Women Bear the Brunt of Climate Change

Natalia Milovanova

The effects of climate change are not equal across genders. Women, particularly in the global south, are more greatly impacted than men. This is a result of cultural and historical norms that put women in vulnerable positions. These norms, compounded with the fact that women make up the majority of agriculture producers in rural areas, make them more susceptible to the negative effects of climate change, such as droughts, floods, and crop failures.

In addition, women are expected to care for children, the elderly, and the sick in traditional patriarchal societies, leaving them with little mobility to migrate. Women also face a lack of equal opportunities compared to men in finding alternative employment in rural areas. The effects of natural disasters, such as the destruction of infrastructure, also disproportionately impact pregnant women in rural areas, contributing to the high rates of maternal mortality.

The root cause of these issues is the lack of land rights for women. Without ownership of the land they work on, women are not able to be active decision-makers and their labor remains invisible. This not only perpetuates their vulnerability to the effects of climate change, but also makes the current system unsustainable as women produce the majority of food.

It is imperative that advanced laws and legislation be put in place to give women rights over their land. This, along with governance support, could provide women with the necessary financial, humanitarian, and medical aid in times of disaster. We must also challenge cultural norms and prioritize equality, making women more visible and granting them full human rights. This, in turn, will lead to a more sustainable future.

Further Reading

UN Learning Centre course about Gender in Environment:https://unccelearn.org/course/view.php?id=39&page=overview

The vulnerability of women to climate change in coastal regions of Nigeria: a case of the IIaje community in Ondo state» By Adenike A. Akinsemolu and Obafemi A.P. Olukoya; 

Gender Equality and Sustainable Development: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Nigerian Laws and Practices to Guarantee the Woman’s Human Rights» by Oluwakemi Odeyinde, Leccion of Amber Fletcher from Regina University,

CALL FOR PAPERS: World Sustainability Conference 2023

The Green Institute and the HeTa Food Research Centre of Excellence announce the 2023 World Sustainability Conference Call for Abstracts

Possible topics for submission include, but are not limited to:

• Education:

• Sustainable agriculture education in schools,

• lifelong learning for farmers and food producers

• innovative approaches to food and agriculture education

• Environment:

• Climate-smart agriculture practices,

• water conservation in food production,

• zero waste and circular systems in food systems

• Equity:

• Gender equality in agriculture and food systems,

• inclusive food systems for marginalized communities,

• land tenure and access to resources for smallholder farmers

• Energy:

• Renewable energy in food and water systems,

• energy-efficient food processing and distribution,

• decentralized energy systems for rural communities

• Economics:

• Sustainable and equitable value chains in food systems,

• community-based economic development through food systems,

• the economic impacts of food waste reduction

The deadline for abstract submission is April 28, 2023. Please visit our conference website for more information about the event.

For inquire email us at wsc@greeninstitute.ng

University of Pennsylvania Appoints Our President, Damilola Olawuyi as BOK Visiting International Professor

The Green Institute is proud to announce that our president, Professor Damilola Olawuyi, has been appointed as a BOK Visiting International Professor (VIP) at the University of Pennsylvania for the 2022/2023 academic year.

As a VIP, Professor Olawuyi will be mentoring students and providing valuable global perspectives on cutting-edge issues in international and comparative law. He will be teaching a course on "Energy Justice and Sustainable Development" and participating in university-wide events and activities related to these fields.

Professor Olawuyi is an internationally recognized expert in the field of law, with a particular focus on energy, environment, sustainable development, and business and human rights. He is the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Afe Babalola University and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He is also a leading voice in the field of international and comparative law, and we are thrilled to see him recognized by the University of Pennsylvania.

In his role as President of the Green Institute, Professor Olawuyi is dedicated to driving progress on environmental issues and promoting sustainable development. We are excited to see the impact he will have at the University of Pennsylvania and we look forward to his continued leadership at the Green Institute.

University of Birmingham announces Adenike Akinsemolu as a Vanguard Fellow

The Green Institute is excited to announce that our founder and director, Dr. Adenike Akinsemolu, has been named a Vanguard Fellow by the University of Birmingham. This prestigious fellowship recognizes Adenike's work as a leader and innovator in the field of sustainability and environmentalism, and we couldn't be more proud.

Adenike has been at the forefront of the sustainability movement for years, working to educate and engage people on environmental issues and promote sustainable development. From creating the Green Institute and training the next generation of sustainability leaders, to advocating for policies that protect the environment, Adenike has made a significant impact in the fight against climate change and other environmental challenges.

As a Vanguard Fellow, Adenike will be working with the University of Birmingham to continue her important work in the field of sustainability. She will be collaborating with researchers and students to address environmental challenges and drive progress on key issues, and sharing her knowledge and expertise through lectures and other public events.

We encourage you to learn more about Adenike's work and the Vanguard Fellowship by watching the video below. We are so proud of Adenike and all that she has achieved, and we can't wait to see what the future holds for her and the Green Institute.

The Green Institute 2023: The #OfficiallyGreen Message

The Green Institute has had a successful year in 2022, hosting the World Sustainability Conference, the World Environment Day Symposium, and several other conferences that brought together experts and advocates from around the globe. 

As we look to the future, we are excited to announce our focus for 2023: the #OfficiallyGreen campaign.

The #OfficiallyGreen campaign is all about inspiring people to take action for a more sustainable future. Whether it's picking up litter, reducing your carbon footprint, or advocating for policy change, every small action can make a big difference.

We want to make the #OfficiallyGreen campaign go viral, with people all around the world sharing their commitment to a sustainable future. On World Environment Day, we will be hosting special campaigns in cities around the world, with people taking pictures with their #OfficiallyGreen placards and sharing them on social media.

But the #OfficiallyGreen campaign isn't just about one day a year. We want to encourage people to make sustainable living a part of their everyday lives. That's why we will be providing resources and support throughout the year to help people take action in their own communities.

We are also excited to continue our research on climate crisis in coastal environments. These regions are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and we believe that it is crucial to understand and address these challenges in order to create a more sustainable future for all.

We hope you will join us in our mission to make the world #OfficiallyGreen. Whether you want to become an ambassador for the campaign, join our campus network, or simply take action in your community, we welcome your participation and support. Together, we can create a more sustainable future for all.

2022 was the year of drought

Denise Chow

Lakes and rivers in several countries shrank to extreme lows, and dry conditions threatened crops and fueled destructive wildfires across the globe.

It was a year characterized by extreme drought.

From North America to Africa to Europe to Asia, huge swaths of the planet were parched in 2022. Lakes and rivers in several countries shrank to extreme lows and dry conditions threatened crops and fueled destructive wildfires across the globe.

As the world warms, climate change will exacerbate drought conditions on the planet. Research has shown that global warming worsens drought by enhancing evaporation, depleting reservoirs and drying out soils and other vegetation.

Here’s what drought this year looked like on four of the hardest-hit continents.

Asia

The world’s largest continent provided a dire blueprint in 2022 of the consequences of drought and extreme heat in a warming world.

In March, an early heat wave gripped India and Pakistan, causing at least 90 deaths as temperatures in some spots soared as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit. The scorching conditions ignited forest fires in India and fueled the rapid melting of glaciers in northern Pakistan, which led to catastrophic flooding and even wiped out a bridge in the country’s Hunza Valley. A study released in May by the World Weather Attribution group found that the punishing heat in India and Pakistan was 30 times more likely due to climate change.

Dongshuimen Bridge in Chongqing, China, on July 17, 2018, left, and August 18, 2022.Imaginechina via AP Images; VCG via Getty Images

Over the summer, prolonged heat waves in China created severe drought conditions for many parts of the country. Sections of the Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia, reached record low levels in August, with some areas almost completely drying up. Some 400 million people in China depend on the Yangtze River for drinking water and to irrigate rice, wheat and other crops, according to the Nature Conservancy. The waterway is also a major source of hydropower for the country and plays a key role in shipping and global supply chain management.

In the country’s southwestern Sichuan province, the most extreme heat wave and drought in six decades caused water flow to the region’s hydropower reservoirs to plummet in late August, prompting the provincial government to warn of “particularly severe” power outages, the South China Morning Post reported. 

Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, China on Aug. 8, 2021 and Aug. 22, 2022.Planet Labs PBC

The following  month, September, officials in the central Chinese province of Jiangxi declared a water supply “red alert” for the first time as Poyang Lake’s water levels fell dramatically due to drought. The freshwater lake is the country’s largest and is normally a flood outlet for the Yangtze River.

Drought conditions gripped central China over the summer months, with the Jiangxi province experiencing 60% less precipitation from July to September compared to the same time last year, according to the Jiangxi Water Monitoring Center.

In Anhui province, which neighbors Jiangxi, water levels at 10 reservoirs fell below “dead pool” status, when the reservoir is so low that water cannot flow downstream from the dam.

Africa

The effects of extreme heat and drought were also dire for parts of Africa in 2022.

A woman waters goats from a shallow well dug into a dry riverbed at Eliye springs on the western shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya, on Sept. 28, 2022. Tony Karumba / AFP via Getty Images file

The Horn of Africa, which encompasses the easternmost part of the continent, experienced its longest drought in 40 years in 2022, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The region experienced drier than average conditions as it suffered through its fifth consecutive failed rainy season. Humanitarian organizations warned that the prolonged drought is exacerbating food insecurity issues for more than 50 million people in the region.

Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia were among the hardest hit by drought this year. Guleid Artan, director of the WMO’s climate center for East Africa said in August that the three countries are “on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” because of rainfall deficits and ongoing drought.

A woman carries a container of water during the water shortage in Nairobi, Kenya, on Jan. 11, 2022.Donwilson Odhiambo / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images file

The United Nations said severe drought and food shortages are likely to persist, which could lead to famine in parts of the Horn of Africa.

“Unfortunately, we have not yet seen the worst of this crisis,” Michael Dunford, the U.N. World Food Program’s regional director for eastern Africa, said in a Nov. 28 statement. “If you think 2022 is bad, beware of what is coming in 2023.”

In a report released in October, the United Nations and the Red Cross said certain regions of Africa and Asia will become uninhabitable within decades because of extreme heat. 

“The impacts would include large-scale suffering and loss of life, population movements and further entrenched inequality. These impacts are already emerging,” the organizations jointly wrote.

The carcass of an adult elephant, which died during the drought, at the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy in Samburu, Kenya, on Oct. 12, 2022Luis Tato / AFP via Getty Images file

Europe

Elsewhere in the world, conditions were similarly parched this past summer.

A preliminary report released in August by the European Commission found that Europe’s 2022 droughts were the worst in at least 500 years. Many regions were under drought since the beginning of the year, made worse by drier-than-usual conditions over the summer and a series of heat waves from June through October.

A boat moored on dry waters on the river Po in Ficarolo, Italy, on July 30, 2022. Nicola Ciancaglini / Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images file

In August, almost two-thirds of the European continent was under either drought warning or alert conditions, according to the report. Low rainfall over the summer months and persistent dry conditions added stress to summer crops in parts of Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Hungary.

In Italy, rivers and lakes dried up over the summer. Large sections of the country’s longest river, the River Po, ran completely dry, forcing officials in July to declare a state of emergency in five northern regions. 

Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake, also shrank to near-historic lows over the summer. Water from the lake was diverted to local rivers to help farmers across the parched north of the country, leaving Lake Garda 12.6 inches above the water table, which approached the lowest levels recorded in 2003 and 2007.

Waterways elsewhere in Europe were similarly impacted by drought and extreme heat. In August, Serbia’s Danube River shrank to one of its lowest levels in almost a century. The Loire River in France also fell to historically low levels over the summer amid record drought in the country.

North America

Parts of North America, such as the western United States, remained in the grips of severe drought this year. Dry conditions fueled dangerous wildfires in Arizona, Colorado, California, Oregon and Washington state. 

A study published in February in the journal Nature Climate Change found that ongoing “megadrought” conditions in the southwestern U.S., which have persisted for the past 22 years, are the worst since at least 800 A.D. 

Key reservoirs in the country shrank to alarming lows in 2022. In June, water levels at Lake Mead, which was created on the Colorado River on the Arizona-Nevada border, dropped to the lowest levels since the lake was filled in the 1930s. The historic low water levels carry enormous implications for water supply and the production of hydroelectric power for millions of people across Arizona, California, Nevada and parts of Mexico.

Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the U.S., was similarly affected by intense drought, with its water dropping to the lowest levels since it was filled in the mid-1960s, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Water intake towers at the Hoover Dam in Las Vegas, on June 6, 1979, left, and on Aug. 19, 2022. Santi Visalli; Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Lake Mead’s declining water levels also had unexpected consequences: In May, two sets of human remains were discovered as a result of the reservoir’s receding shoreline.

EPA issues new rule to strengthen water protections in the U.S.

Lucas Thompson

Under the new definition of "waters of the United States," more wetlands, lakes and rivers will qualify as federally protected.

An airboat hovers over wetland in Everglades National Park, Fla., in September 2021.Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Images file

The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers on Friday announced a new definition of "waters of the United States," a classification that has been debated for decades.

At issue is which types of waterways  — wetlands, rivers, lakes, etc. — are protected under the Clean Water Act, which was signed into law 50 years ago. The act regulates water pollutants and empowers the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to define which particular bodies of water are protected by law. Protected bodies of water qualify for federal programs pertaining to oil spill prevention, water quality regulation and more.

During the Obama administration in 2015, the EPA established a relatively broad definition of waters of the United States, or WOTUS, that included navigable waters such as the Mississippi River and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as rivers, lakes and wetlands that crossed state borders. But in 2020, the Trump administration limited the types of waterways that received the federal protections, excluding much of the country’s wetlands and smaller waterways.

The new definition announced this week instates similar protections to those that were in place before 2015, while also clarifying certain qualifications for protected waters. 

Like the 2015 rules, navigable waters, oceans, and interstate waterways are protected by default. Tributaries that flow into and affect larger bodies of water, as well as wetlands near protected waters and some additional lakes and ponds can also be protected. To qualify, such smaller waterways must meet a set of standards that focuses on their permanence and their interconnectedness with other bodies of water. These updated standards are, in part, a response to several Supreme Court decisions in cases that challenged past definitions of WOTUS over the last two decades.

In a news release, the EPA said the new rule is intended to "reduce uncertainty from changing regulatory definitions, protect people’s health, and support economic opportunity."

"What we are doing with this final rule is establishing a clear and reasonable definition of waters of the United States," Radhika Fox, the assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Water, told NBC News. 

She added, "We set water quality standards for lakes and streams all around the country, and that is what makes sure that if you’re eating out of that lake and if you’re swimming in that stream that it’s safe for you."

Historic biodiversity agreement reached at U.N. conference

Associated Press

"There has never been a conservation goal globally at this scale,“ said one observer.

Delegates applaud at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Dec. 19, 2022. Andrej Ivanov / AFP - Getty Images

Negotiators reached a historic deal at a United Nations biodiversity conference early Monday that would represent the most significant effort to protect the world’s lands and oceans and provide critical financing to save biodiversity in the developing world.

The global framework comes a day before the U.N. Biodiversity Conference, or COP15, is set to end in Montreal. China, which holds the presidency at this conference, released a new draft earlier in the day that gave the sometimes contentious talks much-needed momentum.

The most significant part of the agreement is a commitment to protect 30% of land and water considered important for biodiversity by 2030. Currently, 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas are protected.

“There has never been a conservation goal globally at this scale,“ Brian O’Donnell, the director of the conservation group Campaign for Nature, told reporters. “This puts us within a chance of safeguarding biodiversity from collapse ... We’re now within the range that scientists think can make a marked difference in biodiversity.”

The draft also calls for raising $200 billion by 2030 for biodiversity from a range of sources and working to phase out or reform subsidies that could provide another $500 billion for nature. As part of the financing package, the framework calls for increasing to at least $20 billion annually by 2025 the money that goes to poor countries — or about double what is currently provided. That number would increase to $30 billion each year by 2030.

Some advocates wanted tougher language around subsidies that make food and fuel so cheap in many parts of the world. The document only calls for identifying subsidies by 2025 that can be reformed or phased out and working to reduce them by 2030.

Coral on Moore Reef off coast of Queensland, Australia on Nov. 13, 2022. Environmental leaders are gathering to provide much-needed protection for the world's biodiversity.Sam McNeil / AP

“The new text is a mixed bag,” Andrew Deutz, director of global policy, institutions and conservation finance for The Nature Conservancy, said. “It contains some strong signals on finance and biodiversity but it fails to advance beyond the targets of 10 years ago in terms of addressing drivers of biodiversity loss in productive sectors like agriculture, fisheries, and infrastructure and thus still risks being fully transformational.”

The ministers and government officials from about 190 countries have mostly agreed that protecting biodiversity has to be a priority, with many comparing those efforts to climate talks that wrapped up last month in Egypt.

Climate change coupled with habitat loss, pollution and development have hammered the world’s biodiversity, with one estimate in 2019 warning that a million plant and animal species face extinction within decades — a rate of loss 1,000 times greater than expected. Humans use about 50,000 wild species routinely, and 1 out of 5 people of the world’s 8 billion population depend on those species for food and income, the report said.

But they have struggled for nearly two weeks to agree on what that protection looks like and who will pay for it.

The financing has been among the most contentions issues, with delegates from 70 African, South American and Asian countries walking out of negotiations Wednesday. They returned several hours later.

Brazil, speaking for developing countries during the week, said in a statement that a new funding mechanism dedicated to biodiversity should be established and that developed countries provide $100 billion annually in financial grants to emerging economies until 2030.

“All the elements are in there for a balance of unhappiness which is the secret to achieving agreement in U.N. bodies,” Pierre du Plessis, a negotiator from Namibia who is helping coordinate the African group, told The Associated Press. “Everyone got a bit of what they wanted, not necessarily everything they wanted. Let’s see if there is there is a spirit of unity.”

Others praised the fact the document recognizes the rights of Indigenous communities. In past biodiversity documents, indigenous rights were often ignored and they rarely were part of the larger discussions other than a reference to their traditional knowledge. The framework would reaffirm the rights of Indigenous peoples and ensure they have a voice in any decision making.

“It’s important for the rights of Indigenous peoples to be there, and while it’s not the exact wording of that proposal in the beginning, we feel that it is a good compromise and that it addresses the concerns that we have,” Jennifer Corpuz, a representative of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity said. “We believe that it’s a good basis for us to be able to implement policy at the national level.”

THE GREEN ROOM (Episode 19): Maika Sondarjee and Nathan Andrews on Decolonizing Global Development Theory: What's in a Buzzword?

GREEN ROOM: LIVE WEBINAR TRANSCRIPT

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Summary of the Discussion

This month’s episode features two professional experts in the field of international development, Dr. Maïka Sondarjee from University of Ottawa and Dr. Nathan Andrews from McMaster University. The topic of discussion centered on ‘Decolonizing Global Development Theory: What's in a Buzzword?

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LISTEN TO PODCAST

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Maïka Sond-ar-jee is an assistant professor at the School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and has been a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Montreal. Her first book, Perdre le Sud. Décoloniser la solidarité internationale (2020), addresses systemic sexism, colonialism and inequalities in North-South relations. Her current projects look at white saviorism, epistemic inequalities in communities of practices, as well as feminist approaches of international relations.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Dr. Jason J. McSparren is an educator, researcher, and administrator with a PhD. in Global Governance and Human Security from Massachusetts Boston.He is also a Pre-Doctoral Fellow (2017-18) for the West African Research Association (WARA).

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Nathan Andrews is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University. One aspect of Dr. Andrews’ research focuses on the global political economy/ecology of natural resource extraction and development. His peer-reviewed publications on this topic have appeared in journals such as International Affairs, Resources Policy, World Development, Energy Research & Social Science, Africa Today, Business & Society Review, and Journal of International Relations & Development, among others.

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Favourite Quote

“To decolonize would be to flip the coin so to speak and look at how other people from other parts of the world could be looking at the same world that you’re looking about from a totally different perspective.”

— Dr. Nathan Andrews

“We have to value all kinds of knowledge .”

— Dr. Maïka Sondarjee

“we have to deconstruct this idea that the only people with knowledge are Scholars with PhDs from Western universities.”

— Dr. Maïka Sondarjee

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Global jobs market set to deteriorate amid Ukraine war shocks: ILO

Estimates from ILO for the third quarter of 2022, indicate that the level of hours worked was 1.5 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, amounting to a deficit of 40 million full-time jobs.

Inflation up, wages down

The 10th edition of the Monitor on the World of Work confirms that rising inflation is causing real wages to fall in many countries.

Unsplash/Bernardo Ramonfaur I A indigenous mexican woman selling dolls in the streets of Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico.

This comes on top of significant declines in income during the COVID-19 crisis, which affected low-income groups most in many countries. The report finds that labour market inequalities are likely to increase, contributing to a continued divergence between developed and developing economies.

According to the Monitor, a set of multiple and overlapping crises, compounded by the Ukraine war and subsequent negative spill-over effects, have materialized over 2022 which have impacted the world of work deeply.

Food and energy in flux

The effects are being felt through food and energy inflation, declining real wages, growing inequality, shrinking policy options and higher debt in developing countries.

Unemployment and inequality are set to rise due to 🌍 crises.

⬆️Rising inflation
⬇️Declining real wages
📈Growing inequality
📉Slowdown in economic growth

are deeply impacting the #worldofwork.

🆕 The 10th ILO Monitor on the World of Work is out!
➡️https://t.co/jI78Gnky8J pic.twitter.com/x9lafRuRKL

— International Labour Organization (@ilo) October 31, 2022

A slowdown in economic growth and aggregate demand will also reduce demand for workers as uncertainty and worsening expectations affect hiring.

The Monitor finds that worsening labour market conditions are affecting both employment creation and the quality of jobs, pointing out that there is already data that suggests a sharp labour market slowdown.

At the beginning of 2022, the number of global hours worked was recovering strongly, notably in higher-skilled occupations and among women.

However, this trend was driven by an increase in informal jobs, jeopardizing 15 years of progress trend towards formalization.

Solidarity, to end war

ILO says that a strong commitment is needed to initiatives such as the UN Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection; its objective is to create 400 million jobs and extend support to the four billion people who have nothing to fall back on should they fall sick or get hurt at work.

© UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi I A 13-year-old boy works in a mechanic's shop in Syria.

A rapid end to the conflict in Ukraine, as demanded in the resolutions of the ILO Governing Body, would further contribute to improving the global employment situation, the UN agency noted.

“Tackling this deeply worrying global employment situation, and preventing a significant global labour market downturn, will require comprehensive, integrated and balanced policies both nationally and globally,” said ILO Director-General, Gilbert Houngbo.

“We need the implementation of a broad set of policy tools, including interventions in the prices of public goods; the rechannelling of windfall profits; strengthening income security through social protection; increasing income support; and targeted measures to assist the most vulnerable people and enterprises.”

‘Game changer’ ideas on water and sustainability, centre-stage ahead of major water conference

The results emerging from roundtables on governance, capacity development, data and information, innovation and financing, will be shared with national representatives on Tuesday, at a preparatory meeting for the UN 2023 Water Conference, taking place in March.

Noting that the world stands at a watershed moment, the President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, whose Office organized the consultations, told participants that it is time to “transform from reactive water management to proactive, science-based solutions to the water crisis.”

Science-based solutions

Happening now!

Stakeholder consultations for the Preparatory Meeting of the #UN2023WaterConference.

Follow along #WaterAction ⬇️

🎥 Roundtable 1️⃣ on Governance: https://t.co/hLgUn8hvb5

🎥 Roundtable 2️⃣ on Capacity Development: https://t.co/YFMels3W5J pic.twitter.com/QaYzA43Vym

— UN GA President (@UN_PGA) October 24, 2022

Mr. Kőrösi urged participants discuss game changers from the perspective of “solidarity, sustainability and science”, the motto of the 77th session of the General Assembly.

Former President of the Republic of Hungary, János Áder also addressed the opening, in his capacity as Member of the Water and Climate Leaders. He called for a greater emphasis on collecting and sharing information: “We cannot stop this water crisis. We have to adapt. And to adapt, we need data and information.”

Shaken, not stirred

Reminding participants of the “James Bond ratio” whereby only 0.007 per cent of the planet’s water is potable. Mr. Áder listed categories missing data bases, such as on water quality, grid loss, humidity content and wastewater. 

Without good date on these topics, it makes it difficult to see the potential social, political and economic impact of water issues, Mr. Áder noted.

The opening session also heard from UN Global Compact Chief of Staff, Melissa Powell. She discussed CEO Water Mandate, which is an initiative to align business principles with water, sanitation and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and called for greater engagement with the public sector.

UN/Paulina Kubiak Greer I Scientists, representatives of the private sector and civil society today met at the United Nations in New York to discuss game changers related to water and sustainability.

Speaking also on behalf of the private sector in the opening, Matthias Berninger, who works in Public Affairs and Sustainability at Bayer, said more and more companies are engaging on water because it is important for their businesses.

Fluid new systems

He suggested that now is the time to start a more concerted effort to create a water and climate information system which would allow assistance for farmers, people living on shorelines, and decisionmakers.

Youth advocate, Keziah Theresee Gerosana, called for UN agencies to allocate at least half of their budgets to water and climate projects.

Referring to the importance of intergenerational discussions, in addition to inter-sectoral, she urged participants to see young people as allies: “Will you open your doors and accept us? Allow us to be your partners for change?”

Young business leader Lindsey Blodgett, called on participants to “work together outside of our spheres of influence” to harmonizing game changers across communities that normally would not be cooperating.

Short on climate action

On Monday, we begin consultations with civil society, private sector & scientific community on 'game changers' for #WaterAction & sustainability issues.

Our hope is to inspire people to work together ahead of the #UN2023WaterConference & beyond.

Join us: https://t.co/eS8grmlDt4 pic.twitter.com/hCUekFM5Ss

— UN GA President (@UN_PGA) October 22, 2022

Joining by video message, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization Petteri Taalas warned that climate action failure – which includes water inaction – is the biggest global risk.

He stressed the need to invest more in early warning systems, and to fill in the gaps in meteorological observing systems on the African continent, among Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). 

Monday’s discussions also included information from a series of online stakeholder discussions organized earlier this year by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). 

That Department’s Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua, who is the Secretary-General of the UN 2023 Water conference, presented the findings. UN DESA helped to organize today’s discussions.

Governance overhaul

Revolutions hurt, said Hank Ovink, Special Envoy for Water from the Netherlands, addressing the roundtable on governance. Netherlands, along with Tajikistan, are the co-hosts of UN 2023 Water Conference.

Mr. Ovink said that to really have an impact, the international community will need to change “quite a log about what we’re used to, in combination with political will, societal will, a whole of society approach in a radically inclusive way.”

The Special Envoy told participants and moderator Danielle Gaillard-Picher, the Global Coordinator of the Global Water Partnership, that the contributions and societal will of everyone watching can make a difference.

Developing capacity

One of the issues discussed in the roundtable on capacity development is the establishment of a mechanism like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, which could provide policy makers with science-based knowledge.

“That knowledge has to be translated to change water culture,” said Moderator Abou Amani, the Director of Water Sciences Division at UNESCO. “Because too many people are taking water for granted.”

Topics also discussed in the roundtable included not leaving anyone behind, as well as formal and informal water education and financing to help support the movement.

Need to know

Carolina Tornesi MacKinnon, of the World Youth Parliament for Water, moderated the panel on data and information.

One of the game changers discussed was the UN Early Warnings for All initiative, which is expected to be discussed at the COP27 in Egypt next month.

Participants also discussed the need for databases and better information on water use and water quality, that are open to all, without proprietary use or high subscription prices.

Some also mentioned the importance of gender, referring to the UNICEF statistic that women and girls spend 200 million hours a day gathering water, which allows them far less time than they need for studies and income generating activities.

Innovation

© UNICEF/Vlad Sokhin I Children stand in a flood water in Borno State, Nigeria.

Among the game changers discussed in the innovation roundtable moderated by Marc Zeitoun, from the Geneva Water Hub, participants discussed topics such as appointing water champions within parliaments, to connect decision makers with the issue.

Some participants highlighted unconventional water resources, noting that in some countries, water reuse cannot be part of the solution because there is no water to reuse. Such technologies also include desalinating systems, and methods of extracting water from air.

Accessing finance

In the roundtable on financing, moderated by the economic development body OECD’s Anna Dupont, one of the topics discussed was the importance of linking water to the resilience and climate change agenda.

Close to 80 per cent of natural disasters so far this century are water-related.

Participants also discussed financial implications and how to drive investment, given rising interest across the private sector in water-related, sustainability issues. The interest is being driven in part by the need to access resources on the part of business.

Global deforestation pledge will be missed without urgent action, say researchers

Damian Carrington

Destruction of forests slowed in 2021 but not enough to meet 2030 commitment made by 145 countries

The destruction of global forests slowed in 2021 but the vital climate goal of ending deforestation by 2030 will still be missed without urgent action, according to an assessment.

The area razed in 2021 fell by 6.3% after progress in some countries, notably Indonesia. But almost 7m hectares were lost and the destruction of the most carbon- and biodiversity-rich tropical rainforests fell by only 3%. The CO2 emissions resulting from the lost trees were equivalent to the emissions of the entire European Union plus Japan.

Aerial view of deforestation in Mato Grosso state, Brazil, in July 2021. Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

Global heating could not be limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels without ending deforestation, experts said. At the UN’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, 145 countries pledged to end the felling of forests by the end of the decade. The demolition and degradation of forests causes about 10% of global carbon emissions.

However, based on current trends, the Glasgow leaders’ declaration would be as “hollow” as the pledge made by countries in 2014 to end deforestation by 2020, the assessment’s authors said.

There was little clarity or transparency of the measures being taken to end deforestation and only 1% of the required funding was being provided, they said, and most importantly a lack of political will.

Erin Matson at Climate Focus, a policy group and one of the coalition of organisations that conducted the assessment, said: “The [Glasgow declaration] was a big moment, the first time such a target had been embraced at the leaders level by so many countries, covering 90% of global forests.

“But we are not on track. There has been some modest improvement, but even this could just be temporary. Many countries are putting their progress at risk by phasing out or rolling back protections. For example, Indonesia did not renew its palm oil moratorium after it expired in September 2021 and a recently adopted law on job creation poses a serious threat to natural forests.”

The largest area of destroyed forest in 2021 was in Brazil, where deforestation has risen under president Jair Bolsonaro, having fallen under his predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The election contest between the two men, on 30 October, has been described by scientists as likely to determine the fate of the Amazon. “The stakes are high,” Matson said.

David Gibbs, a research associate at the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch, said: “We are quickly moving toward another round of hollow commitments and vanished forests.”

Fran Price, at the World Wildlife Fund, said: “There is no pathway to meeting the 1.5C target or reversing biodiversity loss without halting deforestation and conversion. It is time for bold leadership and daring solutions.”

Four of the top five countries with the largest areas of deforestation – Brazil, Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Paraguay – increased the destruction in 2021.

However, “exceptional progress” in some countries showed the 2030 goal was still possible, the authors said. Indonesia, the only country to cut deforestation in each of the past five years, and its neighbour Malaysia, reduced forest destruction by about 25% in 2021. As a result, tropical Asia is the only region on track for zero deforestation by 2030.

A drive to end the razing of forests for cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast and Ghana helped deforestation fall by 47% and 13% respectively, while new national parks and measures to fight illegal logging led to a 28% fall in Gabon. Tropical Latin America, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Guatemala also reported cuts in deforestation in 2021.

“We have the data and we know what interventions work – the missing element is the political will to actually undertake those actions,” said Frances Seymour at WRI.

The measures include government bans combined with effective enforcement, collaborations with the beef, soy, timber and other commodity companies whose products are most linked to deforestation, international trade measures and the strengthening of the land rights of Indigenous and other local people.

Countries backing the Glasgow declaration pledged to quadruple annual funding to tackle deforestation but no information was yet available on how these pledges would be met, the authors said.

Only a quarter of the biggest global companies in the agriculture sector have announced strong policies to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains and just 20% of these are close to meeting their commitments.

The new forest declaration assessment used data on permanent tree cover loss around the world to create a baseline from 2018-20. To get to zero deforestation by 2030 requires a fall of 10% a year, meaning the current slowing of deforestation is insufficient.

Forest cover has increased in some countries since 2000 but less than the area lost. New forests could not offset the huge carbon storage and biodiversity of existing natural forests, the authors said.

Protecting intact forests had even more climate benefits than just the CO2 stored, said Seymour, thanks to their role in producing cloud cover that cools the planet. “If we take the non-carbon processes into account, they amplify the cooling effect of ending tropical forest loss by about 50%,” she said.

Michael Wolosin, at Conservation International, said: “That 50% cooling bonus should be included by forest countries in their accounting to gain the recognition and finance they deserve for the services their forests are providing to the world.”

INTERVIEW: Connection between human rights and climate change ‘must not be denied’

The right to life, food, development, self-determination, water and sanitation, and adequate housing, is being denied to millions of people because of climate change, the first UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Human Rights in the context of Climate Change, has told the General Assembly in his first formal report to the body.

Ian Fry, Australian National University Professor and Tuvalu’s former ambassador for Climate Change for over 21 years, was appointed in May by the UN Human Rights Council, as the first Special Rapporteur on climate, following the overwhelming vote to recognize the Right to a Healthy Environment, in 2021.

UN Video screenshot I Ian Fry, Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, sits down for an interview with UN News.

“Human-induced climate change is the largest, most pervasive threat to the natural environment and societies the world has ever experienced, and the poorest countries are paying the heaviest price”, the expert told delegates.

Mr. Fry highlighted the “enormous injustice” perpetrated by rich countries and major corporations, which are not acting to reduce their greenhouse emissions, and consequently failing the poorest and least able to cope.

“The G20 members, for instance, account for 78 per cent of emissions over the last decade”, he underscored.

The Special Rapporteur sat down with UN News before delivering his report, which focuses on three areas: mitigation action, loss and damage, access and inclusion, and the protection of climate rights defenders.

He spoke about what he hopes the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Egypt (COP27) will achieve, addressed some of the climate-action challenges given the war in Ukraine, and shared some of the recommendations he made to member states, including the call for a High-Level Forum to be held next year.

UN NEWS: Can you please explain what is the focus of your first report to the General Assembly?

IAN FRY: The main issues are those coming up at the COP in Egypt.

First, issues around improving action on mitigation to get countries to commit to more action. We know that there's not enough being done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so I want to bring attention to that and look at the human rights implications of not doing enough on climate change.

The next issue is precisely the consequences of that, and I'm looking at the issue of loss and damage. These are the huge impacts that countries are suffering as a consequence of climate change and the huge costs that are involved. To date, there have been discussions around establishing a Loss and Damage fund, but that's been moving very slowly, so I'm hoping to build further momentum to work on getting that fund agreed, and up and running.

The final issue is around access and inclusion. This is getting people who are most affected by climate change to be able to present their voices to climate change meetings. This is women, children, youth, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, all the groups that are right at the forefront of climate change and human rights impacts. We need to find ways of getting their voice into the climate change process.

© UNICEF/Asad Zaidi I On 3 September 2022, four-year-old Rahim stands on the rubble of his house, destroyed by the floods in Pakistan.

UN NEWS: What is the connection between human rights and these issues we see related to climate action

If we think about the floods in Nigeria and Pakistan, and the severe drought that's occurring in Somalia now, people's human rights are being affected as a consequence of climate change.

These are millions of people around the world whose basic enjoyment of human rights is being affected. So, we have to make that connection, we have to put a human face to climate change.

UN NEWS: In the last UN Climate Conference, which was held in Glasgow in 2021, member states signed a declaration which finalized the negotiations of outstanding terms of the Paris Agreement. What do you expect countries will be speaking about during the upcoming COP in Egypt?

Well, there are a number of issues on the table. We're leading up to what's called the Global Stocktake [in 2023], this is a review of the implementation of the Paris Agreement. So, there are processes involved in establishing this review process.

I think that the crunch issue will be around this whole loss and damage debate. We've seen pushback by some key countries around advancing the issue, but the developing countries have unanimously said “we want loss and damage on the agenda” and civil society is saying the same thing.

UN NEWS: And what are the challenges regarding the loss and damage issue?

© UNFPA / Shehzad Noorani I Villagers in Pakistan’s Khairpur Mirs District in Sindh province cross flooded land to get to their homes.

Well, there are major developed countries that are quite concerned about it and looking at this issue from the perspective of what the polluter pays. At the moment, the countries most affected by climate change and suffering the costs are having to deal with those costs themselves.

I was recently in Bangladesh and saw firsthand the impacts of climate change. And it's unfair for countries like Bangladesh to have to deal with the cost of climate change on their own, which is not of their own making. So, the most vulnerable countries produce the least amount of emissions, yet they're paying the cost of the damage from climate change.

So, it's time the big countries, the major emitters, stood up and said, “we've got to do something, we've got to make a contribution to these vulnerable countries”.

UN NEWS: Since the Right to a Healthy Environment was declared a Universal Human Right, have you seen any changes implemented by countries?

I think countries are starting to see how they can implement that resolution. There's certainly dialogue within countries.

I know the European Union is having discussions about how to incorporate that resolution within their national legislation, within constitutions. And I think regional bodies are also looking at that to develop regional agreements that bring on board that resolution.

UN NEWS: Do you think is possible at this point to keep the goal of curbing global warming to 1,5 degrees?

Well, it's a challenge. We're not seeing that with the current Nationally Determined Contributions and the sort of commitments that have been made by countries.

We're heading on a pathway towards two to three degrees Celsius, so there has to be a lot more action to get countries to reduce their emissions.

IOM/Anne Schaefer I An aerial view of N'djamena following heavy rains in August 2022.

The complication, of course, is the Ukraine war, where we're seeing countries sort of having to find old sources of fossil fuel energy to replace what they've been deprived of, as a consequence of the war. So that's the problem, and that's been a distraction as well.

However, there's a good side to it, I think countries are also saying that they need to be self-sufficient in energy and the cheapest way to do so is with renewable energy.

And we're seeing Portugal moving towards 100 per cent renewable, we know Denmark is also doing that, and I think that will drive other countries to see the need to be renewable and self-sufficient in their energy.

Millions at risk in flood-hit Nigeria; relief chief highlights hunger in Burkina Faso

Infrastructure and farmland have also been damaged, said the statement issued on behalf of Secretary-General António Guterres, worsening the cost of living across the country.  

He extended his deepest condolences to the Government of Nigeria and to the affected families, reiterating the UN’s continuing “commitment to supporting the Government of Nigeria in this challenging time.”

© UNICEF/Esiebo/Abraham Achirga I More than 1.5 million children at risk as devastating floods hit Nigeria.

UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that 60 per cent of those in need were children, who are at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition.

The floods have affected 34 out of the 36 states in the country, and over 600 people have lost their lives, with 200,000 houses either partially or fully damaged.

In the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, a total of 7,485 cases of cholera and 319 associated deaths were reported as of 12 October, and rains are expected to continue for several weeks, along with rising humanitarian needs.

‘Extremely vulnerable’

“Children and adolescents in flood-affected areas are in an extremely vulnerable situation,” said Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.

"They are particularly at risk of waterborne diseases and emotional and psychological distress. UNICEF is working closely with the Government and other partners to provide life-saving assistance to those who are most in need.”  

When I asked the families I met in Djibo #BurkinaFaso how we can help, they said:

“Please do one simple thing for us: Open that road so that food can come through for our children.”

Time is of the essence.

The road needs to open. pic.twitter.com/1cZYqLXjsG

— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) October 21, 2022

Immediate priority needs for children include health, water, sanitation, and hygiene; as well as shelter and food.

Humanitarian needs ‘rising fast’ in Burkina Faso: Griffiths

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, ended a short fact-finding mission to nearby Burkina Faso on Friday, saying it was a critical time for the landlocked West African nation.

“Humanitarian needs are rising fast. A quarter of the population, or some 4.9 million people need emergency assistance, a staggering 40 per cent more people than at the beginning of the year”, he said. “One in ten Burkinabe is displaced from their homes by devastating conflict and climate shocks.”

Growing insecurity from extremist armed groups operating across much of the Sahel, and blockades in many areas have left communities isolated, and with inadequate supplies of humanitarian aid.

“To provide critical life-saving relief to those in need with a level of dignity and respect that every human being deserves, we urgently require additional resources. Our US$805 million response plan in Burkina Faso is less than a third funded.”

Diet of leaves and salt

Relief chief Griffiths said he’d met some displaced in the town of Djibo, who had eaten “only leaves and salt, for weeks.”

“The situation is so bad that women are risking their lives, crossing lines of control at night in search of food. I spoke with community leaders who urged those in charge to open roads for food, water, and vital medicine to reach them, to save lives. There are peaceful initiatives to find solutions and there is still hope. The people of Djibo deserve our respect, admiration and much more support in this hour of dire need.”

OCHA USG Martin Griffiths talks to displaced people in the town of Djibo in northern Burkina Faso, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought safety due to a devastating conflict and changing climate.

He also met the new military leader of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, who was sworn in on Friday vowing to defeat terrorism in the north, replacing a former coup leader who seized power in January.

Mr. Griffiths said he had stressed the need for protection of civilians, including for those caught up in conflict, and asked the transitional president to ensure “a conducive environment for humanitarian operations and enable humanitarian access, so that we can reach all Burkinabé in need, everywhere across the country.”

In the first nine months of this year, the UN and our humanitarian partners brought food assistance to 1.8 million people and supported 740,000 people with access to healthcare in areas where health facilities have closed down and where medical supplies are lacking.

Adapt and survive: 5 ways to help countries cope with the climate crisis

From devastating floods in Pakistan, to wildfires in Siberia, the effects of the climate emergency are being felt across the world, and the United Nations is calling for more investment now, to help nations to adapt to an increasingly unstable environment.

All nations need to make major cuts to fossil fuel emissions and transition to a low-carbon economy, if we are to have any chance of achieving the aim of reducing global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

This continues to be the message from the UN but, with so many countries suffering as a result of more frequent extreme weather events, that are threatening food security and global stability, more urgent measures need to be taken, to help countries to adapt to an increasingly hostile planet.

Here are five tried and tested ways that nations can become more resilient, in the face of climate change.

1. Early warning systems

Research shows that a 24-hour warning of an oncoming heatwave or storm can reduce the subsequent damage by 30 per cent. Early warning systems that provide climate forecasts are one of the most cost-effective adaptation measures, yielding around nine dollars of total benefits for every dollar invested.

With timely warnings, people can take early action by blocking up doors with sandbags to anticipate floods, stockpiling resources or, in some extreme cases, evacuating from their homes.

In Bangladesh, for example, even as climate change becomes more severe, the number of deaths from cyclones has fallen by 100-fold over the past 40 years, due mainly to improved early warnings.

But today, one-third of the global population is still not adequately covered by early warning systems. And while efforts have focused mainly on storms, floods and droughts, other hazards like heatwaves and wildfires will need to be better integrated as they become more common and intense.

Earlier this year, the UN Secretary-General tasked the World Meteorological Organization to lead the development of an action plan to ensure every person in the world is covered by early warnings within the next five years. The plan will be presented at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27) next month.

2. Ecosystem Restoration

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners in 2021 triggered a global movement to restore the world’s ecosystems. This global restoration effort will not only absorb carbon but also increase ‘ecosystem services’ to defend the world from its most devastating impacts.

In cities, restoring urban forests cools the air and reduces heatwaves. On a normal sunny day, a single tree provides a cooling effect equivalent to two domestic air conditioners running for 24 hours.

On coasts, mangrove forests provide natural sea defences from storm surges by reducing the height and strength of the sea waves. Moreover, protecting mangroves is 1,000 times less expensive per kilometre than building seawalls.

In high altitudes, re-greening mountain slopes protects communities from climate-induced landslides and avalanches. For example, on Anjouan Island in Comoros, deforestation was drying up the ground and turning forests into deserts. With support from UNEP, a project has set out to plant 1.4 million trees over four years to hold back erosion and retain water and nutrients in the soil.

3. Climate-resilient infrastructure

Climate-resilient infrastructure refers to assets and systems such as roads, bridges, and power lines that can withstand shocks from extreme climate impacts. Infrastructure is responsible for 88 per cent of the forecasted costs of adapting to climate change.

A World Bank report finds that climate-resilient infrastructure investments in low and middle-income countries could produce roughly $4.2 trillion in total benefits, around four dollars for each dollar invested. The reasoning is simple. More resilient infrastructure assets pay for themselves as their life-cycle is extended and their services are more reliable.

Tools for encouraging investments in climate-resilient infrastructure include regulatory standards like building codes, spatial planning frameworks such as vulnerability maps, and a strong communication drive to ensure the private sector is aware of climate risks, projections and uncertainties.

4. Water supplies and security

The story of climate change is, in many ways, a story about water, whether it is floods, droughts, rising sea levels, or even wildfires. By 2030, one-in-two people are expected to face severe water shortages.

Investing in more efficient irrigation will be crucial, as agriculture accounts for 70 per cent of all global freshwater withdrawals. In urban centres, roughly 100-120 billion cubic metres of water could be saved globally by 2030 by reducing leaks. Governments are being encouraged to develop holistic water management plans, known as Integrated Water Resource Management, that take into account the entire water cycle: from source to distribution, treatment, reuse and return to the environment.

Research shows that investments in rainwater harvesting systems need to be sustained to make them more widely available. In Bagamoyo town, Tanzania, for instance, rising sea levels and drought from declining rainfall were causing wells to dry up and become salty. With no other options, children from the local Kingani School had to drink salt water, leading to headaches, ulcers, and low school attendance.

With support from UNEP, the government began constructing a rainwater harvesting system involving rooftop guttering and a series of large tanks for storing water. Diseases soon began to fall, and the children returned to school. 

5. Long-term planning

Climate adaptation solutions are more effective if integrated into long-term strategies and policies. National Adaptation Plans are a crucial governance mechanism for countries to plan for the future and strategically prioritize adaptation needs.

A key part of these plans is to examine climate scenarios decades into the future and combine these with vulnerability assessments for different sectors. These can assist in planning and guiding government decisions on investment, regulatory and fiscal framework changes and raising public awareness.

Around 70 countries have developed a National Adaptation Plan, but this number is growing rapidly. UNEP is currently supporting 20 Member States in developing their plans, which can also be used to improve adaptation elements in Nationally Determined Contributions - a central part of the Paris Agreement.

Disaster risk reduction: Only half the world equipped with adequate early warning systems

Coinciding with the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction , the numbers in the report are even worse for developing countries on the front lines of climate change, the report states. Less than half of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and only one-third of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), have a multi-hazard early warning system.

The report, Global Status of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems - Target G, is based on new data that shows that countries with limited early warning coverage have mortality rates during disasters, that are eight times higher than countries with substantial to comprehensive coverage.

Deadly failure to invest

“The world is failing to invest in protecting the lives and livelihoods of those on the front line. Those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis are paying the highest price”, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in a video message marking the day.  

The report shows that LDCs, SIDS, and countries in Africa, require the most investment to increase early warning coverage and adequately protect themselves against disasters.

“As this report was being prepared, Pakistan is dealing with its worst recorded climate disaster, with nearly 1,700 lives lost”, said Mami Mizutori, UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of UNDRR.

“Despite this carnage, the death toll would have been much higher if not for early warning systems.”

‘Significant’ gaps

UNDRR/Chris Huby I Less than half of the Least Developed Countries and only one-third of Small Island Developing States have a multi-hazard early warning system.

“Worryingly, this report highlights significant gaps in protection as only half of the countries globally have Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems”, she added. “This is a situation that needs to urgently change, to save lives, livelihoods, and assets”.

Petteri Taalas, WMO Secretary-General, said the number of recorded disasters has increased five-fold, “driven in part by human-induced climate change and more extreme weather. This trend is expected to continue. Early warning systems are a proven and effective climate adaptation measure, that save lives and money”.

“But we can and must do better. We need to ensure that early warnings reach the most vulnerable and that they are translated into early action,” he added. “This is why WMO is spearheading a UN initiative on Early Warnings for All in the next five years.”

Humanity ‘in the danger zone’: Guterres

As ever-rising greenhouse gas emissions are “supercharging extreme weather events across the planet”, Secretary-General António Guterres warned in his message for the International Day, that climate disasters are hurting countries and economies “like never before” 

He explained that increasing calamities are costing lives and hundreds of billions of dollars in loss and damage, and recounted how he witnessed first-hand, the devastation unleashed by the recent floods after his visit to Pakistan.

“Three times more people are displaced by climate disasters than war”, the UN chief said, adding that “half of humanity is already in the danger zone”.

He argued that the world is “failing to invest in protecting the lives and livelihoods of those on the front line”.

At the same time, Mr. Guterres continued, those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis are paying the highest price.

Adequate warning saves lives

“Entire populations are being blindsided by cascading climate disasters without any means of prior alert”, said the UN chief, stressing that “people need adequate warning to prepare for extreme weather events”.

For this reason, he reiterated his call for universal early warning coverage over the next five years.

“Early warning systems – and the ability to act on them – are proven life-savers”.

COP27 litmus test

At the UN climate conference (COP27) in Egypt next month, the Secretary-General said that he would launch an action plan to make his five year deadline a reality, and urged support from all “governments, international financial institutions and civil society”.

He said delivering on loss and damage at COP27 will be “an important litmus test” for rebuilding trust between developed and developing countries.

“On this International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, I call on all countries to invest in early warning systems and support those who lack capacity”, concluded the UN chief.

INTERVIEW: Transform education, and avoid a global learning crisis

UN NEWS

Many education experts worry that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused untold damage to the education prospects of children around the world, exacerbating problems of falling standards that already existed, with millions of children receiving minimal, inadequate education, or no education at all.

Leonardo Garnier, Special Advisor to the Transforming Education Summit, by Marco Bassano

In the days before the Transforming Education Summit, UN News met Leonardo Garnier, an academic and former education minister in Costa Rica, who was appointed by the UN Secretary-General as Special Advisor for the Summit.

He explained why going back to the old ways of teaching is not an option, and how the UN can help to bring fresh ideas to classrooms around the world and raise educational standards for children everywhere.

UN News The UN is tackling so many big geopolitical issues right now, such as the climate crisis, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. Why has education been chosen as key theme this year?

Leonardo Garnier It’s precisely the right time to do it, because when there’s an economic slowdown, what usually happens is that education goes under the table: it ceases to be a priority. Governments need money, and they stop spending on education.

The problem here is that the damage this causes is only apparent after several years. If you take the Eighties education crisis, it wasn’t until the Nineties and 2000s that you started to see how countries had lost out because of a lack of educational investment.

© UNICEF/Veronica Houser I A family sit inside their home, in an informal settlement for internally displaced people in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Millions of children were left out of school because of the pandemic. But the pandemic also brought out what had been happening for years, because many of those who were in school were not really learning properly.

UN News Talk us through the 1980s educational crisis. What happened, and what were the consequences?

Leonardo Garnier What you saw in many parts of the world was stagflation, and a huge reduction in education budgets. Enrolment rates fell, teacher numbers fell, and many children missed out on education, particularly high school education.

And what that meant is that, in many countries, only around half the labour force finished primary school. When you look at increasing poverty, and increasing inequality in many countries, it is very difficult not to relate that to the reduced educational opportunities of the Eighties and Nineties.

UN News Do you think that what we're seeing now is going to potentially lead to a repeat of that situation?

Leonardo Garnier That could happen. From 2000 to 2018 we saw increases in school enrolment rates in most countries, and in educational investment. From then on, educational budgets started to be reduced, and then the pandemic hit.

And then what you have is really two years in which education stopped in many countries, alongside an economic crisis. So yes, there is a risk that, instead of recovering from the pandemic, we could be in an even worse position than we were in 2019.

What the Secretary General is saying is that we have to protect education from this big hit, and recover what we lost in this pandemic. But we actually have to go further.

With SDG 4 [the Sustainable Development Goal to improve access to quality education for all], the UN and global community have set themselves very ambitious targets.

You might think that everybody should have the right to education but, if we keep doing things as they were being done prior to the pandemic, we won’t get there. 

At the Transforming Education Summit, we want to send the message that, if we really want every young person in this planet to have the right to a quality education, we have to do things differently.

We have to transform schools, the way teachers teach, the way we use digital resources, and the way we finance education.

UN News What is your vision for an education system that is fit for the Twenty-First Century?

Leonardo Garnier It has to do with the content, with what we teach and the relevance of education.

©UNICEF/ Frank Dejongh I A girl studies online at home in Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire.

On one side, we need the fundamental building blocks of education – literacy, numeracy, scientific thinking – but we also need what some people have called the Twenty-First Century skills. Social skills, problem solving skills.

Teachers need to impart knowledge by sparking curiosity, helping students to solve problems and guiding students through the learning process. But, to do that, teachers need better training, better working conditions, and better wages, because in many countries, the pay for teachers is very low.

They need to understand that their authority does not come from merely having more information than their students, but from their experience and capacity to lead the learning process.

In any labour activity, productivity results in part from the tools we use. When we talk about education, we've been using the same tools for around 400 years! With the digital revolution, teachers and learners could have access to much more creative tools for teaching and learning. 

At the Summit, we’re saying that digital resources are what economists call a public good: they require a lot of investment to be produced, and they are not cheap, but once they are produced, everybody could use them. 

We want digital learning resources to be transformed into public goods, so that every country can share their own resources with other countries. For example, teachers from Argentina could share content with teachers from Spain; Egypt has a lovely digital education project that could be shared with many other Arab countries.

The potential is there, but we need to bring everything together into a partnership for digital learning resources. This is something else that we are calling for at the Summit.

The Transforming Education Summit

• The Transforming Education Summit takes place on Friday 16, Saturday 17 and Monday 19 September.

• Friday 16 September is “Mobilization Day”, which will be youth-led and youth-organized, bringing young people’s concerns over their education to decision and policymakers, and will focus on mobilizing the global public, youth, teachers, civil society and others, to support the transformation of education across the world.

• Saturday 17 September is all about solutions, and is designed to be a platform for initiatives that will contribute to transforming education. The day is grouped around five themes (“Thematic Action Tracks”): inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools; learning and skills for life; work and sustainable development; teachers, teaching and the teaching profession; digital learning and transformation; and financing of education.

• Monday 19 September, is Leaders Day, capitalizing on the fact that so many Heads of State and Government will be descending on New York that week. Expect a host of National Statements of Commitment from these leaders.

Cop15: lack of political leadership leaves crucial nature summit ‘in peril’, warn NGOs

Patrick Greenfield and Peter Muiruri in Nairobi

Nairobi biodiversity talks end in stalemate, prompting open letter to world leaders calling for action before Montreal conference

On the dais in Nairobi, from left: UN biodiversity head Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, CBD co-chair Francis Ogwal, deputy executive secretary David Cooper and CDB co-chair Basile van Havre.Photograph: IISD/ENB

UN biodiversity negotiations have reached crisis point due to a lack of engagement from governments, leading NGOs have warned, three years after experts revealed that Earth’s life-support systems are collapsing.

Last week, countries met in Nairobi for an extra round of talks on an agreement to halt the human-driven destruction of the natural world, with the final targets set to be agreed at Cop15 in Montreal. Governments have never met a target they have set for themselves on halting the destruction of nature despite scientists warning in 2019 that one million species face extinction, and that nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history.

While world leaders including Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau and Boris Johnson have underscored the importance of the summit, which only takes place once a decade, the biodiversity negotiations have seen substantial divisions between the global north and south over money, proposals to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, and implementation of any agreement. The Africa group warned it would not sign off the final post-2020 global biodiversity framework unless it includes a target on digital biopiracy.

In an open letter published on Monday, environmental groups including Greenpeace, Avaaz, the Campaign for Nature and the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity said progress on the final deal was not being made, and the talks lacked high-level political engagement. In the run-up to any Cop, negotiations are largely handled by technical specialists in the initial phases, with ministers typically getting involved at the end of talks.

The letter calls on the UN secretary general, António Guterres, and government ministers to inject political leadership into the process and avert disaster at Cop15 in Montreal in December. China will oversee the event as president after its zero-Covid policy forced organisers to move the summit earlier this month.

“Negotiations have become stagnant, and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework is in peril,” the letter reads. “Countries had once pointed to Cop15 as an opportunity to deliver a global deal for nature and people, similar in significance to the Paris climate agreement, but there is a notable absence of the high-level political engagement, will and leadership to drive through compromise and to guide and inspire the commitments that are required.”

Delegates meet in Nairobi, Kenya, last week to hammer out agreements in the run-up to Cop15 in Montreal. Photograph: Mike Muzurakis/IISD/ENB

During six days of talks last week, negotiations saw little agreement among countries over the final text, which includes draft targets on eliminating environmentally harmful subsidies, reducing pesticide use, and action on invasive species in an effort to cut extinction rates. Scientists warned again in 2020 that the sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating.

A further round of pre-Cop15 talks has been scheduled in the days before the summit, which starts on 5 December and concludes on 17 December, the day before the football World Cup final.

If adequately funded and implemented in full, the agreement could see major changes to global agricultural practices and extractive industries, both major drivers of the eradication of wildlife and natural ecosystems.

It had been hoped that countries would use the extra round of talks in Nairobi to hammer out points of division ahead of Cop15. Yet one negotiator, speaking to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity, said they left the talks seeing more division.

“When the meeting ended yesterday, everyone was really frustrated. Many people were expecting to move forward, at least on some of the targets. It should be a wake-up call and might raise awareness among ministers that they need to find a way out of this conundrum,” they said.

Sharon Ruthia, of the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation, at the Nairobi talks last week. Photograph: Mike Muzurakis/IISD/ENB

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the UN’s biodiversity head, urged governments to work together on the agreement ahead of Cop15 to help reach consensus. “I call upon the parties, in the next months, to vigorously engage with the text, to listen to each other and seek consensus,” she said.

Basile van Havre, a co-chair for the UN convention on biological diversity (CBD) negotiations, said he was not as negative as others about the state of talks but agreed that ministerial input was important. “People came prepared. Delegates worked really hard and there was no blocking. The challenge we have is that there are a lot of difficult issues.

“We made progress but we are not where we need to be. We need ministers to get involved and give negotiators technical mandates to advance,” he said.

Top talking points from Nairobi

A quiet China When delegates travel to Montreal this December, Beijing will still hold the presidency of the much delayed Cop, even though it will be hosted from Canada, not Kunming as originally planned. China has so far played a largely passive role in negotiations and did so again in Nairobi.

African scepticism on 30x30 Several world leaders have put forward proposals to protect 30% of land and sea as a key target of the agreement. But many African countries have indicated that the goal will not make the final text without a substantial financial commitment from the wealthy global north.

Brazil accused of undermining talks At the end of the talks on Sunday, Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, accused Brazil of “actively working to undermine the negotiations”. Cop15 could become another chance for Bolsonaro to add to his destructive environmental legacy.

Ukraine: Dozens dead and injured as UN condemns ‘utterly deplorable’ shopping centre attack

UNDP/Oleksandr Ratushniak I Ukraine is suffering heavy damage to infrastructure that will be costly to repair or rebuild.

At least ten people have reportedly been killed by what Ukrainian authorities have said was a Russian missile strike on a crowded shopping centre, and attack which the UN condemned on Monday as “utterly deplorable”.

At least ten people have reportedly been killed by what Ukrainian authorities have said was a Russian missile strike on a crowded shopping centre, and attack which the UN condemned on Monday as “utterly deplorable”.

The mall in the eastern city of Kremenchuk – a city which has largely escaped being targeted – was hit in the late afternoon, with reportedly 1,000 or more shoppers inside.

Ongoing shelling has led to homes being destroyed with many living in bomb shelters without access to basic services. To help those in need, @UNHCRUkraine in this convoy, delivered tarps, jerry cans + solar lamps for over 10k families. https://t.co/t4QJrH4gl9 pic.twitter.com/c70FLpee9l

— UNHCR Ukraine (@UNHCRUkraine) June 27, 2022

At least 40 were injured in the strike, said authorities, and the number of dead and injured is likely to rise. Footage from the scene showed buildings on fire and widespread destruction.

Civilians should not be targeted

United Nations Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told correspondents at the daily briefing in New York that although casualties still had to be verified, “whatever the number is any attack that hits a shopping mall, is utterly deplorable.”

“Any sort of civilian infrastructure, which includes obviously shopping malls, and civilians, should never ever be targeted”, he added.

Mr. Dujarric said there had been “disturbing reports of a new wave of airstrikes and shelling over the weekend and again today, with civilians having been killed or injured. Homes, health facilities and other civilian infrastructure were reportedly damaged.”

In a statement issued later in the day,  Osnat Lubrani, UN Resident Coordinator for Ukraine, said she was appalled at news of the airstrike on the mall.

"My thoughts and my heart are with the families and loved ones, of the people that have been killed, with those injured, and with the people of Kremenchuk and Ukraine, that had to witness another tragic event."

She said it was one more example "of the massive suffering that Russia’s war on Ukraine is causing on the people of this country."

Kyiv hit

During the weekend, the capital, Kyiv, was hit again, and a residential building was damaged, with some people trapped in the debris, he added.

“Loss of life, injury, destruction of homes across Ukraine, wreak havoc in the lives of individuals, families, communities”, said Ms. Lubrani, in a tweet on Sunday. “Civilians must be protected wherever they are.”

Desperation in the Donbas

Meanwhile in the Donbas region on the front lines between the invading Russian forces and Ukrainian defenders, fighting has continued, with UN humanitarians facing “tremendous challenges” reaching civilians, “who are facing increasing needs”, said Mr. Dujarric.

“The challenges are not only due to insecurity, but also to lack of access due to administrative restrictions imposed by the parties. 

We once again stress that the parties are obliged under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

The UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine, Amin Awad, tweeted at the weekend that as humanitarian needs grew, the UN would “continue to scale up and work side by side, with the Ukrainian Government and its people.”

Energy prices are causing chaos in Asia. Here's why the rest of the world should worry

Tara Subramaniam

In Sri Lanka, people queue for miles to fill a tank of fuel. In Bangladesh, shops shut at 8 p.m. to conserve energy. In India and Pakistan, power outages force schools to shut, businesses to close and residents to swelter without air conditioning through deadly heat waves in which temperatures top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius).

These are just some of the more eye-catching scenes playing out in the Asia Pacific region, where various countries are facing their worst energy crisis in years — and grappling with the growing discontent and instability caused by knock-on increases in the cost of living.

In Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the sense of crisis is palpable. Public anger has already caused a wave of ministers to resign in Colombo and contributed to Imran Khan's downfall as prime minister in Islamabad.

Yet many suspect the political reckoning has only just begun; both countries have been forced into desperate measures, going cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund and introducing shorter working weeks in an effort to save energy. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the Sri Lankan economy had "completely collapsed."

Elsewhere in the region, the signs of trouble may be less obvious but could yet have far reaching consequences. Even in comparatively rich countries, such as Australia, economic concerns are beginning to emerge as consumers feel the pinch of higher energy bills.

Wholesale electricity prices in the first quarter of 2022 were up 141% from last year; households are being urged to cut down usage and on June 15 -- for the first time -- the Australian government suspended indefinitely the national electricity market in a bid to bring prices down, ease pressure on the energy supply chain and prevent blackouts.

But it is the experience of India, where power demand recently hit record highs, that illustrates most clearly why this is a global — rather than regional — crisis.

Having suffered through widespread outages amid record temperatures, the world's third-largest carbon emitter announced on May 28 that state-run Coal India will import coal for the first time since 2015.

South Kolkata District Congress members join a demonstration against rising fuel prices in Kolkata, India on June 2.

What's causing the problem?

While each of these countries faces a unique set of circumstances, all have been hit by the twin effects of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine — two unforeseeable events that have turned on their heads previously reasonable assumptions about supply lines and regional security and in the process plunged the world of economic planning into chaos.

At root, experts say, the problem lies in a growing mismatch between supply and demand.

Over the past couple of years, the pandemic kept demand for energy unusually low, with global electricity consumption dropping by more than 3% in the first quarter of 2020 as lockdowns and other restrictions kept workers at home, cars off the road, and ships stuck in ports.

But now, as nations begin to put the pandemic behind them, demand for fuel is spiking — and the sudden competition is pushing the prices of coal, oil and gas to record highs.

Turbo-charging this trend is the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the world's third largest oil producer and second largest crude oil exporter. With the United States and many of its allies sanctioning Russian oil and gas, many countries have been left scrambling to find alternative sources — heating up the competition for limited supplies even further.

"Energy demand has rebounded quite quickly from the coronavirus and more quickly than supply," said Samantha Gross, director of the Brookings Institute's Energy Security and Climate Initiative.

"So we saw high prices even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine (but then there was) really a shock to energy supply. Various actions taken in response to that are really a challenge for energy supply globally."

Why Asia?

While the price of energy imports has risen dramatically across the world, with international coal prices five times higher than a year ago and natural gas prices up to 10 times higher than last year, experts say there are reasons some Asian economies — particularly import-reliant, developing ones — have been hit hardest.

"If you're a country, especially an emerging economy like a Sri Lanka that has to buy those commodities, has to buy oil, has to buy natural gas, this is a real struggle," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

"You're paying a lot more for the things you need but the things you sell haven't gone up in price. So you're shelling out a lot more money to try to buy the same things to keep your economy running."

Poorer countries that are still developing or newly industrialized are simply less able to compete with more deep pocketed rivals — and the more they need to import, the bigger their problem will be, said Antoine Halff, adjunct senior research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy.

"So Pakistan certainly fits there. Sri Lanka I think fits there as well," he said. "They're taking the price hit but they're also taking the supply hit. They have to pay more for their energy supplies and in some countries like Pakistan, they actually have a hard time sourcing energy."

Canaries in the coal mine

This dynamic is behind the increasingly chaotic scenes playing out in those countries.

As recently as a week ago, Sri Lanka's power and energy minister said it was a matter of days before the country ran out of fuel. That bleak warning came as lines at fuel stations in Colombo extended up to 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) and in many towns clashes between police and the public broke out.

It is almost as if everyday life itself is shutting down. On Monday, public sector offices, government schools and government-approved private schools were closed for at least two weeks. Public sector workers have been told to take Fridays off for the next three months — with the suggestion they use the time to grow their own food.

Pakistan too has had to reduce its working week — back down to five days from six — though that may only make the situation worse. Its six-day week, only recently introduced, was supposed to improve productivity and boost the economy.

Instead, daily hours-long power outages have plagued the country of 220 million for at least a month and malls and restaurants in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi have been told to close early to save fuel.

The country's energy supply is almost 5,000 megawatts below demand — a shortfall that could power between 2 million and 5 million homes on some estimates.

As Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb put it on June 7: "We are facing a severe crisis."

A vendor sells fabrics under an emergency light connected to a motorcycle during a load-shedding power outage in Karachi, Pakistan on June 8.

And any notion that such problems are a matter only for poorer, less developed nations is dispelled by the experience of Australia — a country that has one of the world's highest levels of global median wealth per adult.

Since May, the "Lucky Country" has been operating without 25% of its coal-based energy capacity — partly due to planned outages for maintenance, but also because supply disruptions and soaring prices have caused unplanned outages.

Like their counterparts in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Australians are now being urged to conserve, with Energy Minister Chris Bowen recently asking households in New South Wales, which includes Sydney, not to use electricity for two hours each evening.

A bigger problem ahead

How these nations respond may be stirring up an even greater problem than rising prices.

Under pressure from the public, governments and politicians may be tempted to turn back toward cheaper, dirtier forms of energy such as coal, regardless of the effect on climate change.

And there are signs this may already have started.

In Australia, the federal government's Energy Security Board has proposed that all electricity generators, including coal-fired ones, be paid to keep extra capacity in the national grid in a bid to prevent power outages. And the government of New South Wales has used emergency powers to redirect coal from mines in the state to local generators rather than overseas.

Both measures have come in for criticism from those who accuse the government of betraying its commitment to renewable energy.

In India, a country of 1.3 billion people that relies on coal for about 70% of its energy generation, New Delhi's decision to increase coal imports is likely to have even more profound environmental effects.

Scientists say a drastic reduction in coal mining is necessary to limit the worst effects of global warming, yet this will be hard to achieve without the buy-in of one of the world's biggest carbon emitters.

"Any country, be it India, be it Germany, be it the US, if they double down on any kind of fossil fuel it will eat up the carbon budget. That's a global problem," said Sandeep Pai, senior research lead for the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Energy Program.

While Pai said that India's decision might only be a temporary "reaction to the crisis," if in one or two years' time countries were continuing to rely on coal this would significantly affect the war on global warming.

"If these actions happen, it will eat up the carbon budget which is already shrinking in India and the target of 1.5 or 2 degrees will become increasingly hard," Pai said, referring to the Paris Climate Agreement's goal of keeping the rise in global average temperature between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.

If the rise in temperature exceeds that range, even temporarily, scientists suggest some of the resulting changes to the planet could be irreversible.

As Pai put it: "India's scale and size and demand means that if it really doubles down on coal, then we'll have a really serious problem from a climate point of view."

Iqbal Athas contributed reporting.