and livelihoods. The science is clear and it is becoming more urgent. Our focus now is to ensure that this information reaches decision-makers and communities so that it can inform planning and response in a rapidly changing climate.”

Earth’s climate is out of balance. Credit: WMO

As per the report, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 423.9 parts per million in 2024, the highest level in at least two million years. Methane and nitrous oxide also hit record levels, marking the highest concentrations in 800,000 years.

Scientists attribute this surge to continued fossil fuel use, increased wildfire emissions, and weakening natural carbon sinks. The report highlights that nearly half of all human-emitted carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere, intensifying the greenhouse effect.

“The increase in the annual carbon dioxide concentration in 2024 was the largest since modern measurements began in 1957,” the report reads, adding that this persistent rise in greenhouse gases remains the primary driver of global warming, accounting for a significant share of radiative forcing since the industrial era.

The World Meteorological Society report shows the state of the Earth’s climate. Credit: WMO

Global temperatures in 2025 remained exceptionally high. The planet was about 1.43°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, making it the second or third warmest year on record.

The report notes that the past eleven years, from 2015 to 2025, have all ranked among the warmest years ever recorded.

Although 2025 was slightly cooler than the record-breaking 2024, largely due to a shift from El Niño to La Niña conditions, the overall warming trend remains clear.

“Despite La Niña conditions, around 90 percent of the ocean surface experienced at least one marine heatwave during 2025,” the report observes, adding that such widespread marine heatwaves disrupt ecosystems, damage fisheries, and intensify extreme weather events.

Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide concentrations are at an all-time high. Credit: WMO

Karina von Schuckmann, lead author, said that one of the most important messages from this report is that the Earth is no longer in energy balance.

“We are now seeing more energy entering the climate system than leaving it, and this excess energy is accumulating at an accelerating rate. What is striking is where this heat is going. Around 91 percent of it is being absorbed by the oceans, with the rest distributed across land, ice, and the atmosphere. This makes the ocean central to understanding climate change, not just as a buffer, but as a key driver of long-term impacts.”

She added that the world is also observing that this heat is increasingly being transferred into deeper layers of the ocean. According to Schuckmann, the finding is significant because once heat moves below the surface, it becomes part of long-term climate change that can persist for hundreds to thousands of years.

“In that sense, what we are seeing today is not just a short-term fluctuation. It represents a long-term commitment of the climate system. At the same time, greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, and indicators like sea level are showing clear signs of acceleration, reinforcing the scale and persistence of the changes underway,” Schuckmann said.

“The rate of ocean warming over the past two decades is more than twice that observed between 1960 and 2005,” the report states.

It says that this rapid warming has far-reaching consequences. It fuels stronger storms, accelerates ice melt, and contributes to rising sea levels. It also threatens marine biodiversity and disrupts food chains.

The report has stated that global mean sea level remained near record highs in 2025, continuing a long-term upward trend. Since satellite measurements began in 1993, sea levels have risen by about 11 cm.

The rate of rise has also accelerated. Between 2012 and 2025, sea levels increased at nearly double the rate observed between 1993 and 2011. “Sea level has risen in all oceanic regions,” the report states, warning of increasing risks for coastal communities.

Rising seas threaten infrastructure, freshwater supplies, and livelihoods, particularly in low-lying regions and small island states.

The cryosphere, which includes glaciers and polar ice, continues to shrink at an alarming pace. The 2024–2025 hydrological year recorded one of the five most negative glacier mass balances since 1950. Notably, eight of the ten worst years for glacier loss have occurred since 2016.

Sea ice trends are equally concerning. Arctic sea ice extent in 2025 was among the lowest on record, while Antarctic sea ice reached its third lowest level since satellite monitoring began in 1979.

“The maximum daily extent of Arctic sea ice in 2025 was the lowest annual maximum in the observed record. “Shrinking ice reduces the Earth’s ability to reflect sunlight, further accelerating warming,” the report notes.

It has been claimed that the oceans, in addition to warming, are becoming more acidic due to the absorption of carbon dioxide. Surface ocean pH has declined steadily over the past four decades.

“Present-day surface pH values are unprecedented for at least 26,000 years,” the report states, citing high-confidence findings.

This chemical shift, as per the report, threatens coral reefs, shellfish, and marine ecosystems that support millions of livelihoods worldwide.

One of the most significant additions to this year’s report is the focus on Earth’s energy imbalance, a measure of how much excess heat the planet is retaining.

In 2025, this imbalance reached its highest level since records began in 1960. Scientists say this metric provides a comprehensive picture of global warming. “The total amount of heat stored on Earth is not just increasing but accelerating. This imbalance drives changes across the climate system, from rising temperatures to melting ice and shifting weather patterns,” the report warns.

The report has claimed that climate change is already affecting human lives and that extreme weather events, including floods, droughts, and heatwaves, are becoming more frequent and intense.

According to the report, these changes are associated with food insecurity, displacement, and economic losses, especially in vulnerable regions.

“Rapid large-scale changes in the Earth system have cascading impacts on human and natural systems. Health risks are also rising. Heatwaves, in particular, pose serious threats, especially in urban areas and regions with limited adaptive capacity,” the report states.

John Kennedy, Climate Scientist told reporters during the report launch that the past eleven years are the warmest on record, glaciers are losing mass at an accelerating rate, and sea ice is declining in both polar regions.  He said that, in fact, eight of the ten most negative glacier mass balance years have occurred since 2016, and the past four years have seen the lowest Antarctic sea ice minima on record.

“We are also seeing the impacts of this warming in the frequency and scale of extreme events. Heatwaves are becoming so widespread that it is increasingly difficult to document them individually. At the same time, ocean heat content continues to rise dramatically, with the energy being absorbed by the oceans equivalent to many times total human energy use each year. When we assess these changes against climate model projections, they remain within expected ranges, but the key question now is how these trends will evolve and whether the rate of warming could accelerate further in the coming years,” Kennedy said.

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Excerpt:

Collecting water in Ethiopia. A new report, ‘Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post Crisis Era’ warns that many of the earth’s water resources have been pushed to a point of permanent failure. Credit: EU/ECHO/Anouk Delafortrie/IPS

By Umar Manzoor Shah
UNITED NATIONS & SRINAGAR, India, Jan 20 2026 (IPS)

The world has entered what United Nations researchers now describe as an era of Global Water Bankruptcy, a condition where humanity has irreversibly overspent the planet’s water resources, leaving ecosystems, economies, and communities unable to recover to previous levels.

The new report, released by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, titled Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era. The report argues that decades of overextraction, pollution, land degradation, and climate stress have pushed large parts of the global water system into a permanent state of failure.

“The world has entered the era of Global Water Bankruptcy,” the report reads, adding that “in many regions, human water systems are already in a post-crisis state of failure.”

According to the report, the language of “water crisis” is no longer sufficient to explain what is happening. A crisis implies a shock followed by recovery. Water bankruptcy, by contrast, describes a condition where recovery is no longer realistically possible because natural water capital has been permanently damaged.

In an exclusive interview with Inter Press Service, former Deputy Head of Iran’s Department of Environment  Prof. Kaveh Madani, who currently is the Director at United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment and Health, said that declaring that the planet has entered the era of water bankruptcy must not be interpreted as universal water bankruptcy, as not all basins, aquifers, and systems are water bankrupt.

Prof. Kaveh Madani, Director at the United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment and Health, addresses the UN midday press briefing. Credit: IPS

“But we now have enough critical basins and aquifers in chronic decline and showing clear signs of irreversibility that the global risk landscape is already being reshaped. Scientifically, we know recovery is no longer realistic in many systems when we see persistent overshoot (using more than renewable supply) combined with clear markers of irreversibility—for example aquifer compaction and land subsidence that permanently reduce storage, wetland and lake loss, salinization and pollution that shrink usable water, and glacier retreat that removes a long-term seasonal buffer. When these signals persist over time, the old “bounce back” assumption stops being credible,” Madani said.

According to the report, over decades, societies have drawn down the renewable flow of rivers and rainfall besides long-term reserves stored in aquifers, glaciers, wetlands, and soils. At the same time, pollution and salinization have reduced the share of water that is safe or economically usable.

“Over decades, societies have withdrawn more water than climate and hydrology can reliably provide, drawing down not only the annual income of renewable flows but also the savings stored in aquifers, glaciers, soils, wetlands, and river ecosystems,” the report says.

The scale of the problem, as per the report, is global. Nearly three-quarters of the world’s population now lives in countries classified as water insecure or critically water insecure.

Around 2.2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water, while 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation. About 4 billion people, as per the report findings, experience severe water scarcity for at least one month every year.

Madani said, adding that water bankruptcy is best assessed basin by basin and aquifer by aquifer, not by country.

“Please note that, based on the water security definition used by the UN system, water insecurity and water bankruptcy are not equivalent. Water bankruptcy can drive water insecurity, but water insecurity can also stem from limited financial and institutional capacity to build and operate infrastructure for safe water supply and sanitation, even where physical water is available,” he explained.

Madani added that the regions most consistently closest to irreversible decline cluster in the Middle East and North Africa, Central and South Asia, parts of northern China, the Mediterranean and southern Europe, the southwestern United States and northern Mexico (including the Colorado River system), parts of southern Africa, and parts of Australia.

The Aral Sea, which lies between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, shows dramatic water loss between 1989 and 2025. Credit: UNU-INWEH

Surface Water Systems Are Shrinking Rapidly

The report shows how more than half of the world’s large lakes have lost water since the early 1990s, affecting nearly one quarter of the global population that depends directly on them. Many major rivers now fail to reach the sea for parts of the year or fall below environmental flow needs.

Massive losses have occurred in wetlands, which serve as natural buffers against floods and droughts. Over the past five decades, the report claims that the world has lost roughly 410 million hectares of natural wetlands, almost the size of the European Union. The economic value of lost ecosystem services from these wetlands exceeds 5.1 trillion US dollars.

Groundwater depletion is one of the clearest signs of water bankruptcy. Groundwater, says the report, now supplies about 50 percent of global domestic water use and over 40 percent of irrigation water. Yet around 70 percent of the world’s major aquifers show long-term declining trends.

“Excessive groundwater extraction has already contributed to significant land subsidence over more than 6 million square kilometers,” the report says, warning that in some locations land is sinking by up to 25 centimeters per year, permanently reducing storage capacity and increasing flood risk.

In coastal areas, overpumping has allowed seawater to intrude into aquifers, rendering groundwater unusable for generations. In inland agricultural regions, falling water tables have triggered sinkholes, soil collapse, and the loss of fertile land.

These satellite images show a dramatic impact of the Aru glacier collapses in western Tibet. First image was taken in 2017 and the second in 2025. Credit: UNU-INWEH

The cryosphere, glaciers and snowpacks that act as natural water storage systems are also being rapidly liquidated. The world has already lost more than 30 percent of its glacier mass since 1970. Several low- and mid-latitude mountain ranges could lose functional glaciers within decades.

“The liquidation of this frozen savings account interacts with groundwater depletion and surface water over-allocation to lock many basins into a permanent worsening water deficit state,” says the report.

This loss, as per the report, threatens the long-term water security of hundreds of millions of people who depend on glacier- and snowmelt-fed rivers for drinking water, irrigation, and hydropower, particularly in Asia and the Andes.

Madani said the biggest failure was treating groundwater as an unlimited safety net instead of a strategic reserve.

He says that when surface water tightened, many systems defaulted to “drill deeper” without enforceable caps.

“Authorities often recognize the consequences when it is already late, and meaningful action then faces major political barriers. For example, reducing groundwater use in farming can trigger unemployment, food insecurity, and even instability unless farmers are supported through short-term compensation and a longer-term transition to alternative livelihoods,” he added.

According to Madani, that kind of transition cannot be implemented overnight.

“So, business as usual continues. The result is predictable: groundwater gets “liquidated” to postpone hard choices, and by the time the damage is obvious, recovery is no longer realistic,” he told IPS news.

Agriculture Lies at the Heart of the Crisis

According to the report, farming accounts for approximately 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals. About 3 billion people and more than half of the world’s food production are located in regions where total water storage is already declining or unstable.

The report states that more than 170 million hectares of irrigated cropland are under high or very high water stress. Land and soil degradation are making matters worse by reducing the ability of soils to retain moisture. The degradation of more than half of the global agricultural land is now moderate or severe.

Drought, once considered a natural hazard, is increasingly driven by human activity. Overallocation, groundwater depletion, deforestation, land degradation, and climate change have turned drought into a chronic condition in many regions.

“Drought-related damages, intensified by land degradation, groundwater depletion and climate change rather than rainfall deficits alone, already amount to about 307 billion US dollars per year worldwide,” the report states.

Water quality degradation further shrinks the usable resource base. Pollution from untreated wastewater, agricultural runoff, industrial effluents, and salinization means that even where water volumes appear stable, much of that water is unsafe or too costly to treat.

The report adds that the planetary freshwater boundary has already been crossed. Both blue water, surface and groundwater, and green water, soil moisture, have been pushed beyond a safe operating space.

Current governance systems, the authors argue, are not fit for this reality. Many legal water rights and development promises far exceed degraded hydrological capacity. Existing global agendas, focused largely on drinking water access, sanitation, and incremental efficiency gains, are inadequate for managing irreversible loss.

“Water bankruptcy must be recognized as a distinct post-crisis state, where accumulated damage and overshoot have undermined the system’s capacity to recover,” the report says.

Water bankruptcy could result in a further increase in conflicts. Credit: UNU-INWEH

It warns that the implications of water bankruptcy are dire.

UN Under-Secretary-General Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of UNU explains,  “Water bankruptcy is becoming a driver of fragility, displacement, and conflict. Managing it fairly—ensuring that vulnerable communities are protected and that unavoidable losses are shared equitably—is now central to maintaining peace, stability, and social cohesion.”

Policy Implications

Instead of crisis management aimed at restoring the past, the report actually pitches for bankruptcy management. That means acknowledging insolvency, accepting irreversibility, and restructuring water use, rights, and institutions to prevent further damage.

The authors lay stress on the fact that water bankruptcy is also a justice and security issue. The costs of overshoot fall disproportionately on small farmers, rural communities, women, Indigenous peoples, and downstream users, while benefits have often accrued to more powerful actors.

“How societies manage water bankruptcy will shape social cohesion, political stability, and peace,” the report warns.

Furthermore, it urges governments and international institutions to use upcoming UN Water Conferences in 2026 and 2028 as milestones to reset the global water agenda, calling for water to be treated as an upstream sector central to climate action, biodiversity protection, food security, and peace.

“This is about a crisis that might arrive in the future. The world is already living beyond its hydrological means,” reads the report.

When asked why the report frames water bankruptcy as a justice and security issue and how governments can implement painful demand reductions without triggering social unrest or conflict, Madani said the demand reduction becomes dangerous when it is treated as a technical exercise instead of a political economy reform. In many water-bankrupt regions, according to him, water is effectively a jobs policy: it keeps low-productivity farming and local economies afloat.

“If you cut water without an economic transition, you create unemployment, food insecurity, and unrest. So the practical pathway is to decouple livelihoods and growth from water consumption. In many economies, water and other natural resources are used to keep low-efficiency systems alive. In most places, it is possible to produce more strategic food with less water and less land, and with fewer farmers—provided that farmers are supported through a transition and offered alternative livelihoods.”

According to Madani, governments should protect basic needs but target the big reductions where most water is used, especially agriculture and besides that, pair caps with a just transition package for farmers—compensation, insurance, buy-down or retirement of water entitlements where relevant, and real income alternatives.

He further suggests that the governments should invest in diversification, including services, industry, value-added agri-processing, and urban jobs, so communities can earn a living without expanding water withdrawals.

“In short, you avoid conflict by making demand reduction part of a broader economic transition, not a standalone water policy.”

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The rainwater harvesting cistern is everywhere in Brazil's semi-arid region, a social technology that reduced water scarcity for its inhabitants. Elizabete Sousa Soares wanted to leave Jatobá when her daughter Maria was born 11 years ago, but decided to stay in her small rural town thanks to the cistern and other social technologies that have improved her life. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

By Mario Osava
USERRA DAS ALMAS, Brazil, Dec 29 2025 (IPS)

“The work of collecting seeds saved me from depression,” caused by her daughter’s suicide at the age of 29, said Maria do Desterro Soares, 64, who lives in the poor rural community of Jatobá in northeastern Brazil.

She drew her younger sister, Maria de Jesus Soares, 45, who lost her husband in a car accident and also struggles to avoid falling into depression, into the activity. The two walk together for nearly two hours to reach the forests where seeds abound.“The reserve is a great water reservoir. A study we conducted on avoided runoff showed this 6,285-hectare area can retain an astonishing 4.78 billion liters per year” - Gilson Miranda.

They only earn some 1,000 reais (US$185) in a “good year,” but “it’s my work, my pleasure, it’s what I want and I like doing it,” claimed Maria do Desterro, who also makes ice cream and medicines for flu and other illnesses with locally sourced juices, teas, peels, and honey.

She is one of the 121 people trained by the Caatinga Association (AC) through 2023 for the collection and management of seeds from native plants of this biome exclusive to Brazil, as a way to generate income and restore forests.

The association, founded in 1998 to protect the caatinga, the biome of the semi-arid region in the Brazilian northeast, manages the Serra das Almas Natural Reserve (RNSA) and disseminates social technologies for coexistence with the semi-arid ecoregion in surrounding communities.

The caatinga occupies 10% of Brazil’s vast territory and is home to 27 million people. Its vegetation is generally low, with twisted branches and trunks, appearing dead in the dry season and turning green just days after rain. It also features large trees that reach heights of tens of meters.

Maria de Jesus Soares and her older sister, Maria do Desterro Soares, extract seeds from the buriti coconut, a palm tree also known as moriche, found in several parts of Brazil, including its exclusive caatinga biome. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Coexistence, instead of fighting against nature

To coexist, rather than fighting droughts, is a guiding principle of the actions that are improving life in Brazil’s poorest region, the Northeast, offering a climate lesson for the country and the world.

This slogan, set in motion by civil society organizations, spurred several social technologies as solutions for water scarcity. Best known is the rainwater harvesting cistern for domestic use, with over 1.2 million units built since 2003.

Cisterns, bio-water (a system that cleans household water for reuse in planting), green septic tanks (a concrete tank with soil, filters, and a banana plant base), solar ovens, and eco-efficient stoves are the five tecghnologies being disseminated.

The AC website reports that 1,481 of these “technologies” have been implemented.

The AC has the RNSA for environmental education and as a source of income through eco-tourism. It works in 40 communities nearby where some 4,000 families live, implementing social technologies and supporting the conservation of the reserve and the entire caatinga.

Headquartered in Fortaleza, the capital of the northeastern state of Ceará, and in Crateús, in the west of that same state near the RNSA, the association stands out from other non-governmental organizations by having this conservation unit of 6,285 hectares of dense forests and four streams.

The green septic tank, also called a biosepitic bed, treats wastewater from toilets with microorganisms that process the waste, leaving the water ready to irrigate crops in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

The caatinga mitigates climate change

“The reserve is an open-air laboratory, where research on fauna, flora, carbon, and water takes place, so we can understand the importance of this area, and of the entire caatinga,” explained Gilson Miranda, a biologist and manager of the RNSA for the Caatinga Association.

In 2015 – 2022, the caatinga was responsible for nearly 40% of the carbon removed from the atmosphere in Brazil, he said, based on a study by São Paulo State University on greenhouse gas capture.

This is because the rapid regreening of the vegetation, an indicator of intense photosynthetic activity when it rains, makes the caatinga a major greenhouse gas sink, different from the Amazon, which is an immense carbon reservoir.

“That is why preserving and conserving the caatinga is strategic in a climate adaptation scenario,” said Miranda in an interview with IPS.

This biome, exclusive to Brazil, covers an area of 844,453 square kilometers.

Water is another wealth of Serra das Almas, which was designated a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) in the year 2000.

“The reserve is a great water reservoir. A study we conducted on avoided runoff showed this 6,285-hectare area can retain an astonishing 4.78 billion liters per year,” said Miranda.

Around the springs, there are very tall, green trees that differ from the usual biome. The gameleira (Ficus gomelleira), can reach up to 40 or 50 meters, according to Jair Martins, the tourist guide on hikes along the six trails of Serra das Almas.

This water, retained in the soil by the forests, actually drains slowly. The four springs preserved in the reserve do not dry up, but are unable to sustain year-round the streams that feed the Poti River, whose course passes to the east and north of Serra das Almas.

Nor is this moisture enough to keep the caatinga vegetation green, which is very dry in December, with the green of some shrubs or trees more resistant to water stress.

Maria Clemente da Silva was only able to cultivate her garden when she gained access to bio-water, because the public water supply is limited to three hours a day in Jatobá, a poor community in the Brazilian caatinga. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Mitigated drought

In the surroundings of the RNSA, the drought is harsher.

Maria Clemente da Silva, 59, relies on bio-water to supplement the water she uses to irrigate her small garden. The public water supply only operates for two to three hours per day, which is not enough for cultivating vegetables, such as lettuce and onions, or fruit trees like papaya, banana, acerola, orange, and cashew.

About 100 meters behind her house, a forest of tall, very green trees reveals that, with water, the caatinga vegetation gains exuberance. It is the moisture that remained in a low-lying area of a river that practically dried up due to deforestation and fires set to “clear” the land, explained Elisabete de Souza Soares.

Water is the most keenly felt shortage, according to Souza and other women who spoke to IPS and a group of journalism students visiting the Jatobá community, in the municipality of Buriti dos Montes, in the state of Piauí, where the AC’s socio-environmental actions benefit the population and the protection of the RNSA.

All of them received cisterns, the small three-burner ecological stove, and other “technologies” that reduced difficulties in their lives. “Before the cistern, we would fetch water from a public fountain about a kilometer away, carrying cans on our heads,” recalled Souza.

When she was pregnant with her daughter Maria, 11 years ago, she thought about moving away from the community where she had always lived in search of water. “Now I won’t leave here, where I was born,” she said.

The dry vegetation in December, the peak of the annual dry season, displays some resistant shrubs and trees that maintain green patches in the caatinga forests of Brazil’s Northeast region. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

The Caatinga Association adopted a comprehensive conservation model with broad participation from the local population, including in the economic benefits of work within the RNSA, such as guiding ecotourists and providing other services.

The AC’s approach is always socio-environmental, a main component in protecting the reserve and the caatinga in general, stated Miranda.

Inside the reserve, there is a modest hotel that can accommodate up to 36 people. Local tourism tends to expand due to promotion by the governments of the states of Ceará and Piauí, which share the Serra das Almas Natural Reserve.

The nearby Poti River flows through a 140-kilometer-long canyon and has become a major tourist attraction.

The reserve is a legacy of the US Johnson family, owners of the SC Johnson company, which, because it uses vegetable wax for its furniture cleaning and conservation products, imported carnauba wax, a palm abundant in Ceará, Piauí, and Rio Grande do Norte, another Northeastern state.

In 1998, the leader of the family’s fourth generation, Samuel Johnson, repeated an expedition to Ceará that his father had made in 1935 and decided to establish a Caatinga Conservation Fund, using part of his fortune. This led to the RNSA and the Caatinga Association, composed of environmental specialists in the biome.

Opinions have been divided over the annual UN climate conferences. While some see COP30 in Belém, Brazil, as confirming their irrelevance, others see it as a turning point in the struggle for climate justice.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

As the world accelerates toward catastrophic warming, ecological systems are collapsing, and millions across the Global South face increasingly life-threatening situations.

Rising sea levels, extreme heat, droughts and flooding are undermining food security, displacing communities, and exacerbating inequality and living conditions.

The economic costs of climate disasters are accelerating. Social and human costs continue to rise, with lives, livelihoods and ecosystems destroyed.

Fiscal austerity and indebtedness are making things worse. Instead, governments increase military spending and subsidise fossil fuels, accelerating planetary warming.

Business interest in ‘green transitions’ focuses on new profit-making opportunities. As renewable energy grows, energy supplies increase as fossil fuels are slowly replaced.

COP of Truth?
In his opening speech to the thirtieth Conference of Parties (COP30) in Belém, host President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised it would be the ‘COP of Truth’.

K Kuhaneetha Bai

Although not officially present, the US continued to frustrate the climate talks by urging petrostates to resist efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

The COP30 Climate Change Performance Index exposed governments’ weak commitments to combating planetary warming over the past 21 years.

Its report analysed the policies of 63 countries responsible for 90% of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The top three spots were kept empty to emphasise that no country has shown sufficient ambition to do so.

For 2025, Saudi Arabia took last place, with the US, Russia and Iran not far behind. Trump’s latest policies have set the US further back.

Meanwhile, the White House threatened sanctions and tariffs against governments that support a global tax on GHG emissions by international shipping.

Just transition?
COP30 in Belém continued to fail to achieve what is urgently needed: binding GHG emission cuts, phasing out fossil fuels, meaningfully compensating for past losses and damages, or better financing for climate adaptation.

COP30 adopted the Belém Mechanism for Just Global Transition – a new UNFCCC arrangement to overcome the fragmentation and inadequacy of such efforts worldwide.

However, the mechanism lacks both finances and plans to protect those harmed by decarbonisation initiatives. Nor are there resources for ‘green industrialisation’.

Climate justice is still misrepresented as threatening livelihoods rather than as key to survival. The climate justice movement must convince the public that it is key to social progress.

Climate finance setback
Lula appealed again for increased climate financing for the Global South following the dismal record since the 2009 Copenhagen COP.

Brazil also launched the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF) to incentivise countries conserving their forests. Although it failed to raise its target of $25 billion, 53 countries endorsed the TFFF, with pledges in Belém totalling $6.6 billion.

Belém also offered new suggestions for climate finance, in its ‘Baku to Belém (B2B) Roadmap to 1.3T’ (USD1.3 trillion), and the report of the COP30 Circle of Finance Ministers (CoFM).

The CoFM involved 35 finance ministers representing three-fifths of the world’s population and its GHG emissions.

The COP30 promise to “at least triple” finance for developing countries’ climate adaptation by 2035 was again blocked by the Global North. LDC requests for grant financing were also ignored yet again.

Promoting voluntarism
Brazilian COP30 chair Corrêa do Lago proposed various compromises to encourage those disappointed by UN processes to take climate action.

His proposed ‘voluntary roadmap’ to transition from fossil fuels will be discussed at the Colombia/Netherlands-led ‘coalition of the willing’ conference in April 2026.

The chair’s other voluntary roadmap for forest conservation followed the COP30 agreement’s failure to condemn deforestation with stronger language.

The adoption of the 59 compromise indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation was delayed by poorer African countries’ inability to afford immediate implementation. The compromise was a two-year delay, referred to as the ‘Belém-Addis vision’.

Belém as turning point
For the first time, the US was officially absent from the Belém COP. With over 56,000 delegates registered, attendance was second only to Dubai, with more than 1,600 business lobbyists present.

COPs make slow progress by painstakingly extending the consensus for climate action. Belém may shift the COPs’ focus from negotiations to initiatives, a precedent which can be abused or advanced.

Belém’s Mutirão Decision (Action Agenda) focuses on delivery, drawing from the ‘whole of society’. Its 30 measurable Key Objectives were based on the 2023 Global Stocktake.

While Belém’s outcomes fell short of most expectations, many acknowledge Brazil did its best under trying circumstances. Nonetheless, climate justice is being denied by the continuing procrastination of powerful vested interests.

Although not quite the ‘COP of Truth’, inclusion and implementation that Lula promised, Belém reversed the backward slide of recent COPs, which the Global South must build upon before it is too late.

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A Community Health Worker in a door-to-door campaign to vaccinate people in communities in Nanyamba village, Mtwara Region, in southeastern Tanzania. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS

By Desta Lakew and Richard Muyungi
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 20 2025 (IPS)

Around the world, the climate crisis is fast becoming the biggest public-health threat of the century. Extreme heat now kills more Europeans than any other natural disaster. Floods in Asia displace millions and contaminate water supplies. Mosquito-borne diseases once confined to the tropics are appearing in southern Europe and the United States.

Nowhere, however, are these impacts more visible—or the responses more instructive—than in Africa, which stands at a pivotal moment in the global climate discourse. Home to 17 percent of the world’s people yet responsible for less than four percent of global emissions, the continent is on the frontline of a crisis it did little to cause.

From the Horn of Africa to the Sahel, droughts, floods, and heatwaves are fueling outbreaks of malaria, cholera, and dengue, while undermining already fragile health systems. The climate crisis is no longer a distant environmental threat; it is a daily public health emergency.

Desta Lakew, Amref Health Africa Group Director for Partnerships & External Affairs

While the Paris Agreement implicitly recognized the importance of health in climate action, it was COP28 in Dubai that marked a watershed moment. For the first time, the world finally began to acknowledge what communities across Africa have long known: climate policy is health policy.

The UAE Declaration on Climate and Health, endorsed by more than 120 countries, acknowledged that every degree of warming worsens public health outcomes and that protecting health systems is essential to climate resilience. Africa’s negotiators were central to that breakthrough—pushing health from the margins to the main stage of climate diplomacy.

Their advocacy has paved the way for the next critical milestone: the Belém Health Action Plan, being launched at COP30 in Brazil. The plan’s pillars—disease surveillance, early-warning systems, climate-smart health infrastructure, and health equity—mirror the priorities laid out in the Common African Position on Climate and Health adopted in Lilongwe and reaffirmed in the Africa Group of Negotiators’ (AGN) Declaration, which came out of the Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa.

The AGN was decisive in appointing a climate and health lead coordinator to ensure that health is a key thematic stream within the group, and it is now a key component of their work. The message from Africa is clear: protecting people’s health is the clearest measure of whether climate action succeeds.

Yet the global financing system has not caught up. Less than one percent of adaptation finance targets health, even as climate-sensitive diseases multiply. Despite new pledges at COP28—$300 million from the Global Fund and $100 million from the Rockefeller Foundation—the gap is measured in the hundreds of billions. Africa alone will need roughly $300 billion annually by 2030 to build resilient systems and respond to climate-related loss and damage.

Dr. Richard Muyungi, African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN) Chair

Philanthropy is waking up—the recently formed Climate and Health Funders Coalition brings together 35 institutional and individual funders and they have just committed an initial $300 million at COP30, but structural challenges remain.

Most existing climate funds remain locked behind complex applications or arrive as loans that deepen debt in economies already under strain. That approach is not solidarity—it is self-defeat. Pandemics, heat-related mortality, and vector-borne diseases do not respect borders. A health emergency anywhere can quickly become a threat everywhere.

COP30 offers the chance to change course. The Belém Health Action Plan must not become another well-intentioned declaration—it needs financing hardwired to outcomes that save lives: clinics able to function through heatwaves and floods, vaccine cold chains powered by clean energy, and community health workers trained to respond to shifting disease patterns.

To make that happen, global donors, multilateral banks, and high-emitting nations should agree on three urgent steps. First, earmark a defined share of climate finance for health adaptation—not as an afterthought but as a performance metric in every climate-finance report; second, shift from loans to grants for health-related climate resilience to prevent compounding debt crises; third, invest in African-led solutions that the rest of the world can adopt or learn from—from Kenya’s heat-health action plans in Nairobi to Tanzania’s clean cooking agenda.

Africa’s experiences offer valuable lessons for the world. The ingenuity that kept health services running through droughts and pandemics is precisely what other countries will need as wildfires, vector migration, and heat emergencies escalate globally. The world should be studying and scaling these innovations—not waiting for crises to reach their own doorsteps.

Ultimately, if the climate crisis has taught us anything, it is that health security is climate security. What happens in Nairobi or Niamey reverberates in New York and New Delhi. COP30 must deliver ambitious and just outcomes that strengthen adaptation and protect the most vulnerable. We will consider COP30 a failure if it does not deliver an ambitious adaptation decision that resonates with Africa’s climate change impacts and realities.

Leaving Belém with promises alone would be a failure of vision and of justice. Leaving with funded commitments would signal a turning point: proof that the world finally understands that safeguarding health is not a regional concern—it is the foundation of collective resilience and of our shared future.

Desta Lakew is Amref Health Africa Group Director for Partnerships & External Affairs; Dr. Richard Muyungi is African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN) Chair

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Integration of crop-livestock systems in Urubici, State of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Credit: Ivan Cheremisin's/Unsplash

By Appolinaire Djikeng
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 14 2025 (IPS)

As the world gathers in Brazil for the UN climate talks, the country’s livestock sector – one of the largest in the world – is understandably in the spotlight.

Livestock are a significant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil (and around the world) and have been linked to deforestation, but these animals represent so much more than that to so many, especially in the Global South.

Brazil accounts for approximately 20 per cent of global beef exports. The livestock sector is a major contributor to the country’s economy – responsible for 8.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and roughly nine million jobs.

For 1.3 billion people worldwide, livestock is a lifeline: a protector of livelihoods, guardian of nutrition, cornerstone of tradition, and potential pathway out of poverty. For the majority and especially pastoralists, reducing herd sizes is not an easy, or frankly viable, option.

COP30 is supposed to bring people from vastly different contexts together, to find solutions that work for everyone, as well as funding to enable it to happen. This year’s host offers special lessons for Africa’s livestock sector, as Brazil’s livestock sector was not always so productive and efficient.

Brazilian policies and investments have seen livestock productivity rise 61 per cent in the past two decades, while pasture land use and emissions intensity – that is, the emissions per unit of meat, milk or eggs produced – have gone down.

The key to this success has been avoiding uniform prescriptions and instead adopting regionally adapted and context-specific approaches.

For example, high-yield tropical grasses like Brachiaria have become central to boosting productivity across the country’s Cerrado region, improving cattle health and overall performance, and reducing costs. In southern Brazil, where smaller farms are more common, the integration of crop-livestock systems have increased land efficiency, promoted biodiversity, and diversified farm incomes. Mineral supplements and high-energy feeds have had the biggest impact in the Southeast of Brazil, where there are large feedlots.

Much like Brazil thirty years ago, many of today’s developing countries struggle to produce meat, milk and eggs efficiently. Poor quality feed, animal health, and genetics mean animals take much longer to reach slaughter weight or milk volume. Even if herd sizes are smaller, the emissions per unit of product can be 16 times higher.

The impact is that hunger and poverty are prevalent in these countries and, in some, still rising. Micronutrient deficiency – a result of insufficient animal-source food consumption – is also widespread among children, which has a devastating effect on health and economic development (contributing to annual GDP losses up to 16 per cent).

This is why at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) we are researching science-based interventions that raise productivity and cut emissions intensity. For example, MaziwaPlus is an animal health-oriented project focused on Mastitis, a disease in dairy cows responsible for milk yield losses of up to 25 per cent. With Scotland’s Rural College we are also working on highly digestible forages, which could result in 20 per cent methane emissions reductions. EnviroCow is another productivity-oriented initiative, trying to identify livestock that remain productive despite environmental challenges.

And ILRI’s work does not stop at research. The Institute also connects evidence with policy and practice, as seen in Kenya’s recent submission to the UNFCCC’s Sharm el-Sheikh portal, which cites participatory rangeland management approaches developed by ILRI and partners.

Unlocking these benefits at the global level will require reframing the worldwide sustainability discussion around livestock – seeing it as a solution to be invested in, rather than a problem to be swept under the rug.

For example, climate finance should start rewarding reductions in emissions intensity (not just absolute emissions), so that countries improving productivity and lowering emissions per litre of milk or kilo of meat are supported. Moreover, the world needs to invest far more than the 0.2 per cent of climate finance currently put towards livestock research and innovation (and even less to developing solutions in low- and middle-income countries).

Most importantly, livestock should be embedded in national climate plans. Livestock should be recognised as more than a source of emissions, and as an important solution for climate resilience, food security, and adaptation – especially in developing countries and regions where they are the backbone of rural economies.

But as COP30 concludes, the conversation cannot end there.

This year’s conference must be a moment when the world recognises that livestock, managed well, are an important part of a more pragmatic global strategy which both protects the planet and raises the welfare of its people.

The timing could not be more fitting as next year will begin the UN-declared International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Rangelands cover over half of the Earth’s land surface, store vast amounts of carbon, and support hundreds of millions of pastoralist livestock keepers, yet barely feature in most national climate plans.

If we choose to recognise and act on the potential of rangelands and pastoralists, they can become one of the great success stories of climate and development – driven by science, stewardship, and local knowledge.

Professor Appolinaire Djikeng is the Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

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General Plenary Session of Leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP 30. Credit: Ueslei Marcelino/COP3

By James Alix Michel
VICTORIA, Nov 12 2025 (IPS)

COP30 Brazil, though shadowed by the absence of many world leaders, remains a pivotal milestone in the global fight against climate change, tasked with building on the Paris Agreement’s momentum. Yet the glaring lack of commitment, coupled with withdrawals from the accord, casts a grim shadow over the future. The planet continues to warm, and scientists warn that current targets may not prevent a catastrophic temperature spike. While the summit’s focus on implementation not just new promises—is a welcome shift, it’s clear: words alone won’t cool the Earth.

James Alix Michel

Brazil’s leadership in championing nature-based solutions, like safeguarding the Amazon rainforest, is a beacon of hope. The conference ignited critical discussions on climate finance, adaptation, and resilience for vulnerable nations. The Baku-to-Belem Roadmap’s goal of mobilizing $1.3 trillion annually for developing countries is ambitious but necessary. Yet challenges loom large: wealthy nations’ apathy, geopolitical fractures, and the lingering impact of the U.S. withdrawal from Paris. COP30’s success hinges on action.

The Stakes Are Dire

The IPCC warns: we’re on track for 2.5–3°C warming by 2100 if pledges are not met. This spells ruin: crippling droughts, unlivable cities, mass migration, and ecosystems collapsing. The Amazon, a vital carbon sink, is nearing a ‘tipping point’ of irreversible dieback. Island nations face existential threats. The climate crisis is not a distant threat—it’s here.

Why COP30 Matters

1. Implementation Over Pledges: Past summits yielded lofty goals, but delivery has lagged. COP30 must hold nations accountable. No more empty vows.

2. Climate Finance: Developing countries need predictable funding, not charity. The $100 billion/year promise remains unfulfilled. Wealthy nations must pay their share.

3. Adaptation and Resilience: Frontline communities in Africa, Small Island States, and the Global South can’t wait. Funding for early warnings, flood defenses, and drought-resistant crops isn’t a favor; it’s justice.

4. Global Unity: Geopolitics must not derail progress. The world needs cooperation, not competition.

The Human Cost:

Millions already suffer. Cyclones, wildfires, famine, mass migration, and sea-level rise. This isn’t ‘someday’; it’s now. Indigenous groups, youth activists, and scientists plead: stop debating. Act.

Yet amid the urgency, COP30 saw glimmers. Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pushed for Amazon protection. African nations demanded reparations for historical emissions. The Global South called for “Equity first.”

The Road Ahead: COP31 and Beyond.

Future summits must:

• • Enforce transparency: Track emissions cuts, not just promises.
  • Prioritize loss & damage: Compensate those already paying the price.
  • Work towards ending fossil fuels: No new coal projects.
  • Empower youth: Include communities, not just politicians.

A Call to Leaders: Pledges Aren’t Leadership

When leaders make commitments, they bind their nations to honor them. Empty promises are not leadership. The world isn’t a battleground for wars—it’s our only home. We’re all in this together. No more excuses. Action isn’t optional.

The clock ticks. The Amazon burns. The oceans rise. We need solutions. And we know what the solutions are. Now we need action.

Let’s choose life. For the planet and for ourselves.

James Alix Michel, Former President Republic of Seychelles, Member Club de Madrid, Founder James Michel Foundation.

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Brazil's Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, attends a meeting during the UN Climate Change Conference COP 30. Credit: Hermes Caruzo/COP30

By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, India & BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 8 2025 (IPS)

A report by the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) and Earth Insight paints a stark picture of how extractive industries, deforestation, and climate change are converging to endanger the world’s last intact tropical forests and the Indigenous Peoples who protect them.

The report, ‘Indigenous Territories and Local Communities on the Frontlines,’ combines geospatial analysis and community data to show that nearly one billion hectares of forests are under Indigenous stewardship, yet face growing industrial threats that could upend global climate and biodiversity goals.

Despite representing less than five percent of the world’s population, Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs) safeguard more than half of all remaining intact forests and 43 percent of global biodiversity hotspots.

These territories store vast amounts of carbon, regulate ecosystems, and preserve cultures and languages that have sustained humanity’s relationship with nature for millennia. But the report warns that governments and corporations are undermining this stewardship through unrestrained extraction of resources in the name of economic growth or even “green transition.”

One of the main report authors, Florencia Librizzi, who is also a Deputy Director at Earth Insight, told IPS that the perspectives and stories from each region are grounded in the lived realities of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and come directly from the organizations from each of the regions that the report focuses on in Mesoamerica, Amazonia, the Congo Basin, and Indonesia.

Across four critical regions—the Amazon, Congo Basin, Indonesia, and Mesoamerica—extractive industries overlap with millions of hectares of ancestral land. In the Amazon, oil and gas blocks cover 31 million hectares of Indigenous territories, while mining concessions sprawl across another 9.8 million.

In the Congo Basin, 38 percent of community forests are under oil and gas threat, endangering peatlands that store immense quantities of carbon. Indonesia’s Indigenous territories face 18 percent overlap with timber concessions, while in Mesoamerica, 19 million hectares—17 percent of Indigenous land—are claimed for mining, alongside rampant narcotrafficking and colonization.

These intrusions have turned Indigenous territories into sacrifice zones. From nickel extraction in Indonesia to oil drilling in Ecuador and illegal logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo, corporate incursions threaten lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems. Between 2012 and 2024, 1,692 environmental defenders were killed or disappeared across GATC countries, with 208 deaths linked to extractive industries and 131 to logging. The report calls this violence “the paradox of protection”—the act of defending nature now puts those defenders at deadly risk.

Yet the report also documents extraordinary resilience. In Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve, Indigenous forest communities have achieved near-zero deforestation—only 1.5 percent forest loss between 2014 and 2024, compared to 11 percent in adjacent areas. In Colombia, Indigenous Territorial Entities maintain over 99 percent of their forests intact.

The O’Hongana Manyawa of Indonesia continue to defend their lands against nickel mining, while the Guna people of Panama manage autonomous governance systems that integrate culture, tourism, and ecology.

In the Congo, the 2022 “Pygmy Law” has begun recognizing community rights to forest governance, a historic step toward justice.

The report’s findings were released ahead of the 30th UN Climate Conference (COP30), emphasizing the urgency of aligning international climate and biodiversity frameworks with Indigenous rights.

The 2025 Brazzaville Declaration, adopted at the First Global Congress of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities from the Forest Basins, provides a roadmap for such alignment.

Signed by leaders from 24 countries representing 35 million people, it calls for five key commitments: secure land rights, free and informed consent, direct financing to communities, protection of life, and recognition of traditional knowledge.

These “Five Demands” are the cornerstone of what the GATC calls a shift “from extraction to regeneration.”

They demand an end to the violence and criminalization of Indigenous leaders and insist that global climate finance reach local hands.

The report notes that, despite the 2021 COP26 pledge of 1.7 billion dollars for forest protection, only 7.6 percent of that money reached Indigenous communities directly.

“Without financing that strengthens territorial governance, all global commitments will remain symbolic,” said the GATC in a joint statement.

Reacting to the announcement of the The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) announced on the first day of the COP Leaders’ Summit and touted as a “new and innovative financing mechanism” that would see forest countries paid every single year in perpetuity for keeping forests standing, Juan Carlos Jintiach, Executive Secretary of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) said, “Even if the TFFF does not reach all its fundraising goals, the message it conveys is already powerful: climate and forest finance cannot happen without us Indigenous Peoples and local leadership at its core.

“This COP offers a crucial opportunity to amplify that message, especially as it takes place in the heart of the Amazon. We hope the focus remains on the communities who live there, those of us who have protected the forests for generations. What we need most from this COP is political will to guarantee our rights, to be recognized as partners rather than beneficiaries, to ensure transparency and justice in climate finance, and to channel resources directly to those defending the land, despite growing risks and violence.”

Deforestation in Acre State, Brazil. Credit: Victor Moriyama / Climate Visuals

Jintiach, who is also the report’s author, told IPS  the Global Alliance has proposed establishing clear mechanisms to ensure that climate finance reaches Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ initiatives directly, not through layers of external actors.

“That’s why we have established our Shandia Platform, a global Indigenous-led mechanism designed to channel direct, predictable, and effective climate finance to our territories. Through the Shandia Funds Network, we ensure that funding is managed according to our priorities, governance systems, and traditional knowledge. The platform also includes a transparent system to track and monitor funding flows, with a specific indicator for direct finance to Indigenous Peoples and local communities,” he said.

The report also warns that global conservation goals such as the “30×30” biodiversity target—protecting 30 percent of Earth’s land and sea by 2030—cannot succeed without Indigenous participation. Policies under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement must, it says, embed Indigenous governance and knowledge at their core. Otherwise, climate strategies risk reinforcing historical injustices by excluding those who have sustained these ecosystems for centuries.

Jintiach said that based on his experience  at GATC, Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’-led conservation models are not only vital but also deeply effective.

“In our territories, it is our peoples and communities who are conserving both nature and culture, protecting the forests, waters, and biodiversity that sustain all of us,” he said.

He added, “Multiple studies confirm what we already know from experience: Indigenous and local community lands have lower rates of deforestation and higher biodiversity than those managed under state or private models. Our success is rooted in ancestral knowledge, collective governance, and a deep spiritual connection to the land, principles that ensure true, lasting conservation.”

According to Jintiach, the GATC 5 demands and the Brazzaville Declaration are critical global reference points and we are encouraged by the level of interest and engagement displayed by political leaders in the lead-up to COP 30.

Map highlighting extractive threats faced by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities across the Amazon basin. Credit: GATC

“We are hopeful that these principles will be uplifted and championed at COP 30, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, CBD COP 17 and on the long road ahead,” he said.

When asked about the rising violence against environmental defenders, Jintiach said that the Brazzaville Declaration calls for a global convention to protect Environmental Human Rights Defenders, including Indigenous Peoples and local community leaders.

According to him, the governments must urgently tackle the corruption and impunity fueling threats and violence while supporting collective protection and preventing rollback of rights.

“This also means upholding and strengthening the Escazú Agreement and UNDRIP, and ensuring long-term protection through Indigenous Peoples and local communities-led governance, secure land tenure, and accountability for human rights violations.”

Earth Insight’s Executive Director Tyson Miller described the collaboration as a call to action rather than another policy document. “Without urgent recognition of territorial rights, respect for consent, and protection of ecosystems, global climate and biodiversity goals cannot be achieved,” he said. “This report is both a warning and an invitation—to act with courage and stand in solidarity.”

The case studies highlight how Indigenous governance models already offer proven solutions to the climate crisis. In the Brazilian Amazon, Indigenous organizations have proposed a self-determined Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to reduce emissions through territorial protection. Their slogan, “Demarcation is Mitigation,” underlines how securing Indigenous land rights directly supports the Paris Agreement’s goals. Similarly, in Central Africa, communities have pioneered decolonized conservation approaches that integrate Indigenous leadership into national park management, reversing exclusionary models imposed since colonial times.

In Mesoamerica, the Muskitia region—known as “Little Amazon”—illustrates both crisis and hope. It faces deforestation from drug trafficking and illegal logging, yet community-based reforestation and forest monitoring are restoring ecosystems and livelihoods. Women and youth play leading roles in governance, showing how inclusive leadership strengthens resilience.

The report’s conclusion is unequivocal: where Indigenous rights are recognized, ecosystems thrive; where they are ignored, destruction follows. It argues that the fight for land is inseparable from the fight against climate change. Indigenous territories are not just sources of raw materials; they are “living systems of governance, culture, and biodiversity” essential to humanity’s survival.

The Brazzaville Declaration urges governments to ratify international human rights conventions, end deforestation by 2030, and integrate Indigenous territories into national biodiversity and climate plans. It also calls for a global convention to protect environmental human rights defenders, whose safety is central to planetary stability.

For GATC’s leaders, the message is deeply personal. “Our traditional knowledge is the language of Mother Earth,” said Joseph Itongwa, GATC Co-Chair from the Congo Basin. “We cannot protect the planet if our territories, our identity, and our livelihoods remain under threat.”

This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

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Merlyn Sandoval next to the rainwater collection tank built on the small plot where she lives, in the village of San Jose Las Pilas, in eastern Guatemala. She and her family participate in a program to alleviate the effects of the drought in the Central American Dry Corridor. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

By Edgardo Ayala
SAN LUIS JILOTEPEQUE, Guatemala, Oct 30 2025 (IPS)

Water scarcity that relentlessly hits the rural communities in eastern Guatemala, located in the so-called Central American Dry Corridor, is a constant threat due to the challenges in producing food, year after year. But it is also an incentive to strive to overcome adversities.

The peasant families living in this region struggle to counter hopelessness and, with the help of international cooperation, manage to confront water scarcity. With great effort, they produce food, aware of the importance of caring for and protecting the area’s micro-watersheds."Unfortunately, last year the rainy season also ended in September and we harvested almost nothing, there was no rainy season, there was no water. So it's difficult for us here, that's why they call it the Dry Corridor, because we don't have water" –Ricardo Ramirez.

“We are in the Dry Corridor, and it’s hard to produce the plants here, even if you’ve tried to produce them, because due to the lack of water (the fruits) don’t reach their proper weight,” Merlyn Sandoval, head of one of the families benefiting from a project that seeks to provide the necessary tools and knowledge for people to overcome water insecurity and produce their own food, told IPS.

Sandoval is a native of the village of San Jose Las Pilas, in the municipality of San Luis Jilotepeque, in the department of Jalapa, in eastern Guatemala. Her community has been included in the program, funded by Sweden and implemented by several organizations, such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), together with the Guatemalan government.

The initiative, which began in 2022 and ends this December, reaches 7,000 families living around the micro-watersheds of seven municipalities in the departments of Chiquimula and Jalapa, in eastern Guatemala. These towns are Jocotan, Camotan, Olopa, San Juan Ermita, Chiquimula, San Luis Jilotepeque, and San Pedro Pinula.

The project focuses on creating the conditions to promote food and nutritional security and the resilience of the population, prioritizing water security that allows for food production.

“The strength of the (project’s) goals lies in the training and the action of the micro-watershed concept… people were trained depending on whether they were upstream, downstream, or in the middle of the watershed,” Rafael Zavala, FAO representative in Guatemala, told IPS.

He added: “The area is highly expulsive of labor due to migration, and this causes women to be the heads of households.”

The San Jose River basin is one of the watersheds being targeted for protection and preservation due to its importance for the water security of the towns in San Luis Jilotepeque, in eastern Guatemala. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Drought and poverty

A report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicates that the area included in the program shows a significant deterioration of livelihoods and a scarcity of economic opportunities.

It adds that in the department of Chiquimula, 70.6% of the population lives in poverty, while in Jalapa, the figure reaches 67.2%.

The Central American Dry Corridor, which is 1,600 kilometers long, covers 35% of Central America and is home to more than 10.5 million people.

In this belt, over 73% of the rural population lives in poverty and 7.1 million people suffer from severe food insecurity, according to FAO data.

Central America is a region of seven nations, with 50 million inhabitants, of which 18.5 million live in Guatemala, the most populous country, with high inequality and where a large part of poor families are indigenous.

In the home of Merlyn Sandoval’s family in San Jose Las Pilas, the granary for storing the corn and beans, which are so difficult to produce due to the lack of water in the area of eastern Guatemala, is never missing. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Learning to Harvest Rainwater

As part of the project, the young Sandoval has learned the key points about micro-watershed management and has developed actions to harvest rainwater on her plot, in the backyard of her house. There, she has set up a circular tank, whose base is lined with an impermeable polyethylene geo-membrane, with a capacity of 16 cubic meters.

When it rains, water runs down from the roof and, through a PVC pipe, reaches the tank they call a “harvester,” which collects the resource to water the small garden and the fruit trees, and to provide water during the dry season, from November to May.

In the garden, Sandoval and her family of 10, harvest celery, cucumber, cilantro, chives, tomatoes, and green chili. In fruits, they harvest bananas, mangoes, and jocotes, among others.

Next to the rainwater harvester is the fish pond where 500 tilapia fingerlings are growing. The structure, also with a polyethylene geo-membrane at its base, is eight meters long, six meters wide, and one meter deep.

When the fish reach a weight of half a kilo, they can be sold in the community.

“The harvesters fill up with what is collected from the rains, and that helps to give a water change for the tilapia and also to give water to the fruit trees,” said Sandoval, 27.

The young woman also produces corn and beans, on another nearby plot, of approximately half a hectare. These plantings, more extensive than the garden and fruit trees in the backyard, cannot be covered by irrigation from the tank.

Ricardo Ramirez shows the inside of the macro-tunnel (a small greenhouse) where he has managed to harvest cucumbers, tomatoes, and green chilies, and where the plants of the new tomato planting can already be seen, on his small farm in eastern Guatemala. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

As a result, these crops, in this region of the Dry Corridor, are always vulnerable to climatic fluctuations: they can be ruined both by lack of rain and by excess rain during the same rainy season, from May to November.

Sandoval has already lost 50% of her harvest due to excess rain, she stated, with a hint of sadness.

This has also happened to Ricardo Ramirez, another resident of San Jose Las Pilas, who has experienced these fluctuations of lack and excess of water in his crop of corn and beans, staples in the Central American diet.

“Unfortunately, last year the rainy season also ended in September and we harvested almost nothing, there was no rainy season, there was no water. So it’s difficult for us here, that’s why they call it the Dry Corridor, because we don’t have water,” said Ramirez, 59, referring to his bean crop, planted on two plots totaling half a hectare, of which he has lost roughly half.

From the rainwater collection tank, Ricardo Ramirez manages to drip-irrigate the crops in the macro-tunnel, as this type of greenhouse is called. The system has allowed him to harvest produce despite water insecurity in eastern Guatemala. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Green Hope

However, the support from the program driven with Swedish cooperation funds has been vital for Ramirez, not only to stay afloat economically as a farmer, but also to bet, with hope and enthusiasm, on the land where he was born.

Through this international initiative, Ramirez was also able to set up a rainwater collection tank with a capacity of 16 cubic meters, as well as an agricultural macro-tunnel: a kind of small greenhouse, with a modular structure covered by a mesh that protects the crops from pests and other bugs.

Inside the macro-tunnel, he planted cucumbers, tomatoes, and green chili, among others, and watered them by drip irrigation through a hose that carried water from the tank, just three meters away.

“From one row I got 950 cucumbers, and 450 pounds (204 kilos) of tomatoes, and the chili, it just keeps producing. But it was because there was water in the harvester and I just opened the little valve, gave it just half an hour, by drip, and the soil got wet,” Ramirez told IPS, while checking a bunch of bananas or guineos, as they are known in Central America.

All of that generated sufficient income for him to save 2,000 quetzales (about 160 dollars), with which he was able to install electricity on his plot and also buy an electric generator to pump water from a spring within the property, for when the collection tank runs out in about two months.

In this way, Ramirez will be able to maintain irrigation and production.

San José Las Pilas has a community water system, supplied by a spring located nearby. The tank is installed in the high area of the village so that water flows down by gravity, but the resource is rationed to just a few hours a day, given the scarcity.

Nicolas Gomez still has to walk two hours, like many others, to get water from a river when his collection tank runs out during the dry season in eastern Guatemala. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Long Walks to Obtain Water

However, not everyone is as lucky as Ramirez, to have a water spring on their property and to irrigate gardens when the collection tank runs out.

When that happens, Nicolas Gomez has to walk almost two hours to reach the San Jose River, the closest one, and carry water from there, loading it on his shoulder in containers, to meet basic hygiene and cooking needs.

“So now, in the rainy season, we have water stored in this tank. But for the dry season we have nothing, we go to the river to fetch water, to a spring that is quite far, about a two-hour walk, that’s how hard it is for us to obtain it,” said Gomez, a 66-year-old farmer who has also suffered the climate onslaughts of drought and excess water on his corn crops.

Gomez lives in Los Magueyes, a rural settlement, also within San Luis Jilotepeque. Poverty here is more acute and visible than in San Jose Las Pilas. There is no community water system or electricity, and families have to light themselves with candles at night.

“Life here is hard,” stated Gomez, amidst the smoke produced by the wood-fired stove he was using to cook a meal when IPS visited on October 21.

A damaged classroom and school equipment at Dahilig Elementary School in the Municipality of Gainza, Camarines Sur, Philippines, weeks after Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (Trami) wreaked havoc in October 2024. Credit: UNICEF/Larry Monserate Piojo

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 2025 (IPS)

In 2024, the climate crisis has disrupted schooling for millions of students worldwide, weakening workforces and hindering social development on a massive scale. With extreme weather patterns preventing students from accessing a safe, and effective learning environment, the United Nations (UN) and the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies (EiE Hub) continue to urge the international community to assist the most climate-sensitive areas in building resilient education systems that empower both students and educators.

On October 28, members of the EiE Hub released a statement that calls on stakeholders and world leaders to center children’s education at the forefront of global discussions at COP30 to be held in Belém, Brazil in November. It is projected that without urgent intervention, tens of millions of children are at risk of falling behind on their education, which threatens long-term economic development and stability.

“Children are more vulnerable to the impacts of weather-related crises, including stronger and more frequent heatwaves, storms, droughts and flooding,” said Catherine Russell, Executive-Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in January. “Children cannot concentrate in classrooms that offer no respite from sweltering heat, and they cannot get to school if the path is flooded, or if schools are washed away. Last year, severe weather kept one in seven students out of class, threatening their health and safety, and impacting their long-term education.”

According to figures from UNICEF, approximately half of the world’s school-aged children receive access to quality education, with an estimated 1 billion children residing in countries that are described as “extremely high-risk” to climate shocks and natural disasters. Members of the EiE Hub estimate that at least 242 million students experienced disruptions to their education in 2024 due to climate-related events, with more than 118 million affected by heatwaves in May alone. Beyond hindering learning quality and teachers’ ability to effectively instruct, climate-induced disasters and shocks also increase the risk of school dropouts and expose children to heightened protection risks.

These risks are especially severe in communities across the Global South, where the impacts of climate-induced disasters are most pronounced. Frequent climate shocks devastate local economies, undermine adaptation efforts, and exacerbate pre-existing inequalities. Women, girls, displaced persons, and individuals with disabilities are disproportionately affected—facing higher risks of violence, adverse health impacts, loss of livelihood opportunities, and increased rates of child, early, and forced marriage.

In August, a report published by UNICEF and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) found that roughly 5.9 million children and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to loss of education as a result of climate change if governments do not intervene soon. This represents the most optimistic scenario as the projected number of young people pushed into poverty could be as high as 17.9 million.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Asia-Pacific region is considered to be the most climate-sensitive environment in the world, in which communities in coastal and low-lying areas are disproportionately impacted by rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns. Additionally, these communities rely on fisheries and agriculture, which are climate-sensitive economies, putting them at further risk.

A World Bank report titled Gender Dimensions of Disaster Risk and Resilience highlights the heightened vulnerability of boys and girls during climate-related shocks and how this impacts them differently. In Fiji, numerous households that lost one or both parents to natural disasters intensified by climate change, underscoring the link between families who experienced the loss of a parent and increased rates of school dropouts and child labor.

The report also found that girls who lost both parents were 26 percent less likely than boys to join the workforce within five years of a disaster and were 62 percent more likely to be married during the same period. In Uganda, the World Bank recorded that the likelihood of engaging in child labor often increases for both boys and girls following a natural disaster.

“If children and young people don’t have the resources to meet their basic needs and develop their potential, and if adequate social protection systems are not in place, the region’s inequalities will only be perpetuated,” said Roberto Benes, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Despite this, education systems receive only a small percentage of available climate and government funding. From 2006 to March 2023, it is estimated that only 2.4 percent of funding from multilateral climate action budgets go toward climate-resilience programs for schools. According to EiE Hub, during the last cycle of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 2.0), less than half of the NDCs met the standards for being child-sensitive, and have therefore been largely overlooked by governments.

EiE Hub calls on governments, donors, and civil society groups to make education a key part of climate action dialogue going forward, particularly in discussions at COP30. The organization highlights the importance of increased investment in climate-resilient education systems—especially in vulnerable and conflict-affected areas—as every USD $1 a government invests in education, national GDP can increase by approximately USD 20.

Additionally, the organization also stresses the need to involve children and youth in climate policymaking and to invest in resilient school infrastructure and climate education. By integrating green skills and climate learning into curriculum, education can become a powerful tool for resilience and climate action.

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Time2Graze will use Sentinel-2 satellite data to track pasture biomass and support farmers and land managers to make informed decisions about grazing management, resource allocation, and sustainable land use.

By Lindsey Sloat
LANCASTER, PA, Oct 24 2025 (IPS)

Thousands of years ago, we looked to the stars for guidance — constellations like Taurus and the Pleiades signalled the changing of the seasons and the best times to plant, harvest and move animals.

Today, we may soon turn skyward once again, but this time to satellites that reveal in near-real-time when and where grasses are most nutritious and digestible. Feeding livestock at these peak moments not only boosts growth but also cuts methane, since animals release the most methane during digestion, a process known as enteric fermentation.

Globally, enteric fermentation from livestock accounts for nearly one third of methane emissions generated from human activities. This matters because methane has 86 times the heat-trapping power of CO2 over a 20-year period; yet it breaks down much faster. This means that methane reduction is one of the fastest ways to slow down the rate of global temperature rise.

Smarter grazing is a major opportunity. Farmers already rotate herds so pastures can recover but often rely on guesswork. When cattle graze younger, more digestible grasses, they produce less methane per unit of milk or meat. Yet in many regions, farms capture only 40 to 60 percent of their pasture’s potential. Unlocking this potential would improve productivity and cut emissions.

Two thirds of all agricultural land worldwide is devoted to livestock grazing, so even small efficiency gains can have a big impact. A 10 percent improvement in feed digestibility, for example, can reduce methane emissions per unit of feed or product by 12 to 20 percent.

Closing this pasture productivity gap by optimizing grazing would not just significantly reduce methane emissions, but also improve livestock keepers’ livelihoods, because increases in livestock productivity translate into more milk and more meat per animal.

The newly launched Time2Graze project, funded by the Global Methane Hub and in partnership with Land & Carbon Lab’s Global Pasture Watch research consortium, will apply Sentinel-2 satellite data and modelling to track pasture biomass.

This near-real-time data, combined with rancher observations and digital decision support tools, will provide important information for farmers and land managers, helping them to make informed decisions about grazing management, resource allocation, and sustainable land use.

This new data will offer free, open, up-to-date information that will be available on Google Earth Engine and other platforms to guide when and where animals should graze to consume the most abundant and digestible forage. To ensure usefulness to livestock farming and pastoralism, Time2Graze partners will conduct on-farm trials at more than 100 sites across eight countries in Latin America and Africa.

Alongside other livestock sector advances — improved feed additives, manure management, and animal health and genetics included — digital and data-enabled livestock management is essential to delivering climate solutions at the necessary speed and scale. Within the food system, these advances sit alongside improvements to rice production, reducing food loss and waste, and shifting high-meat diets toward plants.

Livestock management data innovations arrive at a pivotal moment in the development of international policies around methane emissions. More than 150 countries have signed the Global Methane Pledge, committing to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. Livestock enteric fermentation is the single largest source they must tackle. Likewise, the UN COP28 climate talks’ Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems and many countries’ climate strategies, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), now emphasize methane mitigation and climate-smart agriculture as cornerstones of their strategies.

Yet, climate finance dedicated to global livestock systems languishes at just 0.01 percent of total spend, equivalent to a US$181 billion funding gap, lagging far behind the ambition demonstrated by these international initiatives.

Innovations in satellite-based grassland and forage monitoring are emerging as powerful tools to cut methane while improving productivity. Governments, climate finance institutions, and development banks should prioritize and expand support for these kinds of solutions to accelerate their impact across the livestock sector.

Redirecting a fraction of agricultural subsidies and climate finance toward such efficiency gains could not only unlock rapid, measurable methane reductions, but also additional co-benefits, such as reducing deforestation and ecosystem conversion, safeguarding future food security, and strengthening rural livelihoods. Realizing this potential will depend not only on data, but also on farmer adoption, political will, and the ability to scale solutions across diverse grazing systems.

For generations, the stars helped farmers decide when to move their animals. Today, satellites can do the same, but with far greater precision. With more investment and adoption, these new guides can help agriculture deliver on its climate promises.

Lindsey Sloat, Research Associate, Land & Carbon Lab and World Resources Institute

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By External Source
Oct 22 2025 (IPS)

 
We are in a climate emergency.

The Earth is already over 1.3 °C warmer than pre-industrial times.

2024 was the hottest year ever recorded.

More than 150 climate disasters struck the world last year.

Extreme weather displaced over 800,000 people.

Wildfires and floods now define the new normal.

We are failing the 1.5 °C goal unless we act now.

COP30 is coming to Belém, Brazil, in November 2025.

But talk is not enough.

We must shift systems, not just carbon.

From blind targets to equitable transitions.
From fossil lock-in to regenerative energy.
From climate policy at arm’s length to climate justice at the core.

Every fraction of a degree matters; now more than ever.

Women, Indigenous Peoples, and low-income communities pay the highest price.

We need mass decarbonization, climate finance, and rights-based adaptation.

We need unity across sectors, borders, and generations.

The choices we make today will decide the severity of tomorrow.

October 24 | International Day for Climate Action.

Act now. For Justice. For Survival.

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By Dr Himanshu Pathak
HYDERABAD, India, Oct 16 2025 (IPS)

When crops fail, people move not by choice, but by necessity. As families are displaced by droughts and failed harvests, the pressures do not always stop at national boundaries. In short, hunger has become one of the most powerful forces shaping our century.

From the Sahel, the vast semi-arid belt stretching across Africa from Senegal to Sudan and the Horn of Africa to South Asia’s dry zones and Southeast Asia’s coastal farmlands, climate shocks are undermining food production and disrupting communities across the Global South.

In the Sahel, prolonged drought and poor harvests, among other factors, are driving migration north through Niger and Mali toward North Africa and, for some, across the Mediterranean.

Across South Asia, recurrent floods and heat stress have displaced millions in India and Bangladesh, while in Southeast Asia, rising seas are forcing coastal farmers and fishers inland.

These pressures are magnified by rapid population growth, especially in the Sahel, where the population is projected to more than double by 2050, placing immense strain on already limited arable land.

The same story is unfolding across the globe. In Central America’s drought-stricken Dry Corridor, years of crop failure are pushing families to leave their farms and migrate north in search of food and safety.

Safeguarding the right of people to remain where their families have lived for generations, now depends on enabling communities to produce more food from every hectare, even as conditions grow harsher.

This World Food Day (October 16), we must view food security not only as a humanitarian concern, but through the prism of peace and stability.

History shows that when people cannot feed their families, societies fracture and conflicts occur. The world’s most strategic investment today is in the hands that grow our food and not in walls or weapons.

By investing in climate resilient crops such as the drought and heat tolerant varieties developed by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and expanding access to scientific innovation and improved seeds, we enable communities to withstand climate shocks, secure their livelihoods, and remain in their traditional lands instead of being forced to migrate by a crisis not of their making.

These positive impacts are already visible, but they must now be scaled up dramatically to match the magnitude of the challenge.

The World Bank estimates that up to 216 million people could be forced to migrate within their own countries by 2050 as climate impacts intensify most of them in Africa and South Asia.
Investing in resilient food systems in the Global South is one of the most effective and humane strategies for ensuring regional and ultimately global stability.

The UNDP estimates that every dollar invested in sustainable agriculture today saves seven to ten dollars in humanitarian aid and migration management later.

At ICRISAT we witness this every day. Across Africa and Asia, we work with governments and communities to turn drylands, some of the harshest farming environments on Earth, into zones of opportunity.

In India’s Bundelkhand region, stretching across southern Uttar Pradesh and northern Madhya Pradesh our science-led watershed interventions have turned what were once parched and deserted wastelands into thriving, water-abundant croplands.

In Niger, climate-resilient seed systems are now transforming uncertainty into productivity. From drought-tolerant sorghum and pearl millet to digital tools that guide farmers on planting and water management, science is helping people stay and thrive where they are.

These few examples show that solutions exist. What is missing is scale and that requires more sustained investment.

Developed nations have both the capacity and the self-interest to act. Supporting food systems in the Global South should also be seen as insurance against instability.

A world where millions are forced to move in search of food and water will be a world without stability anywhere.

FAO’s 2025 World Food Day theme, “Hand in Hand for Better Food and a Better Future”, captures what this moment demands, a deeper investment in science that make a real difference, and genuine partnership.

Across the Global South, collaboration is already strengthening through the ICRISAT Center of Excellence for South-South Cooperation in Agriculture as nations share knowledge, seeds, and strategies to build resilience together.

Yet the North, too, has a vital role to play in recognition that hunger and instability anywhere can threaten prosperity everywhere.

The future of food security, peace, and climate resilience must be built together.
As the climate crisis tightens its hold, the world must choose, act now to strengthen the foundations of food and farming, or face the growing cost of displacement and unrest.

This World Food Day let us remember that peace, like harvests, depends on what we sow today.

Dr Himanshu Pathak Director General, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

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Excerpt:

Scientists warn that water risk threatens iconic heritage sites such as the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Sep 3 2025 (IPS)

From Zimbabwe’s ‘The Smoke that thunders,’ Victoria Falls, to the awe-inspiring Pyramids in Egypt and the romantic Taj Mahal in India, these iconic sites are facing a growing threat – water risk.

Several World Heritage sites could be lost forever without urgent action to protect nature, for instance, through the restoration of vital landscapes like wetlands, warns a new report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) following an analysis indicating that droughts and flooding are threatening these sites.

World Heritage sites are places of outstanding universal cultural, historical, scientific, or natural significance, recognized and preserved for future generations through inscription on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

About 73 percent of the 1,172 non-marine World Heritage sites are exposed to at least one severe water risk, such as drought, flooding, or river or coastal flooding. About 21 percent of the sites face dual problems of too much and too little water, according to an analysis using WRI’s Aqueduct data.

While the global share of World Heritage Sites exposed to high-to-extremely high levels of water stress is projected to rise from 40 percent to 44 percent by 2050, impacts will be far more severe in regions like the Middle East and North Africa, parts of South Asia, and northern China, the report found.

The report highlighted that water risks were threatening many of the more than 1,200 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Taj Mahal, for example, faces water scarcity that is increasing pollution and depleting groundwater, both of which are damaging the mausoleum. In 2022, a massive flood closed down all of Yellowstone National Park and cost over USD 20 million in infrastructure repairs to reopen.

River Flooding is affecting the desert city of Chan Chan in Peru. According to WRI’s Aqueduct platform, the UNESCO site and its surrounding region in La Libertad face an extremely high risk of river flooding. By 2050, the population affected by floods each year in an average, non-El Niño year in La Libertad is expected to double from 16,000 to 34,000 due to a combination of human activity and climate change. In an El Niño year, that increase may be much higher.

In addition, the biodiversity-rich Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, the sacred city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico, and Morocco’s Medina of Fez are facing growing water risks that are not just endangering the sites but also the millions of people who depend on them for food, livelihoods, or a connection to their culture or who just enjoy traveling to these destinations, the report said.

Straddling the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Victoria Falls was inscribed on the World Heritage site in 1989 for its vital ecosystem and essential source of livelihoods for thousands of people, and a major tourism drawcard.

Despite its reputation for massive cascading water, Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls has faced recurring drought over the past decade and at times dried up to barely a trickle. The report stated that the rainforest surrounding Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls is home to a rich diversity of wildlife and plants.

According to WRI, Victoria Falls experienced droughts as recently as 2016, 2019, and 2024. Research on rainfall patterns near Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls shows that the onset of the rainy season, normally in October, is arriving later in the year. That means in a drought year, it takes longer for relief to arrive, and the longer the drought continues, the more it affects the people, crops, and economy around it.

An Aqueduct analysis found that Victoria Falls ranks as a medium drought risk, below the more than 430 UNESCO World Heritage Sites that rank as a high drought risk. This is primarily because relatively low population density and limited human development immediately surrounding the site reduce overall exposure.

“However, the site faces increasing pressure from tourism-related infrastructure development, and data shows the probability of drought occurrence ranks high—a finding reinforced by the many recent droughts that have plagued the region,” said the report. “Climate change is not only expected to make these droughts more frequent, but recovery is expected to last longer, especially in places that aren’t prepared.

“The time between droughts may not be long enough for the ecosystem to recover, which is particularly concerning for Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls.”

Restoring nature, a solution to plugging water risks

The report recommends swift action to restore vital landscapes locally that support healthy, stable water and investment in nature-based solutions like planting trees to restore headwater forests or revitalize wetlands to capture floodwaters and recharge aquifers. Political commitment is key to making this happen.

Besides, countries have been urged to enact national conservation policies to protect vital landscapes from unsustainable development globally, and water’s status as a global common good needs to be elevated while equitable transboundary agreements on sharing water across borders are established.

Zimbabwe hosted the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Ramsar Convention in Victoria Falls under the theme ‘Protecting Wetlands for our Common Future.’ The protection of global water resources is now more urgent.

“You will find the political will to invest in nature exists all over the world,” Samantha Kuzma, Aqueduct Data Lead at the World Resources Institute, told IPS. “Dedicated communities are finding ways to protect and restore vital landscapes like wetlands. The problem is that these efforts are piecemeal. Globally, we are not seeing the political will at the scale needed to achieve real, lasting change.”

The world needs to mobilize up to $7 trillion by 2030 for global water infrastructure to meet water-related SDG commitments and address decades of underinvestment, according to the World Bank. Currently, nearly 91 percent of annual spending on water comes from the public sector, including governments and state-owned enterprises, with less than 2 percent contributed by the private sector, the World Bank says, pointing out the importance of firm commitment to reforming the water sector through progressive policies, institutions, and regulations, and better planning and management of existing capital allocated to the sector.

“We are at the point where inaction is more costly than action,” Kuzma told IPS, emphasizing that the world must do a better job of understanding water’s fundamental role in sustaining economies because its value is everywhere and invisible until it’s at risk.

“Take UNESCO World Heritage Sites, for example. Their ecological and cultural worth is priceless, and in purely pragmatic terms, they’re often the linchpin of local economies,” said Kuzma. “Any closure or damage will send immediate ripple effects through communities. It is safe to say that globally, we are falling short when it comes to protecting nature. But to change course, we must first understand why.”

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Credit: Food production in Guatemala - Salmonnegro Stock/shutterstock.com

By Janani Vivekananda
Aug 15 2025 (IPS)

Peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and crime prevention are no longer niche security concerns—they are global imperatives for sustainable climate action. From the migration crisis in Venezuela to the deforestation-driven conflicts in the Amazon, to organised crime in Central America, the ripple effects of instability and environmental degradation are felt far beyond national borders. In 2025, nearly 80% of countries experiencing risks to peace remain off-track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Addressing these challenges isn’t just about safeguarding peace, stability and development. It’s also about ensuring sustainable climate action.

The climate crisis, meanwhile, is no longer a distant threat—it has arrived, and communities facing risks to peace are bearing the brunt. From catastrophic droughts in northeastern Brazil to devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean, states grappling with weak institutions, social tensions, and organised crime are disproportionately vulnerable to climate shocks. Yet, despite their heightened exposure, these regions receive only a fraction of global climate financing.

Aligning climate action with peacebuilding and conflict prevention isn’t just a moral imperative; it’s a smarter, more strategic approach. These regions are where climate risks and human vulnerabilities collide, threatening not just local stability but regional and global security. Without targeted interventions, we risk losing the opportunity to the fight against both climate change and instability.

Climate Change and Peace: A Dangerous Feedback Loop

Climate change and peace are deeply intertwined. Climate shocks affect the roots of peace—for example, straining efforts to advance governance, social equality, and tackle crime. In Colombia, for example, shifting rainfall patterns have disrupted agriculture, fuelling tensions over land use and exacerbating long-standing conflicts. Meanwhile, in Central America’s Dry Corridor, prolonged droughts have displaced farming communities, amplifying poverty and creating fertile ground for organised crime and migration.

The OECD’s multidimensional framework on instability highlights how economic, environmental, political, security, and societal risks intersect in these contexts. Climate impacts compound these risks, creating a dangerous feedback loop. Climate shocks can weaken peace and deepen instability, leaving affected communities least equipped to adapt to or mitigate these shocks. This dynamic not only undermines local peacebuilding efforts but also fuels transnational challenges such as migration, trafficking, and cross-border violence.

A Smarter Approach to Climate Financing

Despite their vulnerability, communities facing instability remain underfunded in global climate action. In 2024, less than 10% of international climate finance reached these contexts. Instead, the majority of funding flows to middle-income countries with stronger institutions and lower risks.

This imbalance is shortsighted. Communities where climate action is most urgently needed—and where it can have the greatest impact are often those facing risks to their human security and stability. For example, investments in climate-resilient agriculture in Guatemala have reduced food insecurity and strengthened community resilience, helping to break cycles of conflict and displacement. Similarly, renewable energy projects in rural Brazil not only reduce emissions but also create jobs, foster stability, and reduce reliance on illicit economies.

Smarter climate financing doesn’t just mean more money—it means better-targeted investments. Funding must be long-term, adaptive, and aligned with local priorities. It must thus address the structural drivers of instability, from weak governance to social exclusion. For example, promoting inclusive decision-making in water management or land-use planning can reduce resource-based conflicts and strengthen trust between communities and governments.

The missing peace at COP30: Bridging Climate and Peacebuilding

As the world gears up for COP30 in Brazil this December, there is a unique opportunity to bring peacebuilding and conflict prevention to the forefront of global climate discussions. Including peacebuilding and peace in the thematic days at COP30 would be important, not only as a space to highlight the intersection of climate action, equitable development, and peace, but also to ensure that climate action does no harm to inadvertently worsen conflict dynamics in contexts affected by conflict. This focus would not only raise awareness but also drive actionable commitments to address the challenges faced by unstable regions.

By framing peace as a central theme, COP30 could catalyse international support for targeted interventions in unstable contexts, ensuring they receive the attention and resources they urgently need.

Four Principles for Climate Action in Regions Affected by Instability

1. Pivot to Prevention: Early action saves lives and money. For example, investments in flood early warning systems in Brazil have reduced the need for costly humanitarian interventions during extreme weather events.
2. Operationalise the Nexus: Climate action must cross all sectors of government, e.g. development, peacebuilding, and environmental crime prevention efforts. This calls for climate security risk analyses to become standard operating practices for all initiatives. For example, integration of climate into the role of law enforcement agencies in promoting climate resilience and responding to environmental threats.
3. Flexible, Localised, Inclusive Responses: In the Andes, for instance, partnerships with indigenous communities have strengthened the role of law enforcement agencies in the fight against environmental crime and climate-related insecurity while fostering trust and collaboration.
4. Regional Cooperation: Instability and climate risks transcend borders. Regional cooperation, innovation and capacity building in the face of climate security challenges for example through initiatives like the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization show how collective action can address shared challenges.

A Call to Action

Peacebuilding is the missing piece in global climate action. Without targeted – and conflict sensitive- interventions in unstable regions, the world risks failing its climate goals—and leaving millions behind. Yet the solutions are within reach.

The international community must act with urgency and foresight. By aligning climate financing with peacebuilding strategies, integrating foreign policy into climate action, and adopting smarter, multidimensional approaches, we can turn instability from a barrier into an opportunity for progress.

Integrating peacebuilding into climate action is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity. As the host of COP30, Brazil has a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership by championing policies that link climate resilience with conflict and crime prevention and peacebuilding. This means prioritising investments in vulnerable regions, fostering regional cooperation, and ensuring that climate financing reaches those most at risk. The cost of inaction is calculable, and it is far greater than the price of bold, coordinated action today. It’s time to stop treating peace as a side issue and start addressing it as the cornerstone of smarter, more effective climate solutions. It’s time to stop fighting fires and build a sustainable climate for peace.

Related articles:

Building Resilience Through Climate Action: Gender, Peace, and Security in Sri Lanka
Left Behind: Why Afghanistan Cannot Tackle Climate Change Alone
Flooding in the Sahara, Amazon Tributaries Drying and Warming Tipping Over 1.5°C – 2024 Broke All the Wrong Records
COP29: Keeping Climate Security Human-Centric

Janani Vivekananda is the Senior Research Fellow on Climate, Peace and Security at the Toda Peace Institute. She is also the Head of Programme for Climate Diplomacy and Security at adelphi, a leading independent think tank on climate, environment, and development, and holds a senior fellowship with the UN University. With extensive experience in climate security risk assessments and gender-responsive approaches, she has worked globally to integrate peacebuilding into climate action. Janani co-led the Gender-Responsive Climate Security Assessment for Sri Lanka and is passionate about fostering inclusive and sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

Scientists say replacing just 10 percent of global vegetable intake with seaweed-derived products could free up large portions of land. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Aug 13 2025 (IPS)

Current rates of land degradation pose a major environmental and socioeconomic threat, driving climate change, biodiversity loss, and social crises. Food production to feed more than 8 billion people is the dominant land use on Earth. Yet, this industrial-scale enterprise comes with a heavy environmental toll.
Preventing and reversing land degradation are key objectives of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and are also fundamental for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

These three conventions emerged from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to address the interconnected crises of biodiversity loss, climate change and land degradation. A paper published today in Nature by 21 leading scientists argues that the targets of “these conventions can only be met by ‘bending the curve’ of land degradation and that transforming food systems is fundamental for doing so.”

Lead author Fernando T. Maestre of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, says the paper presents “a bold, integrated set of actions to tackle land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change together, as well as a clear pathway for implementing them by 2050.”

“By transforming food systems, restoring degraded land, harnessing the potential of sustainable seafood, and fostering cooperation across nations and sectors, we can ‘bend the curve’ and reverse land degradation while advancing towards goals of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and other global agreements.”

Co-author Barron J. Orr, UNCCD’s Chief Scientist, says, “Once soils lose fertility, water tables deplete, and biodiversity is lost, restoring the land becomes exponentially more expensive. Ongoing rates of land degradation contribute to a cascade of mounting global challenges, including food and water insecurity, forced relocation and population migration, social unrest, and economic inequality.”

“Land degradation isn’t just a rural issue; it affects the food on all our plates, the air we breathe, and the stability of the world we live in. This isn’t about saving the environment; it’s about securing our shared future.”

The authors suggest an ambitious but achievable target of 50 percent land restoration for 2050—currently, 30 percent by 2030—with enormous co-benefits for climate, biodiversity and global health. Titled ‘Bending the curve of land degradation to achieve global environmental goals,’ the paper argues that it is imperative to ‘bend the curve’ of land degradation by halting land conversion while restoring half of degraded lands by 2050.

“Food systems have not yet been fully incorporated into intergovernmental agreements, nor do they receive sufficient focus in current strategies to address land degradation. Rapid, integrated reforms focused on global food systems, however, can move land health from crisis to recovery and secure a healthier, more stable planet for all,” reads parts of the paper.

Against this backdrop, the authors break new ground by quantifying the impact of reducing food waste by 75 percent by 2050 and maximizing sustainable ocean-based food production—measures that alone could spare an area larger than Africa. They say restoring 50 percent of degraded land through sustainable land management practices would correspond to the restoration of 3 Mkm² of cropland and 10 Mkm² of non-cropland, a total of 13 Mkm².

Stressing that land restoration must involve the people who live on and manage the land—especially Indigenous Peoples, smallholder farmers, women, and other vulnerable people and communities. Co-author Dolors Armenteras, Professor of Landscape Ecology at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, says land degradation is “a key factor in forced migration and conflict over resources.”

“Regions that rely heavily on agriculture for livelihoods, especially smallholder farmers, who feed much of the world, are particularly vulnerable. These pressures could destabilize entire regions and amplify global risks.”

To support these vulnerable segments of the population, the paper calls for interventions such as shifting agricultural subsidies from large-scale industrial farms toward sustainable smallholders, incentivizing good land stewardship among the world’s 608 million farms, and fostering their access to technology, secure land rights, and fair markets.

“Land is more than soil and space. It harbors biodiversity, cycles water, stores carbon, and regulates climate. It gives us food, sustains life, and holds deep roots of ancestry and knowledge. Today, over one-third of Earth’s land is used to grow food – feeding a global population of more than 8 billion people,” says Co-author Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Professor, the Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

“Yet today,” she continues, “Modern farming practices, deforestation, and overuse are degrading soil, polluting water, and destroying vital ecosystems. Food production alone drives nearly 20 percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases. We need to act. To secure a thriving future – and protect land – we must reimagine how we farm, how we live, and how we relate to nature – and to each other.”

With an estimated 56.5 Mkm² of agricultural land, cropland, and rangelands being used to produce food, and roughly 33 percent of all food produced being wasted, of which 14 percent is lost post-harvest at farms and 19 percent at the retail, food service and household stages, reducing food waste by 75 percent, therefore, could spare roughly 13.4 Mkm² of land.

The authors’ proposed remedies include policies to prevent overproduction and spoilage, banning food industry rules that reject “ugly” produce, encouraging food donations and discounted sales of near-expiry products, education campaigns to reduce household waste and supporting small farmers in developing countries to improve storage and transport.

Other proposed solutions include integrating land and marine food systems, as red meat produced in unsustainable ways consumes large amounts of land, water, and feed and emits significant greenhouse gases. Seafood and seaweed are sustainable, nutritious alternatives. Seaweed, for example, needs no freshwater and absorbs atmospheric carbon.

The authors recommend measures such as replacing 70 percent of unsustainably produced red meat with seafood, such as wild or farmed fish and mollusks. Replacing just 10 percent of global vegetable intake with seaweed-derived products could free up over 0.4 Mkm² of cropland.

They nonetheless note that these changes are especially relevant for wealthier countries with high meat consumption. In some poorer regions, animal products remain crucial for nutrition. The combination of food waste reduction, land restoration, and dietary shifts, therefore, would spare or restore roughly 43.8 Mkm² in 30 years (2020-2050).

The proposed measures combined would also contribute to emission reduction efforts by mitigating roughly 13.24 Gt of CO₂-equivalent per year through 2050 and help the world community achieve its commitments in several international agreements, including the three Rio Conventions and UN SDGs.

Overall, the authors call for the UN’s three Rio conventions—CBD, UNCCD and UNFCCC—to unite around shared land and food system goals and encourage the exchange of state-of-the-art knowledge, track progress and streamline science into more effective policies, all to accelerate action on the ground.

A step in the right direction, UNCCD’s 197 Parties, at their most recent Conference of Parties (COP16) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have already adopted a decision on avoiding, reducing and reversing land and soil degradation of agricultural lands.

The Findings By Numbers

• 56%: Projected increase in food production needed by 2050 if we stay on our current path
• 34%: Portion of Earth’s ice-free land already used for food production, headed to 42% by 2050
• 21%: Share of global greenhouse gas emissions produced by food systems
• 80%: Proportion of deforestation driven by food production
• 70%: Amount of freshwater consumption that goes to agriculture
• 33%: Fraction of global food that currently goes to waste
• USD 1 trillion: Estimated annual value of food lost or wasted globally
• 75%: Ambitious target for global food waste reduction by 2050
• 50%: Proposed portion of degraded land to be restored by 2050 using sustainable land management
• USD 278 billion: Annual funding gap to achieve UNCCD land restoration goals
• 608 million: Number of farms on the planet
• 90%: Percentage of all farms under 2 hectares
• 35%: Share of the world’s food produced by small farms
• 6.5 billion tons: Potential biomass yield using 650 million hectares of ocean for seaweed farming
• 17.5 million km²: Estimated cropland area saved if humanity adopts the proposed Rio+ diet (less unsustainably produced red meat and more sustainably sourced seafood and seaweed-derived food products)
• 166 million: Number of people who could avoid micronutrient deficiencies with more aquatic foods in their diet

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Lionel Ngukusenge (18), a Burundian refugee in Kenya staying at Kakuma refugee camp, has planted 70 trees at his homestead. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS

By Jeffrey Moyo
KAKUMA, Kenya, Aug 11 2025 (IPS)

For 18-year-old Lionel Ngukusenge, a refugee from Burundi, where he was forced into hiding because of a repressive regime, he has found another foe to contend with at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya: climate change.

Against all odds, Lionel, a Grade 9 student at Future Primary School, has planted 70 trees at his homestead in the refugee camp, which accommodates 300,000 refugees and has over 7,200 learners.

There are only 23 teachers at Lionel’s school, where each class has 209 learners, after 48 teachers were retrenched this year following the US government aid cuts to the organizations assisting refugees in this East African nation.

In the arid Kakuma refugee camp, 800 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, Lionel’s school also has students from South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia and Afghanistan.

“I’ve planted 70 trees at home because I learned the importance of trees. While doing my homework, I sit under the trees I planted. The oxygen is fantastic. I feel proud,” Lionel told IPS.

He (Lionel) is one of the refugees ‘weaponizing’ tree-planting to contend with climate change.

A difficult task, according to Kenya’s Department of Refugee Services in the Office of the President, because the trees have to be watered using the scarce precious water.

This, said the camp manager, Edwin Chabari, is rationed at 18 liters per head daily.

Nema John Zechariah (22), who eight years ago arrived in Kenya fleeing from conflict in Sudan, said tree planting is not new to her, as she started it in Sudan, planting fruit trees and fending off hunger amidst a raging war, as there was hardly enough to eat. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS.

Kakuma is a Kenyan town in northwestern Turkana County, an arid region experiencing extreme temperatures as high as 40 degrees.

Despite these challenges, refugees like Lionel are managing to survive.

They are planting the Neem tree, an exotic tree known to thrive in arid regions.

Kakuma, a Turkana name, means “out of nowhere,” owing to the remote conditions of the place. Now, despite the hostile climate and environment, it has been home to fleeing refugees since 1992.

Non-governmental organizations like the Girl Child Network and the Education Above All Foundation, based in Qatar, support the learners’ tree-planting efforts.

Kenya’s Girl Child Network deputy director, Dennis Mutiso, said, “They (the youths) are a resource that can be used to reverse the current trends of environmental degradation. We are making deliberate efforts to make sure that they start passing the knowledge from the school to communities so that the project can be sustained.”

In schools and in homes, tree planting has balanced deforestation and desertification fueled by hundreds of refugees dependent on firewood at the Kenyan refugee camp, the biggest in Africa.

However, the latest aid cuts in Kenya have not spared tree planting, according to government officials.

Chabari said that some NGOs and partners who were helping with climate action have not been funded, and that the effects of climate change will be felt by all.

“The support from Girl Child Network came in at the right time. We have been trying to train our learners to plant as many trees as possible. The trees are not only being planted in schools but also at home,” Joseph Ochura, Kenya’s Turkana West Teachers’ Services Commission director, told IPS.

According to Ochura, the heat is abnormally high in Kakuma, forcing learners to start school at 6am because by midday, it would be extremely hot.

That has not deterred learners.

In this war against the heat, 17-year-old Baballa Samir, a Sudanese national who came to Kenya in 2020 fleeing from conflict and is now doing Grade 8 at Arid Zone Primary school in Kakuma, said in the five years he has lived in Kenya, he has planted 35 trees.

Tareeq Al Bakri, Program Specialist at the Education Above All Foundation, said, “Although Kakuma remains a very arid and challenging environment, learners’ involvement in tree planting has led to increased awareness and ownership of environmental stewardship among youths.”

Founded to cater for pastoralists, Arid Zone Primary is one of the oldest schools in Kenya’s Turkana West. It opened its doors to learners in 1986 with 300 learners.

Decades later, the school has 2,500 learners, with just 20 teachers.

An aspiring medical doctor and a climate change warrior from way back in Sudan, where he planted over 50 trees before fleeing, Baballa has planted more trees in this part of Kenya.

His message to the world is clear.

“I urge other young people to conserve the environment by planting trees because trees are important for air purification, and they are also sources of medicine,” he said.

Edukon Joseph, the principal at Arid Zone School, says, “The beneficiaries of tree planting are definitely the learners.”

“Learners take the knowledge to their parents, spreading tree planting outside this institution,” said Joseph.

Attending the same school with Baballa is Patrice Namwar, a 15-year-old Kenyan boy in Grade 9.

Namwar said he has planted 30 trees and 10 more at his homestead.

“We were taught by our teachers that one tree alone absorbs 25 kilograms of carbon and I asked myself, what if I plant 100 trees at home? Global warming will be reduced, because let’s say 25 kilograms multiplied by those 10 trees I have planted in my home—that means 250 kilograms of carbon would be reduced. When we plant more trees, this place will be a place to live in,” Namwar said.

Like Baballa, 16-year-old Grade 9 learner Sharon Ayanae at the Arid Zone School said since 2023 she has planted 35 trees at school, with six more at her homestead.

“When we plant trees, we reduce the temperatures caused by the sun here in Turkana and some trees help us with food,” Ayanae, who is Kenyan, said. In total, 900 trees have been planted at Arid Zone School alone.

At the boarding school, firewood is used for cooking for the learners; however, the tree planting has helped balance the losses.

That has had a growing impact on Kakuma’s arid conditions, according to Virginia Wanjiku, a teacher at Arid Zone school.

“Nowadays in Turkana, we have rains because of the tree-planting initiative. Tree planting has really helped us,” said Wanjiku.

Girl Child Network’s Mutiso said that currently in the Kakuma region, “We have managed to plant 645,352 trees, and we hope to have planted about 850,215 by the end of this year.”

Some deeply traumatized learners, who have been affected by raging wars in their countries, say that tree planting serves as therapy.

Najila Luka Ibrahim, 16, hails from Sudan and is currently in Form 3 at Blue State Secondary school in Kakuma.

She does not know whether or not her parents are alive after she fled from the conflict.

“Before, I just kept to myself, but when I joined the environmental club at school, I interacted with many people I didn’t know before. Tree planting changed me,” said Najila.

Attending the same school with Najila is also 22-year-old Nema John Zechariah, who eight years ago arrived in Kenya fleeing from conflict in Sudan.

For Nema, tree planting is not new to her, as she started it in Sudan, planting fruit trees and fending off hunger amidst a raging war, as there was hardly enough to eat.

“What drove me to plant trees was the hunger caused by war. There was no food. The trees provided fruits, which I sold at the market. Here in Kenya, I started planting trees in 2022,” said Nema.

Refugee learners like 25-year-old Augustino Kuot Bol, a South Sudanese national, said they want peace to plant trees.

A Form 3 learner at Blue State secondary school, Augustino has planted 20 trees at the Kenyan school since arriving in 2022.

“We want peace in the world. Without peace, we cannot have time to plant trees,” Augustino said.

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International Court of Justice at the announcement of its advisory opinion on climate change. Credit: Cecilia Russell/IPS

By Cecilia Russell
THE HAGUE & JOHANNESBURG, Jul 23 2025 (IPS)

The case was “unlike any that have previously come before the court,” President of the International Court of Justice Judge Yuji Iwasawa said while reading the court’s unanimous advisory opinion outlining the legal obligations of United Nations member states with regard to climate change. This case was not simply a “legal problem” but “concerned an existential problem of planetary proportions that imperils all forms of life and the very health of our planet,” Iwasawa said.

“A complete solution to this daunting and self-inflicted problem requires the contribution of all fields of human knowledge, whether law, science, economics or any other; above all, a lasting and satisfactory solution requires human will and wisdom at the individual social and political levels to change our habits, comforts, and current way of life to secure a future for ourselves and those who are yet to come,” the opinion read.

The opinion was welcomed by Ralph Regenvanu, Minister of Climate Change Adaptation, Meteorology & Geo-Hazards, Energy, Environment and Disaster Management for the Republic of Vanuatu.

“Today’s ruling is a landmark opinion that confirms what we, vulnerable nations have been saying, and we’ve known for so long, that states do have legal obligations to act on climate change, and these obligations are guaranteed by international law. They’re guaranteed by human rights law, and they’re grounded in the duty to protect our environment, which we heard the court referred to so much,” Regenvanu said.

Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, legal counsel for Vanuatu’s ICJ case and international lawyer at Blue Ocean Law, hailed the opinion, saying it even held the United States, which recently under President Donald Trump recently withdrew from the Paris Agreement, as it bound all states within the United Nations.

Wewerinke-Singh said the opinion meant that the “era where producers can freely produce and can argue that their climate policies are a matter of discretion—they’re free to decide on the climate policies—that era is really over. We have entered an era of accountability, in which states can be held to account for their current emissions if they’re excessive but also for what they have failed to do in the past.”

The detailed advisory opinion dealt with obligations of states under various climate conventions and treaties and humanitarian law.

The court concluded that in terms of the climate agreements, state parties

• To the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have an obligation to adopt measures with a view to contributing to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change.
• Have additional obligations to take the lead in combating climate change by limiting their greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing their greenhouse gas sinks and reservoirs.
• To the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, have a duty to cooperate with each other in order to achieve the underlying objective of the convention.
• To the Kyoto Protocol must comply with applicable provisions of the protocol.
• To the Paris Agreement have an obligation to act with due diligence in taking measures in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities capable of making an adequate contribution to achieving the temperature goal set out in the agreement.
• To the Paris Agreement have an obligation to prepare, communicate and maintain successive and progressive, nationally determined contributions, which, when taken together, are capable of achieving the temperature goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
• State parties to the Paris agreement have an obligation to pursue measures which are capable of achieving the objectives set out in their successive nationally determined contributions.
• State parties to the Paris agreement have obligations of adaptation and cooperation, including through technology and financial transfers, which must be performed in good faith.

In addition, the court was of the opinion that customary international law sets forth obligations for states to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

These obligations include the following:

• States have a duty to prevent significant harm to the environment by acting with due diligence and to use all means at their disposal to prevent activities carried out within their jurisdiction or control from causing significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.
• States have a duty to cooperate with each other in good faith to prevent significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment, which requires sustained and continuous forms of cooperation by states when taking measures to prevent such harm.
• State parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the ozone layer and to the protocol and to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete ozone layer and its Kigali amendment, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa, have obligations under these treaties to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
• State parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea have an obligation to adopt measures to protect and preserve the marine environment, including from the adverse effects of climate change, and to cooperate in good faith.

However, the court did not end there; it was of the opinion that states have obligations under international human rights law and are required to take “measures to protect the climate system and other parts of the environment.”

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In Nairobi's Kibera, the largest urban informal settlement in Africa, girls and women wait their turn for the scarce water supply. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

By Manipadma Jena
SEVILLE & BHUBANESWAR, Jul 2 2025 (IPS)

While droughts creep in stealthily, their impacts are often more devastating and far-reaching than any other disaster. Inter-community conflict, extremist violence, and violence and injustice against vulnerable girls and women happen at the intersection of climate-induced droughts and drought-impoverished communities.

Five consecutive years of failed rain in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya brought the worst drought in seventy years to the Horn of Africa by 2023. In Somalia, the government estimated 43,000 excess deaths in 2022 alone due to drought-linked hunger.

As of early current year, 4.4 million people, or a quarter of Somalia’s population, face crisis-level food insecurity, including 784,000 people expected to reach emergency levels. Together, over 90 million people across Eastern and Southern Africa face acute hunger. Some areas have been enduring their worst ever recorded drought, finds a United Nations-backed study, Drought Hotspots Around the World 2023-2025 released today at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4).

UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw noted that while drought is here and escalating, it demands urgent global cooperation. Photo courtesy: UNCCD

High tempera­tures and a lack of precipitation in 2023 and 2024 resulted in water supply shortages, low food supplies, and power rationing. In parts of Africa, tens of millions faced drought-induced food shortages, malnutrition, and displacement, finds the new 2025 drought analysis, Drought Hotspots Around the World 2023-2025, by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the U.S. National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC).

It not just comprehensively synthesizes impacts on humans but also on biodiversity and wildlife within the most acute drought hotspots in Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, and Namibia), the Mediterranean (Spain, Morocco, and Türkiye), Latin America (Panama and the Amazon Basin) and Southeast Asia.

Desperate to Cope but Pulled Into a Spiral of Violence and Conflict

“The coping mechanisms we saw during this drought grew increasingly desperate,” says lead author Paula Guastello, NDMC drought impacts researcher. “Girls pulled from school and forced into marriage, hospitals going dark, and families digging holes in dry riverbeds just to find contaminated water. These are signs of severe crisis.”

Over one million Somalis in 2022 were forced to move in search of food, water for families and cattle, and alternative livelihoods. Migration is a major coping mechanism mostly for subsistence farmers and pastoralists. However, mass migration strains resources in host areas, often leading to conflict. Of this large number of displaced Somalis, many crossed into territory held by Islamic extremists.

Drought in a Sub-Saharan district leads to 8.1 percent lower economic activity and 29.0 percent higher extremist violence, an earlier study found. Districts with more months of drought in a given year and more years in a row with drought experienced more severe violence.

Drought expert and editor of the UNCCD study Daniel Tsegai told IPS at the online pre-release press briefing from the Saville conference that drought can turn into an extremist violence multiplier in regions and among communities rendered vulnerable by multi-year drought.

Climate change-driven drought does not directly cause extremist conflict or civil wars; it overlaps and exacerbates existing social and economic tensions, contributing to the conditions that lead to conflict and potentially influencing the rise of extremist violence, added Tsegai.

Extracting water from a traditional well using a manual pulley system. Credit: Abdallah Khalili / UNCCD

Though the effects of climate change on conflict are indirect, they have been seen to be quite severe and far-reaching. An example is the 2006-2011 drought in Syria, seen as the worst in 900 years. It led to crop failures, livestock deaths and mass rural displacement into cities, creating social and political stress. Economic disparities and authoritarian repression gave rise to extremist groups that exploited individuals facing unbearable hardships.

The UN study cites entire school districts in Zimbabwe that saw mass dropouts due to hunger and school costs. Rural families were no longer able to afford uniforms and tuition, which cost USD 25. Some children left school to migrate with family and work.

Drought-related hunger impact on children

Hungry and clueless about their dark futures, children become prime targets for extremists’ recruitment.

A further example of exploitation of vulnerable communities by extremists is cited in the UNCCD drought study. The UN World Food Programme in May 2023 estimated that over 213,000 more Somalis were at “imminent risk” of dying of starvation. Little aid had reached Somalia, as multiple crises across the globe spread resources thin.

However, al-Shabab, an Islamic extremist group tied to al-Qaida, allegedly prevented aid from reaching the parts of Somalia under its control and refused to let people leave in search of food.

Violent clashes for scarce resources among nomadic herders in the Africa region during droughts are well documented. Between 2021 and January 2023 in eastern Africa alone, over 4.5 million livestock had died due to droughts, and 30 million additional animals were at risk. Facing starvation of both their families and their livestock, by February 2025, tens of thousands of pastoralists had moved with their livestock in search of food and water, potentially into violent confrontations with host regions.

Tsegai said, “Drought knows no geographical boundaries. Violence and conflict spill over into economically healthy communities this way.”

Earlier drought researchers have emphasized to policymakers that “building resilience to drought is a security imperative.”

Women and Girls Worst Victims of Drought Violence

“Today, around 85 percent of people affected by drought live in low- and middle-income countries, with women and girls being the hardest hit,” UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary Andrea Meza said.

“Drought might not know boundaries, but it knows gender,” Tsegai said. Women and girls in low-income countries are the worst victims of drought-induced societal instability.

Traditional gender-based societal inequalities are what make women and girl children par­ticularly vulnerable.

During the 2023-2024 drought, forced child marriages in sub-Saharan Africa more than doubled in frequency in the four regions hit hardest by the drought. Young girls who married brought their family income in the form of a dowry that could be as high as 3,000 Ethiopian birr (USD 56). It lessened the financial burden on girls’ parental families.

Forced child marriages, however, bring substantial risks to the girls. A hospital clinic in Ethiopia (which, though, it has outlawed child marriage) specifically opened to help victims of sexual and physi­cal abuse that is common in such marriages.

Girls gener­ally leave school when they marry, further stifling their opportunities for financial independence.

Reports have found desperate women exchanging sex for food or water or money during acute water scarcities. Higher incidence of sexual violence happens when hydropower-dependent regions are confronted with 18 to 20 hours without electricity and women and girls are compelled to walk miles to fetch household water.

“Proactive drought management is a matter of climate justice,” UNCCD Meza said.

Drought Hotspots Need to Be Ready for This ‘New’ Normal

“Drought is no longer a distant threat,” said UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw, adding, “It is here, escalating, and demands urgent global cooperation. When energy, food, and water all go at once, societies start to unravel. That’s the new normal we need to be ready for.”

“This is a slow-moving global catastrophe, the worst I’ve ever seen. This report underscores the need for systematic monitoring of how drought affects lives, livelihoods, and the health of the ecosystems that we all depend on,” said Mark Svoboda, report co-author and NDMC Founding Director.

“The struggles experienced by Spain, Morocco and Türkiye to secure water, food, and energy under persistent drought offer a preview of water futures under unchecked global warming. No country, regardless of wealth or capacity, can afford to be complacent,” he added.

Global Drought Outlook 2025 estimates the economic impacts of an average drought today can be up to six times higher than in 2000, and costs are projected to rise by at least 35% by 2035.

“It is calculated that $1 of investment in drought prevention results in bringing back $7 into the GDP lost to droughts. Awareness of the economics of drought is important for policymaking,” Tsegai said.

The report released during the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA) event at the Saville conference aims to get public policies and international cooperation frameworks to urgently prioritize drought resilience and bolster funding.

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By Andy Currier
OAKLAND, California, USA, May 15 2025 (IPS)

Last week, at its annual Land Conference in Washington D.C., (May 5-8), the World Bank showed allegiance to the new US administration by dropping the pretense of promoting land reform for climate action and confirming that its land agenda is about boosting corporate profits.

Climate Focus Abandoned to Appease Trump

While it had previously announced that the 2025 conference would focus on the “foundational role of securing land tenure and access for climate action,” the Bank scrambled in response to the seismic political shift brought on by the second Trump presidency.

The administration’s “America First” agenda has slashed global development aid, including 85 percent of USAID programs that were unceremoniously and abruptly ended. After exiting the Paris Agreement on climate, Trump also proposed a budget that would further reduce federal climate change programs.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently reassured the Bretton Woods Institutions that their largest shareholder would not be pulling out at their Spring Meetings in April 2025. He did, however, specify that the Bank and IMF “must step back from their sprawling and unfocused agendas,” condemning their work on climate, gender, and other social issues.

In response, Bank staff were allegedly instructed not to mention climate or gender at the Spring Meetings, as the institutions cower under US pressure.

Just weeks before the Land Conference started, its website was altered to remove the headline banner on “Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action.” The last-minute shift in messaging – just a year after launching a multi-billion-dollar land initiative – confirms the findings of a recent exposé by the Oakland Institute:

The Bank’s land push was never actually about climate action. Released the week before the conference, the Climatewash report revealed how the Bank intends to open lands to agribusiness, mining of “transition minerals,” and false solutions like carbon credits – fueling dispossession and environmental destruction.

Land Conference homepage in February 2025 (left) and then in May 2025 (right), after focus on climate was scrubbed. Source: The World Bank

At last year’s Land Conference – focused on “Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action” – the Bank unveiled plans to massively expand its influence on land policy around the world through the Global Program on Land Tenure Security and Land Access for Climate Goals.

It announced plans to “ensure 100 million people see greater tenure security… and improve land administration and land access for climate action in 20 countries” over the next five years. Towards these goals, the Bank said it will double its investment in the land sector – from US$5 billion to US$10 billion – and double the number of countries where it will intervene with land projects.

Land Reform to Serve Corporate Interests

Despite the dramatic branding shift, the agenda at last week’s conference did not change and several positive sessions focused on climate action and Indigenous rights were held, including a welcome discussion on the importance of “securing collective lands.” The focus on changing land tenure for “economic growth” and “unlocking private capital,” however, took center stage.

At the opening plenary, Rohitesh Dhawan, President and CEO of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) – the principal trade association of the mining industry – delivered the keynote.

Given the egregious human rights and environmental record of the mining industry, the ICMM’s prominent platform was both startling and revealing, laying bare the true interests the conference would serve. Dhawan began by explaining why he was “more hopeful than ever” about the bright future so-called “sustainable” mining could provide:

“We can literally move mountains and shift the course of ancient rivers, But should we? In many cases, the answer will be yes, because all things considered, as a society, we may reach consensus that the need for commodities and the opportunity for host countries to prosper, grow, and develop means that mining should go ahead with the least possible disruption to land, impacted people, and nature.”

While Dhawan went on to say that Free, Prior, and Informed, Consent was “front and center in their approach,” and areas like World Heritage Sites were off limits, he assumes communities will eventually come to accept mining on their lands despite the grave social, environmental, and economic toll it has historically inflicted upon them.

In a telling moment, when the opening panel was asked to give an example of a successful co-ownership model between firms and locals, no examples from Africa or Latin America came to mind. These communities continue to push for genuine authority over their lands, but have seen little progress despite these conference hall platitudes and promises.

Later in the week, several sessions focused on securing land for carbon markets, unsurprising given the lead role the Bank plays in promoting this dangerous false climate solution that has failed to reduce emissions. While it has been extensively documented how carbon offsetting primarily benefits predatory actors at the expense of local communities, the Bank continues to champion these schemes.

Other sessions discussed the role land policies can play in “developing” agriculture, another expected focus in light of the Bank’s new plan to double its agri-finance and agribusiness commitments to US$9 billion annually by 2030.

In one event, Malawi was hailed as a land reform success story, despite the role of the Bank in blocking recent efforts to address historical inequities in land ownership, as detailed in the Climatewash report. Instead, the Bank has coerced Malawi to implement policies favorable to agribusiness.

These conferences are largely symbolic and even if the focus was on climate action, the true impact of the Bank’s efforts remains the same. In practice, the Bank’s land programs and policy prescriptions dismantle collective land tenure systems and promote individual titling and land markets as the norm, paving the way for private investment and corporate takeover.

These reforms, often financed through loans taken by governments, force countries into debt while pushing a “structural transformation” that displaces smallholder farmers, undermines food sovereignty, and prioritizes industrial agriculture and extractive industries.

At this critical juncture to address the climate crisis, this impact directly opposes the IPCC’s recommendations around stopping land conversion.

The Bank is now scrambling to appease Trump, who is content to watch the world burn as long as he and his wealthy oligarchs continue to profit. Through its global land reform agenda, the Bank facilitates the dispossession of local communities across the Global South under its past northstar of economic growth.

The mask is now off – and any illusions that these efforts will help secure rights or address the climate crisis have been shattered.

Andy Currier is Policy Analyst at the Oakland Institute.

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Livestock in eastern Mauritania are dying due to drought. Credit: UNHCR/Caroline Irby

By Danielle Nierenberg
BALTIMORE, Maryland, May 14 2025 (IPS)

Here’s a question: Over the past 40 years, what natural disaster has affected more people around the globe than any other?

The answer, according the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is drought.

The past 10 years have been the hottest 10 years on record, and higher temperatures and drier conditions are making more regions vulnerable to drought and arid land degradation, or desertification. This process is “a silent, invisible crisis that is destabilizing communities on a global scale,” according to the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Globally, the nearly 2 billion people who live in dryland areas are often the first to face hunger, thirst, and the devastating effects of poor soil and environmental decline, says Dr. ML Jat, the Director of Resilient Farm and Food Systems at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

And the next generations will feel the effects: UNICEF predicts that, by 2040, one in four children will live in areas of extremely high water stress. But there is a path toward a better future—there are farming and food-system solutions that allow us to nourish communities in hotter, drier climates.

Indigenous crops, for example, are naturally adapted to the extreme weather in desert regions and can strengthen food security, community health, and local ecosystems. I’ve long admired the work of organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH, which conserves seeds so they can continue to benefit the peoples in the Southwest and Mexico, and the Arizona Alliance for Climate-Smart Crops, which supports farmers in adopting climate-smart crops and practices that conserve water.

“Wild desert plants have a remarkable number of adaptations to cope with heat, drought, unpredictable rainfall, and poor soils—the sorts of stressful growing conditions we are already seeing and expect to see more of in the future,” Dr. Erin Riordan of the University of Arizona told Food Tank.

And at the same time, there are innovative solutions we can elevate to restore degraded landscapes and combat further desertification! The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is supporting several amazing projects in Africa, including the Great Green Wall Initiative, which works across 22 countries to revitalize fertile land and transform lives.

And in Somalia, UNDP is partnering with local leaders to construct reservoirs and dams to improve water access and address deforestation and desertification.

We can’t solve these challenges alone. A fascinating new ICRISAT report looks at the power of microbes to boost crop yields and restore soil health in dryland farming systems. These microbes could include bacteria that improve nitrogen-fixation, which can improve soil fertility, and other microorganisms that can control diseases and crop pests.

And we need a whole-of-society approach to combating desertification—especially in parts of the world that have not traditionally struggled with arid landscapes and water scarcity, because, as we know, natural disasters like drought are affecting more and more people as the climate crisis deepens.

As he always does, author and agro-ecologist Gary Paul Nabhan writes powerfully about what all of us across the entire food system must do to prioritize Indigenous crops and adapt to changing environments.

“If farmers shift what crops they grow, they will need consumers, cooks, and chefs to adapt what they are willing to prepare and eat in the new normal,” he wrote in a great op-ed for us at Food Tank. “It is time to turn the corner from corn and soy monocultures to the sesames, prickly pear cactus, garbanzos, millets and mulberries of the world that desert dwellers have eaten in delicious dishes for millennia.”

How are food and agriculture system leaders in your community working to protect land from becoming degraded? I love hearing stories of creative solutions, like the ones I’ve highlighted here, so please say hello at danielle@foodtank.com and tell me about the microbes, Indigenous crops, and land management techniques that will help us nourish our neighbors and adapt our food systems in hotter, drier climates.

Food Tank is a registered 501(c)(3), and all donations are tax-deductible. Danielle Nierenberg has served as President since the organization began and Bernard Pollack is the Chair of the Board of Directors.

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A woman in the Horn of Africa carrying water back to her home. The Horn of Africa is projected to be one of the most climate-affected areas in the world in 2025. Credit: UNICEF/Mulugeta Ayene

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 23 2025 (IPS)

On March 19, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) issued a report on the State of Global Climate in 2024, detailing the numerous heightened natural disasters that were a consequence of human-induced climate change. With the past three years having been recorded as the three hottest years in human history, climate scientists are optimistic that 2025 will see slightly cooler global temperatures.

Despite this, Europe is projected to experience its hottest year ever recorded. On April 15, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) issued the second annual report on the European State of the Climate, finding that the average temperature in March 2025 was approximately 1.6C (2.88F) higher than in pre-industrial times, and 0.26C (0.468F) higher than the previously highest recorded March in 2014.

“Europe is the fastest-warming continent and is experiencing serious impacts from extreme weather and climate change. Every additional fraction of a degree of temperature rise matters because it accentuates the risks to our lives, to economies and to the planet,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

Additionally, according to figures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this January was recorded as the hottest January in human history. NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) also states that there is roughly a 7 percent chance that the entirety of 2025 will surpass the average global temperatures recorded in 2024. Additionally, arctic sea ice has reached its lowest extent in January, recording at 6 percent below average.

This can be attributed to the La Niña phenomenon, which is also known as the cooling phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. Beginning in December 2024 and ending in April 2025, La Niña is defined by the cooling of ocean surface temperatures, changes in wind and precipitation patterns, an increase in Atlantic hurricanes, drier conditions in the South, and wetter conditions in the Northwest.

Tropical regions, which have historically been impacted the hardest by El Niño, have experienced varying degrees of relief from high temperatures and climate disasters due to the cooling effects of La Niña. With La Niña bringing rainfall to areas that have experienced drought in the past year, local economies dependent on agriculture will likely experience less hardship in producing yields. Areas such as South America, which have experienced flooding last year are projected to have faced drier conditions in the past few months.

Additionally, NOAA states that La Niña has had a profound impact on marine life off the Pacific coast. This phenomenon pushes cold, nutrient-rich waters to the surface of the coast, creating a hospitable environment for fish and phytoplankton. Cold-water species, like squid and salmon, are also attracted to these areas, nourishing the fishing industries in these areas.

A report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicates that La Niña will adversely impact certain areas. For example, the Horn of Africa is estimated to be one of the hardest-hit areas. Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya are expected to see crop and livestock losses as a result of droughts caused by La Niña, exacerbating acute food insecurity and disrupting regional financial stability.

According to figures from WMO, the effects of La Niña are expected to fade by the midpoint of the year. The agency states that there is roughly a 60 percent chance that conditions will shift back to ENSO-neutral temperatures by March-May 2025, with the probability of this increasing by ten percent for April-June 2025. ENSO-neutral temperatures indicate that temperatures are not increased or decreased, respectively, by El Niño or La Niña. WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo states that conditions as a result of El Niño are not expected to return at this time.

However, it is imperative that governments and climate scientists use trends in weather patterns to prepare for natural disasters. “Seasonal forecasts for El Niño and La Niña and the associated impacts on weather and climate patterns globally are an important tool to inform early warnings and early action…These forecasts translate into millions of dollars’ worth in economic savings for key sectors like agriculture, energy and transport, and have saved thousands of lives over the years by enabling disaster risk preparedness,” added Saulo.

According to climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, with ENSO-neutral conditions having returned, 2025 is expected to be the third-hottest year on record, falling behind 2024 and 2023, but ahead of 2016. Despite minor improvements from the previous year, recent developments, such as the United State’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the reduction of climate programs funded by USAID, threaten to push the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) out of reach.

“As one of the world’s largest carbon emitters, the United States has a responsibility to lead the way in ditching fossil fuels and supporting the worldwide transition to zero carbon economies,” said Paul O’Brien, the Executive-Director of Amnesty International USA. “By refusing to join the international community in taking the necessary steps to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, President Trump is skirting that responsibility. Worst yet, such a move will only encourage other leaders to follow suit.”

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Dr. Himanshu Pathak (center) is the director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, a global research institute focused on dryland agriculture (ICRISAT). Credit: ICRISAT

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Apr 10 2025 (IPS)

As agrifood systems in the Global South buckle under the weight of climate change, biodiversity, and even pollution, experts such as Dr. Himanshu Pathak call for urgent innovative solutions, as, at the current pace, the problems of the Global South are going to intensify with escalating climate change.

Pathak is the director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a global research institute focused on dryland agriculture. He has over 32 years of experience in climate resilience, soil and crop management, and sustainable agricultural systems.

Speaking to IPS at the CGIAR Science Week, he shared his insights into the deepening rural poverty and hunger across the Global South and what it would take to build agricultural resilience and sustainability.

“Changing climate, increasing temperature, and increasing pollution are going to intensify the problem of degradation of its land, water, and air. To solve these problems, we strongly believe that new science and new technology will be very useful to address those challenges. New science means developing new varieties that are resistant or tolerant to climatic changes,” he said.

“Varieties that are high yielding and at the same time better in nutrient content, which will help in promoting soil fertility, will not degrade the soil. Once we develop these varieties and new technologies, we have to reach these technologies to the farmers through a conducive policy environment.”

ICRISAT is on the frontlines of developing much-needed solutions through its regional stations in eight different countries in Africa and, in all, working with about 80 countries on different aspects of their research activities, such as on amended crops like millets, sorghum, pulses, pigeon peas, chickpeas, and oilseed-rich groundnuts.

“We do crop improvement, how to increase yield by developing new varieties, and how to improve nutrient content by developing bio-fortified varieties. We also work on how to manage soil, water, nutrients, fertilizer, and, of course, climate action, and we are actively engaged in social sciences, capacity building, education, training, and teaching.”

On why farmers do not always adopt new science and technologies, Pathak said they find it difficult to do so “without good policy and support and without good incentives. And there is also a great need for capacity building and skill development of  farmers, as today’s technologies are quite knowledge intensive.”

Emphasizing that farmers need to improve their skills and knowledge to “understand and adopt these new technologies, new varieties, new water management, and so on. And to achieve all of these things, there is a need for partnership. Partnership among research organizations, partnership among farmers, donors, and policymakers.”

For sustainable changes, he spoke of an urgent need to involve women farmers, as gender equality is a central part of the solution, as is youth involvement. Stressing that this is a different generation of youth and that to attract and retain them in agriculture will take embracing new technologies such as digital agriculture, artificial intelligence, and precision agriculture, and equally important, agriculture has to be market-oriented.

Reiterating the critical role that science and technology play, David Guerena, a research scientist at the Alliance Biodiversity International–CIAT, spoke to IPS about the need to listen to what farmers are saying to understand their more preferred varieties and even what draws them to these varieties. This understanding can help breeders make more informed decisions towards more effective solutions that are better adapted to local settings. Stressing that AI and machine learning solutions for agriculture, specifically around breeding and breeding services, are also timely and critical and that, rather than leaving farmers behind, technology can connect farmers to research.

“It is important that we speak to farmers directly to help customize agricultural advisory services and linkages to markets. AI is also successfully interfacing with breeding teams. We have also seen how mobile money transfer models such as MPESA have done in rural ecosystems in supporting smallholder farmers to transact with ease,” he said.

Dr. Stephen Mutuvi from the Alliance Biodiversity International–CIAT and based in Arusha, Tanzania, specializes in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning. He leads the machine learning operations in the organization’s different projects, focusing on artificial intelligence.

He told IPS that AI is part of the solution, as “you can just record farmers as they speak, for instance, and people without literacy levels can convey their messages by just having their voices and conversations recorded.”

“And then using AI to transcribe their words automatically and applying advanced models like those similar to ChatGPT to analyze the data. So, we are at a very interesting space where the advanced technologies in AI are also getting to be useful and to be of impact to the direct users, who are the farmers in this case.”

Guerena stressed the need to find harmony between indigenous knowledge, which has sustained agriculture for thousands of years, and advanced scientific knowledge. Saying that indigenous knowledge gives a historical understanding and science is more modern and more advanced and that the two are central to developing lasting solutions.

But a lack of access to post-production remains a pain point for smallholder farmers in the Global South. Pathak says supporting farmers to access good prices for their produce is critical: “Market-friendliness, gender-friendliness, and of course nature-friendliness of agriculture will be extremely important in building agricultural resilience and sustainability.”

As is so often the case, he affirms that innovation and science are more invested in increasing yields as aspects of post-harvest, post-production, and access to markets are left unattended. He asserts that although increasing production is crucial, it is not sufficient.

“And therefore, we are working for the full agri-food system, starting from seed to produce, and then all kinds of value addition and connecting farmers with markets. So, value addition, agri-food processing, and post-harvest management of the commodities are extremely important,” Pathak said. “Onwards, along with increasing productivity by developing new varieties and new soil and water management technologies, we also have to give equal, if not more, importance to post-harvest management for agri-value addition.”

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Panellists from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) at the launch of the IWMI Strategy 2024–2030 in East Africa. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
NAIROBI, Apr 9 2025 (IPS)

In East Africa, climate change has made water a lifeline and threat.

In a region highly dependent on rainfall for growing crops, climate change is threatening water security but science-backed solutions are helping turn the tide.

Global leaders, scientists, policymakers, and development partners meeting in Nairobi during the inaugural CGIAR Science Week  made a tight case for water security and productivity in East Africa, a region vulnerable to the increased impacts of climate change such as droughts and floods.

The use, conservation and management of water underpins sustainable development of the East Africa region, which covers Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.

“Water security means considering how much water you have, water of sufficient quality and being  able to manage risks – drought, floods, extreme events – in ways that livelihoods and lives, the economy and ecosystems can all thrive together,” said Mark Smith, Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), at the launch of the IWMI Strategy 2024–2030 in East Africa.

Smith noted that the new strategy was a significant leap forward in the institute’s mission to harness science research in enhancing water security, supporting climate adaptation and driving sustainable agriculture across East Africa.

“Water security  is necessarily systemic and our strategy reflects that,” he said. “There is a  flipside to that aspect of water in which it intersects with different types of uses. If you can get water security right, then you can  trigger transformation across those systems as you open access to water and enable more  sustainable and fairer sharing of water across different uses.”

Mark Smith, Director General of the International Water Management Institute. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By harnessing  cutting-edge research and fostering regional partnerships, IWMI aims to deliver solutions that improve livelihoods across East Africa.

“Water security is important for the transformation of agriculture and for sustainable development,” he said, adding that, “Water is at the heart of climate resilience, food security and economic development.”

Sara Mbago-Bhunu,  Director of the East and Southern Africa Division of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), highlighting the importance of collaboration in enhancing water security,  called for continued public and private financing for the water sector, particularly to benefit small-scale farmers through irrigation facilities.

IFAD has invested USD 2 billion in irrigation and water management in 100 projects worldwide, while in East Africa it has supported 14 projects in 12 countries. Mbago-Bhunu said it was critical to invest in water accounting.

“We tend to underestimate what water accounting is  and irrigation performance assessment translated into how we source water, how we manage it but also how we account for it because accounting  will give us further breakthroughs to where we should change in the way we invest in water technologies,” she said.

Ephantus Kimoto, Principal Secretary in the Department for Irrigation in the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation of Kenya. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

Ephantus Kimoto, Principal Secretary in the Department for Irrigation in the Ministry of Water, sanitation and Irrigation of Kenya,  said the government was working to boost irrigation capacity in the country. Currently only four percent of Kenya’s arable land was under irrigation under the National Irrigation Sector Investment Master Plan (NISIP); there is irrigation potential of 3.5  million acres in the country.

Kimoto noted that Kenya had enough water resources but lacked the economic means to scale up irrigation projects. Under the national plan, Kenya seeks to increase the land under irrigation up to 1 million acres and boost food productivity and job creation, especially among the youth.

A panel discussion hosted alongside the launch of the IWMI strategy noted the importance of collaboration in the management of water resources in East Africa while at the same time scaling up innovation and research.

For farmers, saving water is everything.

“Water is a scarce resource and we need to  guard it well, “ said Elizabeth Nsimadala, President, Eastern Africa Farmers Federation.

“We are seeing a lot of water wasted and what is missing is the science bit. When you look at wasted water when it comes to irrigation, there is a lot and this directly affects the output. What is also a missing from our end as farmers is how much quantity does this crop require, as different crops require different quantities of water.”

Nsimadala – a coffee farmer – said policy, infrastructure, sustainability, access and management were priority issues for farmers in terms of water use. She called for the provision of water-saving technologies for farmers because of the competing water uses that have been worsened by the impact of climate change.

While Yelvin Denje, a research fellow with the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support

(AGNES) said the interface between science and policy has led to improvements in equitable access and unlocked the potential for water and development on the continent but it was hard to measure the effectiveness of policies.

“There are now in many African countries water regulations, acts and water laws,” he said, citing the Africa Water Vision for 2025.

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Cristian Castillo benefits from a rainwater harvesting system installed on his nearly one-hectare plot in Paraje Galán, a rural village of 400 families in the western Salvadoran district of Candelaria de la Frontera. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

By Edgardo Ayala
CANDELARIA DE LA FRONTERA, El Salvador, Apr 7 2025 (IPS)

In Central America’s Dry Corridor, climatic conditions hinder water and food production because rainfall in this ecoregion—from May to December—is less predictable than in the rest of the isthmus.

Cristian Castillo knows this firsthand. The young Salvadoran farmer had just planted tomatoes on his small plot of land, less than a hectare in size, when the hand-dug well he planned to use for irrigation ran dry.

“I had a well, but due to (earth) tremors, the (aquifer’s) veins closed up, and the water stopped flowing,” Castillo told IPS, standing beside his home and field in the rural village of Paraje Galán, a community of 400 families in the Candelaria de la Frontera district, western El Salvador.

But with or without tremors—common in this country of six million people—it’s not unusual for wells to dry up in the Dry Corridor due to prolonged droughts during the rainy season. Without water, there’s no way to grow crops or raise cattle and pigs, which are vital for the survival of local communities.

Stretching 1,600 kilometers, the Dry Corridor covers 35% of Central America and is home to more than 10.5 million people.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), over 73% of the rural population in this belt lives in poverty, and 7.1 million people suffer from severe food insecurity.

Central America, a region of seven countries with a combined population of 50 million, faces deep social inequalities.

Aware of the harsh climatic conditions in the Dry Corridor, around 25 municipalities in the neighboring countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador formed the Trinational Border Association of the Lempa River in 2007. This regional, non-governmental initiative promotes sustainable development projects in their territories.

One such project encourages rainwater harvesting techniques, helping families build collection tanks to irrigate their crops.

Castillo is among those who benefited from the construction of one such tank, with a storage capacity of 10 cubic meters, equivalent to 50 large drums.

“I’ll pump all the collected rainwater to the upper part of the property where the tomato crop is,” explained Castillo, 36.

In the neighboring village of Cristalina, still within the jurisdiction of Candelaria de la Frontera, the Trinational Association was one of the organizations that helped install a potable water distribution tank that now serves about a hundred families who previously lacked this service.

“We had hand-dug wells here, but they weren’t enough anymore. When the (water) project came, we were overjoyed because we would finally have water available all the time,” Cristalina resident Gladis Chamuca, 57, told IPS.

Viorel Gutu

By Viorel Gutu
ROME, Mar 28 2025 (IPS)

Degrading soil, air pollution, vanishing biodiversity, emerging plant and animal health issues and more are coming together in the current situation of multiple crisis. Ensuring water security is just one, among the many challenges individuals, countries, and the world faces. Yet, we shouldn’t forget that water makes up the largest percentage of our bodies and the same applies to animals, plants and the planet’s surface. The threat of water insecurity is, as we all see, not a petty problem, but one of the greatest challenges of our century.

We need water security to ensure people have food on their plates. Moreover, water security is a catalyst for transforming the food and agricultural sectors to become more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable. Since its founding in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has been an advocate for improved natural resource management, and more recently, the Organization is raising its voice every day for the application of sustainable water management practices as a prerequisite for farmers’ resilience and, thus, for safeguarding food security.

The 50-plus countries of Europe and Central Asia are not exempt from this situation, where growing water insecurity threatens to undermine agrifood systems, exacerbate inequalities, and impede progress toward a sustainable future.

For these reasons, water security was selected as the main theme of the Europe and Central Asia Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2024 report that will be released on 2 April, highlighting the water sector’s interlinkages with agriculture, food security and nutrition.

Growing water insecurity and unequal impacts

Water security in this region is marked by stark disparities. While certain European Union member countries have from more water security, people living in Central Asia and the Caucasus, and the Western Balkans face significant challenges. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are among the least water-secure nations in the region, with water consumption exceeding available resources in some cases, worsened by inefficiencies and losses caused by ageing irrigation infrastructure. The human toll is significant: floods and droughts affect over a million people, resulting in USD 14 billion in damages across the region, which brings me to a crucial point: climate change.

Climate change and rising demand for water are exacerbating water scarcity across the region. Variability in precipitation patterns, glacier melt, and prolonged droughts are becoming more frequent and more intense, taking a growing toll on agriculture and especially on farmers. In some parts of the region, energy demands – especially for hydropower in upstream countries like Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan– compete with downstream irrigation needs, highlighting the need for coordinated, transboundary water management.

Water security extends beyond quantity to quality and this aspect shouldn’t be overlooked. Agriculture remains a significant contributor to water pollution in many parts of the region, mostly through fertilizer and pesticide runoff, undermining both food safety and soil health. Ensuring adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure is critical to food security, particularly in rural areas.

The way forward: Innovation and governance

The complexity and interlinkedness of food and water security challenges call for innovative solutions and robust governance. FAO advocates for a water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus approach that emphasizes integrated resource management and which considers the needs of all relevant sectors. Among others, precision and digital agriculture, energy-efficient irrigation, reuse of treated wastewater, and nature-based interventions such as we can see in the example of the artificial glaciers in Kyrgyzstan are already contributing to this comprehensive approach.

In Europe and Central Asia, FAO has been putting its 80 years of expertise into supporting countries to strengthen climate resilience and water governance. These efforts include the Regional Water Scarcity Initiative, which focuses on modernizing irrigation, building drought resilience, and improving water quality. Water, sanitation, and hygiene standards are being enhanced in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan under the global One Health approach. Additionally, the Inter-Regional Technical Platform on Water Scarcity facilitates global collaboration and knowledge exchange to support countries in coping with the pursuit of food and water security, for a sustainable social and economic development.

One thing is clear as water: today’s investments in sustainable water management will yield dividends in food security, peace, and prosperity for future generations in Europe and Central Asia, and beyond.

Viorel Gutu, is Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

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The central role Indigenous Peoples and local communities in addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification has gained widespread recognition over the past decade. Indigenous Peoples’ close dependence on resources and ecosystems, exceptional tradition, and ancestral knowledge are invaluable assets for the sustainable management of our planet’s natural resources.

Michael Stanley-Jones

The international community has highlighted prominently the importance of the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to achieving the goals of the ʻRio Conventions’ – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

In 2017, the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC emphasized the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in achieving the targets and goals set out in the Convention, the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, while recognizing their vulnerability to climate change. COP23 established the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform to promote the exchange of traditional knowledge, knowledge of indigenous peoples and local knowledge systems, as well as to strengthen their representatives’ engagement in the UNFCCC process.

UNCCD followed in 2020, launching an Indigenous Peoples’ dialog on climate change, biodiversity and desertification. Canada, in coordination with 16 U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Member States, launched in 2020 the Group of Friends of Indigenous Peoples in Rome, chaired by Ambassador Alexandra Bugailiskis, who currently serves as Chair of the UNU-INWEH International Advisory Committee. Working at the intersection of the Rio Conventions, UNU-INWEH especially addresses the theme of health and food security vis-a-vis Indigenous Peoples.

The adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by the CBD in December 2022 sought to ensure traditional knowledge, innovations, practices and technologies of indigenous peoples and local communities are available and accessible to guide biodiversity action.

Not all has been clear skies and smooth sailing, however.

UNFCCC’s Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice reported in 2024 that there exists “a fundamental misalignment between the prevailing global approach to addressing climate change and the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples and local communities on the changing climate.”

The 476.6 million Indigenous Peoples, making up 6.2 per cent of the global population, represent “a rich diversity of cultures, traditions and ways of life based on a close relationship with nature” and should not be viewed as homogeneous groups.

Moreover, Indigenous Peoples and local communities are often perceived primarily as vulnerable, a focus which overshadows the rich knowledge systems, cultural values and practices of these communities. The report recommended shifting the narrative around Indigenous Peoples and local communities from vulnerability to nature stewardship and climate leadership.

The importance of emphasizing the positive contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to achieving the goals of the Rio Conventions cannot be underestimated.

We should not lose sight of the ends which traditional, Indigenous and local knowledge and strengthened participation serve, namely, to foster stronger and more ambitious climate action by Indigenous Peoples that contributes to the ultimate achievement of the objectives of the Conventions.

Toward this end, in a landmark decision at CBD COP 16 in Cali, Colombia, in October-November 2024, Parties adopted a new Programme of Work on Article 8(j) and other provisions of the Convention related to indigenous peoples and local communities. This transformative programme sets out specific tasks to ensure the meaningful contribution of Indigenous Peoples towards achieving the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of biological diversity, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits.

The Climate Convention COP29 meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024 decided to extend the mandate of the Facilitative Working Group of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform. It further invited Parties to provide simultaneous interpretation into languages other than the official languages of the United Nations at meetings of its Facilitative Working Group and mandated events under the Platform, a step which greatly opens up opportunities for the community to engage in climate, biodiversity and desertification action.

The UNCCD COP16 followed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in December 2024 by holding its first-ever Indigenous Peoples Forum, spotlighting the invaluable contributions of Indigenous Peoples to land conservation and sustainable resource management.

A more inclusive and participatory process engaging with Indigenous Peoples will serve to strengthen the Rio Conventions and enhance their chances of success. This is something worth championing in the challenging times the world is facing today.

Michael Stanley-Jones is an Environmental Policy and Governance Fellow at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) and served in the UN Economic Commission for Europe and UN Environment Programme in Geneva and Nairobi from 2004 to 2022.

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A worker displays the radish harvest in one of the gardens of the agroecological production demonstration farm, managed by the Trinational Border Municipal Association of the Lempa River, in the district of Candelaria de la Frontera, western El Salvador. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

By Edgardo Ayala
CANDELARIA DE LA FRONTERA, El Salvador , Mar 21 2025 (IPS)

The hope of Salvadoran Cristian Castillo to harvest tomatoes in a municipality of the Central American Dry Corridor hung by a thread when his well, which he used to irrigate his crops, dried up. However, his enthusiasm returned when a regional project taught him how to harvest rainwater for when the rains begin in May.

“We are waiting for May to start collecting rainwater and begin planting again,” Castillo, 36, told IPS. He is a resident of Paraje Galán, a rural village of 400 families in the district of Candelaria de la Frontera, in western El Salvador."Here we have artisanal wells, but they are no longer enough, and when the water project came, we were thrilled because we would finally have water all the time”: Gladis Chamuca

This district is located in the so-called Central American Dry Corridor, where water is always scarce, affecting agriculture, livestock, and other livelihoods of rural families.

The 1,600-kilometer-long Corridor spans 35% of Central America and is home to over 10.5 million people.

In it, more than 73% of the rural population lives in poverty, and 7.1 million people suffer from severe food insecurity, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Central America is a region of seven nations, with a population of 50 million people and significant social deficiencies.

However, Candelaria de la Frontera and its surrounding villages are part of the Trinational Border Municipal Association of the Lempa River, a regional, non-governmental effort that brings together a total of 25 municipalities: 11 from Guatemala, 10 from Honduras, and four from El Salvador.

Due to their proximity, these localities have joined forces to promote sustainable development projects in their territories. Local governments are the backbone of the initiative, but professionals in various fields are involved in its operational, executive, and administrative management.

Cristian Castillo benefits from a rainwater harvesting system installed on his nearly one-hectare plot in Paraje Galán, a rural village of 400 families in the western Salvadoran district of Candelaria de la Frontera. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Water for Food Security

Projects on food security and integrated water management and governance, among others, are what this initiative promotes in this region of the Dry Corridor, where producing food is always a challenge.

These programs helped Castillo, like dozens of other families, receive  materials to build a water catchment tank. Its metal roof will serve as the surface to “harvest” rainwater and redirect it to the tank, which can store 10 cubic meters of water, equivalent to about 50 water drums.

“All that collected rainwater will be pumped to the upper part of the property where the tomato crop is,” said Castillo, sitting next to the tank, which is already built and is only lacking the roof.

Castillo estimates that, with this system, his nearly one-hectare property can produce about 100 boxes of tomatoes per harvest, each weighing 13 kilograms. He hopes to sell them and generate income for his family: his wife and three daughters, aged 4, 11, and 13.

For Gladis Chamuca, 57, life is easier when water comes directly from the tap, thanks to a community water project in the village of Cristalina, in Candelaria de la Frontera. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

The rainwater harvesting system will also allow him to save the US$40 he pays monthly to the community water system, which charges US$5 per cubic meter. With this water, he has been able to irrigate and keep his tomato plants alive, which already show green fruits, while waiting for the rainy season in May.

When the dry season arrives in November, the farmer will be able to keep his crops productive thanks to the water stored in the tank.

But Castillo might also need to rely on the tank during drought periods, even during the rainy season.

In the July heatwave, farmers can go more than 20 days without rain, explained agroecologist Arturo Amaya, who is in charge of the demonstration farm that the municipal association maintains in Candelaria de la Frontera.

Since 2017, the farm has been a demonstration site for agroecological production. Families from the involved municipalities come here to learn various techniques for harvesting with organic fertilizers and other bio-inputs produced on-site.

They also teach how to build tanks like the one installed on Castillo’s property. Members of environmental organizations and students, among other groups, also visit the farm.

“One of the main policies of the association is the promotion of zero hunger, meaning developing food and nutritional security through food production with an environmental conservation approach,” said Amaya.

The Trinational Border Municipal Association of the Lempa River participated in the installation of a potable water tank that supplies around a hundred families in the village of Cristalina, in western El Salvador. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Saving the Lempa River

The municipal association, established in 2007, is an autonomous entity born out of the need for local border governments to generate programs and actions that alleviate socio-environmental conditions in the territories, explained Héctor Aguirre, the general manager of the initiative, to IPS.

The water component is key in the association’s actions, and the central focus revolves around the Lempa River, which flows 422 kilometers from its source in the mountains of Chiquimula in eastern Guatemala, through southern Honduras, and into El Salvador, where it runs from north to south until it reaches the Pacific Ocean.

The Lempa is the main source of energy, powering hydroelectric dams, and is also a source of agricultural, livestock, and water development for millions of people in these countries, especially in El Salvador. Of the river’s course, 85% is in El Salvador.

However, the river faces pollution and overexploitation issues.

“In this region shared by the three countries there is considerable water production, but there are also difficulties in supporting the local population,” Aguirre noted.

With projects like rainwater harvesting, farming families have been taught that water resources can be reused in agricultural production, especially horticulture, making the territories more resilient to the climatic conditions of the Dry Corridor, Aguirre explained.

The various programs are funded through three avenues: the participating municipalities pay a monthly fee, international cooperation, and the institution provides services to the associated local governments, such as creating technical portfolios or designing projects.

“The sum of these resources allows us to provide an integrated, structured, and harmonized service as an action from local governments,” Aguirre stated.

The governments of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are simultaneously promoting a similar development program called the Trifinio Plan, referring to the geographical point where the three borders meet.

However, these plans are subject to political ups and downs and depend on the ideological vision of the party in power in these nations, making the programs unstable, said Aguirre.

In contrast, in the municipal association, everyone is committed to the same goal.

For example, Carlos Portillo, mayor of Esquipulas in eastern Guatemala, emphasized that as a municipality, they are seeking financially viable options to treat the town’s wastewater to prevent further pollution of the Lempa River.

“We want to support the search for solutions that prevent the contamination of these important water resources,” Portillo told IPS during a meeting attended by mayors from the three countries, international cooperation agencies, and environmental groups.

The meeting, organized by the association, was held in San Salvador on March 14.

A section of the Lempa River in the department of Chalatenango, in northern El Salvador. This river is key for food and water production in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Credit: Edgardo Ayala / IPS

Water for All

Another important project of the association was the installation of a drinking water distribution tank that provides water to about a hundred families who previously lacked this benefit in the village of Cristalina, still within the jurisdiction of Candelaria de la Frontera.

The project, initiated in November 2019, led to the formation of the Water Board in this rural community dedicated to subsistence agriculture.

These boards are community organizations that set up their own water systems, as the central government fails to provide the service to these remote villages. It is estimated that there are about 2,500 such structures throughout the country, providing service to 25% of the population, or around 1.6 million people.

The FAO and the city councils of Barcelona and Valencia in Spain, among other institutions, participated in the construction of the system.

In Cristalina, water is pumped from a well to a 25-cubic-meter tank, perched on a 20-meter-high platform supported by eight cement pillars. From there, it flows by gravity to the taps of families, who pay about US$7 for 13 cubic meters per month.

“Here we have artisanal wells, but they are no longer sufficient, and when the water project came, we were thrilled because we would finally have water all the time,” Gladis Chamuca, a resident of Cristalina, told IPS.

Chamuca, 57, who is a homemaker, said life is easier when water comes directly from the tap.

Her neighbor, Juan Flores, added that the system has worked very well so far, thanks to the good coordination and communication among the board members, of which he is the chairman.

Flores, 72, is also engaged in pig farming and uses pig manure to produce fertilizer for his tomato and cabbage gardens.

“Here it’s a horticultural area: chilies, cucumbers, tomatoes. People are asking me about the fertilizer because it’s 100% organic,” he said.

For all of this, water has been key, he stresses.

Portion of the Jáltipan-Salina Cruz pipeline, which operates between the southeastern state of Veracruz and the southern region of Oaxaca. To meet its industrialization goals, Mexico would have to increase its reliance on fossil gas imported from the United States. Credit: Cenagás

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO, Jan 31 2025 (IPS)

This January, Mexico has embarked on a new industrial path for the next six years, where the viability of its energy component faces fundamental challenges that put it at risk.

Energy scarcity is among the main obstacles faced by the economic program of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has been in office since October.

Researcher Luca Ferrari from the Geosciences Center of the public National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) identified limited financial resources and energy supply as barriers to progress.

“There are budgetary and energy quantity constraints. Increased industrialization for export will run into energy shortages or very limited availability, due to necessary investments and where they will come from. We are in a very precarious energy situation because we are dependent on fossil fuels and are energy deficient,” he told IPS."These are isolated projects that may be interesting. They are a statement of intentions, but should be read in light of other public policy instruments, such as climate and transition, along with the need to align with a comprehensive energy policy": Carlos Asunsolo.

Launched on January 13 under the general title of the National Industrialization and Shared Prosperity Strategy, Plan Mexico (PM) consists of 10 objectives, 13 goals, 2,000 projects, and a total planned investment of US$277 billion, which would create 1.5 million new jobs in manufacturing and other sectors.

Among the plan’s investments, which are seen internally as a partial response to the arrival of ultra-conservative Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, is an investment by the state-owned Federal Electricity Commissionx (CFE) of US$23.4 billion.

Of this, US$12.3 billion will be allocated to generation, US$7.5 billion to transmission infrastructure, and US$3.6 billion to decentralized photovoltaic production in homes.

Additionally, the government is preparing rules for the private sector’s renewed participation in electricity generation, a modality suspended since 2018 to favor CFE and also the state-owned Mexican Petroleum (Pemex).

This return would include, among other measures, lower energy purchase costs for the electric monopoly and the use of storage batteries to maintain grid stability.

As a result, the plan would add 21,893 megawatts (MW) to the national energy matrix, aiming to reach a 37.8% of clean energy, up from the current 22.5%. By law, CFE controls 54% of the electricity market, with the rest being in private hands.

At least 17 transmission and distribution projects are under study for implementation at an undetermined time, but their development would be independent of the new PM, which does incorporate several projects already underway, as well as new ones.

With a current installed capacity of 89,000 MW, in 2024 approximately 63% of electricity generation depended on fossil gas, followed by conventional thermoelectricity (6.8%), hydroelectricity (5.9%), wind energy (5.8%), solar photovoltaic (5.2%), nuclear (3%), and geothermal (1%).

Renewable sources have an installed capacity of 33,517 MW but only contribute 22.5% of electricity.

In December 2023, during the annual climate summit in Dubai, Mexico joined the Global Commitment on Renewables and Energy Efficiency, which aims to triple alternative installed capacity and double the energy efficiency rate by 2030. Thus, the PM would fall short of the clean generation target.

The first phase of the Puerto Peñasco photovoltaic plant, with a capacity of 120 megawatts and located in the northern state of Sonora, has been operational since 2023. The Mexican government included the project in its multi-billion-dollar investment for the energy sector. Credit: Government of Mexico

Gasify, baby, gasify

Since December 2018, when Sheinbaum’s predecessor and mentor left-wing populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office as president, Mexico has pursued the so far unattained goal of energy sovereignty, one of whose effects has been the halt of the transition to less polluting fuels.

Sheinbaum’s new package of projects continues this model but also deviates from its extremes, in what seems like the resurrection of the much-needed energy transition, in a strategy marked by apparent contradictions.

For Carlos Asunsolo, manager of Research and Public Policy at the non-governmental Mexican Center for Environmental Law (Cemda), Plan Mexico lacks specific details, such as the pathways to achieve the goals.

“These are isolated projects that may be interesting. It is a statement of intentions, but it should be read in light of other public policy instruments, such as climate and transition, along with the need to align with a comprehensive energy policy,” he analyzed for IPS.

The expert cited concerns about project execution conditions, their type, human rights guarantees, and transparency.

One of the pillars of PM is promoting the relocation (nearshoring) of companies in sectors such as electronics, high technology, and the automotive industry. This is due to the alteration of global maritime transport routes, the repercussions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the trade dispute between the United States and China.

This section also needs energy and projects progress in the construction of 100 industrial parks, including 12 in the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT), a megaproject already underway under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Navy.

This corridor in the southeast of the country is one of the three most important legacies of the current government, along with the Maya Train in the southeastern Yucatán Peninsula and the Olmeca refinery in the state of Tabasco, also in the southeast. All three are integrated into the new PM.

The CIIT involves the construction and modernization of three rail routes and three ports between the Pacific coast and the Atlantic Gulf of Mexico.

A lone solar panel powering a water well in the rural community of Tahdzui, in the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatán. The government of Claudia Sheinbaum has shown signs of reviving the clean energy transition, which had been suspended since 2018, including decentralized generation. Credit: Emilio Godoy / IPS

But these facilities, which seek regional development in the southeast and the substitution of imports from Asia, require lots of energy. Existing and planned renewable generation would not be enough in this area, which would lead Mexico to deepen its dependence on gas imported from the United States.

Since 2010, the northern neighbor has sent more than 18 billion cubic feet (ft3) of gas to Mexico via pipelines. In 2023, Mexico consumed 8.514 billion ft3 daily, of which it imported 6.141 billion from the United States, making it the supplier of 72% of all its gas.

Additionally, the López Obrador administration promoted the Sonora Sustainable Energy Plan, which includes photovoltaic energy, lithium exploitation, and electric vehicle manufacturing in the northern state of Sonora, and which is now incorporated into Sheinbaum’s PM.

One of its components is the Puerto Peñasco photovoltaic plant in Sonora, whose first phase of 120 MW has been operational since 2023. When completed in 2026, it will provide 1,000 MW, with a total investment of $1.6 billion.

For Ferrari, the UNAM researcher, the only possibility for more energy to sustain the business promise is gas.

“We are already in a ridiculously dependent situation. In the United States, production has stabilized over the past year, and it is likely to fall in the coming years. Gas delivery to Mexico is not guaranteed,” he predicted.

Meanwhile, specialist Asunsolo considers it essential to question for whom and for what more energy is being generated, the size of the projects, and the fueling of consumption, at a time when the climate crisis is tightening its grip on very vulnerable places like Mexico.

“There is a clear bet for CFE, through gas, and Pemex, through hydrocarbons, to be the main energy policy. We are only swapping one problem for another with the change of source. If it does not translate into a reduction of hydrocarbons, only generation capacity is increased. There is a confusing message,” emphasized the Cemda expert.

As it progresses, the PM will not only have to face energy obstacles, according to analysts, but will also have to navigate the growing water deficit.

Northern Mexico and parts of the center, south, and southeast were experiencing some degree of drought by January 15, raising questions about water availability for the large projects outlined in the new industrial plan.

Corporate-dominated food systems are responsible for widespread but still spreading malnutrition and ill health. Poor diets worsen non-communicable diseases (NCDs), now costing over eight trillion dollars yearly!

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

FAO estimates related ‘hidden costs’ at about $12 trillion annually, with 70% ($8.1 trillion) due to NCDs such as heart disease, strokes and diabetes. Such costs significantly exceed these food systems’ environmental and social costs.

FAO’s annual State of Food and Agriculture 2024 (SOFA) investigated hidden costs worldwide. These were primarily health-related, followed by environmental degradation, mainly in more ‘industrialised’ agri-food systems in upper-middle and high-income countries.

SOFA 2024 builds on the 2023 SOFA. The two-year study uses true cost accounting to estimate significant costs and benefits of food production, distribution and consumption.

The study estimates “hidden costs and benefits”, including those not reflected by market prices. The latest SOFA updates cost estimates, classifies them by agrifood system, and proposes solutions.

The report identifies 13 dietary risks with health implications, with significant differences among various food systems. Inadequate consumption of whole grains (the leading dietary risk in most food systems), fruits, and vegetables is the worst, while excessive sodium and meat consumption cause significant health risks.

Hidden costs
SOFA 2024 identifies historical transitions from traditional to industrial agrifood systems, their outcomes, and hidden costs. It distinguishes six food systems worldwide – traditional, expanding, diversifying, formalising, industrial, and protracted crisis – and links each to hidden costs.

This approach enables a better understanding of each system’s unique features and the design of more appropriate policies and interventions.

However, inadequate fruit and vegetable intake is the main concern during protracted crises – e.g., prolonged conflicts, instability, and widespread food insecurity – and in traditional systems with low productivity, limited technology adoption, and shorter value chains.

Excessive sodium consumption is another significant health concern, rising as food “systems evolve from traditional to formalising, peaking in the latter and then decreasing in industrial systems”.

Meanwhile, processed and red meat intake rises with the shift from traditional to industrial systems. Meat is one of industrial food systems’ top three dietary risk factors. Adverse environmental impacts of unsustainable agronomic practices contribute significantly to hidden costs.

Such costs – due to greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen runoffs, land-use changes, and water pollution – rise with diversifying food systems. Rapid growth typically involves changing food production and consumption, costing $720 billion more yearly.

Formalising and industrial food systems also incur significant environmental costs. However, countries facing protracted crises face the highest environmental costs, equivalent to a fifth of their output.

Social costs, including poverty and undernourishment, are most significant in traditional food systems and more vulnerable to protracted crises, incurring around 8% and 18% of GDP, respectively.

Such high social costs emphasise the urgent need for integrated efforts to improve livelihoods and well-being, reflecting stakeholder priorities and sensitivity to local circumstances.

Collective action
SOFA 2024 seeks to promote “more sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and efficient” food systems. It uses true cost accounting to identify hidden costs, going well beyond traditional economic measures such as the gross domestic product (GDP).

Using realistic and pragmatic approaches, policymakers make better-informed decisions to enhance food systems’ social contributions. More comprehensive approaches should acknowledge the crucial contributions of food systems to food security, nutrition, biodiversity, and culture.

Such transformations require transcending conceptual divides, ensuring health, agricultural, and environmental policy coherence, and fairly sharing costs and benefits among all stakeholders.

The report stresses that this requires collective action involving diverse stakeholders, which is difficult to achieve. Such stakeholders include consumers, primary producers, agribusinesses, governments, financial institutions, and international organisations.

Addressing hidden costs affects various stakeholders differently. Appropriate frameworks, supportive policies, and regulations ease implementation and minimise disruption by adopting sustainable practices early and protecting the vulnerable.

Recommendations
Recognising food systems’ adverse consequences for diets and health, the report makes several key recommendations quite different from those of the Davos World Economic Forum-compromised 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. It urges:
• incentivising the promotion of advancing sustainable food supply chain practices and balancing among food system stakeholders.
• promoting healthy diets by making nutritious food more affordable and accessible, reducing adverse health consequences and costs.
• using labelling, certification, standards, and due diligence to reduce greenhouse gas and nitrogen emissions, harmful land-use changes, and biodiversity loss.
• empowering society with comprehensive, clear, accessible, and actionable food and nutrition education and information about food choices’ health, environmental, and social impacts.
• using collective procurement’s significant purchasing power and influence to improve food supplies and the environment.
• ensuring inclusive rural transformations while reducing hidden health, environmental and social costs.
• strengthening civil society and governance to enable and accelerate sustainable and fair food system innovations and enhance social well-being, especially for vulnerable households.

IPS UN Bureau

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