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Tuesday, September 1, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Climate Change
Deadly Flash Floods in Nepal Kill Hundreds and Leave Over 4,200 Missing
On the morning of August 26, an unprecedented series of flash floods struck Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, causing immense destruction, killing hundreds of civilians and leaving thousands missing. Entire neighborhoods have been buried underwater and beneath mud as the Nepalese government and humanitarian organizations rush to provide emergency assistance.
The Drylands Dividend: The Smart Investment for Powering a Water-Scarce World
Open a can of something fizzy and the reason the sugar doesn’t separate immediately is gum arabic, tapped by hand from acacia trees across the Sahel. Spray on perfume and the reason the scent is still there at dinner is frankincense, a resin cut from Boswellia trees on the dry escarpments of the Horn of Africa. The fat that gives a chocolate bar its snap may well be shea, gathered and pressed by women in the parkland belt of West Africa. The cashmere jumper came from goats that can only be raised on cold, dry rangelands.
Africa’s Pastoralists Need More Than COP17’s $1.2 billion Rangelands Pledge
When the rains fail across Tanzania’s northern Maasai Steppe, herders drive their cattle farther in search of pasture and water.
Beyond Resilience: Climate Change and the Rights of Char Dwellers in Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s riverine and coastal chars have always been landscapes of movement, but climate change is making that movement more violent, frequent, and unequal. The shifting islands of the Jamuna, Brahmaputra, Padma, and other rivers now reveal how climate stress multiplies deprivation, weakens citizenship, and forces char dwellers to absorb the costs of a crisis they did little to create.
Family Planning and Population Dynamics Are Key to Water Security
This week is World Water Week, the annual conference of governments, business, and civil society on building a water-secure future as global population, climate disruptions, and water demand increase. In Washington, it’s also Water Resources Development Act season, when every two years the US Congress reauthorizes the legilslation that funds US drinking water, wastewater systems, and flood risk management projects.
The Indian Ocean Is Sounding the Alarm and Its Islands Are Among the First to Hear It
Across this vast ocean, the latest monitoring by Mercator Ocean International shows marine heatwave conditions ranging from moderate to severe. At the same time, the World Meteorological Organization expects a strong El Niño to intensify through August to October, with a positive Indian Ocean Dipole also likely to develop. These are not distant scientific signals. They are an urgent warning that the ocean system on which millions depend is under mounting stress.
Beyond the Horizon: Raising a Generation to Protect the Blue Pacific
For generations, Pacific children have grown up with the ocean as part of everyday life. It is where families fish, where stories are passed down, where livelihoods begin and where cultures are rooted.
Grand Planetary Challenges Need a Grand Coalition to Solve Them
Several coalitions exist today to defend the territories in which people live and work. Global leaders have long understood the importance of shared responsibility for collective security and have invested significant time in establishing networks, partnerships and alliances. In 2025, global spending on defense reached a record $2.9 trillion.
GEF Proposes $140 Million Program to Strengthen Drought Resilience
For pastoralists in Arvaikheer — a village in Mongolia’s dry central plains — rain can determine whether there is enough grass for cattle to roam, whether waterholes are replenished and whether families make it through another dry season. But as climate change makes rainfall increasingly unpredictable, even a wet season may no longer provide water and pasture needed to sustain people and livestock.
Indigenous Peoples Call for Meaningful Influence in Climate Discussions — Nia Tero
Indigenous communities have long advocated for the environment through the lens of their traditional knowledge systems and cultures. But much more work needs to be done to translate their presence into influence.
Nairobi Biodiversity Talks Set the Stage for Key COP17 Decisions
Despite record participation in global biodiversity reporting and planning processes, countries remain off track to meet the world's 2030 biodiversity goals, according to discussions that concluded this month at two key meetings under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Western-Led Green Revolution Failing Africa
As AGRA turns 20, a new report exposes its worsening failure to double productivity and incomes and halve undernourishment in participating African nations as promised.
Why Dhaka Floods Every Monsoon
Dhaka’s recent and recurrent flooding is often treated as a natural disaster, but rain is only the trigger. The deeper causes are political, planning and ecological failure: wetland loss, canal encroachment, unplanned growth, weak enforcement, fragmented institutions and short-term engineering fixes. Dhaka is not drowning because it rains; it is drowning because it has been built as if water had nowhere to go.
Malawi Bets on Battery Storage to Climate-Proof Its Fragile Power Grid
For years, Malawi's electricity supply has been at the mercy of droughts, floods and cyclones that have repeatedly exposed the vulnerability of a power system heavily dependent on hydropower.
Resilience Is Not Enough: OCHA Sounds Alarm on Underfunded Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan
“Mainly, people tell me they're exhausted. They're exhausted from being poor, from being hungry, from repeated climate shocks, mounting debt, and the daily struggle to provide for their families,” Olga Cherevko, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan, told UN reporters on August 4.
The Earth Is Burning — And We Are Still Choosing to Let It
I have spent my life on an island. From the granite hills of Mahé, one can watch the sun rise over an ocean that has fed, protected and defined the Seychellois people for centuries.
The Year of Pastoralists Must Be More Than Symbolic
This is supposed to be the year the world finally sees and recognizes pastoralists. The United Nations has designated 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, bringing long-overdue attention to communities who have sustained some of the world’s most fragile and important landscapes for generations.
New Chickpea Variety to Drive Climate Resilience in Africa
New chickpea seed research and production have become the new frontier of climate resilience in southern Africa as farmers battle failing cereal production.
Climate Change Makes Sacred Ice Vanish in Kashmir, Locals Fear Loss of Livelihoods
Every summer, before dawn breaks over the Himalayas, Bashir Ahmad leads his horses onto the narrow mountain trail that winds toward the Amarnath cave shrine. For decades, the annual Hindu pilgrimage has been the most important season of the year for his family. The money earned over two months pays for food, school fees, winter supplies, and the upkeep of his animals through the long snowbound months.
“Kingston’s Disappointment Should Not Extinguish Our Hope for the Deep Ocean”
Earlier this year, I called publicly for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining, arguing that it is not a rejection of progress, but a commitment to sound science.
Accepting What It Cannot Control, CARICOM Focuses on What It Can
From wars that drive up fuel prices to supply chain disruptions, inflation and increasingly frequent climate disasters, Caribbean leaders say many of the forces shaping the region's future lie beyond their control.Next Page »
As unsustainable human consumption and production systems are driving changes in average temperatures and weather patterns, "abnormal" is increasingly becoming the norm. So far, a lack of financing has been standing in the way of a comprehensive global plan for climate adaptation, and a global financial crisis has contributed to an increasing reliance on public-private partnerships. Our Climate Change page provides you with the latest news about international and local efforts to address what's frequently been called "the challenge of our time", the forces behind the climate change and the impact it has on the world's most vulnerable populations. Along the way, we bring you stories on growing citizen awareness, new scientific data, and emerging climate policies towards sustainable development.
The Week with IPS
NEXT STOP - SDGs
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
