Climate Change

In a Changing World, Protecting Nature is Protecting Our Future

By Lyes Ferroukhi and Karin Metell
In a world marked by armed conflict, threats to democracy, technological disruptions, and geopolitical tensions, many people are asking: Why should we prioritize environmental crises when there are other, more visible or perceived as more urgent challenges?

Climate Justice Starts with a Bus Ride: A Lifeline for Delhi’s Waste Pickers

By Aishwarya Bajpai
Every day, Delhi’s waste pickers walk three to four kilometers under the blazing sun, collecting and sorting the garbage that keeps India’s capital functioning. Their work is essential—yet largely invisible.

Environment Day – 2025


 
Plastic pollution is choking our planet. An estimated 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year. Less than 10% is ever recycled.

South Asian Cities Faced Relentless, Record-Breaking Heatwaves Last Year

By Selomi Garnaik and G. A. Rumeshi Perera
From the blistering heat of Delhi’s streets to Colombo’s humid corners, workers in the informal economy are silently enduring the toll of labour on their bodies and livelihoods.

Life Below Water Goes Deep: Our Planet’s Greatest Untold Story

By Diva Amon and Lissette Victorero
As David Attenborough reflects in his new documentary Ocean, “After living for nearly 100 years on this planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea". We wholeheartedly agree - and urge governments convening at the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in France next month to remember that life below water goes deep.

Glaciers More Sensitive to Global Warming, Now in Extreme Danger—Study

By Tanka Dhakal
Almost 40 percent of glaciers that exist now are already in danger of melting even if global temperature stabilized at present-day conditions, a study says. An international study published in the journal Science finds that glaciers are even more sensitive to global warming than previously estimated.

Climate Justice: Island Resilience


 
In a world where headlines warn of rising seas, dying reefs, and vanishing species, it’s easy to think the story ends in loss. But what if the frontlines of climate change were also frontiers of hope?

Funding Shortfalls Threaten Haiti’s Future

By Oritro Karim
The humanitarian situation in Haiti has deteriorated significantly in the recent weeks as rates of violence, hunger, and displacement soar amid a severe lack of funding. As armed gangs continue to seize more territory in the capital, Port-Au-Prince, as well as in areas in the Artibonite and Centre Department, humanitarian organizations have found themselves unable to keep up with the growing scale of needs.

Can These Prehistoric Sea Creatures Survive Climate Change?

By Manipadma Jena
In November,  tens of thousands of male olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) start congregating on just five kilometers of nearshore in Odisha in eastern India. They wait for the females of the species to arrive. The survival of these prehistoric sea species has largely depended on suitable pairing and mating. However, research findings from around the world indicate that, in the long term, there may be a limited number of males at these mating sites compared to an overwhelming number of females.

The 2025 World Social Summit Must Not Be a Missed Opportunity

By Isabel Ortiz, Odile Frank and Gabriele Koehler
Rumors circulating at UN Headquarters suggest there is little appetite for ambition at the Second World Summit for Social Development, set to take place in Doha on 4-6 November 2025. Diplomats and insiders whisper of “summit fatigue” after a packed calendar of global gatherings—the 2023 SDG Summit, the 2024 Summit of the Future, and the upcoming June 2025 Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. Compounding this fatigue is the chilling rise of anti-rights rhetoric and political resistance from some governments, casting a shadow over multilateral efforts. For some, just getting any multilateral agreement is good enough. As a result, the Zero Draft of the Social Summit Political Declaration lacks the ambition required to confront the multiple social crises our world faces.

UNOC3: Bringing Ocean Education and Science to the Global Agenda

By Naureen Hossain
A greater understanding and appreciation of the world’s oceans is needed to protect them. As the global community prepares to convene for the ocean conference, they must also prepare to invest in scientific efforts and education that will bolster their joint efforts.

As Climate Change Threatens, Maldives Is No Island Paradise

By Robbie Newton
Every year, thousands of couples choose to spend their honeymoon in the Maldives. Tucked in the Indian Ocean, this tropical atoll nation consistently ranks among the world’s most desirable destinations for newlyweds. But beyond the crystal-clear waters and pristine, white-sand beaches, local communities are facing a far harsher reality: a growing water crisis driven by climate change. While tourists sip cocktails in overwater bungalows, some neighboring islands are literally running out of fresh water.

Islands are Solutions: the Case for Island-Ocean Coalitions

By Penny Becker, Stuart Sandin and Wes Sechrest
As the world confronts escalating climate impacts, biodiversity loss, and ocean degradation, islands stand as critical test cases—not just as sites of vulnerability, but as living laboratories of resilience, restoration, and innovation. Too often, they are framed as victims of global circumstances, awaiting salvation from external forces.

Economic Growth is the Wrong Metric for Our Time

By Kirsten Stade and Alan Ware
As the United States lurches toward isolationism and authoritarianism, its political problems are now bleeding into pocketbook anxieties that Trump's policies will torpedo economic growth, both domestically and globally.

Human Life Hinges on the Preservation of Biological Diversity

By Oritro Karim
Since 2000, the United Nations (UN) recognizes May 22 as the International Day for Biological Diversity, in hopes of promoting international cooperation and conversation surrounding biodiversity issues. Through the 2025 theme; Harmony With Nature and Sustainable Development, the UN seeks to increase public awareness around biodiversity loss and promote progress in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In Harmony with Nature: A Dryland Perspective on Development and Biodiversity

By Himanshu Pathak
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world’s drylands. Covering 41% of the Earth’s land surface, these regions are home to over two billion people and support 50% of the world’s livestock and 44% of its cultivated systems (UNCCD). Far from being marginal, drylands are central to global food security, biodiversity, and climate resilience.

Global Push to Protect Oceans Gains Momentum Ahead of UN Conference in Nice

By Kizito Makoye
As delegates prepare for the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, momentum is building around ocean governance, finance for marine conservation, and an urgent shift toward a regenerative blue economy. Ocean advocates say the world is at a critical juncture—and the next few weeks could shape the future of marine protection for decades.

A New Pope at a Pivotal Moment: Civil Society’s Hopes for Leo XIV

By Andrew Firmin
The new pope, the latest in a line dating back almost 2,000 years, was quickly subjected to a very modern phenomenon: no sooner had Pope Leo XIV delivered his first address than people started trawling his social media history for clues about his views. In the context of an ongoing culture war, the fact that far-right grievance entrepreneurs were quick to decry the new pope as ‘woke’ seemed reason enough for progressives to welcome him. But for civil society and the global human rights community, it’s how Leo acts that matters.

UN Ocean Conference Must Inspire Global Ambition

By Peter Thomson
The United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) takes place every three years and in just a few weeks, the international community will gather in Nice, France, at a time when the International Science Council has called for the world to address the new reality of a disrupted Earth system.

Explainer: How Germs Outsmart Antimicrobials and Why It’s Making Us Sicker

By Busani Bafana
More people are dying from once treatable infections because the medicines we rely on are no longer working as they should. The culprit? A growing health threat called antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Seafood Without Transparency is a Recipe for Disaster

By Ted Danson
Seafood is a staple in my house – fish tacos, paella, sushi. But no matter how good it tastes, I can’t help but wonder: was my fish caught responsibly? Or did something go horribly wrong before it ever reached my plate?
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