Can the Cali Fund Deliver on Its Billion-Dollar Biodiversity Pledge?

When the Cali Fund was unveiled in February on the sidelines of COP16.2 in Rome, the announcement sent ripples through the global conservation community. For the first time ever, companies that profit from digital sequence information (DSI)—the digitized genetic material of plants, animals, and microorganisms—will be expected to pay into a multilateral fund to protect the very biodiversity they benefit from.

The Risks Artificial Intelligence Pose for the Global South

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly developing and leaving its mark across the globe. Yet the implementation of AI risks widening the gap between the Global North and South.

Will the FfD4 Sevilla Commitment Ever be Followed up?

The extensive plan of action adopted at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), held recently in Sevilla, Spain (30 June - 3 July), triggers the question: Where will the money come from?

UN Reform: Is it Time to Renew the Idea of Clustering the Major Environmental Agreements?

“Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Winston Churchill’s famous maxim feels very relevant today, when multilateralism and many environmental causes seem to be in retreat. We now face a triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

Conflict, Climate Change Push Migrants in Yemen to Return to Their Home Countries

Yemen's humanitarian crisis, driven by conflict, economic collapse and climate shocks, leaves migrants desperate to return to their home countries.

WFP Deputy Chief Describes Unprecedented Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

Carl Skau, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), described the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza following his recent visit, speaking at a press briefing at the UN Headquarters on July 11.

The Race Towards Clean Energy: A World Still Gripped by Coal

Global investments in energy exceeded USD 3 trillion in 2024, with at least USD 2 trillion being invested in clean energy technology and infrastructure. Infrastructure. Despite that progress, fossil fuel consumption continues to rise with little sign of slowing.

HIV/AIDS Funding Crisis Risks Reversing Decades of Global Progress

UNAIDS called the funding crisis a ticking time bomb, saying the impact of the US cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) could result in 4 million unnecessary AIDS-related deaths by 2029.

The New Silk Road of Central Asia: Landlocked Countries Now Connected

Once landlocked, now connected, the UN Global Compact has bridged the gap between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East: having many call it the “New Silk Road”.

For the Aged, Their Sunset Years Will Be Bedeviled by Lethal Heatwaves

The global population is aging at a time when heat exposure is rising due to climate change. Extreme heat can be deadly for older populations given their reduced ability to regulate body temperature. Already there has been an 85 percent increase since 1990 in annual heat-related deaths of adults aged above 65, driven by both warming trends and fast-growing older populations.

Seychelles’ Path to Macroeconomic Stability and Resilience

Seychelles—a nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean—today enjoys a comparatively high degree of economic stability. Inflation is below 2 percent, real GDP has largely recovered from the pandemic, public debt is on course to reach the government’s target of less than 50 percent of GDP before 2030, and per capita income is the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.

How Mongolia Can Expedite It’s Just Transition Plans to Include Its Nomads

Youth activist Gereltuya Bayanmukh still reflects on the events in her formative years that inspired her to become a climate activist. When she was a child, she would visit her grandparents in a village 20 km to the south of the border between Russia and Mongolia.

World Bank’s IFC Finally Adopts Remedial Action Framework

The World Bank’s private sector arm has raised the bar — and others may follow. On April 15, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) became the first development finance institution to adopt a formal remedy policy, publishing its Remedial Action Framework (RAF) to address environmental and social harm caused by IFC-supported investment projects.

Kenya’s Shirika Plan: A New Dawn for Refugee Rights and Integration

When Jean Baremba arrived in Kenya in 2018, he looked forward to rebuilding a life shattered by war in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

How Global Fund is Saving Lives from Malaria, TB, & HIV across Africa

In Gabú, Guinea-Bissau, a grandmother named N’beta hesitated. Her six-month-old grandson, Seco, was healthy, so why give him medicine? But community health workers Jamilia and Amadu gently explained that the medicine wasn’t for illness, but for protection. It was part of a seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaign designed to protect children during the worst malaria transmission months — the rainy season.

FfD4 at Sevilla Plants the Seeds of Debtor Unity

UN Member States adopted the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ at the Fourth Financing for Development Forum (FfD4) which concluded July 3-- the culmination of months of contentious negotiations that pitted wealthy nations against the developing world in competing visions for reform of the global economic architecture.

Does the UN Overstep Its Responsibility to Protect Mandate?

The UN has been criticized by some member states for overstepping the mandate of its Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine during a debate in the General Assembly.

African Fish Workers Excluded From International Trade Deals: Report

A new report has raised concerns about the exclusion of African fish workers from trade protocols between their governments and developed countries, resulting in impoverished communities relying on fishing.

Post-Earthquake Myanmar Faces ‘Immense’ Suffering, Cannot Be Forgotten

“Myanmar cannot become a forgotten crisis,” Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), has said. “This country has faced cyclones, war, conflict, violence, climate and now immense suffering.”

Pumped Storage Hydropower is an Option for Latin America

Having hydroelectric power without damming rivers, dismantling the environment or displacing populations is possible in Latin America and the Caribbean, with reversible power plants that take advantage of their mountainous geography, and pave the way for only renewable sources to generate electricity.

Multi-Year Drought Gives Birth to Extremist Violence, Girls Most Vulnerable

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.