The Human Consciousness Now...Our World in the Midst of Becoming...to What? Observe, contemplate Now.
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 4 2026 (IPS) - As the 80th session of the UN General Assembly draws to a close, one of the final items in its agenda was to establish an annual observance for the elimination of child marriage, raising the global profile of a pervasive social issue.
On Friday, the General Assembly unanimously adopted resolution A/80/L.99, which establishes 27 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early, and Forced Marriage, an effort initiated by Bhuwan Ribhu, founder of Just Rights for Children, and championed by Sierra Leone’s First Lady, Dr. Fatima Maada Bio.
The resolution was brought forward by Sierra Leone and co-sponsored by at least 66 other countries, including Cabo Verde, Morocco, Costa Rica, Namibia, India, Rwanda, Sudan, and Afghanistan.
The resolution calls for governments, UN organizations, civil society groups, and other parties to observe the day through public awareness campaigns, advocacy, and education efforts. It also encourages Member States to implement holistic and multi-sectoral national strategies to abolish early marriage. The observance of this day will further accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and create a dedicated global platform to strengthen efforts for the health, education, and protection of all children, especially girls.
Bio addressed the General Assembly, calling the resolution a “call to action” and a reminder to the international community of its “collective responsibility to protect childhood and defend the dignity and rights of every girl.”
“Behind every statistic, a child, early and forced marriage is not merely a number. There is a child, there is a name, there is a dream, and there is a future. A girl who should be learning may instead be preparing for marriage. A girl who should be discovering her potential may instead be carrying responsibilities far beyond her years,” said Bio.
Ribhu, a lawyer, first called for the establishment of an international day in March this year, during the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW).
The reason he recommended 27 November, Ribhu explained to the Inter Press Service, was that it is the same date as when 250 million Indians pledged to end child marriage in 2025. According to him, this was the largest mobilization on an issue in human history.
“Today marks the tipping point showing that the end of the crime of child marriage is inevitable and imminent. Now is the time for governments to provide decisive leadership to end child marriage by 2030 and ensure education, protection, and development of every child to realize their full potential,” said Ribhu, who was present at the General Assembly, the only civil society representative invited to attend.
Now that the global community has adopted this resolution, this should signal a collective movement by countries to “promote whatever decisions we have made as a global village,” Bio told Inter Press Service (IPS).
“An international day itself cannot by itself end child marriage, but political attention can, strong laws can, effective institutions can, education can… and above all, sustained political will can.”
“I think every country has to be honest and more action-oriented. When you pass a law, that is one thing, but implementing it should be the agenda… There are a lot of problems around the world, but I believe the problem of early marriage is also at the top of the global agenda.”
She elaborated on the efforts in her own country.
“In Sierra Leone, we have gone beyond just talk. We have passed the law. It’s now an act, and because it’s now an act, it’s been implemented 100 percent. We push every boundary and every barrier that will stop the act from not being what we want. So if every country decides to implement [the law] like Sierra Leone, then what we had here today would be the greatest success in the world.”
For those individuals and groups that have advocated for the abolition of early marriage, the adoption of this resolution is a milestone in the growing recognition that early marriage is a form of child sexual abuse.
This universal condemnation of child marriage is further enshrined in many national laws and global agreements like the Conventions for the Rights of the Child, which outlaw it. Yet this does not reflect the reality.
According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), since 2024, one in five women were married or put in an informal union before turning 18, and an estimated 640 million women alive today were married in childhood. Early marriage affects women and girls disproportionately, for they are more likely to be married off younger than men and boys. According to the World Bank, between 2015 and 2024, 19 percent of the global population of women had been married before age 18, compared to 3 percent of men who were married before age 18.
Efforts from countries like Sierra Leone further amplified the momentum in the anti-child marriage movement. Bio has been advocating for the abolition of child marriage for years, and it was through these efforts that in 2024, Sierra Leone passed a law to make child marriage illegal.
“Today, the world has spoken with one voice: child, early and forced marriage has no place in our societies,” Bio said. “This resolution is far more than symbolic—it is a global mandate for action. As mothers, leaders, and advocates, we have a duty to ensure that every girl is free to dream, to learn, and to thrive, unburdened by the chains of forced union. Sierra Leone is profoundly proud to stand at the forefront of this movement, and we look forward to the tangible progress this day will inspire.”
At the end of the session, both Bio and Ribhu spoke to reporters outside the General Assembly Hall. They acknowledged the work done before to advance this agenda and congratulated both civil society and governments for their collective efforts and solidarity. Ribhu remarked that governments need to take “decisive action” through measures like implementing budgeted action plans and responsive, accountable institutions that will enforce anti-child marriage laws and dismantle the current ecosystem that perpetuates child marriage.
“This is the beginning where the world has spoken,” said Ribhu. “Now is the time for action. So we should act. From 27th November, the action begins.”
Ribhu touted India’s example, where the joint efforts of civil society and governments resulted in a decline in child marriages by over 10 percent in the last few years, and at least 550,000 marriages were prevented through legal action.
“Child marriage has no place in the civilized world, and the end of child marriage is not only possible, but it is going to be imminent.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 4 2026 (IPS) - Across the Kenya-Tanzania rangelands, communities have long understood a reality that the global community is increasingly recognising: healthy rangelands support livelihoods, wildlife, water resources and local economies. They are among Africa’s most important natural assets and a foundation for resilience in a changing climate.
That lesson is especially relevant today. As East Africa prepares for the potential impacts of a strengthening El Niño, the focus should not be on rainfall totals alone. Forecasts point to an increased likelihood of wetter-than-normal conditions across much of the region, although the timing and distribution of rainfall may vary significantly.
Increased rainfall can improve pasture and water availability, but it can also increase flood risks and disrupt livelihoods, infrastructure and ecosystems. These conditions underscore the importance of healthy rangelands, reliable water sources and strong community-led approaches that help people prepare for and adapt to climate shocks.
One of the strongest messages to emerge from COP17 was the recognition of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and pastoralists as essential partners in restoring land and building resilience. Across Africa, communities are not simply beneficiaries of conservation and restoration efforts; they are often the people leading them
It was against this backdrop that governments, communities and development partners gathered in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for UNCCD COP17.
The conference highlighted a growing global understanding that drought, land degradation, biodiversity loss, climate change, water security and livelihoods are closely linked challenges that must be addressed together. It also signalled a stronger focus on turning commitments into action through new partnerships, investments and initiatives aimed at strengthening resilience on the ground.
For Africa, this attention could not be more timely.
Rangelands cover nearly half of the continent’s land surface and support hundreds of millions of people. They underpin pastoral and livestock-based economies, sustain biodiversity and tourism, contribute to water security, and help communities adapt to a changing climate. Yet many of these landscapes face increasing pressure from recurring droughts, land degradation and growing climate risks.
The Kenya-Tanzania rangelands illustrate both the scale of the challenge and the opportunity. Stretching across some of East Africa’s most important wildlife and livestock landscapes, they support people, livestock and wildlife across interconnected ecosystems. Their future depends on how effectively land and water resources are managed today.
One of the strongest messages to emerge from COP17 was the recognition of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and pastoralists as essential partners in restoring land and building resilience. Across Africa, communities are not simply beneficiaries of conservation and restoration efforts; they are often the people leading them.
Across Kenya’s rangelands, community conservancies demonstrate what can be achieved when local knowledge is matched with investment and long-term partnerships.
A community conservancy is a locally governed institution through which landowners voluntarily work together to manage land, wildlife and other natural resources for shared social, economic and environmental benefits. These conservancies help protect wildlife while supporting livelihoods and improving the management of land and water resources.
A good example can be found in northern Kenya, where community conservancies operate across connected landscapes that support both pastoral livelihoods and wildlife. In these drylands, healthy grass is not simply an environmental asset; it underpins household income, livestock production and food security.
Community-led grazing systems help manage when and where livestock graze, protecting critical grazing areas during dry periods and allowing grasslands time to recover. Together with improved water management and restoration efforts, these approaches strengthen drought preparedness while supporting wildlife, livestock and local economies. They show that conservation and development do not have to compete. When communities are supported to lead, both people and nature can thrive.
These experiences point to an important lesson: while restoring degraded land remains essential, preventing degradation in the first place is often more effective and less costly. Healthy rangelands are built through long-term commitment, local leadership and sustained investment.
COP17 also elevated the importance of sustainable rangeland management through the Steppe Action Agenda and the Rangelands Flagship Initiative.
Together, these efforts seek to advance the conservation, sustainable management and restoration of rangelands while increasing investment and coordinated action to strengthen the resilience of pastoral and rangeland-dependent communities. They reflect growing recognition that healthy rangelands are essential for resilient communities, thriving biodiversity, water security and adaptation to climate risks.
Importantly, the conference also underscored that restoring land is not a financial burden. It is a strategic investment in resilience, livelihoods and prosperity.
This was reflected in the launch of the Drought Resilience Investment Facility (DRIF), which aims to help countries move from responding to drought crises to preparing for them. COP17 also announced approximately US$1.3 billion in new and pipeline financing for land restoration and drought resilience across 23 countries. Together, these commitments signal a growing shift towards proactive resilience-building rather than repeated emergency responses.
The challenge now is ensuring that investment reaches the communities doing the work on the ground. Success will depend not only on the amount of funding available, but also on strengthening the institutions, conservancies and partnerships that help manage land and water resources over the long term.
As governments, development partners, philanthropies and the private sector look to scale solutions across Africa, rangelands deserve far greater attention. They are among the continent’s most valuable assets for food security, biodiversity conservation, economic development and climate resilience.
COP17 highlighted what communities across Africa’s rangelands have known for generations: healthy land supports healthy communities. The task now is to turn that recognition into action through sustained investment, stronger partnerships and greater support for the people already managing these landscapes for the benefit of current and future generations.
Samson Kuraru is Northern Kenya Conservation Coordinator, The Nature Conservancy
KATHMANDU, Sep 4 2026 (IPS) - That day, Subash Tamang was mining sand along the banks of the Trishuli River near the Trishuli Hydropower Project, working alongside his wife, brother, sister-in-law, and two other family members. Suddenly, he noticed water gushing down from above the hydropower site. His first thought was that the dam had burst.
In an instant, everything changed. He and his family dropped everything and ran toward the river, desperate to save their lives. But then he saw something even more terrifying—huge waves of water were surging from the other side too, carrying clouds of dust and thick black mud.
“I couldn’t make sense of what was happening,” he recalls. “It looked like a monster coming at us.”
He was holding his wife’s hand, trying to run toward the hill, when the flood swept him away—carrying him nearly 500 metres downstream. Helplessly, he watched as the same raging waters took his wife, his brother, his sister-in-law, and three other family members right before his eyes.
“I was holding her hand, and then the flood pulled her away,” he recalls.
His leg was broken in the disaster. An army helicopter later rescued him and brought him to Kathmandu, where he is now receiving treatment at the Trauma Center.
“Our village has been reduced to ruins,” he says. “I don’t know where to go after this.”
Dr Rijan Bhakta Kayastha, a professor at Kathmandu University, says the August 26 disaster started when a massive chunk of glacier and surrounding rock gave way at altitudes of about 5,200 to 1,200 metres above the Lhande River in Tibet, just across the border.
The falling ice and rock turned into a powerful slurry, sending a massive cascade of water, ice, and debris into the Lhande River in Tibet. That surge triggered a devastating flood that raced downstream through the Bhotekoshi River, causing immense destruction.
The death toll from the disaster in Nepal has climbed to 1,114, with 3,996 people still unaccounted for, according to recent government figures. Among the missing are Nepali Hindu pilgrims travelling to the sacred Kailash Mansarovar site in Tibet, as well as tourists from at least 39 countries.
Authorities have recovered bodies swept away by the floods from Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Chitwan, Gorkha, Tanahun, Nawalparasi East, and Nawalparasi West districts.
Dr Bijay Jaisi, Director General of the Department of Roads, said initial assessments show flood damage to roads and bridges alone exceeds 30 billion rupees. Around 80 km of roads have been washed away and another 40 km destroyed, while 35 concrete bridges have been damaged and 53 suspension bridges swept away.
The disaster has wreaked havoc on the region’s hydropower infrastructure: the Rasuwagadhi and Chilime projects have been destroyed, and at least 13 other hydropower projects under construction in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts have sustained significant damage. The Rasuwagadhi hydropower project was completely washed away by the flood.
Most Devastating Flood
“This is one of the deadliest disasters in Nepal’s modern history,” said Dharmaraj Upreti, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. “We have never faced a flood this devastating and widespread before.”
Such floods are not unique to Nepal. In 2015, a similar disaster is believed to have killed around 200 people. More recently, on July 8, 2025, a sudden outburst from a large glacial lake in Tibet sent a surge of water down the Lende River, sweeping away the Maitri Bridge at Rasuwagadhi and killing at least nine people. Just three weeks later, on July 30, the Bhotekoshi flooded again, damaging roads and other infrastructure along the same corridor, according to Binod Parajuli, a senior divisional hydrologist at Nepal’s Flood Forecasting Division.
Arun Bhakta Shrestha, an expert on climate change and Himalayan glaciers, describes it as a “mountain tsunami”.
Kayastha explains that the disaster was first thought to have been triggered by a glacial lake bursting. But satellite images showed something different: a large chunk of glacier on the Nepal side broke off and slid down. Below it lay what experts call a “debris-covered glacier”—a mix of ice and gravel. When that mass collapsed, the ice and its contents began to melt, releasing a surge of water from the glacial lake. Because the terrain below is extremely steep, the mixture raced downhill at high speed, scouring the land next to the river and quickly turning into a devastating flood.
According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), research over 50 years of monitoring reveals that 89% of recorded years experienced a negative glacier mass balance. Crucially, the rate of glacier ice loss doubled post-2000 compared to the preceding decades.
Between 1990 and 2020, Hindu Kush Himalaya glaciers lost roughly 12% of their total area and 9% of their estimated ice volume, amounting to a cumulative loss of up to 27 metres of ice thickness since 1975.
Arun Bhakta Shrestha explained that rising temperatures are melting the glacier’s surface, allowing meltwater to infiltrate the ice. As this water percolates downward, it enlarges existing cracks and forms new fractures called crevasses.
“Crevasses are multiplying rapidly, and as more water pours into them, they grow both wider and deeper,” Sherstha said. “Meltwater moving through the glacier can reach the bedrock below, undermining large ice masses until they collapse. This is precisely the process we are witnessing now. Rising temperatures are hastening the expansion of these fissures.”
Kayastha said the crevasses on the glacier, which had persisted for several months, may have widened. He added that analysing satellite imagery could have helped minimise the damage, but the images were not reviewed.
Climate Change Reshaping Nepal’s High Mountains
Glaciologist Mohan Bahadur Chand warns that climate change is reshaping Nepal’s high mountains in ways that make new kinds of natural disasters more likely.
In recent years, he said, the landscape has become increasingly unstable. Snow once accumulated gently and settled low on the slopes. But as temperatures rise and glaciers retreat upslope, bare ground is becoming exposed. Sections of rock and ice are now left “hanging” precariously on mountain faces.
“It will fall one day or another,” Chand said. “We will see more such processes in the coming days.”
Three days after the flood, Ekat Bahadur Thapa stood at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, pinning photographs of his son and nephew to the missing-persons board.
His son, 28-year-old Subindra Thapa, and his nephew, 33-year-old Resham Bahadur Thapa, were driving along the China–Nepal border that day. Thapa said they called to tell him they were ready to transport people from Nepal into China and that they would return home soon.
When news of the flood broke, Thapa tried calling his son, but the call wouldn’t connect. He told himself they must have found shelter on the Chinese side. Still, by evening, there had been no word from either of them. But as three days passed after the flood with no word from them, that hope began to fade.
He rushed from hospital to hospital across Kathmandu, desperately searching for survivors, but they were not there. He went to the rivers where bodies had been recovered, hoping against hope. “When they could not be found there either, he returned to his village with a heavy heart,” said Thapa, 58.
On Wednesday, eight days after they vanished, Thapa performed funeral rites according to Hindu tradition, believing the remains to be theirs.
Tears streamed down his face. “How hard it must have been for them,” he said, his voice breaking. “How many times they must have tried to escape.”
He said, “May their souls rest in peace, wherever they are.”
“The early warning system was delayed because we couldn’t detect the flood in time,” says Binod Parajuli, Senior Hydrologist at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. “We were only able to act 15 minutes after the flood entered Nepal. By then, damage had already occurred in Rasuwa. When we finally sent out early warning messages to everyone, people assumed it wouldn’t be much worse than previous floods. But the damage ended up being far greater.”
Parajuli continued, “We couldn’t detect the flood early because it began outside our monitoring area. By the time it reached Nepal, we had very little time to respond. Our system sends SMS alerts when it detects rainfall, but this event did not begin with the kind of rain we normally monitor, making it difficult to issue timely warnings.”
He added that this represents a distinct form of cascading, compounding debris flow, and that early-warning systems for such events have not yet been developed.
Kayastha said that last year, when the flood struck, the area was considered highly vulnerable. The Nepal government was also advised to install an early warning system, which would not have been very expensive. The plan included installing two water-level sensors, a monitoring station and cameras in the field so that people could receive flood information more quickly.
“We couldn’t save the people in the upper reaches, but we were able to save those downstream,” says Rajendra Mishra, Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Environment. “This flood taught us that simply sending out a message is not the same as an early warning.”
He said that it was important to understand exactly who and what was at risk. Only then can we build a system that observes hazards in real time, communicates alerts effectively, and prepares communities for emergencies. This flood was a warning: bigger floods could come again.”
“Many people also failed to take the early warning seriously,” said Professor Dr Ranjan Kumar Dahal, an engineering geologist and geohazard expert. “Warnings should be communicated in clear, simple language that everyone can understand.”
Disaster Awareness Should Start Young
He added that disaster awareness should also be included in school curricula from an early age so that people understand the risks and know how to respond. The process of risk communication must be better understood.
Manish Raj Pandey, head of climate change at the National Trust for Nature Conservation, said the region’s topography is a key factor. He said, “Glaciers and the lakes they form, together with low-lying wetlands, are expanding for a range of reasons. In Nepal, this mix of steep terrain, glaciers and glacial lakes increases flood risk. At the same time, rising temperatures driven by climate change are intensifying these hazards.”
“Nepal’s severe flooding is driven largely by high-mountain hazards—especially glacier and rock-ice avalanches—exacerbated by a warming climate that is destabilising ice, permafrost, and slopes across the Himalayas,” said Dr Basantraj Adhikari, director of the Center for Disaster Studies at Tribhuvan University’s Institute of Engineering.
“We can’t stop floods, but we can reduce the damage they cause,” Kayastha said. To do that, he said, glaciers and glacial lakes need round-the-clock monitoring, with dedicated staff appointed to watch them.
He said that the government should also install water-level measurement stations on rivers fed by these glaciers and set up an early-warning system. Field cameras can be placed at these stations to provide real-time data, and they’re not expensive to install.
“Adhikari said that as settlements continue to expand along riverbanks, local, provincial, and federal governments must enforce stricter monitoring. Local authorities, he added, should rigorously implement risk-sensitive land-use planning.
Kayastha elaborated, “Many riverside settlements are not in safe locations; this pattern is evident across Nepal. Going forward, the siting of new settlements must be carefully assessed.”
Nandalal Gharti lies in the intensive care unit at the Trauma Centre with severe injuries. That morning, he was working at the customs yard in Timure when he saw the crowd running. He grabbed his youngest son and fled. As the torrent caught up to them, Nandalal pushed his son away from a collapsing wall, but moments later, the floodwaters swept them both away.
He said he had no idea such a massive flood was coming. The sun had been shining brightly just before the disaster.
Gharti was buried in thick mud for several minutes. Choking in the dark, he believed his end had come. With a final burst of strength, he pulled himself free, only to get pinned between two houses. He broke free a second time and scrambled onto a piece of floating driftwood. From there, he watched the area vanish under mud in seconds. Later, a rescue helicopter spotted him clinging to the wood and lifted him and three others to safety.
“I thought I was going to die. I thought my whole family would die too,” Gharti said
Five people remain missing after the flood, including his 10-year-old daughter, 12-year-old son, and his brother and sister-in-law.
He is receiving treatment at the trauma centre. “After surviving, we have nowhere to go,” he said. “We have lost our family and all our property.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 4 2026 (IPS) - While Uganda announced the end of its Ebola outbreak last week, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to battle its deadliest Ebola outbreak to date. As of September 1st, there have been over 6,000 cases, including over 3,000 deaths, with Ituri standing as the most affected province.
In a post on X on September 2, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General for the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed his concern that most deaths were still occurring in communities rather than in treatment centres, and among people who were not known contacts. This implies that there may be several methods of transmission that are unknown and several underreported cases.
“Until every chain is broken, the epidemic will continue to pose a threat to the DRC, its neighbours and the region as a whole,” said Dr. Tedros.
The outbreak has spread substantially, and with continued transmission, high mortality, and an urgent need to reduce preventable deaths, there have been talks of using the Ervebo® vaccine, the only currently licensed Ebola vaccine available, to treat patients. The vaccine was licensed and prequalified by the WHO in 2019 for the prevention of Ebola virus disease caused by Ebola virus (EBOV) in individuals aged one year or older. This vaccine, however, is not licensed for use against Bundibugyo virus (BDBV), and therefore the use of Ervebo® against BDBV would be considered off-label use for the current virus.
The Bundibugyo virus (BDBV), which is causing the current outbreak, differs from the last outbreak caused by the Ebola virus (EBOV). BDBV and EBOV cause Ebola disease that is clinically similar but are different in the genetic material they contain. Although the vaccine is highly effective against EBOV, the WHO said it remains unknown how much the immunity provided by the approved vaccine protects against the virus causing the current outbreak (BDBV).
In its most recent published emergency guidance on the use of Ervebo®, the WHO has concluded that evidence available to date remains insufficient to support the programmatic use of Ervebo® for the prevention of BDBV disease, and the vaccine should only be used within the context of a research protocol.
The WHO recommends testing Ervebo® vaccine in a carefully run trial to determine whether it protects against BDBV. During a serious outbreak, wider use may be considered, but only as part of research with a clear safety plan. They emphasized that communities should be told that vaccination does not replace proven outbreak-control measures.
Additionally, there has been promising progress in efforts to create targeted treatments against the new virus variant. “Two new vaccines against Bundibugyo virus are now in safety trials in the UK and Canada,” Dr. Tedros told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday. He announced that the phase 1 clinical trials are being held by the U.S.-based Moderna group using mRNA technology, and another by the University of Oxford.
IPS UN Bureau Report
VICTORIA, Seychelles, Sep 4 2026 (IPS) - There is an older wisdom, quieter than the noise of our times, that whispers a simple truth: we are not the architects of nature, only its guests. Long before there were nations, economies, or even language, there was the pulse of the tide, the patience of coral, the breath of forests exchanging air with the sky. Into that ancient conversation we arrived — late, curious, and forgetful — mistaking our cleverness for sovereignty and our tools for wings.
Yet the sea remembers what we have forgotten. It remembers that every drop of rain has travelled through the roots of trees and the bodies of fish before returning to us as thirst quenched or harvest gathered. It remembers that the reef and the child, the mangrove and the fisherman, the albatross and the sailor, are all verses of the same unfinished poem. To live well is to learn that poem by heart — to know that when one line is silenced, the whole song grows thinner.
And still, something in us reaches further. The same species that learned to read the tides also learned to read the stars. From the first firelit night when a human being looked up and wondered, we have carried within us a quiet, luminous restlessness — a longing to know what lies beyond the horizon, beyond the atmosphere, beyond the reach of our brief lives. It is not vanity that drives this longing, but memory. Perhaps some ancient part of us recognises, in the distant glimmer of a star, a trace of our own origin — the stardust from which our bones were made, the cosmic seed from which life on this small blue world first stirred.
To be human, then, is to live in two directions at once. Downward, into the depths of the sea, where life first learned to breathe. Outward, into the vastness of space, where light itself becomes a form of scripture. Both journeys are acts of reverence. Both remind us that we are neither the centre nor the summit of creation, but its wondering witnesses — creatures endowed with the extraordinary gift of consciousness, and with it, the responsibility to use that gift with humility.
This is the paradox of our species: we are small enough to be humbled by a single wave, and large enough in imagination to send our thoughts across galaxies. We build submarines to touch the ocean floor and telescopes to touch the edge of time. Yet both instruments, in the end, do the same thing — they extend our capacity to wonder. Wonder is the beginning of wisdom, and wisdom is the beginning of care.
Perhaps this is the deepest task of our century: not to choose between protecting our planet and exploring the cosmos, but to understand that the two callings are one. We cannot honour the stars while poisoning the seas. We cannot dream of new worlds while abandoning the one that gave us breath. The reef and the galaxy are written in the same handwriting. To care for one is to prepare ourselves, morally and spiritually, for the other.
Small-island nations know this instinctively. We live at the meeting point of sea and sky, where the horizon is a daily teacher. We understand that fragility and vastness are not opposites but companions — that the smallest coral polyp and the most distant nebula belong to the same continuum of creation. When we speak of protecting the ocean, we are not defending a resource; we are defending a relationship. And when humanity looks upward, dreaming of Mars or of life on some far-off moon, we are not escaping the Earth; we are extending the same longing that first drew our ancestors to the sea.
For those of us shaped by the ocean, this is not philosophy — it is instinct. We have always known that the horizon is not a boundary but an invitation, that the sea is not a possession but a companion, and that the night sky is not empty but full of the same silent kinship that binds us to the coral and the whale.
If humanity can learn, once more, to walk softly among its fellow travellers — on this small blue planet and among the countless worlds beyond — then perhaps our story will not end in exhaustion, but in reverence: the quiet dignity of a species that finally remembered it was never alone, and never was meant to be still.
James Alix Michel, is Former President of the Republic of Seychelles
IPS UN Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 3 2026 (IPS) - A new report from UNICEF finds that approximately 1 in 5 of all children surveyed reported facing tech-facilitated sexual abuse or exploitation in a single year.
In the past two decades, digital technologies and spaces have become intertwined with all aspects of daily life, introducing new risks to children’s safety, particularly for children in protracted crises.
Largely driven by persistent structural barriers among tech platforms and governments, rampant underreporting, and a critical lack of protection frameworks and support services for victims, tech-facilitated sexual exploitation continues to have long-term adverse impacts on millions of children while fostering an environment of impunity for perpetrators.
These factors were examined in detail in a new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), titled Through Children’s Eyes: How Digital Technologies Enable Child Sexual Abuse, which draws upon findings collected across 21 countries.
“More than 20 million children across the countries studied were subjected to unwanted explicit sexual content or exploitation online, often in the digital spaces where they learn, play, and connect with friends,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “These experiences cause profound emotional and mental distress. Many children suffer in silence, unsure where to turn for help. We cannot look away.”
Children subjected to tech-facilitated abuse and exploitation face heightened risks of adverse mental health conditions, many of which are long-term and can significantly affect their social development. The report notes that victims were roughly four times more likely to report self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviours, and elevated levels of anxiety. In Mexico and North Macedonia, UNICEF stated that the risk of suicidal ideation among children was around eight times higher when compared to the global average, while in Pakistan, the risk of self-harm was about seven times higher.
Additionally, social workers and psychologists interviewed by UNICEF reported numerous cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among victims, which is associated with difficulty trusting others or forming new relationships, worsened school performance, developing substance abuse conditions, or engaging in harmful or risky behaviours.
It is estimated that roughly 60 percent of all cases recorded by UNICEF occurred on social media and 14 percent occurred in online gaming. Approximately half of all social media-facilitated abuse took place on Facebook, with considerable percentages also found on WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. 57 percent of these cases involved a perpetrator who was already known to the victim, while in 9 of the 21 surveyed countries, the perpetrator was another child.
UNICEF experts warn that the true scale of tech-facilitated sexual exploitation far exceeds reported figures due to widespread underreporting. Fewer than 1 percent of cases were reported to law enforcement or support service personnel, while roughly 4 in 10 cases were never disclosed to anyone.
The primary reasons victims avoid disclosing abuse include fear of harassment or not being taken seriously, persisting social stigmas surrounding survivors of sex-based crimes, and children simply not knowing about or not having access to adequate psychosocial support and justice programs. This often results in a culture of impunity for perpetrators while facilitating future exploitation.
For example, girls who are victims of tech-facilitated sexual abuse are often blamed or shamed by their communities, particularly in contexts with rigid patriarchal structures.
“There were many [challenges]. Mainly in my social environment, something that worried me a lot was how to relate to society after what happened,” said a young woman from Mexico who was a victim of tech-facilitated sexual abuse. “I did not know how they would react if I told them what happened to me; I was afraid of facing that. Well, the school environment too…Mainly it affects my emotional health; it made me feel depression and anxiety.”
On the other hand, when boys share that they have experienced tech-facilitated sexual abuse, their accounts are often minimized, and they are expected to cope quietly. Oftentimes, perpetrators also use threats of revealing or falsely implying a boy’s sexual orientation as a means of extortion.
Although tech-facilitated sexual abuse and exploitation affect children everywhere regardless of geography or income level, perpetrators often weaponize economic vulnerability. Children living in conflict or crisis-entrenched settings are at a heightened risk, as protection, support, and justice systems are severely strained. Daniel Kardefelt-Winther, the head of UNICEF’s research programme on Children and Digital Technologies, told Inter Press Service that risk is shaped by a range of factors, including economic circumstances, children’s relationships, and access to support services.
“Perpetrators may exploit the economic hardship some children face by offering money or gifts in exchange for sexual images or videos,” says Kardefelt-Winther, who is also the leader author of the report. “Economic need can make it difficult for children to refuse these offers, while some may not initially recognise the experience as abuse precisely because money or other benefits are being provided in return.”
Kardefelt-Winther adds that the consequences of tech-facilitated abuse can oftentimes leave digital spaces entirely, translating to real-world security risks for millions of children. For example, some children described being contacted online by strangers who coerced or deceived children into meeting in person, where they were subsequently sexually abused. In other cases, perpetrators obtained sexual images of a child and used them to blackmail children into meeting in person.
In an effort to combat tech-based harm affecting children, several countries have enacted or proposed limitations on social media access for minors, including Australia in December 2025, as well as Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates throughout 2026. Further legislation is pending in France, the United Kingdom, Greece, Canada, Denmark, and Turkey.
These efforts have proven to be quite controversial. Tech platforms warn that these measures risk user privacy, whereas youth groups argue that the restrictions infringe on free speech and isolate young people from their communities. Furthermore, human rights groups state that restricting social media for minors is not the solution, arguing that substantial protection only results from changes to platform algorithms and safety frameworks.
Kardefelt-Winther remarked that governments have good reason to be concerned with the risks that children face online, including bullying and exploitation. “Children are growing up in a digital world that was not designed with their rights, safety and wellbeing in mind…Age restrictions may play a role in keeping children safe, but on their own they do not address the underlying drivers of harm. They may even push children into less regulated spaces.”
He added: “UNICEF is calling for stronger protections for children, including safer platforms, better reporting systems, and more support for mental health services. We also want children to be part of shaping the solutions. Protecting children online is a shared responsibility, and governments, companies, families, and communities all have a role to play.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
KIGALI, Rwanda, Sep 3 2026 (IPS) - As leaders gather in Kigali for the Africa Food Systems Forum, they face an urgent question: why do so many proven agricultural innovations still fail to reach the farmers and communities that need them most?
For the first time, Africa is home to the largest number of people facing hunger. This is despite decades of agricultural innovation developed to address the continent’s food and agriculture challenges. Between 2022 and 2024, CGIAR – the world’s largest partnership dedicated to transforming food, land and water systems in a climate crisis – developed more than 470 innovations, reaching at least six million farmers across the continent.
Africa’s food systems challenges are not the result of a lack of innovation. Rather, a set of overlapping, complex and increasingly severe pressures is undermining progress at a critical point in the continent’s transformation.
Climate-driven weather impacts are becoming more frequent and severe. A predicted “super” El Niño in the coming months is forecast to create drier than usual conditions across parts of West and Central Africa. In East Africa, it is forecast to reduce normal rainfall in some regions and to lead to severe rainfall and flooding in others. According to the World Meteorological Organization, Africa is warming faster than the global average.
Escalating conflicts across several African countries are disrupting food supply chains and increasing the risk of severe food emergencies. At the same time, geopolitical instability has driven up the cost of agricultural inputs and transport, creating further barriers to sustainable farming. All this is taking place against a backdrop of reduced funding for agricultural development and an unprecedented decline in international aid to sub-Saharan Africa.
African countries are confronting this confluence of challenges as they begin implementing the new 10-year Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme Strategy and Action Plan (2026–2035), the African Union-led roadmap for transforming the continent’s agrifood systems into more resilient drivers of economic growth, food security and healthy diets.
The roadmap sets the ambition. What is missing is the architecture to make that happen: the “missing middle” between proven agricultural innovation and the large-scale public investment, partnerships and delivery capacity needed to take it to scale.
Bridging this missing middle requires development funders to rethink how they support agricultural innovation. Governments, international financial institutions, multilateral development banks and African development finance institutions must move beyond portfolios of disparate projects and invest instead in coherent innovation pathways. Science and evidence must be integrated from the outset, before investment decisions are made.
Innovation pathways provide a route for moving tried-and-tested solutions to scale. They allow governments, funders, scientific organizations and partners to work together to identify, validate, scale and measure the impact of the most promising innovations.
Bundling complementary innovations into investable packages can also help accelerate deployment and impact, opening opportunities for ambitious young Africans to build firms, provide services and create jobs within their own food systems.
African governments must remain in the driver’s seat throughout this process. That is essential to ensure investments respond to national priorities and align with country agrifood systems investment plans under CAADP.
CGIAR is working to build precisely these connections between country demand, science, finance and delivery. One example is the partnership between CGIAR Scaling for Impact with the African Development Bank to support the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) and its Clearinghouse. It demonstrates how large-scale development finance and scientific expertise can be brought together to meet national agricultural priorities and deliver proven, science-backed technologies at scale.
The TAAT Clearinghouse connects country demand and AfDB financing with proven innovations, CGIAR expertise and the technical support needed for effective delivery. It is currently linking approximately US$1.5 billion in AfDB-backed investments in Nigeria, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with science-backed technologies and expertise.
In 2026 alone, CGIAR innovations funded and scaled through the TAAT Clearinghouse are expected to reach 3.4 million farmers across the continent.
The Africa Food Systems Forum must therefore be more than a place to showcase promising ideas. It should be a critical inflection point for moving from commitment to credible investment, action and delivery. African policymakers, investors, development finance institutions and researchers should use the Forum to build a more systematic science-to-finance compact—one that places proven innovation at the heart of national investment and delivery.
In an era of less aid and greater instability, Africa cannot afford for proven science to remain stranded in pilot projects—or for billions in development finance to be invested without the best available evidence. Connecting the two is one of the fastest ways to turn Africa’s food systems ambitions into results at scale.
Dr. Ismahane Elouafi is Executive Managing Director, CGIAR
IPS UN Bureau
Excerpt:
As leaders gather in Kigali for the Africa Food Systems Forum, CGIAR’s Ismahane Elouafi argues that Africa must connect proven agricultural innovation with the finance, partnerships and delivery systems needed to achieve impact at scale.