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Amman in Jordan is an area where excessive heat is a major issue and heatwaves fueled by climate change are making life in many areas difficult. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

By Tanka Dhakal
BAKU, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

Once again, scientists issued a red alert by analyzing ongoing world’s weather and its impact on the climate. The year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record, contributed by an extended streak of high monthly global mean temperatures.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)’s “State of the Climate 2024 Update” report—which was released in Baku on Monday—issued a reminder Red Alert and said this decade, 2015-2024 will be the warmest ten years on record. 

“For 16 consecutive months (from June 2023 to September 2024), the global mean exceeded anything recorded before 2023 and often by a wide margin,” the report says. “2023 and 2024 will be the two warmest years on record, with the latter being on track to be the warmest, making the past 10 years the warmest decade in the 175-year observational record.”

Observation of nine months (January-September) of 2024 indicated global temperature is 1.54°C above the pre-industrial average. Which means temporarily global temperature has crossed the Paris Agreement threshold, which sets the goal to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial level.

But in the long run, that goal can be achieved if emissions are cut down drastically. The WMO report says, “one or more individual years exceeding 1.5°C does not necessarily mean that pursuing effort to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial level as stated in the Paris Agreement is out of reach.”

Graph source: WMO

However, weather phenomena, including El Niño, played a role in increasing temperature, but long-term warming is driven by ongoing greenhouse gas emissions. And emission data and trends are not in favor of the Paris Agreement goal.

“Concentrations of the three key greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) in the atmosphere reached record high observed levels in 2023,” the report says. “Real-time data indicate that they continued to rise in 2024.”

Now, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide are 151 percent, 265 percent and 124 percent respectively, of pre-industrial levels.

According to the WMO, ocean warming is also continuing.

“Ocean heat content in 2023 was the highest annual value on record,” it says, “Preliminary data from the early months of 2024 indicate that ocean heat content this year has continued at levels comparable to those seen in 2023.”

In 2023, the ocean absorbed around 3.1 million terawatt-hours (TWh) of heat, which is more than 18 times the world’s total energy consumption. As water warms, it expands. Thermal expansion, combined with the glaciers and ice sheets melting, contributes to sea level rise.

“2023 set a new observational record for annual global mean sea level with a rapid rise probably driven largely by El Nino. Preliminary 2024 data shows that the global mean sea level has fallen back to levels consistent with the rising trend from 2014 to 2022, following the declining El Nino in the first half of 2024.”

From 2014-2023, global mean sea level rose at a rate of 4.77 mm (millimeters) per year, which is more than double the rate from 1993-2002; at that time it was 2.13 mm per year.

Another contributing factor to the sea level rise is glacier loss and in 2023, glaciers lost a record 1.2-meter water equivalent of ice—that’s approximately five times as much water as there is in the Dead Sea.

All these changes are seen in different parts of the world in the form of extreme weather events, from hurricanes to massive flash floods.

During a press meet in Baku, WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo emphasized that every fraction of a degree of warming matters and every additional increment of global warming increases climate extremes, impacts and risks.

“The record-breaking rainfall and flooding, rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, deadly heat, relentless drought and raging wildfires that we have seen in different parts of the world this year are unfortunately our new reality and a foretaste of our future,” Saulo said. “We urgently need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen our monitoring and understanding of our changing climate. We need to step up support for climate change adaptation through climate information services and early warnings for all.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A young child residing in a displacement camp in Port Sudan. Credit: UNICEF/ Ahmed Mohamdeen Elfatih

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

After 19 months of conflict, the ongoing Sudanese Civil War continues to deteriorate living conditions for millions of Sudanese people. Intensive conflicts between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have greatly exacerbated nationwide levels of famine. Numerous civilians have been caught in the crossfire, leading to a rising death toll. Sexual violence and rape have been used as weapons of war, with thousands of cases going unreported due to a pervasive state of fear. Sudan has seen record numbers in displacement, becoming one of the biggest displacement crises in the world.

According to estimates by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), civilian casualties from the civil war exceed 20,000. Approximately 25.6 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid, which is over 50 percent of Sudan’s population.

On November 12, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) urged the United Nations (UN) Security Council to accelerate response efforts in Sudan amidst the escalation of violence. Humanitarian organizations have been impeded from accessing some of the most conflict-ridden hotspots in Sudan.

The Tine crossing in Chad has long been a critical path for humanitarian organizations to reach the critical Darfur region of Sudan. According to OCHA, intensified fighting along this region as well as the Port Sudan region has blocked the delivery of live-saving aid.

“We are deeply concerned by the alarming trajectory of this conflict. While it has already unleashed horrendous suffering, the conditions are there for it to claim exponentially more lives,” says Ramesh Rajasingham, spokesperson for the Acting Chief of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed on October 29 that nationwide levels of displacement have reached a new peak, with over 11 million Sudanese civilians being displaced as of today. Over 400,000 people have been displaced in El Fasher in the past six months alone. More than half of the displaced population are women and over 25 percent are children.

The Zamzam Refugee Camp in northern Darfur currently houses approximately 500,000 Sudanese civilians. “The scale of this displacement – and the corresponding humanitarian needs – grows every day. Half the country’s population needs help. They don’t have access to shelter, to clean drinking water, to health care. Disease is spreading fast,” explains IOM’s Director-General, Amy Pope.

The civil war has caused significant damage to Sudan’s agricultural sector. According to the World Bank, nearly 9 million people are expected to face catastrophic hunger in 2025 if conditions do not improve. The World Food Programme estimates that there are 13 areas in Sudan that are currently at risk of famine.

“People are selling off their assets to buy food for their families. Supplies to commercial markets have been disrupted by the fighting. Many people are now totally reliant on aid in order to have just one meal a day. People are having to eat leaves and mud for energy just to try to survive,” says Concern Sudan country director, Dr. Farooq Khan.

“One in every two Sudanese is struggling to get even the minimal amount of food to survive. Famine conditions have taken hold in North Darfur, and millions struggle to feed themselves every day,” adds Pope.

On November 5, the UN reported that the RSF had been using rape and sexual violence as weapons of war. “This large-scale campaign, predominantly targeting women and girls, has been found to include rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and human trafficking under conditions of extreme violence that would amount to torture,” one UN expert said.

According to an October 23 report by the UN, over 400 victims of sexual assault from RSF had been recorded and referred to healthcare and psychosocial support services. The majority of these victims lack access to medical care. Humanitarian organizations called out RSF personnel to take accountability for their crimes to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable and suffering does not continue.

The UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said in a statement issued on October 26, that continued attacks on civilians and infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law and must come to an end. “I think considering the nature of the violence, the level of impunity enjoyed by the RSF and the near-total global silence on this, that the numbers of dead may end up being a gross underestimation,” she said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A family collecting hygiene kits from Maliha, in Eastern Ghouta, Rural Damascus, Syria. The distribution provided essential items to mostly Syrian and Lebanese families who had fled from the south of Lebanon. Credit: Norwegian Refugee Council

By Jan Egeland
OSLO, Norway, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)

“The shockwaves from Israel’s ongoing and indiscriminate warfare on Gaza and Lebanon are reverberating across this entire region. Neither the horrific assault on Israeli civilians on 7 October 2023, nor the indiscriminate missiles launched by militant groups from Lebanon, can justify the degree of destruction on civilian lives and infrastructure in the region that I have witnessed in recent days.

We cannot wait another day for an end to this senseless violence. For the sake of children across the entire region, diplomacy must result in a sustainable ceasefire.

The people I have met in recent days–from those in Gaza City, to the displaced in eastern Lebanon, to those crossing into Syria–longed for peace so they could return home. Children spoke of how much they missed school and their friends, and parents wished for an end to the precarity and suffering that displacement has brought. The suffering of millions cannot begin to end until those in power push for peace and take action to end the violence.

What I witnessed in Gaza was a society shattered by advanced weaponry, with ongoing military strikes relentlessly impacting the civilian population. War has rules, and it is clear that the Israeli campaign has been conducted with utter disregard for international humanitarian law.

As Gaza has been reduced to rubble, Western leaders have largely stood by unwilling to apply the necessary pressure on the stronger party, Israel, to stop starving the population that they are besieging and bombarding.

In Lebanon, I met people who in just a couple of weeks have lost their homes, jobs and everything in between. They are now staying in almost bare shelters that offer neither protection nor privacy, in fear that the worst is yet to come. The temperature has dropped substantially. People are ill-prepared for what promises to be the coldest winter season for the hundreds of thousands displaced.

Travelling into Syria from Lebanon via the Masnaa border crossing, I saw the huge challenges facing those fleeing violence in Lebanon, exacerbated by vast craters in the road caused by Israeli strikes. Displaced people must be provided with safe passage, shelter, and services.

Those fleeing into Syria arrive in a country with deep, pre-existing economic and humanitarian crises. NRC is providing support to those arriving in Syria, people who took the impossible decision to leave their homes while facing bombardment, and left with only what they could carry.

The aid we and others are currently able to provide is totally insufficient for the needs our staff are seeing. We must be given the right to independently monitor how those who flee from Lebanon to Syria are treated. There must be robust international support to meet people forced to flee, and there must be a genuine, re-energised diplomatic effort from all sides, to halt violence against civilians.

My visit started in Gaza, continued in Lebanon, and finished in Syria, tracing the fallout of this now regional conflict. At each point, the people I met said they wished for only one thing: peace.

Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). This article follows his visit to Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.

NRC teams are operating across Gaza, Lebanon and Syria providing essential services to displaced people. This includes items such as mattresses, blankets and hygiene kits as well as cash. We are also providing clean water and sanitation facilities as well as education to children.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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As the annual global Climate Conference (COP29) continues its first week in Baku, Azerbaijan, we can already see what the impact of the next Trump presidency will be. Credit: Shutterstock

By Felix Dodds and Michael Strauss
Nov 12 2024 (IPS)

So, the worst has happened. American voters have apparently just elected the most chaotic and kleptocratic individual in their country’s political history as their president. (We say ‘apparently’, because these days nothing can be certain about the integrity of the US political or electoral system – as is the case with far too many other countries.)

That means the incumbent president, Joe Biden – who implemented the greatest investment in wind and solar energy, in climate-friendly technology, and in reducing CO2 emissions in any nation in history – is out.

That means the previous president, Donald Trump – who opposed every one of those climate-friendly investments and has promised the greatest re-investment in oil, gas and coal of any nation in history – is back in .

There are many losers from the US election, and the mood in Baku these two weeks will often seem bleak, but it will offer a clear opportunity for starting to work out a strategy by which climate change can be addressed without US leadership

As the annual global Climate Conference (COP29) continues its first week in Baku, Azerbaijan, we can already see what the impact of the next Trump presidency will be.

At home, Trump plans to dismantle President Biden’s environmental regulations in favor of the oil and gas industry. As he often screamed at his rallies, his policy is ‘drill baby, drill !’ That indicates the petroleum reserves under US national parks and in the fragile Arctic will be opened for extraction – even though the US already is the largest producer and exporter of crude oil of any country.

Internationally, the previous Trump administration withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement – a process that for diplomatic reasons took four years to come into effect. If, as expected, a new Trump administration decides to again leave the Paris Agreement, it would be far more damaging. This time it will take only one year from the date the United States notifies the UNFCCC that it plans to leave. Next year’s pivotal COP30 would then be the last annual meeting the US attends as a party to the climate convention.

That withdrawal – combined with the probable end of all (?) climate assistance by the US to developing countries – will most likely (very possibly) herald the end of any chance for the world to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit for global temperature increase that was won in hard negotiations in in Paris in 2015.

It risks putting the world on a cataclysmic climate trajectory in this, the critical decade that was supposed to reduce the increase of the gases that impact on climate.

The infamous Project 2025 of the American far-right also calls for a future Republican administration to withdraw from the World Bank – which is the largest contributor to climate finance. That possibility is occurring right at the time that countries will be setting their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), due on February 10th.

Developing country governments will therefore realize there will be less funding available to help implement their plans, so might reduce their ambition – at least for the next four years. Even if countries were able to obtain US funding, Project 2025 says this would be dependent on the recipients aligning with conservative religious values such as opposition to abortion.

The reductions may go further than the US government. Trump and US conservatives have attacked environmental, social and governance investing strategies (ESG) for years and attempted to intimidate companies.

Jefferies Financial Group has advised ESG Fund bosses to have ‘lawyers on speed dial’. So, an attempt to use the market to continue work on climate change may not be an easy option. Any CEO that goes against him will be aware that his or her company might feel the wrath of the White House – lost contracts being the obvious penalty.

There will be a wider erosion of multilateralism than on climate. The previous Trump administration withdrew the US from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). A new Trump Administration, led by anti-vaccine extremists, may move to limit engagement with the World Health Organization (WHO) as well.

 

What wealthy nations can – and must – do!

So how can other nations respond to this challenge?

The EU nations are faced with a tremendous challenge. Can they help fill the gap that will be left by the US while also defending their security and their democracies from active efforts to undermine them?

Can the EU and other developed nations implement a small but cumulatively significant climate tax dedicated to assisting adaptation and loss in the South?

Can the oil-producing North Sea nations tap far more of their own immense sovereign wealth funds to help others – particularly small island nations (Small Island States) – to avoid catastrophic climate damage?

Can the UK find increased motivation to rejoin the EU, at least on trade and environmental policy, given that Trump tariffs could cost the country $28 billion in lost exports1, dealing another serious impact to an already fragile British economy ? [1 Robert Olsen, Forbes magazine, Nov 9, 2024]

Can institutional investors, non-profit funders and corporations – even US corporations – increase their contributions to the Private Sector Facility of the Green Climate Fund, which provides funding directly to programs in local communities in developing countries?

Finally, can the Middle East petrochemical states fully share their vast wealth derived from oil to help the far-poorer nations facing climate risks caused by that oil? Can they support the universal phase out of oil, coal and gas – instead of simply building their own mega-solar plants to protect themselves as they continue to pump oil?

 

What developing nations can – and must – do!

Meanwhile, can the most rapidly-developing nations fill the political and financial gap and provide some of the lost social cohesion?

India has already pledged an important goal of 35 percent reduction in emissions intensity of its GDP by 2030 (which is not the same as absolute CO2 emissions reduction, but still a positive step), and net zero emissions by 2070. The official delegation of India to COP29 – together with government delegations of other rapidly-developing nations – could jointly announce their determination to increase their already announced Nationally Determined Contributions, and resist the loss of momentum from the US backing away from its carbon reduction goals .

Can India – the nation with world’s richest experience of both Western and Eastern cultural strengths, and the largest democracy – finally resolve its problems of racial and religious hatred, and present to other nations a new model of economic prosperity that lifts up and values the poorest as well as the richest?

Can China start to share technology and export growth to poorer countries in a model of genuine sharing that isn’t based on economic self-aggrandizement?

Can Brazil stabilize itself politically and nurture its immense ecological resources before they are cleared away and turned into cattle ranches?

Can South Africa walk past its internal political problems and various recent corruption scandals to become the sub-Saharan economic engine and political leader that everybody had hoped it would be?

Can Russia stop trying to repeat its own history of genocidal imperialism (see Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe) and fomenting insurrection, and instead act like a responsible nuclear power? After all it was Russia whose ratification of the Kyoto Protocol saw it come into effect.

A more isolated US will provide more opportunity for leadership by the most rapidly developing nations.

Perhaps it is now time for China, India and the most rapidly developing nations to significantly contribute financially to climate funds like the loss and damage mechanism that assists the very poorest and most vulnerable nations .

Perhaps countries like India and China, Brazil and Indonesia – whose cultures have thousands of years of agricultural experience in monsoon and rainforest ecosystems – could cooperate to provide expertise to farmers in other countries now facing tropical deluges.

The BRICS group now includes not only Brazil, China, India, Russia, South Africa and the UAE, but countries in a partnership relationship, like Indonesia and Turkey. It therefore includes six of the world’s predicted top 15 economies by 2030.

That is not an economically powerless group. It represents significant economic power. Will they use that power to help their brother and sister nations now even more at risk from climate chaos?

Or will they each merely attempt to mimic the worst aspects of Western vulture capitalism – taking as much possible, giving as little as necessary, while racing to exploit their own poor and working people, as well as the poor and working people in other countries ?

 

A coalition of the still willing

As always in policy and politics, perception can be as important as substance, and generating a public appearance of momentum can be a necessary ingredient for generating actual progress in negotiations. So, agreeing to address the problem is an essential step.

For the world to work, nations must be willing to work together. For the planet not to spiral into economic, social and climate collapse, individuals in each country must be willing to respect and care for other people – and other peoples .

There are many losers from the US election, and the mood in Baku these two weeks will often seem bleak, but it will offer a clear opportunity for starting to work out a strategy by which climate change can be addressed without US leadership.

The return of Trump will not only be the worst scenario for climate, of course. The impacts on civilians living in Ukraine and Gaza and Sudan, on women in the US and Afghanistan and Iran, on refugees and minority families throughout dozens of countries, and on democracy everywhere, will be potentially disastrous .

But the impact on climate might be the one that’s the most difficult – if not impossible – to reverse. ​Unless, that is, the remaining responsible governments – in a coalition of the still-willing – can creatively and cooperatively configure a strategy to minimize the damage, and constructively move forward for the common global good, together.

 

Felix Dodds is an Adjunct Professor in the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina. He has have participated in United Nations conferences and negotiations since the 1990s. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence co-edited Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage (Routledge, 2022), which examines the roles of individuals in inspiring change.

Michael Strauss is Executive Director of Earth Media, an independent communications consultancy based in New York. His clients include NGOs, national governments, trade unions and UN agencies. He coordinated press conferences at the United Nations and at global environmental summits from 1992 to 2012 .

He is co-author of “Only One Earth – The Long Road, via Rio, to Sustainable Development” with Felix Dodds and Maurice Strong.

 

Opening Plenary. Credit: UN Climate Change/Kamran Guliyev

By Joyce Chimbi
BAKU, Nov 12 2024 (IPS)

The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties on climate change has officially kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the promise of striking yet another historic global climate deal and finance adaptation, gender responsive action and financing, and forgotten issues such as food waste are top on the agenda as every action is as crucial as every fraction in the rise or fall of a Celsius degree.

“We meet at a time of complexity and conflict. I stand before you today with a deep sense of purpose, pride and gratitude. By delivering the historic, comprehensive, balanced and groundbreaking UAE (COP28) consensus, we accomplished what many thought was impossible,” said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, outgoing President for COP28 UAE.

Dr. Al Jaber is the first CEO to ever serve as COP President. He urged all parties at this COP, “the Finance COP, to deliver a new collective quantified goal that is robust and capable of fully implementing the UAE consensus. At COP28, we broke new ground and set many precedents. One of the most important precedents was the COP Presidency’s Troika, a new mechanism for momentum that creates a bridge between COPs 28, 29, and 30.”

The Troika, which means three—the UAE, Azerbaijan, and Brazil—presidency of COP28, COP29 and COP30, respectively—aims to build continuity and coherence between presidencies to ensure momentum going from the Dubai Conference into Baku COP in 2024 and beyond into Belem COP in 2025. This will be achieved through an innovative and strategic partnership that can help Parties move from negotiated texts to action and implementation.

“Determination conquered doubt, and your hard work paid off with the first after first for climate progress. And progress didn’t end when the gavel came down on the UAE consensus. In the months since COP28, the initiatives we launched have gathered real momentum and real pace,” he observed.

Stressing that the world is set to break another record in renewable energy growth this year, “adding over 500 gigawatts to global capacity. Fifty-five companies have now joined the oil and gas decarbonization charter, committing to zero methane emissions by 2030 and net zero by or before 2050. This initiative is pragmatic, practical, and focused on real results.”

Incoming COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said that the COP-29 Presidency summit presents an unmissable moment to chart a new path forward for everyone. That it will deliver an inclusive, transparent and party-driven conference and that the plan is based on two mutually reinforcing pillars: enhancing ambition and enabling action.

“This calls for clear climate plans and delivering the finance needed. We mobilize climate finance; we allow for high ambitions. As we signal together higher ambition, we build trust to unlock greater financial commitments. To enable action, the COP29 presidency’s top priority is to agree on a fair and ambitious new collective quantified goal on climate finance. We know that our needs are in trillions, but there are different views on how to achieve them,” Babayev observed.

“We have also heard that the realistic goal for what the public sector can directly provide and mobilize seems to be the hundreds of billions. The COP29 presidency has made every effort to bring the parties close together. But we still have much to do and just 12 days to land a deal. We now urgently need to finalize the elements, resolve our differences on contributors and quantum and set the new goal. These negotiations are complex and difficult,” he stressed

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, said the Secretariat will continue to work tirelessly with what is on hand while being clear on what funding is needed to deliver on what is increasingly being asked of them, keeping the focus firmly on the safe, inclusive and meaningful participation of all observers at this COP.

“In the past few years, we have taken some historic steps forward. We cannot leave Baku without a substantial outcome. Appreciating the importance of this moment, parties must act accordingly.

Show determination and ingenuity here at COP29. We need all parties to push for agreement right from the start, to stand and deliver. Now is the time to show that global cooperation is not down for the count,” Stiell stressed.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By Erik Solheim
OSLO, Norway, Nov 12 2024 (IPS)

The nation which more than any other caused the climate crisis will leave it to the rest of the world to sort out the mess.

That is a takeaway from the US election last week.

Erik Solheim

The numbers are clear: US emissions up to today are 8 times the Chinese, 25 times the Indian and the difference is even bigger if we compare with small island development states or with Africa. The US will leave it to the victims of climate change to save the planet.

This week the world comes together in Baku, Azerbaijan for the UN climate talks, on the eve of the hottest year since the 1200s. The meeting takes place a week after a flood which took more than 200 lifes in one of the world´s most developed states, Spain. The last years have seen wildfires in the Amazon, and in California, Greece and Turkey. Floods have caused massive damage in Pakistan and China. Northern India experienced 52 degrees last Summer in areas where very few people have access to air condition.

From every indicator – its time to act. To act now!

The bad news is that the world ´s most powerful leader believes we should do nothing.

The good news is that this matters much less than we tend to think.

Of course Trumps victory will make it more challenging to find compromises on financing and other issues in Baku. Leaders will ask why their nation shall act or indeed pay, if the US doesnt. Global climate diplomacy will be in jeopardy. We will probably also see a roll back of the financial support for domestic climate action in the US introduced by Biden . Trump will withdraw the US from the Paris agreement, may be even from the UN Climate Convention.

But still there is hope. I am confident we will win the struggle. Here is why:

Most importantly it´s China, India and Europe which are leading on climate, not the US, even under Biden. China is the indispensible nation for climate action not the US. Last year China contributed 2/3 of all global renewable energy. It produced 60% or more of everything green – electric cars, buses and batteries, solar panels and wind mills, hydropower and high speed rail. China is also the world´s largest tree planter, by far.

India is aiming for 500 gigawatt of solar, wind and hydro by 2030. Prime minister Modi is launching «green missions» for India by the day, for instance a program for ten million homes with solar panels. Indian states like Gujarat have massive green ambitions.

Indonesia, the second largest rain forest nation, has drastically reduced deforestation. Brazil is following.

Europe was once the climate leader, even if it is now surpassed by Asia. The Green New Deal brings green development to Europe.

China, India, Europe and many more dont act on climate to please America. They act because climate change is a huge threat to their nations. They act because climate action is an enormous opportunity for green jobs, profits and prosperity.

The world can do well without the US

Secondly the forces fighting for a cooler world are also strong in the US itself.

Powerful American states support climate action. California, New York and many other states will not relinqush green efforts, but probably fight Trump tooth and nail. The economy of California alone is among the ten biggest in the world.

Business is leading the charge, not the government. No major US business saluted when Trump last time took US out of Paris agreement. US business see opportunities for profits and jobs in climate action The efforts of the US tech industry to source green power for its data center is more important than most government programs.

Business will be lukewarm to Trump´s desire to curb US climate action. He has portrayed the shift to electric cars as a «win for Beijing». The opposite is obviously the case. If Detroit doesnt start turning out electic cars, China will capture the entire global market. The Chinese domestic car market is already bigger then the American, and its electric. Buses, scooters and taxis, half of all new cars in China, are now electric.

Noone who switched from gasolin to electric cars has ever returned. The electric cars are more hight tech, pollute less, make less noise and create a better driving experience. The global trend is towards electric cars.

US business will of course be vary to leave the market for electric cars or green energy totally in the hands of China.

Thirdly, while many feel despondant today, nothing stands still in politics. A majority of Americans said they dont like Trump, even on the day they elected him. Problem for the Democrats – they are even less loved.

On election day Americans endorsed abortion in referendum after referendum. Even very conservative states supported European style welfare policies in referendums. Minimum wages fared similarly well. 57% of the voters in deeply Republican Florida even wanted abortion up to 24 weeks, a non starter in liberal Europe.

All action creates counter action. The global and US anger Trump will cause may be exactly what a fairly docile global green movement needs?

Environmentalist need to be more people centered, and we will win.

Lastly the election of Trump may paradoxically create a more peaceful world and that will help the climate movement. He strongly argued in his campaign that the US should focus on its own borders, not on everyone else borders. The time of the Neocons, both democratic and Republican, who couldnt see a war they didnt like, may be over? Trump may focus US resources on real American foreign policy needs, not believing as the Neocons that every square meter of planet Earth is an American Security risk you neeed to fight for.

The war in Ukraine may end? There is very little reason to believe Ukraine will be in a stronger negotiation position down the road. Continued war will only bring more death and destruction. A compromise now will be painful for Ukraine but is in all likelihood the least bad outcome. Trump may bring that and then Climate will again be more centre stage in global politics.

At the end of the day the election of Trump signals that US decline as the dominant world power will accellerate. His protectionist economic policy will make US business less competitive. Decreased migration will reduce economic growth. Trump is less likely than Biden to be able to make allies. Domestic turmoil and polarization will continue. The global trend towards a multipolar world dominated by the Global South will speed up. After a century of US dominance in world affairs, the ascent of Asia is not necessarily bad for the planet?

Erik Solheim is a Norwegian diplomat and former politician. He served in the Norwegian government from 2005 to 2012 as Minister of International Development and Minister of the Environment, and as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme from 2016 to 2018

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Internally displaced children at a displacement shelter in Léogâne. Credit: UNICEF/Maxime Le Lijour

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 12 2024 (IPS)

Gang violence has ravaged Haiti, causing thousands of civilian deaths, displacements, and violations of international humanitarian law. Turmoil is expected to escalate following the removal of Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille from office on November 11.

On November 10, the Haitian government announced plans to replace incumbent prime minister Conille, with entrepreneur and former senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. Conille responded by describing his termination as “illegal”, stating that the transition council of Haiti only has the power to appoint a prime minister, rather than dismissing one from office. Conille informed reporters that “this resolution, taken outside any legal and constitutional framework, raises serious concerns about its legitimacy.”

Since the beginning of Conille’s term, his efforts to eradicate gang violence, boost the nation’s economy, and eliminate hunger have been largely unsuccessful. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), Haiti remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with approximately half of the country facing acute food insecurity. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) states that approximately 5.5 million people require humanitarian assistance for survival. Basic services such as access to food, clean drinking water, healthcare, education, shelter, and psychosocial support are severely limited.

Shortly after the beginning of his term on June 3 of this year, Conille launched the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission in Haiti, a contingent mission backed by Kenya. However, following the deployment of 400 Kenyan officers in Haiti, nationwide gang violence surged and shifted to more vulnerable areas, like the Artibonite River region.

In an October 22 address to the United Nations (UN) Security Council, María Isabel Salvador, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti, remarked that the MSS mission is severely underfunded, leading to 700,000 Haitians to be internally displaced.

“The security situation remains extremely fragile, with renewed peaks of acute violence. The situation in Haiti has regrettably worsened,” said Salvador. She added that the violence was once relatively contained to the Port-Au-Prince region but has escalated and expanded throughout the nation. Murders, kidnappings and sexual violence of “unprecedented brutality” remain frequent occurrences.

Georges Fauriol, a Haiti specialist and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., opined that efforts by Conille to soothe tensions and remove gang activity have only aggravated brutalities committed by gangs.

“So here we are nearly mid-November and the Kenyans are nowhere near what was promised earlier in the summer and the gangs appear to have in some cases mutated to cartel-like operational ambitions, with an increasingly worrisome stream of arms and financing,” said Fauriol.

The recent transition of power is predicted to further destabilize the political and social climate of Haiti. Due to increased political instability, humanitarian organizations fear that armed groups will exploit Haiti’s state of vulnerability. Currently, the Haitian government lacks a Parliament and has not had a democratic election in years, creating a significant political vacuum.

As Fils-Aimé was sworn into office on the morning of November 11, armed gangs targeted Haiti’s international airport in Port-Au-Prince. The flight was diverted to the Dominican Republic. However, in other areas of Haiti, fights between gangs and police engulfed the capital, with some gangs setting homes on fire.

According to the U.S. Embassy, the attacks were “gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince which may include armed violence, and disruptions to roads, ports, and airports”. With Haiti facing a lack of proper governance and political structure, gang violence will continue to escalate.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A group of female farmers are working in the field in Habra, India. In Asia and the Pacific, 2 out of 5 of agriculture workers are women.
 
Gender-responsive climate actions will take center stage at the COP29 this week as world leaders gather in Azerbaijan to raise collective ambitions. Credit: Pexels/ Dibakar Roy

By Xinyi Qu, Kareff Rafisura and Gomer Padong
BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 12 2024 (IPS)

When the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, orbited the Earth in 1963, there were only three active Earth observation satellites. Today, the number is 114 times greater.

With more and better satellites, the impacts of advances in the space sector are particularly evident in agriculture, where space data improves insights into the individual components of these landscapes (land, water and forests), as well as their interconnections.

Sixty years since Valentina Tereshkova, women continue to play crucial roles in food production worldwide. In the Asia-Pacific region, two out of five agriculture workers are women. While they face disproportionate impacts from climate change, they are also driving climate solutions. How are they benefitting from the growing capability of the space sector to support agriculture?

YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkAXdPQvb6M

The importance of promoting and enhancing women’s participation in using space applications for sustainable development and disaster risk reduction was underscored in the 2018 Ministerial Declaration on Space Applications for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific.

Guided by this aspiration, the United Nations’ regional commission, ESCAP, is actively working to help countries in the region advance gender inclusivity by ensuring that at least 30 per cent of participants in its capacity building activities on space applications are women.

While these gender inclusivity efforts are an important step, more needs to be done to make available space data accessible, affordable, and actionable.

Accessible: The percentage of women using the Internet in Asia and the Pacific stands at 63 per cent compared to 69 per cent of men. Closing this gender digital divide is indispensable towards enhancing women’s access to new information, skills and knowledge that could help them manage the impacts of climate on their livelihood resources (land, water, forest).

Targeted support to community-centered connectivity projects can complement broader policy actions and infrastructure development.

Affordable: Making space data affordable for women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can unleash product innovation and create opportunities for growth. One example is the Australia Space Data Analysis Facility which enhances the ability of SMEs to use Earth observation data by facilitating access to analysis-ready data and uptake of space data analytics, along with training, tools, and access to expertise.

Actionable: Geolocation can aid in developing locally relevant solutions. However, it is seldom sufficient considering that men and women experience the impacts of climate change differently and have unequal capacities to adapt. Engaging local women’s networks in tailoring solutions to the specific needs and contexts of women in different communities is key to making space data actionable.

The experience of the space agency of Thailand in promoting Dragonfly amongst its community of users demonstrates that women farmers are more likely to use space data when it is integrated with socio-economic information that provides multi-dimensional perspectives for farm-level decision-making.

The 2024 edition of ESCAP’s Compendium of Geospatial Practices for Sustainable Development contains examples of how space applications are used to boost crop monitoring and forecasting capabilities, increase precision and production efficiency, and enable adaptation to climate change.

CropWatch, a cloud-based platform developed by Chinese scientists integrates time-series remote-sensing data from multiple sources to monitor crop production and forecast trends. In Japan, a cloud-based service uses satellite and drone imagery to monitor crop growth and determine optimal harvest times allowing farmers to monitor crop health, increase yields, improve food quality, and reduce waste. In Mongolia, Earth observation data are used to provide crop productivity information throughout the growing season using cloud platform technology.

In terms of land management, the UralGIS agro-monitoring system in the Russian Federation uses satellite imagery to optimize agricultural land use. This system forms part of the unified federal information system and aids in determining plot boundaries and their agricultural suitability, enhancing land management through cadastral registration and 3D mapping for landscape analysis.

The Forest Geospatial Information System of the Republic of Korea is an example of how a spatial data infrastructure can underpin a forest management approach that balances environmental, economic, and social considerations.

These space applications have a remarkable potential for empowering women to thrive amidst a changing climate. Gender-responsive climate actions will take center stage at the COP29 this November as world leaders gather in Azerbaijan to raise collective ambitions.

Sixty years since the first woman went to space, it is time to double down efforts and ensure that women farmers also benefit from space-driven innovations – empowering them to play an active role in shaping climate solutions.

Xinyi Qu, Intern, ESCAP; Kareff Rafisura, Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP; Gomer Padong, Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia

Relevant SDGS:

• SDG 2: Zero Hunger
• SDG 5: Gender Equality
• SDG 13: Climate Action

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Mountain range in Mt. Everest region in Nepal; loss of snow and glacier melting in the region impacting people living in the region and downstream communities. Photo: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

By Tanka Dhakal
BAKU, Nov 12 2024 (IPS)

Scientists warn of vastly higher impacts on billions of people’s livelihood and cost to the global economy by the accelerating losses in the world’s snow and ice regions, aka the cryosphere.

Over 50 leading cryosphere scientists released an annual report on the status of the world’s ice stores on Tuesday (November 12) at the UN Climate Conference (COP29) in Baku. An updated report on the world’s ice warns of “drastically higher costs without immediate emissions reductions.” 

The State of the Cryosphere Report 2024 titled Lost Ice, Global Damage, coordinated by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), says that current climate commitments are nowhere near to avoid irreversible consequences for billions of people from global ice loss.

After analyzing most recent cryosphere science, scientists underscore that the costs of loss and damage if our current level of emissions continues—leading towards a rise of 3°C or more—will be even more extreme, with many regions experiencing sea-level rise or water resource loss well beyond adaptation limits in this century. Reports say mitigation also becomes more costly due to feedback from thawing permafrost emissions and loss of sea ice.

For the first time, the report notes a growing scientific consensus that melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets may be slowing important ocean currents at both poles, with potentially dire consequences for a much colder northern Europe and greater sea-level rise along the U.S. East Coast.

Cryosphere scientists (ICCI) stress that only definitive and rapid measures to reduce emissions can avert the worst loss and damage impacts of ice and snow loss and cut the ultimate costs to vulnerable nations and high emitters alike.

“The drastic changes we are seeing in the cryosphere while mountain and downstream regions all over the planet are suffering floods, droughts, and landslides provide the most compelling arguments we could have for immediate climate action,” said Regine Hock, an IPCC author and glaciologist. “The cryosphere can’t wait. It must be put at the top of the global climate agenda.”

To underscore the situation, scientists gave an example of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is currently losing 30 million tons of ice per hour, “something I never thought I would see in my lifetime,” said IPCC scientist Dr. Rob DeConto. “If climate pledges are not taken seriously, global temperature rise may exceed 3°C, with Antarctic ice loss potentially causing sea levels to rise much faster than we think.”

Cryosphere scientists are pleading for urgent climate action to avoid catastrophe for coastal cities and downstream communities in the mountain regions.

Dr. James Kirkham, an author on the report, said, “We are not talking about the distant future; the impacts of cryosphere loss are already felt by millions. But the speed of action we take today decides the size and speed of the challenge to which future generations will need to adapt. The impacts of cryosphere loss will only become greater with every hour that leaders delay action now.”

Impact is not only limited to coastal or ice sheet regions but also impacts the day-to-day livelihood of Himalayan regions too.

“There is a very clear connection between changes in the cryosphere in high mountain regions and downstream impacts,” climate scientist Dr. Miriam Jackson said. “Some of these are related to hazards, including thawing of permafrost (frozen ground) and floods that originate in glacial lakes, commonly called GLOFs—glacier lake outburst floods.”

In Asia, the frequency of GLOFs is expected to triple by century’s end without substantial emission reductions. Jackson added, “Glaciers are continuing to shrink, affecting and changing water runoff. Snow cover and number of snow-covered days are also showing decreasing trends, affecting people who depend on meltwater runoff for irrigation.”

A change in water resources will affect agriculture and probably lead to higher food prices.

To avoid multilayered impacts, urgent climate responses and emissions cuts are necessary.

“Whilst some devastating losses and impacts are now locked in,” Kirkham said, “how bad the intensity and severity of cryosphere impacts will continue to grow in the future is still very much to be decided based on the policy decisions we will make in the coming five or so years.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Smog near the Ghanta Ghar (Clock Tower) in Faisalabad, a city about 120 km from Lahore and the third most populous city after Karachi and Lahore. Credits: Khalid Mahmood/Wiki & handout.

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Pakistan, Nov 12 2024 (IPS)

“It’s been horrible; I’ve been sick on and off for the last 10 days,” said 29-year-old asthmatic Natasha Sohail, who teaches A-Level students at three private schools in Lahore. Last week, her condition worsened with a vertigo attack and fever.

Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city and capital of Punjab province, with a population of nearly 14 million, remains shrouded in a thick grey haze, which Sohail describes as smelling of “burning wood.”

It also has the distinction of being the world leader in the poor air quality index (AQI), with some neighborhoods touching over 1200 on the air quality index. The AQI measures the level of fine particles (PM2.5), larger particles (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) in the air. An AQI of 151 to 200 is classified as “unhealthy,” 201 to 300 as “very unhealthy,” and more than 300 as “hazardous.”

For the past eight years, Sohail has relied on anti-wheezing drugs and inhalers. At home, there are four air purifiers to help her breathe cleaner air.

She’s not alone.

These two photos were taken at the same place; the clear blue sky was taken in September 2023 and the sepia skies in November 2024. Courtesy: Zaeema Naeem

“The hospitals are crowded with tens of thousands of patients suffering from respiratory and heart diseases being treated at hospitals and clinics over the last two weeks,” said Dr Ashraf Nizami, president of the Pakistan Medical Association’s Lahore chapter. “The psychological toll the poor air is taking on people remains under the radar,” he added.

Punjab’s senior minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, revealing the government’s anti-smog action plan, informed journalists that Lahore endured 275 days of unhealthy Air Quality Index (AQI) levels over the past year, with temperatures rising by 2.3 degrees.

After Lahore’s AQI exceeded 1,000 last week, authorities closed all primary and secondary schools. Punjab’s Secretary for Environment, Raja Jahangir Anwar, warned the closure could continue if air quality doesn’t improve. “Young children are vulnerable, and we want to avoid an emergency,” he said, adding that online learning, as during the COVID pandemic, can be adopted again.

Source: Analysis by CREA. Data source for Lahore AQI is Airnow

 

Source: Analysis by CREA. Data source for Lahore AQI is Airnow

 

Source: Analysis by CREA. Data source for Lahore AQI is Airnow

 

Living in a world of air purifiers

Aliya Khan, 37, a mother of two boys—aged five and one, with the older one suffering from asthma—had installed four imported air purifiers in her home four years ago, each costing Rs 31,000 (about USD 370). They bought a fifth this year at Rs 60,000 (about USD 710). “It cost us a fortune, but that’s not all; the filters must be replaced every year, which costs Rs 10,000 per machine,” she said.

The private school her five-year-old attends lacks air purifiers in classrooms, leaving parents with no choice but to pool together and buy one for their child’s classroom.

Khan, a development consultant, says air purifiers work best if the home is packed tightly to keep the air from outside entering. “Our windows and doors are poorly insulated, where we live with elderly parents and two hyperactive kids and home staff that keep coming in and going out—the air purifiers struggle to maintain their effectiveness.”

Smog Brings Business for Some

Business picks up for 37-year-old Hassan Zaidi as soon as Lahore is covered in smog. He’s currently fulfilling an order for “hundreds of air purifiers” for a foreign school in Lahore.

A computer engineer with a passion for product design, Zaidi started building air purifiers in 2019 for his family after his baby daughter developed a cough. He purchased an imported air purifier, took it apart, and quickly realized that with the right materials, it was no “rocket science” to build one himself.

He claimed, “Mine work better, look better, and cost just Rs 25,000 (USD 296).” These air purifiers restart automatically after power outages, are nearly silent, and are easy to repair. The filter costs Rs 2,400 (USD 28) and needs replacing each season. Each unit is good for a 500 sq ft room if fully sealed.

Authorities Take action

Stubble burning in India and Pakistan. The blue line is the border between the two countries. Pakistan (left) and India (on the right).

Anwar said the government has introduced several measures to reduce emissions and improve air quality, adopting a “whole-of-government” approach with all departments working together for the first time.

Authorities have already banned barbecuing food without filters and use of motorized rickshaws.

The government distributed 1,000 subsidized super-seeders to farmers as an alternative to burning rice stubble and took legal action against over 400 farmers who violated the burning ban. “This carrot and stick approach will be very effective,” endorsed Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri, the executive director of the Islamabad-based think tank, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

Anwar said superseeders will convert residue into mulch, improving production and speeding sowing. Penalizing a few farmers will deter others from breaking the law.

Another measure involved demolishing over 600 of the 11,000 smoke-emitting brick kilns that hadn’t switched to zigzag technology, including 200 in and around Lahore.

Terming brick kilns the “low hanging fruit,” Dr Parvez Hassan, senior advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and president of the Pakistan Environmental Law Association, who, in 2003 and again in 2018, was appointed the chairperson of the Lahore Clean Air Commission and the Smog Commission by the Lahore High Court to come up with the smog policy, did not approve the “arbitrary decision of dismantling” of the kilns. In his view, supporting the kiln owners with “available concessional financing for conversion to zig-zag technology” would be a more effective way.

He further added that it was well known that the transport (oil), cement and textile sectors were the bigger polluters, but they were very influential. “Power in Pakistan has always meant being above the law,” he said and that the “general lack of political will and effective capability to monitor compliance” also act as roadblocks. “No country in the world has succeeded in good environmental policies unless it has first built a capacity to implement! The journey must begin with capacity building!”

However, Anwar said action has been taken with visits to 15,000 industrial units, sealing 64 mills and demolishing 152 factories.

Anwar stated that 43 percent of air pollution in the province is caused by unfit vehicles, with transporters equally responsible. He shared that Lahore has 1.3 million cars and 4.5 million two-wheelers, with 1,800 motorcycles added daily. He also mentioned that the traffic police have been ordered to impound vehicles without fitness certificates. Last month, a fine of Rs 16.09 million was imposed on over 24,000 substandard vehicles across the province.

“Getting a vehicle fitness certificate in Pakistan is as easy as a blind person getting a license to drive!” said a petroleum expert who requested anonymity. “We need to clean the fuel, scrap old vehicles, and make vehicle emissions testing mandatory,” he added.

Imran Khalid, a climate governance expert, emphasized that improving fuel quality alone isn’t enough; vehicles and engines also need upgrades to fully benefit from better fuel. He noted that while Euro 5 fuel is available in Pakistan, it’s not widely accessible, and Euro 6 is the standard in India. He added, “I haven’t seen any survey on how many cars in Pakistan have Euro 5 compliant engines.”

The petroleum expert urged the government to approve the refinery upgrade policy, which has been delayed for two years, adding that upgrades will take up to five years.

Despite various actions, people in Lahore remain unconvinced, calling them too little, too late.

“The measures announced by the government should have been operationalized at least six months before the smog season and the 24/7 enforcement of these priorities should be rigorously monitored by a dedicated team with support of the public through awareness campaigns,” pointed out advocate Hassan.

Nizami called for year-round efforts against air pollution, questioning why no one is held accountable for cutting millions of trees for unplanned housing while the focus remains on controlling stubble burning.

Anwar defended the smog plan, stating it’s been in progress since April and required public cooperation, including staying indoors and wearing masks. Punjab’s senior minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, warned that failure to wear masks could lead to a complete city lockdown.

“I don’t see the plan working as the air quality is getting from bad to worse,” said Sohail.

Nizami criticized the government for making a lot of noise but taking little action. “It’s shameful how they’ve shifted health responsibilities to the private sector,” he said.

Sohail suggested cloud seeding for artificial rain, noting its positive impact last year. Nizami also supported using artificial rain to clear the haze.

Anwar explained that cloud seeding required the right clouds and humidity. He added that the meteorological office predicts favorable weather for it between November 11 and 13.

Climate diplomacy

While 70 percent of smog in Lahore is locally generated, nearly 30 percent comes from India. Manoj Kumar, a scientist with the Finnish Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, noted that the Indo-Gangetic Plain formed an “interconnected air shed,” affecting air quality, but local sources played a major role in Lahore’s pollution levels.

The chief minister is keen to start talks with her Indian counterpart. “Maryam Nawaz will soon send a letter to the Chief Minister of Indian Punjab, expressing her willingness to visit India and invite him to Pakistan,” said Anwar.

Kumar praised the Punjab chief minister’s initiative, emphasizing that long-term, coordinated efforts between both countries could lead to improved air quality through a unified approach. But the efforts should not stop at the Punjab regions alone, as the air shed is shared and goes beyond India.

Anwar said Pakistan is considering hosting a “regional climate conference in Lahore soon.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Opening plenary COP 29. Credit: UN Climate Change/Kiara Worth

By Umar Manzoor Shah
BAKU, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

The Head of Impact Assessment and Adaptation, Henry Neufeldt, UN Environment Programme Copenhagen Climate Centre, has called for increased climate adaptation funding, particularly for developing nations facing significant climate risks.

UNEP’s latest report reveals an acute adaptation finance gap, with current international funding for developing countries at USD 30 billion—far below the USD 200 to 400 billion annually required to meet their adaptation needs. According to Neufeldt, this funding shortfall demands substantial commitments from developed nations, which should ideally set an ambitious climate finance goal at COP 29. 

He also warns that, without further action, global temperatures could rise by 2.6 to 3.1 °C by the end of the century, unless adaptation is addressed. Even with current pledges, achieving the safer 1.5°C target may be challenging, highlighting an increased need for adaptation funding. Equity is a key consideration, as many vulnerable nations bearing adaptation costs have contributed little to emissions.

Neufeldt advocates for a shift from loan- to grant-based funding to prevent further indebting these countries. Neufeldt also stresses that transformational adaptation is necessary, requiring a shift from incremental changes to more systemic solutions, such as altering agricultural practices or planning coastal retreats.

Moving toward COP30, Neufeldt hopes to see national adaptation plans with clear, costed actions and a robust global adaptation framework to track progress. Ultimately, he sees these efforts as critical to helping vulnerable communities build resilience against climate impacts.

COP29, dubbed the ‘finance COP,’ began with strong statements about the urgent need to raise funding.

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said in his opening address that it was known that the “needs are in the trillions.” While he also acknowledged that a realistic goal for what the public sector can directly provide and mobilize seems to be in the “hundreds of billions.”

However, there was little choice: “These numbers may sound big, but they are nothing compared to the cost of inaction. These investments pay off.”

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell also emphasized the importance of reaching a new global climate finance goal in Baku. “If at least two-thirds of the world’s nations cannot afford to cut emissions quickly, then every nation pays a brutal price,” he said. “So, let’s dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity. An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every nation, including the largest and wealthiest.”

Henry Neufeldt, the Head of Impact Assessment and Adaptation at the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre.

Neufeldt plays a key role as the chief scientific editor of UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2024: Come hell and high water.

IPS: What are the primary reasons behind UNEP’s call for a dramatic increase in adaptation finance, especially at COP 29?

Neufeldt: The report highlights a substantial adaptation finance gap. This gap is the difference between what countries need for climate adaptation—an estimated USD 200 to 400 billion based on national adaptation plans—and the USD 30 billion currently coming from international public finance to developing nations. This significant discrepancy—roughly eight to fifteen times less than needed—underscores the urgency for developed countries to increase adaptation investments. COP29’s focus will include a new collective quantified goal for climate finance, covering both adaptation and mitigation, with hopes of setting a more ambitious financial floor to address this gap. Additionally, we urge bilateral and international development banks to boost their contributions to developing countries.

IPS: Will global temperatures indeed rise by 2.6 to 3.1 degrees Celsius by the end of the century? What are the most urgent adaptation priorities?

Neufeldt: If no further action is taken beyond current commitments, we could see temperature increases of 2.6 to 3.1 degrees Celsius by century’s end. However, fully implementing all pledges, particularly from G20 nations, could limit this rise to around two degrees—still above the safer target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, which we’re now crossing for the first time this year. Current adaptation needs to align with a 1.5-degree temperature rise, but we’ll need far more for higher temperatures. We don’t yet know the full scope of those needs, as models for future adaptation costs under those conditions are still developing.

IPS: How significant is the adaptation finance gap, and how are current financing flows falling short?

Neufeldt: As mentioned, the finance gap is between USD 200 and 400 billion annually, while current flows are only about USD 30 billion. This shortfall is specific to developing countries; we aren’t even calculating the adaptation finance needed in developed nations, where costs are likely higher due to greater infrastructure.

IPS: How do you envision the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance helping bridge this adaptation gap?

Neufeldt: We have high hopes for the NCQG negotiations in Baku to set an ambitious adaptation finance target. Ideally, this target will better reflect the needs of developing nations, ensuring they receive the financial support required for effective adaptation measures.

IPS: Why is it critical to consider equity and integrity in adaptation finance, particularly for developing nations facing climate impacts and debt burdens?

Neufeldt: Equity is essential. Much adaptation finance still comes as loans, which increases debt burdens on the least developed countries. These countries, which have contributed the least to emissions, are now forced to bear the costs of adaptation. In our report, we stress that more finance should come as grants rather than loans to avoid further indebting these vulnerable nations. Two-thirds of adaptation needs are in areas that are public-sector-dependent, making it hard for private investment alone to meet these needs.

IPS: How do capacity building and technology transfer factor into adaptation efforts? What are the main barriers?

Neufeldt: Capacity building and technology transfer are crucial. Unfortunately, efforts in these areas often lack integration, with adaptation financing, capacity building, and technology transfer frequently handled separately. Much of the technology we need is already available but requires significant investment to be accessible. Capacity-building efforts should be rooted in local capabilities, social inclusion, and gender diversity for long-term effectiveness. Current approaches, like short-term workshops, often lack sustainable impact.

IPS: What new financial instruments could unlock additional adaptation funding for both the public and private sectors?

Neufeldt: We outline several instruments in the report, including risk management tools, insurance, and debt swaps. These mechanisms can help mobilize private sector involvement, especially with support from the public sector through blended finance and partnerships that reduce investment risks.

IPS: Many adaptation projects lack sustainability without ongoing funds. What steps can be taken to ensure their long-term impact?

Neufeldt: Long-term success depends on involving local partnerships in project design and implementation and focusing on adaptive management with predictable financing. Projects should consider future climate risks rather than just immediate ones, as this forward-looking approach can prevent maladaptation. Building overall resilience through improved governance, health care, education, and infrastructure also significantly reduces climate vulnerability.

IPS: Can you provide examples of transformational adaptation, and why is a shift toward this approach needed?

Neufeldt: Transformational adaptation goes beyond incremental adjustments. For example, in agriculture, instead of minor adjustments to current practices, transformational adaptation might mean completely rethinking crops and farming methods unsustainable under changing climate conditions. For coastal regions, it may mean planned retreats rather than just raising seawalls. Long-term, transformational planning considers how climate change will reshape economies and societies, pushing for proactive rather than reactive measures.

IPS: The report notes that adaptation costs often fall on developing nations. What can be done to address this imbalance?

Neufeldt: We advocate for more grant-based support for the most vulnerable countries, such as least-developed nations and small island states. Financing mechanisms should include options like debt-for-climate swaps to alleviate financial pressures. Additionally, reforming international finance structures to offer more concessional loans and debt exemptions could empower these countries to address climate risks more effectively.

IPS: Looking ahead to COP30, what progress would you like to see to protect vulnerable communities from climate impacts?

Neufeldt: COP30 is a chance to secure new national adaptation plans and more adaptation-focused national contributions. These plans should include costed, prioritized actions for adaptation, which would make tracking and measuring progress easier. We also need a finalized framework to assess the global adaptation goal, with robust metrics for tracking. And of course, continued emphasis on technology transfer and capacity-building is essential for sustainable adaptation outcomes.

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The Israeli government’s actions in Gaza have been criticized by the United Nations, specialized agencies, Western allies, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), human rights and humanitarian organizations and independent observers. Credit: Frank van Beek / UN

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

As a result of its policies and actions in response to the 7 October attack, the Israeli government has not only alienated its allies and acquired adversaries but also found itself isolated diplomatically. The consequences of those developments and realignments have occurred across countries, organizations and groups worldwide.

 

Situation

The Israeli government’s actions in Gaza have been criticized by the United Nations, specialized agencies, Western allies, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), human rights and humanitarian organizations and independent observers.

Israel has found itself in violation of the decisions of international courts, in conflict with international humanitarian and human rights organizations, viewed critically by most of the world and increasingly isolated diplomatically

US president Biden, for example, warned Israel that it was losing international support because of its indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip and described Israel’s military response in Gaza over the top. President Macron of France also said that Israel has used excessive force, resulting in disproportionate casualties and destruction.

Over 150 civil society and non-governmental organizations have urged world governments to help end the war crimes being committed by the Israeli government in Gaza. Also, more than 800 scholars of international law and genocide have signed a public statement arguing that the Israeli military may be committing genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.

 

Setting

The long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians concerns a relatively small but historically important parcel of land. In addition, the two populations directly involved are comparatively small in numbers.

Israel is about the territorial size of the US state of New Jersey and has about the same size population. Israel’s population is close to 10 million, with 77 percent being Jewish. The Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which is about one quarter the size of Israel, has a population of about 5.5 million. The combined population of Israel and the OPT is approximately 15.5 million, or about the size of a large metropolitan city, such as Istanbul, Los Angeles or Moscow. About half of the combined population of Israel and the OPT would be Jewish (Figure 1).

 

Source: Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics and State of Palestine, Central Bureau of Statistics.

 

Decisions

Despite the land areas and populations being comparatively small, the Israeli- Palestinian conflict continues to be an issue of concern extending well beyond its borders.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), for example, has concluded that Israel’s occupation and annexation of the OPT are unlawful. The ICJ found that Israel’s discriminatory laws and policies against Palestinians violate the prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid. In addition to ICJ, Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights organizations as well as independent observers have found Israel practicing apartheid in the OPT.

The findings of the ICJ are supported by the majority of countries. In a vote in September by the 193-member UN General Assembly, 124 governments supported the ICJ advisory opinion, while 14 opposed it. The adopted UN resolution also demands that Israel “brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence” in the OPT (Figure 2).

 

Source: United Nations, Israel and State of Palestine.

 

Earlier in May, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member and recommended that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably. The vote reflected the increasing global solidarity with Palestinians and a rebuke to America and Israel.

While 143 countries supported the resolution calling for full UN membership of the State of Palestine, 14 countries opposed it. The resolution was adopted by the General Assembly a month after the US vetoed the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member in the Security Council.

Although it has not become a full UN member, by mid-2024 the State of Palestine has been officially recognized as a sovereign state by 146 countries, representing 87 percent of the world’s population.

The most recent countries to recognize the State of Palestine are Spain, Ireland and Norway. Those three countries hoped that their recognition of Palestine would encourage the peace process in Gaza and spur other European Union countries to follow suit.

 

Consequences

The Israeli government’s responses to the Hamas-led terrorist attack on 7 October have contributed significantly to alienating its allies and acquiring adversaries. Many countries have voiced objections to Israel’s intensive bombing of Gaza, resulting in high numbers of civilian deaths and injuries, especially women and children.

Over twelve months of conflict since the 7 October attack, the reported number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza is about 20 times greater than the number of Israeli deaths. Moreover, the mortality rate of the Palestinians is 100 times greater than the Israeli mortality rate.

Top United Nations officials recently described the current situation in northern Gaza as being “apocalyptic”. They warned that the entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence. They also stressed that required humanitarian aid cannot keep up with the needs of the Palestinians due to the blockade and access constraints by Israeli forces.

Although Israel disagrees with the finding of the ICJ, the court found that some of the rights asserted by South Africa versus Israel under the Genocide Convention are plausible. In addition, many scholars of international law and genocide have concluded that the Israeli attacks on Gaza are being conducted with potentially genocidal intent and have described the assault on Gaza as unprecedented in scale and severity.

The ICJ’s findings have also contributed to political problems in the US over the Biden’s administration’s indispensable role and complicity in what many American progressives have described as “Israel’s slaughter and starvation of Palestinians”. Protests and progressive activism opposing Israel’s actions, which are viewed as having created a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, have taken place across America as well as in other countries.

A July national opinion poll of US voters reported that a narrow majority disapproved of Israel’s actions in Gaza. The Israel war on Gaza has also impacted the US Congress and affected the US presidential election in some important swing states.

The Israeli government’s recent actions in Lebanon have also been publicly criticized in the US. The administration said it opposed the scope of Israel’s air strikes in Beirut amid a rising toll of deaths and injuries. Also, former CIA director, Leon Panetta, labeled Israel’s deadly pager explosions in Lebanon a form of terrorism.

In addition to governments, specialized agencies and international courts, more than fifty global humanitarian and human rights organizations have condemned the Israel’s actions in Gaza. They also called on world leaders to protect UNRWA and use all diplomatic means to prevent Israel from severely limiting or outright banning UNRWA.

 

Proposals

Various proposals have been offered to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The proposal most widely supported is the two-state solution. It recommends establishing an independent state for Palestinians alongside that of Israel with the two states existing peacefully within recognized borders and security ensured for both nations.

The UN General Assembly and the Security Council have concluded that a lasting end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only come through the two-state solution. The Israeli government, however, is opposed to the two-state solution. In addition to government officials, Israel’s Knesset passed a resolution that overwhelmingly rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Some believe that the two-state solution is no longer an option primarily due to today’s realities. Approximately 750,000 Israelis, or about 10 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, are currently residing in settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, which is in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Consequently, the de facto option to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears to be the one-state solution.

The one-state solution ensures equal rights for all citizens, irrespective of religious identity. However, Israel rejects the one-state solution since it would undermine the Jewish character of Israel.

Other proposals to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict include a confederation of Israel, Jordan and Palestine, a federation of smaller Palestinian provinces or cantons, autonomy-plus for the Palestinians and the establishment of a Jewish Greater Israel (Table 1).

 

 

Many Israelis of the religious far right seek the establishment of a Jewish Greater Israel. Its establishment would necessarily involve the departure, expulsion or transfer of large numbers of the non-Jewish populations residing in the OPT.

 

Conclusions

The Israeli government has recently rejected the two-state solution, the one-state solution and various other proposals to resolve its conflict with the Palestinians. Moreover, Israel’s government has been unwilling or unable to provide an explicit peace plan of its own to resolve the conflict.

Consequently, it appears that Israeli government is pursuing the continuation of the status quo, which includes increasing settlements in the OPT. However, many consider the continuation of the status quo to be untenable, clearly not a resolution to the conflict and contributes to placing Israel’s Jewish democracy in peril. Many maintain that it’s time for diplomacy that leads to a negotiated settlement as military action won’t solve the conflict.

Due to its policies in the OPT, its recent actions in Gaza and its lack of an explicit peace plan, the Israeli government has increasingly alienated its vital allies and acquired additional adversaries.

Israel has found itself in violation of the decisions of international courts, in conflict with international humanitarian and human rights organizations, viewed critically by most of the world and increasingly isolated diplomatically.

In brief, the Israeli government appears to be winning the battles on the ground but losing the war in the hearts and minds of people in governments, international agencies, human rights organizations and communities around the world.

 

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.

 

José Carlos Castro, founding partner and former president of the Arteza Cooperative in Ribeira, Paraíba state, northeastern Brazil. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

By Carlos Müller
CABACEIRAS, Brazil, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

The small community of Ribeira stands out in the Northeast, the poorest region of Brazil. There is no unemployment here. One in five inhabitants make a living directly or indirectly from the Arteza Cooperative of Tanners and Leather Artisans.

“An idea has the power to transform your world,” said in a philosophical tone Ângelo Macio, president of Arteza, recalling the creation of the cooperative in 1998 under the impulse of a Dutch priest who no longer lives in the region.

“You come to the community and you don’t see unemployed young people, they all work in the workshops, they have their income, they raise their children, they have their houses… their transport. Everything comes from the leather activity”, he said, while showing a sandal made by one of the cooperative’s artisans.

This is the case of Tarcisio de Andrade, 29, and a member of the cooperative for seven years. “I am married and have a son. My wife doesn’t work, but we all live off my work in Arteza. I don’t plan to leave Ribeira,” he said while making a sandal.

The expansion of the cooperative, which has a tannery, a shop selling supplies and tools, other shops selling its products and online commerce, has boosted the local economy. At first, the tannery processed 800 hides per month, then it spiked to 12,000, a number the members had never thought they would reach. Nowadays they process 20,000 hides.

The 1,700 residents of Ribeira seem to believe that anything is possible.

Before, there was no petrol station, no department shops, and no pharmacy. Thanks to the cooperative’s earnings, now they have all that, and people don’t have to travel 13 kilometres to Cabaceiras, the capital of the municipality of 5,300 inhabitants, of which Ribeira is a part.

The headquarters of the Arteza Cooperative in Ribeira, municipality of Cabeceiras, in the microregion of Cariri, with a long tradition of leather work. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

Solar energy, the driver

The cooperative’s success is largely due to solar energy. In 2018, it received equipment worth US$ 58,728 from the government of the state of Paraíba, where the municipality is located, with resources from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The savings obtained with the 170 panels installed were decisive.

“Solar energy was a milestone in our history. Today we would be paying 10,000 reais (US$ 1,755) in electricity bills in the tannery alone, and now it’s down to 600 reais (US$ 105). We were able to buy two new machines that allowed us to increase production and improve the quality of the hides,” Macio said.

There was no longer any need to increase the number of panels because when they were installed they were already double what was needed at the time. Today, with this energy, it would be possible to double production and process 40,000 hides.

The original plan was to install photovoltaic panels on the roof of the tannery, but the cooperative’s board of directors came up with a better idea: to build a new roof.

Thus, they increased the drying area for the hides and they seized the opportunity to collect water from the scarce rainfall for the water-consuming treatment of the hides. Apart from the economy, the old roof could only dry 300 skins. Under the solar panels it is possible to dry 2,500.

There is no unemployment in Ribeira, a community of 1,700 inhabitants in northeastern Brazil, says Ângelo Macio, president of Arteza cooperative. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

Tradition in leather

At the beginning, the 28 founding members of Arteza were supported by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), a private entity financed through a compulsory contribution from the companies. There are now 78 partners, benefiting some 400 families.

The entire micro-region of Cariri, where the municipality is located, and especially Ribeira, have a long tradition of leather work.

Macio’s great-grandfather worked with leather, but his product was rustic and consisted mainly of coarse clothes, hats and work utensils used by the herders to navigate the caatinga, the predominant biome in the northeastern interior with many thorny plants.

The cooperative’s production evolved from traditional products due to the decline of extensive cattle raising and young people’s desire for more modern products. Today, work clothes account for some 10% of the total.

Currently, the flagship product are sandals, which account for about 60% of the total production, including wallets, women’s bags and backpacks, the most expensive product, which cost the equivalent of 150 dollars.

By joining the cooperative, artisans can buy inputs such as glue and tools, as well as leather at cost price. Those who are not members and have other suppliers pay 40% more on average. Members do not need to worry about sales: they hand over the product to the cooperative, which negotiates it with the traders.

When the cooperative receives the money from the sales, it deducts the value of the inputs that the members have withdrawn. In the end, they receive a 30% profit in average.

Some artisans, however, remain faithful to traditional products. This is the case of José Guimarães de Souza, who specialised in the production of quaint ‘horn hats’.

Zé, as everybody knows him, is not a member of the cooperative, although his workshop is 100 metres from it. He learned the trade from his father, whom he reveres with a photo next to a crucifix as if he were an icon. He buys the raw material and sells his hats through a local merchant.

The cooperatives’ products are sold in craft shops all over Brazil, especially in the cities of the Northeast, where the Arteza brand is already recognised. That is why, with Sebrae’s support, the cooperative is working to establish the products’ designation of origin with their own seal next year.

The Arteza cooperative in northeastern Brazil has built a new warehouse to expand the drying of hides and install 170 solar panels, enough to generate twice the energy currently consumed by the tannery. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

“Tomorrow, anything can happen…”

In front of Souza’s workshop, called ‘Zé’s Crafts – The King of the Horn Hat’, a graffiti catches the eye. It reads: “Don’t worry, everything can happen tomorrow, even nothing”. It is the first verse of a local folk song called “The nature of things”.

The tannery was processing 16,000 skins when the pandemic started, forcing the cooperative to suspend work for more than six months. It has now reached 20,000 units. The cooperative’s income grew by 70%, including leather and handicrafts.

“The pandemic’s impact was huge. We went almost to the bottom of the well,” Macio recalled. In late 2021, the cooperative started promoting its products through Instagram and other social media to sell online. At first, this type of sales amounted to 20% of the total. Today it reaches between 35% and 40%.

In Cariri there is not so much leather and the cooperative is forced to buy it from other states. Now the cooperative’s problem is finding raw materials and labour because everyone in the community, especially young people, is already employed.

“Handicrafts have been my survival. Through it I have raised my whole family without having to leave my beloved land”, said José Carlos Castro, a founding member and former president of the cooperative. He currently works in the tannery, doing heavy work: removing the hair and defective parts of the skins.

The “chapéus de chifre”, as the traditional horn hats are called, handcrafted by José Guimarães de Souza and displayed in his workshop, next to the Arteza Cooperative, in the Ribeira community. Credit: Carlos Müller / IPS

Sustainability

Arteza is the only tannery that works with natural products, such as the bark of anjico (Parapiptadenia rígida), a tree native to several South American countries. The tanning process lasts one month. If chemicals, such as chromium, were used, it would only take two days.

“We maintain a natural process to avoid environmental damage and harm to people. The natural process is in our DNA,” Macio explained. But difficulties arise. Existing trees in the region are not enough, although the cooperative avoids predatory consumption.

A few years ago, when the bark was removed, the tree died. Nowadays, the tree is cut down and sprouts again, and can be cut down again after five to six years. From what has been cut, the bark is removed, put through a shredder and placed in tanks with water where it releases the tannin.

When the tannin is gone, the bark is used as mulch for planting fodder palm, a type of cactus used for animal feed in the dry season.

The water is treated and disposed of in the wild and the shelled sticks of the anjicos are used for fencing.

Mahim Mazumder spends his days tending to his crops. Credit: Juheb Jhony/IPS

By Aishwarya Bajpai
DELHI, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

“Farming is in my blood, and I can’t imagine doing anything else,” said Mahim Mazumder, a farmer from Assam. “Even though the past three to five years have seen drastic changes—with temperatures rising so much that even sitting under a tree no longer offers relief—I will keep farming, even if it only yields a small harvest. I’ve spent my entire life farming, and despite all the challenges, I’ll continue.”

Mahim has been farming alongside his father since childhood, and now, at 55, he continues to rely on growing paddy and vegetables, both heavily dependent on the weather. However, floods and erratic temperatures often devastate his crops. With the changing climate, cultivating anything with certainty has become increasingly difficult. Mahim hails from Assam, a northeastern region of India often overlooked but now recognized as a climate hotspot.

Though it constitutes just 2.4 percent of India’s land area, Assam accounts for nearly 9.4 percent of the country’s flood-prone regions. Severe flooding and natural disasters, worsened by climate change, strike the state annually, wreaking havoc on millions of lives and livelihoods.

A Climate Vulnerability Assessment for Adaptation Planning in India, jointly conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Mandi, IIT-Guwahati, and the Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore, identifies the districts of Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj in Assam’s Barak Valley as among the most vulnerable to climate change.

Data on Farmer Suicides in Assam. Credit: Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

Of the 25 most vulnerable districts in India, 15 districts from Assam have been highlighted as highly vulnerable. Farmers are the ones who are most severely affected by this as they struggle to deal with the worsening climate crisis, which frequently results in tragic extremes like an increase in farmer suicides.

Long-standing problems in India include farmer suicides brought on by crushing debt, deteriorating the environment, droughts, severe weather, and the unfavorable effects of pesticides, which in some cases have even caused cancer.

The year-long farmers’ protest in 2021, held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, serves as a stark reminder of how farmers have been treated—many lost their lives during the movement.

India is now on the verge of becoming the global epicenter of farmer suicides, where these tragedies make the news but no longer dominate the headlines. Many farmers are still struggling to cope with the intensifying crisis as the cycle of debt and economic hardships worsen.

Farmer suicides in India have averaged between 10,000 and 12,000 annually from 2015 to 2022 (NCRB 2015-2022). In Assam, agricultural laborers faced higher suicide rates than land-owning or leasing farmers, highlighting their increased vulnerability.

The year 2021 saw the highest number of suicides (227), largely as a result of a sharp increase in suicides among farmers who were cultivating their own land (134), possibly as a result of severe economic or climate-related difficulties that year. Though the number dropped to 123 in 2022, the data reveals a persistent crisis, particularly impacting agricultural laborers and small-scale farmers.

Climate change is adding another layer of distress, with fluctuating temperatures, erratic rainfall, groundwater depletion, and extreme heat further harming their livelihoods. Mahim Mazumder says, “The weather has changed dramatically! In the past, around the 15th day of Bhadhro Mash (September), we’d see mist, signaling the onset of winter, which was crucial for vegetable crops.”

However, now floods disrupt the farmers’ schedules.

“We once experimented with various crop varieties, but now we’re forced to stick to the basics, fearing total loss. While we know how to handle traditional flooding, this extreme heat is new, and we don’t know how to cope. Creeper plants wither in the heat, and even our livestock struggle—some have collapsed from heatstroke.

Crops that used to thrive in higher temperatures now wilt under the pressure of climate change. Every flood wipes out everything, and even during normal seasons, we face a 20 percent reduction in yield due to the rising heat and poor-quality inputs,” says Mash.

The Indian government recognizes the impact of climate change on agriculture and farmers. Since 2014, a total of 1,888 climate-resilient crop varieties have been developed, along with 68 location-specific climate adaptation technologies, which have been demonstrated to farming communities for broader adoption.

But without adaptation, rainfed rice yields could drop by 20 percent by 2050 and 47 percent by 2080, while irrigated rice may decline by 3.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Wheat yields are projected to decrease by 19.3 percent by 2050 and 40 percent by 2080.

Kharif maize yields are expected to fall by 18 percent in 2050 and 23 percent by 2080. Climate change not only reduces crop yields but also lowers produce quality, with extreme events like droughts severely impacting food consumption for all.

The agrarian crisis in India runs deep, rooted in financial strain, crop failures, and climate-related challenges that are pushing the farming community to the edge. Rising suicide rates among agricultural laborers reveal just how precarious their situation has become.

As farmers like Mahim Mazumder continue to face the effects of climate change—unpredictable floods, rising temperatures, and reduced crop yields—their livelihoods and futures remain at risk. This isn’t just a crisis of economics or agriculture; it’s a human crisis affecting generations who have relied on farming for survival.

While the Indian government has made strides by developing climate-resilient crop varieties and location-specific technologies, these measures are not being adopted at the scale and speed necessary to prevent further losses. The impacts of climate change are no longer a distant concern but an immediate threat, eroding not only the output from farms but also the lives of those who till the land.

As climate change accelerates, so too must the response from policymakers and institutions. It’s not enough to focus on agricultural yields alone—reforms must also prioritize the well-being of the farmers themselves, ensuring that they have the resources and support needed to adapt, survive, and thrive in the face of this growing crisis.

If we fail to act, the consequences will be devastating, not just for India’s farming community but for the nation’s food security as a whole.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By External Source
Nov 11 2024 (IPS-Partners)

 
Climate change continues to pose an existential threat to humanity.

Recent science estimates that we may have less than six years left to change course.

This intensifying climate emergency is being seen everywhere in heatwaves, droughts, floods, fires, and hurricanes.

April of this year was the world’s hottest month on record – the 11th consecutive month to set a new temperature high.

And while we are witnessing mass coral bleaching from Australia to Kenya to Mexico, East Africa and Brazil have been devastated by floods – killing hundreds and displacing hundreds of thousands.

Few scientists believe we will manage to keep within the internationally agreed target of limiting post-industrial era temperature increases by 1.5C.

This year’s COP29 UN Climate summit will be hosted in Azerbaijan – the petro-state still committed to fossil fuel production.

Indeed, the government’s share of oil production was a staggering $19.3 billion in 2022 – surpassing the entire public spending budget of that year.

But who will pay for the economic and physical damage brought by climate change?

The IMF calculates that global fossil fuel subsidies amounted to $7 trillion in 2022 – about 7% of global GDP.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, $2.4 trillion was spent on military costs and weapons in 2023.

“Climate justice” was a key theme at COP28, where countries agreed to help climate vulnerable communities.

Voluntary pledges by developed countries have amounted to $700 million – a drop in the ocean, as the UN estimates the costs of climate-related losses will range from $160-$340 billion a year by 2030.

Reaching net zero emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases by 2050 means they must halve by 2030.

The UK, a global leader in cutting emissions, is backsliding on its commitments, and there is danger other powerful allies will withdraw from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

Corporate giants of fossil fuels and their political allies tell us that the 2050 zero emissions target is too much too soon.

Asking us to adjust our sights, they point at China – the world’s biggest polluter.

But China’s solar installations in the first quarter of 2024 were up by 34%.

Their wind installations were up by nearly 50% on the preceding year.

If China can maintain such green energy growth, then it is possible that global emissions may start to fall later this year or next.

G20 nations have been much too slow to increase their climate ambitions.

The start of a downward trend would be a historic moment that could shift the dial on what societies and our political leaders can think of being possible.

By contrast, a recent report by the United Nations Development Program highlights the less privileged showing resilience in the face of death:

93% of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States have submitted climate pledges or plan to do so.

More than 40 nations have started actively reducing their emissions. The big question is how quickly can we reduce?

Todd Stern, former special envoy for climate change under Barack Obama, believes net zero by 2050 is possible.

It’s extremely difficult and will require huge changes to the world economy.

But it is possible.

 

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A Lebanese mother holds her child as she heads toward a UNICEF clinic after being displaced from her home due to escalated violence. Credit: UNICEF/Abdallah Agha

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

The ongoing, escalating violence in Lebanon forces millions of Lebanese civilians to face daily bombardment, repeated orders of evacuation, routine destruction of critical infrastructure, and limited access to basic services. With the death toll and rates of displacement on the rise, humanitarian organizations fear that the upcoming winter season is expected to exacerbate these harsh conditions, making Lebanon almost uninhabitable.

On November 7, peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported a multitude of airstrikes across Lebanon that were issued by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 40 people were killed in an airstrike on the ancient city of Baalbek, which also damaged the ancient Ottoman Manshiya building, a UNESCO world heritage site. “The destruction of this exceptional monument next to a UNESCO World Heritage site is an irremediable loss for Lebanon and for world heritage,” said Lebanese Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada.

Bombardments have also continued in Beirut’s suburbs. On October 6, at least four separate airstrikes in different parts of the city occurred after the IDF issued an evacuation order. It is not yet known how many civilians were killed or injured by this attack. One day prior, Lebanon’s Civil Defense Agency announced that 30 bodies had been pulled from the rubble of a four-story apartment building in Barja, which was leveled by an airstrike. It is estimated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that around 4,000 residential buildings have been destroyed.

Recent estimates from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that approximately 3,000 Lebanese civilians were killed in the past year, including 185 children and 560 women. Additionally, in the past year there have been over 78 attacks on healthcare facilities, resulting in the deaths of 130 healthcare workers. Equipment was damaged and supplies were looted during these attacks, further aggravating the lack of accessible healthcare in Lebanon.

According to Jihad Saada, the head of Beirut’s Rafic Hariri hospital, Lebanon’s current economic crisis has taken a significant toll on the nation’s healthcare system. According to OCHA, since the escalation hostilities, the nation’s gross domestic product fell from $54.9 billion in 2018 to $17.94 billion in 2023. This has led to significant levels of hyperinflation, rendering daily necessities unaffordable. 44 percent of the entire population lives in poverty, with 59 percent of households unable to sustain themselves financially.

“The healthcare crisis started due to the economic crisis in the country, which has affected hospitals in multiple ways,” said Saada. “One main issue is the loss of nurses because they are the backbone of the hospital. Many have moved to the private sector or emigrated outside of Lebanon. As a result, the hospital’s budget has been strained, leading to some shortages in our stock and maintenance, which require funding.”

According to OCHA, the IDF has issued evacuation orders for over 160 villages and 130 buildings across Lebanon’s most critically endangered areas. IOM reports that as of November 4, approximately 872,808 civilians have been internally displaced within Lebanon, with new displacements being recorded on a daily basis. OCHA reports that displacements are particularly concentrated in the Haret Saida and Baalbek regions, where bombardments and evacuation orders have considerably increased in the past few weeks.

As of November 6, approximately 3,530 internally displaced persons are residing in shelters run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Near East (UNRWA). Living conditions in these shelters remain dire, primarily due to a lack of essential resources. The World Food Programme (WFP) states that severe food insecurity has deepened throughout Lebanon over the course of this conflict, with 1.26 million people, or approximately half of all Lebanese families, struggling to feed themselves.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), over 11,000 pregnant women are currently residing in displacement shelters with little to no access to prenatal care, nutrition, clean drinking water, and hygiene materials. Rita Abou Nabhan, a specialist working with Relief International’s Health Program in Bekaa Valley, says the lack of water is particularly concerning as it makes infections far more likely. According to estimates from the UN, 85 percent of all displacement shelters in Lebanon have been outstretched to maximum capacity.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that they had recorded cases of measles, hepatitis A, and other infectious diseases among displaced communities, warning that widespread resurgence is in the realm of possibilities due to the decreased sanitation levels in displacement shelters that occurs in the winter season.

The UN has launched an appeal for 2.7 billion dollars in an effort to assist struggling communities in Lebanon. This will provide refugees and vulnerable populations living in shelters with essential services such as food, clean drinking water, hygiene kits, winter preparation materials, and education. With the upcoming winter season expected to aggravate living conditions in shelters, the UN urges further donor contributions so efforts can be maximized.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: UNRWA

By James E. Jennings
ATLANTA, USA, Nov 11 2024 (IPS)

For religious, humanitarian, and scientific reasons, Israel’s increasingly apparent plan for the de facto colonization of the Northern Gaza Strip is a bad idea. When that program was rejected recently by Israel’s own Defense Minister Yoav Galant, he was summarily fired by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

However, the founding document of the worldwide Jewish community, the Torah, and especially the Decalogue, states plainly, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife…or anything that is thy neighbors.” If religion still means anything to people in the modern nation of Israel, it should be clear that whatever belongs to others should be left alone and neither coveted nor stolen.

For obvious humanitarian reasons the one-sided bombing of Gaza must stop. After more than a year of an ongoing holocaust in Gaza, Israel’s relentless bombing has produced casualties totaling nearly 150,000 dead and wounded people, mostly civilians.

Now with UN sources reporting that starvation is setting in, people everywhere must demand that this racist, inhumane bloodshed stop immediately. Otherwise, international law has no force and the word “humane” has no meaning.

In scientific terms, the contamination of the water, soil, and air in northern Gaza from explosive dust, including Depleted Uranium, will clearly persist for decades, if not generations. That is neither good for the inhabitants if they manage to return to their homes, nor for the Jewish colonists if they should return to their previous colonies in the strip.

US bombing of Iraq two decades ago, especially in and around Basra, as much scientific and eyewitness testimony—including my own on the scene report—proves, has produced a plethora of birth defects.

The idea of some capitalists that Gaza will become a future Dubai—a wealthy trade zone that will be a veritable Las Vegas on the Mediterranean shore—is actually a good one. Geographically and commercially, Gaza is a potential Hong Kong.

The only thing wrong with the plan is the question of who will control this mighty future entrepot, the Palestinians, investors from the Gulf States and the West, or Israel? Answering that will take another century of bloodletting.

Far better that the United States, NATO, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in the Hague or somebody other than HAMAS or the extreme right wing and increasingly bloodthirsty Likud government now in power in Jerusalem should deal with that issue and guarantee justice.

The ICJ/International Court of Justice, responsible governments everywhere, and especially the campus protesters and those on the streets of cities around the world, must keep chanting, “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!” “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!”

James E. Jennings, PhD is President of Conscience International and Executive Director of US Academics for Peace

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A child receiving his second dose of the polio vaccine at a health clinic in Gaza City. Credit: UNICEF/ Eyad El Baba

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

On November 6, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the second round of polio vaccinations in the Gaza Strip has been completed. A total of 556,744 children under ten years of age received the mOPV2 vaccine along with a dose of vitamin A to ensure immunization. However, due to rampant hostilities from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the campaign has not been entirely successful, leading to humanitarian organizations fearing that herd immunity has not been achieved.

During a United Nations (UN) press briefing, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric informed reporters that despite the numerous access challenges faced by aid personnel, the campaign has been relatively successful. Approximately 103 percent of children in central Gaza were immunized, meaning that more children in this region were reached than expected. 91 percent of the children in southern Gaza received the vaccines.

However, northern Gaza has been of great concern for humanitarian groups due to frequent access challenges and hostilities since September. Preliminary data from the UN suggests that only 88 percent of children in this region received the vaccine.

Figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) show that there are an estimated 7,000-10,000 children that remain unvaccinated in the Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun regions.

According to a press release from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, at least 90 percent vaccination coverage during each round of the campaign is necessary in order to effectively stop the outbreak in Gaza and prevent the international re-emergence of polio. Due to Gaza’s compromised healthcare, water, and sanitation systems, civilians are particularly vulnerable to the spread of disease.

Escalated hostilities in the Gaza Strip in the days preceding the completion of the second round of vaccinations had significantly hampered immunization efforts. Despite the campaigns in central and southern Gaza having run relatively smoothly, hostilities in northern Gaza in the days preceding the completion of the second round of vaccinations had significantly hampered immunization efforts.

On November 2, the IDF issued an airstrike on a healthcare center in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. WHO reported that this attack led to six civilians being injured, including four children.

“This attack, during humanitarian pause, jeopardizes the sanctity of health protection for children and may deter parents from bringing their children for vaccination. These vital humanitarian-area-specific pauses must be absolutely respected,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, in a statement issued to X (formerly known as Twitter).

Attacks in the Gaza Strip have continued after the humanitarian pause designated for the vaccination campaign was lifted. The recent bills passed by the Knesset exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) can no longer play their pivotal role in providing aid.

Israel’s ongoing aerial campaign in Gaza has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, decimated entire neighborhoods, and made areas in the northern region, such as Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun almost uninhabitable.

In a press release from WHO, the situation in northern Gaza has been described as “apocalyptic”. It added that dozens of school-turned-shelters have been targeted by the IDF or evacuated. Tents have been burned and refugees have been shot at. Injured civilians are taken to almost non-functioning healthcare centers, in which life-saving services have been disrupted and essential supplies and equipment have been destroyed.

Additionally, millions have been displaced from their homes, with Gaza being one of the biggest displacement crises in the world. On October 5, IDF Brigadier-General Itzik Cohen informed reporters that civilians from northern Gaza would not be allowed to return to their homes. Cohen cited that troops entered certain areas twice, such as the Jabalia camp, and therefore, allowing Gazans to return there would complicate security efforts. He added that routine humanitarian aid deliveries would be allowed in the southern and central regions of Gaza, but not the north, since, as he claimed, “there are no more civilians left.”

UNRWA’s absence in the Gaza Strip is expected to be severely felt by the approximately 2 million people struggling to stay alive.

“The decision (Israel’s bills banning UNRWA) will further undermine the ability of the international community to provide sufficient humanitarian aid and to save lives in any safe, independent and impartial way. Israel has bombed Palestinians to death, maimed them, starved them, and is now ridding them of their biggest lifeline of aid. Piece by piece, Israel is systematically dismantling Gaza as a land that is autonomous and liveable for Palestinians,” says Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa.

On November 6, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini addressed the UN General Assembly, urging the UN to prevent the implementation of Israel’s two most recent bills.

“Without intervention by member states, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians into chaos,” Lazzarini said. “First, I ask that Member States act to prevent the implementation of the legislation against UNRWA. Second, I ask that Member States ensure that any plan for a political transition delineates UNRWA’s role. Finally, I ask that Member States maintain funding to UNRWA, and do not withhold or divert funds on the assumption that the Agency can no longer operate.”

Lazzarini reminded the General Assembly of the toll that UNRWA and its staff has taken through the duration of the crisis. 239 UNRWA personnel has been killed, and more than two thirds of UNRWA’s facilities had been damaged or destroyed. Lazzarini urged that these violations of international humanitarian law be investigated.

It is estimated that the costs of providing funding to UNRWA in this transitional period will be immense. However, dismantling UNRWA will be particularly costly as well. Through its flash appeal, the UN is seeking over 1.2 billion dollars in funding to assist over 1.7 million people who are facing extreme conditions. Due to the recent banning of UNRWA, these costs are estimated to be much higher. It is crucial for donor contributions to continue as humanitarian aid is still being blocked in northern Gaza. Conditions are expected to further deteriorate as the harsh winter season approaches.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, addresses the General Debate of the General Assembly’s 75th session September 2020. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

By Mandeep S.Tiwana
NEW YORK, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

On the day following the US election, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres issued a brief statement commending the people of the United States for their active participation in the democratic process. He wisely omitted to mention that the election of Donald J. Trump – who attempted to overturn the people’s mandate by inciting an insurrection in 2020 – is a major setback for the UN’s worldwide quest to advance human rights and the rule of law.

Trump is a self-avowed admirer of authoritarian strongmen like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban who disdain international norms that the UN seeks to uphold. Unsurprisingly, questions posed to the UN Secretary General’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, in a press conference on November 6, ranged from what will be Trump’s response to the war in Ukraine to potential funding cuts that might come with the new US administration to whether the UN has contingency plans ready for when Trump takes office.

The US plays an outsized role in global affairs. Therefore, any changes in policy in Washington impact the whole world. As someone who bears responsibility for stewarding a global civil society alliance, it worries me what a second Trump presidency will unleash.

Even without Trump in power we are living in a world where wars are being conducted with complete disregard for the rules; corrupt billionaires are dictating public policy for their benefit; and greed induced environmental degradation is putting us on a path to climate catastrophe. Hard fought gains on gender justice are in danger of being rolled back.

The first Trump administration showed disdain for the UN Human Rights Council and pulled the US out of vital global commitments such as the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. It restricted support for civil society groups around the world and targeted those that sought to promote sexual and reproductive rights of women. Promotion of democracy and human rights are key pillars of US foreign policy.

It’s deeply concerning that when disinformation and misinformation have assumed pandemic level proportions, the majority of the US electorate have cast their vote in favour of a candidate who ran his campaign on divisive dog whistles, half-truths and outright lies. These tactics have deepened fissures in an already polarized United States.

Families countrywide were left devastated by Trump’s negligence and COVID denialism as president which resulted in tens of thousands of Americans dying of avoidable infections. His administration’s immigration detention and deportation policies instilled fear in minority communities. This time Trump has vowed to deport millions of people.

Trump’s stances on abortion rights have caused women immeasurable suffering in several US states that have introduced laws to ban the procedure. He has promised to accelerate harmful fossil fuel extraction and undoubtedly views gender justice advocates, environmental defenders and migrant rights activists as a threat his power.

Given the stated predilections of Trump and his advisors, opposition politicians, activists and journalists exposing corruption and rights violations are likely to be at risk of enhanced surveillance, intimidation and persecution by the new administration.

At the international level, Trump’s election casts a pall over efforts to ensure accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan and Ukraine due to his tacit support for authoritarian leaders in Israel, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom are fueling conflicts and causing havoc abroad. A future Trump administration could try to starve the UN of funding to erode the rules based international order, emboldening autocrats.

Even if things appear bleak today, it’s important to remember that there are hundreds and thousands of civil society activists and organisations around the world who remain steadfast in their resolve to celebrate diversity and promote justice and equality. To imagine the future we sometimes have to take heart from the past.

India’s freedom struggle, South Africa’s struggle against apartheid and the civil rights movement in the United States wasn’t won by authoritarian leaders but by brave and determined individuals united in solidarity and determined to resist oppression for as long as it takes.

There is a lesson here for civil society in the US that higher American ideals are worth standing up for and will outlive any sitting president.

Mandeep S. Tiwana is Interim Co-Secretary General of CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance. He also serves as CIVICUS representative to the United Nations.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Credit: Emdadul Islam Bitu / UNDP Bangladesh

By Deodat Maharaj
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

The Paris Agreement on climate change is a decade old this month. While there has been progress – with new net zero pledges and new technological solutions, we are still grappling with the reality that global temperatures continue to soar. 2023 was the hottest year ever on record.

This alarming trend poses grave consequences for the world’s 45 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). These countries bear the brunt of the burden from the climate crisis even though they are the lowest carbon emitters on the planet. According to the World Bank, over the last decade, the world’s poorest countries have been hit by nearly eight times as many natural disasters, compared with three decades ago, resulting in a three-fold increase in economic damage.

Changing weather patterns, increasing droughts, flooding, crop failures, deforestation and sea level rise matter hugely to LDCs, which are largely agricultural economies. When climate change threatens farming productivity, the overall outlook for the people in these poor countries becomes even bleaker.

Policymakers meeting in Azerbaijan later this month for the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP 29) urgently need to deliver on the financial, technical, and capacity building support that LDCs need to address the climate crisis. There is precious little time left.

Delivering results in these core areas with financing could make a difference:

Scale up early warning systems

Firstly, we need to scale up early warning systems linked to satellites and weather stations that can help forecast severe weather events such as cyclones, flooding, and droughts. Despite evidence that getting clear information on time can save both lives and livelihoods, the current capacity for monitoring and forecasting across Africa is low and in need of investment.

Early warning systems also need engagement from communities for communication and coordination and the technical training of local stakeholders to maintain and monitor them. In Fatick, in Senegal, for example, early results of a collaborative pilot project to forecast extreme heat show increased awareness and behaviour changes among the community and improved preparedness by the local health system.

Leverage cutting edge technology

Secondly, we need to leverage technology such as boosting access to climate modelling powered by artificial intelligence and big data analytics. This can provide important insights into long-term climate trends, identify patterns, and predict future changes. CLIMTAG-Africa, which is part of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, currently offers climate information for three African countries: Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia with plans to expand it further.

The tool provides users with accessible climate information to support decisions about what crops to plant and when to plant them – vital to economies where small-scale subsistence farming is the norm. Similarly, it is about replicating and coming up with cost-efficient and relevant impact technological solutions in agriculture so salt-water resistant strains of rice can be planted in countries affected by sea level rise such as The Gambia.

Provide real-time weather data

Thirdly, we need to invest in low-cost, high impact innovations to provide real-time weather data and advice that can be readily shared. In Mali, the ‘MaliCrop’ App has become an essential resource for farmers in this drought-affected country. By accessing the app, farmers can receive forecasts and information in French and several local languages about weather predictions and even crop disease risks.

The project is used regularly by over 110,000 people. However, although mobile phone penetration is increasing in low-income countries, mobile infrastructure, and internet connectivity, particularly in rural areas, is lagging behind and is a barrier to access.

These are promising examples which will only have an impact if properly scaled up and supported. However, acutely limited access to finance remains a major obstacle especially for the LDCs. According to the 2023 UNFCCC Adaptation Finance Gap Update, the costs of adaptation for LDCs is estimated at US$ 25bn per year – or 2 per cent of their GDP. Actual financing to these already fiscally constrained and largely highly indebted countries falls woefully short of what is needed.

A decade ago, COP 21 in Paris offered LDCs much hope. Since then, the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries are no better off in terms of financing. However, advancements in technology, including AI, provide a glimmer of hope. To deliver results for LDCs, COP 29 must commit to more funding, scaled-up technology transfer, strengthened partnerships and relentless capacity-building.

The people in the poorest and most vulnerable countries cannot continue to absorb the hits wrought by the developed world’s carbon emissions. The choice is clear, agreement on an action agenda for LDCs or a COP-out where everyone loses.

Deodat Maharaj is the Managing Director, United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries and can be reached at: deodat.maharaj@un.org

IPS UN Bureau

 

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