It was two weeks before October 7—when Hamas attacked Israel—that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood behind the rostrum in the United Nations General Assembly hall clutching a crude map of what he called the "new Middle East," a visual that erased the land of Palestine.
Critical levels of nationwide hunger in Sudan has only increased to critical levels since the start of the Sudanese civil war in April 2023. Escalated hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have led to limited mobility and repeated blockages of humanitarian aid. This, coupled with the volatile floods and droughts, have decimated crop fields which has only exacerbated famine levels greatly. All of these factors have left nearly 25 million people in Sudan in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024.
“How we prepare and eat food should not be at the expense of our biodiversity,” says 3-Michelin-starred chef Mauro Colagreco, who is on a mission to change our relationship with food and what we choose to eat.
Colagreco, the owner of Mirazur, an award-winning restaurant in Menton, France, is a tribute to gastronomy. Among other world rankings, Mirazur's fine food and service have earned it first place in the World's 50 Best Restaurants. In the 2020 edition of the "100 Chefs" world ranking, Colagreco's peers named him the Best Chef in the World and Chef of the Year in 2019.
At the end of the first week at the 16th Conference of Parties on Biodiversity (COP16), finance emerges as the biggest issue but also shrouded in controversies.
On Saturday, as the
COP moved closer to its most crucial phase of negotiations, resource mobilization—listed under Target 19 of the
Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF)—took centerstage, with most parties demanding faster action, greater transparency and the adoption of true solutions to halt biodiversity loss.
At the 2021 UN Climate Summit, Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley
called for more and better use of
special drawing rights (SDRs), the International Monetary Fund’s reserve asset.
With the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and social media, the dissemination of public information moves at a faster speed than ever before. Social media platforms have become an integral tool for users of younger generations to access the news. Although this shift has led to public news being more accessible to younger users, it has also led to an overall decline in media literacy.
Anne Olhoff, Chief Climate Advisor at UNEP, underlined the urgent need for accelerated climate action ahead of COP29 in an exclusive interview with IPS. “The next six years are crucial—without accelerated action, we will miss the chance to limit warming to 1.5°C,” she warned.
The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report 2024 delivered a stark reminder that the world is still far from meeting its climate commitments.
Migration, trade, the defence of democracy, the confrontation with China and the collapse of multilateralism are issues that shed more doubts than certainties on Latin America's expectations of the imminent presidential elections in the United States.
Over half of Asia-Pacific's population now live in cities. While urbanization brings people closer to opportunities and better services, many urban dwellers are also experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change such as floods, urban heat and infectious diseases. Urban activities are among the major contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
As COP16 approaches, we have been reflecting on the state of our planet in 2024; the word "crisis" feels insufficient to describe the devastation we're witnessing.
Christian Tiambo has always wished to uplift local farmers’ communities through cutting-edge science.
As climate change wreaked havoc on local agriculture, Tiambo, a livestock scientist at the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (
CTLGH) and at the International Livestock Research Institute (
ILRI), focused on conserving and developing livestock that could withstand environmental stress.
Hurricanes
Helene and
Milton resulted in
record-setting rain, flooding, and flash flooding events across several states, including Florida and North Carolina, leaving devastating impacts on people, communities, and infrastructure that will require many years of rebuilding and recovery.
Climate change has thrown our food systems into chaos. Extreme weather events and dramatic climate variations are hammering food production and supply chains across the world. As global leaders gear up for COP29, there’s plenty of buzz about climate action. But can we really expect these slow-moving, bureaucratic negotiations to deliver tangible and swift results to decarbonize and insulate our agri-food systems? Most likely not. But do not despair. While the COP29 talks unfold, crucial climate solutions for transforming food systems are already taking root on the ground.
COP16, the much-anticipated follow-up talks to the 2022
Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) agreement, which aims to reverse an alarming loss of nature on land and sea, opens in Cali, Colombia.
Juan López was
gunned down on 14 September. An environmental activist, community leader and member of the Municipal Committee in Defence of the Commons and Public Goods of Tocoa, he was the latest victim of extractive greed in Honduras. Communities protecting the rivers that flow through the Bajo Aguán region have seen several of their leaders assassinated.
Two years ago world leaders from nearly 200 countries made a landmark commitment to protect and conserve at least 30% of the planet's land, ocean, and freshwater by 2030 - an initiative known as "30x30".
The impact of climate change continues to devastate economies worldwide, creating a pressing need for all countries to significantly increase international climate finance. To drive critical action towards reduced climate risks and sustainable economic growth calls for expanded access to affordable, predictable finance at scale.
Food waste has been a pressing concern for environmentalists and humanitarians for decades. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that approximately one third of all global food products end up in landfills, equating to roughly 1.3 billion metric tons. Conversely, according to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), about 3 billion people lack access to nutritious or sufficient amounts of food that will sustain a healthy diet. Additionally, food waste has been a leading factor in environmental degradation since the start of the industrial revolution, with food in landfills releasing millions of metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere yearly.
Kenyan farmers have faced a turbulent year, caught between legislative changes and a devastating scandal. While the country's Mung Bean Bill, aiming to regulate the lucrative mung bean industry, has moved to mediation, farmers are battling the fallout from the widespread distribution of counterfeit fertilizers that have jeopardized their crop yields and livelihoods.