The Human Consciousness Now...Our World in the Midst of Becoming...to What? Observe, contemplate Now.
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 20 2025 (IPS) - The heat in the Hangar Convention Center of the Amazonia, in the northeastern Brazilian city of Belém, has reached the negotiation rooms of the climate summit. Over the past 72 hours, one of the most delicate and significant discussions of this climate meeting has been taking place: the path to progressively abandon the production and use of coal, gas, and oil.
In recent hours, a global coalition of rich and developing countries, led by Colombia, has doubled down on pushing for a fossil fuel phase-out roadmap, while major producer countries resist it.
“The plan must have differentiated commitments, the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies, and the reform of the international financial system, because foreign debt payments are punishing us,” Colombian Environment Minister Irene Vélez explained to IPS.
For the official, the 30th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP30) on climate change must result in a roadmap. “People are mobilizing, demanding climate action; we have to start now,” she urged.
In Belém, the gateway to the planet’s largest rainforest, it is no longer just about reducing emissions but about transforming the foundation of the energy system, thus acquiring a moral, political, and scientific urgency. What was initially meant to be the “Amazon COP” has mutated into the “end-of-the-fossil-era-COP,” but the roadmap to achieve it is a toss-up.“The plan must have differentiated commitments, the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies, and the reform of the international financial system, because external debt payments are punishing us” –Irene Vélez.
Two years after the world agreed at COP28, held in 2023 in Dubai, to move away from fossil fuels, Belém is the moment of truth, upon which the effort to keep global warming below the 1.5° Celsius limit largely depends—a goal considered vital to avoid devastating and inevitable effects on ecosystems and human life.
Thus, the discussion among the 197 parties to the United Nations climate convention has shifted from the “what” to the “how,” and especially to the “when,” questions that have turned potential coordinates into a geopolitical labyrinth.
In that vein, a coalition of over 80 countries emerged on Tuesday the 18th to push the roadmap, including Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, and Panama among the Latin American countries.
One challenge for the roadmap advocates is that the issue is not explicitly part of the main agenda, a resource that the Brazilian presidency of COP30 could use to shirk responsibility on the matter.
The issue appears on the thematic menu of COP30, which started on the 10th and is scheduled to conclude on the 21st, and whose official objectives include approving the Global Goal on Adaptation to climate change and securing sufficient funds for that adaptation.
Approximately 40,000 people are attending this climate summit, including government representatives, multilateral agencies, academia, and civil society organizations.
An unprecedented indigenous presence is also in attendance, with about 900 delegates from native peoples, drawn by the ancestral call of the Amazon, a symbol of the menu of solutions to the climate catastrophe and simultaneously a victim of its causes.
Also present and very active in Belém are about 1,600 lobbyists from the hydrocarbon industry, 12% more than at the 2024 COP, according to the international coalition Kick Big Polluters Out.
The clamor from civil society demands an institutional structure with governance, clear criteria, measurable objectives, and justice mechanisms.
“The roadmap has become a difficult issue to ignore; it is already at the center of these negotiations, and no country can ignore it. The breadth of support is surprising, with rich and poor countries, producers and non-producers, indicating that an agreement is about to fall,” Antonio Hill, Just Transitions advisor for the non-governmental and international Natural Resource Governance Institute, told IPS.
Activists protest on Wednesday the 19th against fossil fuel exploitation at the entrance to the venue of the Belém climate summit, in the Amazonian northeast of Brazil. Credit: Emilio Godoy / IPS
Poisoned
The push for the roadmap comes from the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, promoted by civil society organizations, strongly adopted by Colombia, and which so far has the support of 18 nations, but no hydrocarbon-producing Latin American country, such as Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, or Venezuela.
Colombia, despite also being a producer and exporter of fossil fuels, has presented its Roadmap for a Just Energy Transition, with which it seeks to replace income from coal and oil with investments in tourism and renewable energy.
Colombia’s 2022-2052 National Energy Plan projects long-term reductions in fossil fuel production. The country announced US$14.5 billion for the energy transition to less polluting forms of energy production.
But for the rest of the region, the duality between maintaining fossil fuels and promoting renewable energies persists.
A prime example of this duality is the COP30 host country itself, Brazil. While the host President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, have insisted on the need to abandon fossil fuels, the government is promoting expansive oil and gas extraction plans.
In fact, just weeks before the opening of COP30, the state-owned oil group Petrobras received a permit for oil exploration in the Atlantic, just kilometers from the mouth of the Amazon River.
But Lula and his team committed that this summit in the heart of the Amazon would be “the COP of truth” and “the COP of implementation,” and the issue of fossil fuels has become central to the negotiations, which Lula joined on Wednesday the 19th to give a push to the talks and the outcomes.
In their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—the set of mitigation and adaptation policies countries must present to comply with the Paris Agreement on climate change signed in 2015 at COP21—Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, or Chile avoid mentioning a managed phase-out of fossil fuels.
Simply put, they argue they cannot let go of the old vine before grasping the new one. This stance also involves a delicate aspect, as nations like Ecuador depend on revenues from hydrocarbon exploitation.
Therefore, the Global South has insisted on its demand for funding from rich nations, due to their contribution to the climate disaster through fossil fuel exploitation since the 17th century.
The result of the presented policies is alarming: although many countries have increased their emission reduction targets on paper, they lack details on phasing out production. The only existing roadmap is the growing extractive one.
In fact, the Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement process, originating from COP28, demanded that countries take measures to move towards a fossil-free era.
The argument is unequivocal: various estimates indicate that fossil fuels contribute 86% of greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of global warming.
But a key point is where to start. For Uitoto indigenous leader Fanny Kuiru Castro, the new general coordinator of the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin –which brings together the more than 350 native peoples of the eight countries sharing the biome–, the starting point must precisely be at-risk regions like the Amazon.
“It is a priority. If there isn’t a clear signal that we must proceed gradually, it means the summit has failed and does not want to adopt that commitment. We will have another 30 years of speeches,” she told IPS, alluding to that number of summits without substantial results.
In the Amazon, oil blocks threaten 31 million hectares or 12% of the total area, mining threatens 9.8 million, and timber concessions threaten 2.4 million.
And in that direction, a major obstacle arises: how to finance the phase-out. The roadmap has a direct link to the financial goals aimed at the Global South, with a demand for US$1.2 trillion in funding for climate action starting in 2035.
“Can the COP deliver the financial backing that countries need to reinvent their economies in time to guarantee just and inclusive development?” Hill questioned.
The atmosphere in Belém is of a different urgency compared to Dubai or Baku, where COP29 was held a year ago. The roadmap to a world free of fossil fuel smoke remains a blurry map, drawn freehand on ground that is heating up far too quickly.
In Belém, humanity is deciding whether to brake gradually or to accelerate, with the air conditioning on and a full tank.
COP30 is determined to build a bridge between promises and performance, words and actions, and there are multiple sticking points in the development of this bridge. In other words, it’s a 'COP of implementation.'
If the world were to implement all of the blue climate solutions, including protecting mangroves, restoring wetlands, investing in blue carbon in all shapes and sizes, and marine carbon dioxide removal, it would result in a 35 percent reduction of the CO₂ emissions. —Ocean scientist Kerstin Bergentz
Thousands, including a young father and his toddler, took to the streets for the People’s March for Climate held in the COP30 host city, Belém, Brazil. The march represents a halfway mark in the climate negotiations.
Activists hail from various parts of the world, yet they consistently convey the same message: the foundation of a just transition cannot be based on lies and false solutions.
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 19 2025 (IPS) - At a Conference of the Parties, where science intersects with politics, reaching agreements is often a tricky business. What is inside the last-minute negotiations as the COP presidency tries to get the parties to agreement at the final plenary?
COP negotiators are diplomats and government officials who meet at the Conference of the Parties to negotiate and agree on how to address climate change. They are also often joined by COP delegates’ representatives from civil society, social movements and businesses.
As representatives of their respective countries that are parties to the UNFCCC treaty, they discuss, debate, and haggle over their preferred wording of texts and legally binding agreements regarding how to address climate change during closed-door sessions.
Windowless Closed-Door Meetings
These closed-door meetings are often also windowless, and negotiators often lose track of time as they work through extensive documentation and diverse national positions to form a final agreement towards the end of the COP summit schedule.
COP 30, Belém, is posting a daily photographic glimpse into the collective effort to build trust, dialogue, and cooperation to accelerate meaningful climate action and deliver its benefits to all. Many hope this message will permeate inside these rooms.
The UN climate summit has now entered its final stages. The Brazilian COP30 Presidency has extended working hours, scheduling late-night meetings for the last two nights—Monday and Tuesday, Nov 17 and 18, 2025.
Tonight might not be any different, as the COP30 Presidency pushes for a rapid compromise and conclusion of a significant part of negotiations to pave the way for a “plenary to gavel the Belém political package.”
After all, the COP is where the science of the Paris Agreement intersects with politics.
The Elusive True Mutirão
The COP30 Presidency is urging all “negotiators to join in a true mutirão—a collective mobilization of minds, hearts, and hands,” saying this approach helps “accelerate the pace, bridge divides, and focus not on what separates us, but on what unites us in purpose and humanity.”
But this is the point in the negotiations, even in a ‘COP of truth,’ as COP30 was staged to be, where the real claws come out amid accusations of protectionism, trade tensions and geopolitical dynamics as the worlds of business, politics and human survival intersect.
Even as UN officials urge parties to accelerate the pace, warning that “tactical delays and procedural obstructions are no longer tenable” and that deferring challenging issues to overtime results in collective loss, reconciling deep differences among nations is proving easier said than done even within the Global Mutirão—a concept championed by the COP30 presidency.
It calls for worldwide collective action on climate change, inspired by the Brazilian and Indigenous Tupi-Guarani tradition of mutirão, which means “collective effort.” The bone of contention at this juncture is what some parties see as weak climate commitments, insufficient financial pledges from the global North to South, and trade measures.
Protectionism
Trade measures are turning contentious and deeply debatable in Belém because of a difference of perspective—developing countries view them as protectionism, while some developed countries see them as necessary to level the playing field for their climate policies.
For developing countries, protectionism is a deliberate strategy by more developed countries to limit imports to protect their industries from foreign competition and therefore give them an undue advantage. Developing nations say this is unfair because it restricts their ability to export and gain access to larger markets.
The core of the debate at COP30 is the inclusion of issues like the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in climate talks. For some countries, CBAM is a direct part of climate action and belongs at COP. Others say it is an agenda best discussed at the World Trade Organization.
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a tool to put a price on the carbon emissions of certain imported goods, ensuring that the carbon price for imports is equivalent to that for domestic EU production. Its main goals are to prevent “carbon leakage,” or companies moving production to countries with weaker climate policies, encourage cleaner production globally, and protect EU businesses by creating a level playing field.
How to Go About a Just Transition?
The business of climate change is not the only thing that is complex and divisive. There are also small island states calling for rapid emissions cuts vis-à-vis the positions of major emerging economies. G77 and China are an intergovernmental coalition of 134 developing countries that work together to promote their collective economic and developmental interests within the United Nations framework.
China is not an official member and does not pay dues. It has been a partner since 1976, providing significant financial support and political backing to the G77. Developed countries such as the UK, Norway, Japan, and Australia are pushing back against their proposed global just transition, thereby prolonging the negotiations.
Developed nations are refusing the global just transition proposal by the G77 and China because they see it as a new and unnecessary mechanism and a duplication of existing structures. They refuse to accept the financial and technical support these countries are asking for to facilitate this transition. Simply put, they want a less strict framework that allows their own interpretations of existing institutions and funding structures for the just transition.
Where is the Adaptation Financing?
Finance for adaptation is similarly a sticking point. Developed nations are dragging their feet around committing sufficient funds to support developing nations to adapt to climate impacts and transition their energy systems. It is still not clear whether financial commitments will be embedded inside adaptation goals or remain as they are—separate.
Lobbyists and the Fossil Fuel Debate
Amidst growing tensions, it is also not clear whether this COP will phase out or phase down fossil fuels in the final agreement. The large delegation of fossil fuel lobbyists suggests it is too early to call. On the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), those who want indicators for measuring adaptation progress directly linked to financial commitments will not budge. The settlement of this matter could potentially take two years (or more).
Disagreements are ongoing about the mandate of the Mitigation Work Program, which seeks to raise ambitions on national emissions reduction. In general, insiders to the negotiations are saying general negotiation tactics are at play.
Some participants are employing delay tactics to buy time and ultimately weasel out of certain commitments; a lack of trust continues, as it has in previous COPs, along with generally slow progress on building consensus around various contentious issues.
This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Excerpt:
The COP30 Presidency is urging all “negotiators to join in a true mutirão—a collective mobilization of minds, hearts, and hands,” saying this approach helps “accelerate the pace, bridge divides, and focus not on what separates us, but on what unites us in purpose and humanity.”
PUERTO MORELOS, Mexico, Nov 19 2025 (IPS) - Ezequiel Sánchez, a 63-year-old Mexican fisherman, owes everything to the sea. “My life, my work, my family,” he says, pointing around his office, which is located just a block from the ocean in Puerto Morelos town, in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Sánchez, who is married and has one son and three daughters, learned to fish at the age of 12 alongside his friends in this coastal town, which is located 1,630 kilometres southeast of Mexico City and had a population of almost 27,000 in 2020.
But the environment of yesteryear has changed, and fishermen are feeling the pinch. “Years ago, we used to catch more than 300 kilograms; now, we don’t even reach 200,” lamented Sánchez, who is also the Puerto Morelos Fishermen’s Cooperative Production Society director, in an interview with Inter Press Service. The society brings together 44 fishermen and 11 coastal fishing boats.
The causes for the decreased catch vary, including overfishing, rising sea temperatures, pollution, urbanization and the loss of habitats where fish feed and reproduce.
“This year, they are catching 80% fewer fish and 50% fewer lobsters. Development comes at a price, and we are paying it,” he argues, pointing to the increasingly built-up area around the office. “Now the buildings are taller. There is no drainage. So they drill holes in the ground and dump all the waste there. That ends up in the sea and affects the reefs”, he explains.
All of the above occurred despite Mexico’s commitment to implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework, which was agreed at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2022. The framework includes 23 goals, one of which is the conservation and management of 30% of terrestrial and coastal-marine areas by 2030, and an adequate budget for this purpose.
The Mexican government’s goal is to protect 30.8 million hectares of land and 19.6 million hectares of marine zones by 2030.
Ezequiel Sánchez, a Mexican fisherman, displays a lionfish, an invasive species that has become a culinary attraction in Puerto Morelos, in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo. But fishermen complain of declining catches due to the effects of climate catastrophe, including ocean warming, and other anthropogenic impacts, such as water pollution. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS
The government has drawn a roadmap for achieving the 30×30 target with 75 measures around effective management, equitable governance, representation and connectivity; Indigenous peoples and communities contributions, and sustainable use.
However, the lack of information on the actual state of the natural protected areas (NPAs) obscures the results, despite the 2020-2024 national programme and the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas’ (Conanp) outdated evaluations. The programme established goals on conservation, effective management, and ecological restoration.
IPS confirmed the problems during a tour of three natural areas in the state: Cancún, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres. Meanwhile, Conanp did not respond to the journalist’s queries.
According to IPS’s freedom of information requests, this governmental institution, responsible for conserving Mexico’s natural heritage, lacks data on changes in rainfall patterns, temperature, air humidity, habitat transformation, and the magnitude of the risk of environmental degradation in the NPAs, even though that information should be registered according to the compulsory national programme and the guide to analyse social vulnerability an climate change impacts on PNAs.
In addition, they do not have the implementation and management index, which is essential to know the condition of the natural areas. The index measures the progress of the national programme within a NPA and reflects the level of effective management.
According to Rosa Rodríguez, a biologist at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, conservation efforts through the creation of NPAs and their management, at least in Quintana Roo, have been unsuccessful.
“For a while, the NPAs served to improve water activities and curb the number of permits, tourists and coastal constructions. Now, the impacts are being felt everywhere along the coast. The impacts are quickly observed”, she told IPS.
In the region, ‘Cancunization’, characterised by mass tourism, accelerated urbanisation and environmental destruction, is advancing.
View of the Nichupté vehicular bridge, which is under construction over the lagoon of the same name, which connects Cancún, in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, with the hotel zone. The construction site borders the Nichupté Mangroves Flora and Fauna Protection Area, an ecosystem threatened by urbanization and one of the city’s few green spots. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS
Puerto Morelos is home to the 9,066-hectare “Arrecifes de Puerto Morelos” National Park and the 1,103-hectare “Manglares de Puerto Morelos” Flora and Fauna Protection Area. These are the main attractions of the area, which used to be a fishing village.
The mangrove swamp and reef are among the at least 25 protected natural land and marine sites in Quintana Roo. The state has a surface area of 44,705 km² –2% of the national territory– including a 900-km littoral zone, and had 1.86 million inhabitants in 2020. The state boasts 758,428 hectares under conservation –17% of the state territory. Overall, Mexico has 232 NPAs covering 23 million hectares of land–12.76% of the national surface–and almost 75 million hectares of marine territory, which is 23.78% of the national marine area.
But less than 30% of every Mexican ecosystem is protected, according to the World Wildlife Fund-Mexico.
NPAs are the primary means of maintaining ecological integrity and conserving habitats by conserving species, cleaning air and water, and providing food and income to communities. Impacts from land use changes such as deforestation, pollution, overexploitation of water resources and habitat fragmentation can therefore cause disruption to NPAs.
However, the mangroves and reefs in Quintana Roo and other coastal regions of Mexico are at risk from urbanization, rising sea levels, poor water quality, intense storms, and the presence of plastics and sargassum. These issues constitute fundamental challenges for environmental authorities and local populations, due to their magnitude, the political and technical solutions involved and the financial requirements.
The fisherman Sánchez believes that “’what is happening to us is worse than what they are doing” for conservation.
An abandoned boat in the Nichupté Lagoon in Cancún, in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, just a few meters from the Ministry of the Environment’s headquarters, despite the area being a conservation zone. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS
Despite the increase in the number of NPAs since 2018, the lack of regular evaluations and budgets makes it difficult for Conanp to provide adequate care and enforcement.
The resources allocated for conservation per hectare fell by 81% between 2006 and 2024. Between 2018 and 2024, the annual average totalled 80 cents per hectare; the 2025 corresponding amount equates to 52 cents.
Conanp’s budget has fallen from $135 million in 2014 to approximately $54 million this year. The agency has indicated that it requires an overall budget of between $66 and $76 million to operate in protected areas. Conanp estimates that $197 million per year will be needed for the next six years to achieve the 30×30 goal.
At least the good news: the Mexican Congress assigned some $77.5 million for next year, a third higher than in 2025.
There are also operational problems, such as the lack of updated management programmes. Only 141 of the PNAs have an updated programme, while 91 do not.
The plan is the core regulation and planning tool providing for NPA management and stewardship activities, measures and basic guidelines. When the government creates a new protected area, they have one year to produce this plan. Every five years, the plan should be reviewed and updated—a process which has not occurred for many of the NPAs. The plan standards also specify that people living in the natural areas take part in the process.
Between 2014 and 2020, Conanp executed the Resilience project, which focused on 17 NPAs and resulted in the development of nine climate change adaptation programmes and four management programmes, with a budget of $10 million. However, there is no evidence that it has improved climate resilience, at least in Quintana Roo, and the project’s final report doesn’t cover the implementation process.
Similarly, in 2024, the Global Environment Facility approved $18.5 million for improved management of five terrestrial and four marine protected areas, but implementation has just begun.
Despite the 2016 non-binding recommendation by the government’s National Human Rights Commission regarding the lack of management programmes in NPAs and their relationship with human rights, the lack of plans persists.
This absence undermines the right to legal certainty, to a healthy environment, and to effective participation, particularly for indigenous peoples and local communities with regard to the protection, use, and benefits of their collective property.
For Julia Carabias, UNAM Faculty of Sciences academic, the problem involves a mix of lack of adequate tools and better management.
“The priorities should be science-based decisions, guarantee of efficient management, programmes elaboration and execution, enough budget, attention to the areas’ owners’ needs and collective, coordinated efforts”, she resumes.
The situation is particularly evident in states such as Quintana Roo.
Fabiola Sánchez, a Puerto Morelos resident, points to the development model lacking emission reductions and the consequent advance of climate change, with local impacts.
“It’s like when your defenses are down and you get the flu, you recover and get sick again. It makes recovery longer. The environmental problem has no expiration date or political color”, she told IPS.
This is compounded by institutional limitations like staffing, budget and political will. “It’s more a lack of administrative capacity to move faster. You can see the institutional system’s failure to address environmental issues”, she adds.
Satellite pictures viewed by IPS demonstrate the advancement of the hotel sector in the coastal strip that connects with Cancun. While these constructions were scarce 20 years ago, they are now more visible.
Guadalupe Velásquez, a member of the Manos Unidas por Puerto Morelos collective, which campaigns for environmental protection in the town, questions the creation of an NPA without the necessary management tools, a situation exacerbated by the real estate boom that disrupts the flow of water between the mangroves and the coral reefs, with negative consequences for both.
“Hotels block the interaction between the wetland and the lagoon. They are important, interrupted points of water discharge. As a result, the quantity and quality of water has decreased. The authorities have turned a deaf ear”, she says.
In 2024, Quintana Roo received almost 21 million visitors, the second most popular destination in the country after Mexico City. Puerto Morelos, with 27,000 permanent residents, received 968,536.
Depending on their vulnerability, infrastructure and hotels are at risk of flooding.
Gisela Maldonado, from the consulting firm Kanantic, explains the situation in Isla Mujeres, which is part of the Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun, and Punta Nizuc West Coast National Park, in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo. It is one of Mexico’s most popular protected natural areas for diving on the coral reef. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS
A wetland acts as a filter, moving water that helps produce nutrients from seagrasses and food for fish and algae, and they keep water from storms and release it when they go away. Atolls reduce wave strength under normal conditions and during storms, thus protecting the coastline and preventing beach erosion.
The mangrove area is home to red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), white mangroves (Laguncularia racemosa), black mangroves (Avicennia germinans), buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus), several species of iguanas and lizards, as well as jaguars (Panthera onca) and endemic plant varieties, such as the granadillo (Platymiscium yucatanum).
The reefs are home to turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum), seagrasses, corals, and turtles.
Wilberto Antele, the Mangroves of Puerto Morelos flora and fauna deputy director, underscores “the efforts made” on NPAs, like vigilance, monitoring and the work with their inhabitants, but acknowledges the need for financial resources, surveillance personnel and biological monitoring.
“The work is too much and the most important thing is to work with the park’s allies. People are well aware that their livelihoods depend on the reef. There are many economic interests, many visions of development, and those shape which sites are preserved and which are not. Everything has a limit and those limits have become visible in recent years”, he told IPS, acknowledging that the main threat is land use change (deforestation).
Puerto Morelos, a fishing village in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, has become increasingly touristy. This has had an environmental impact, with the proliferation of apartment buildings resulting in the generation of wastewater that ends up in the sea and damages nearby reefs. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS
Puerto Morelos is already experiencing the consequences of climate change, including rising sea levels and temperatures, and coral bleaching.
Since 2018, the Mexican Caribbean has experienced multiple episodes of coral bleaching and stony coral tissue loss disease that coincided with heat spikes in 2022 and 2024, causing the corals to peel and become defenseless. In 2024, further bleaching affected corals that had survived previous incidents.
Monitoring of 70 sites in Mexico by Healthy Reefs for Healthy People, a scientific network of countries in the Mesoamerican Reef System (MAR), found in its 2024 report that 20% were in critical condition, more than a third in poor condition, a third in regular condition and only 9% in good condition. The MAR, which is the second largest coral reef system in the world, extends more than 1,000 kilometers through Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
Despite this situation, Mexico has not provided any updated reports on the state of these environments since 2018.
To alleviate this scenario, since 2019 the state government has contracted the Parametric Insurance for the Protection and Conservation of Reefs and Beaches of Quintana Roo, which is designed to insure reefs and beaches in the Mexican Caribbean against hurricanes with speeds greater than 185 km/hr.
In 2020, the government received $440,000 in compensation for damage caused by Hurricane Delta, and in 2024, $850,000 for damage caused by Hurricane Beryl. This year, the government invested approximately $3.6 million in the mechanism, which factors in the speed of wind, the area where the storm happens and the compensation, depending on damages in the affected area. The Quintana Roo government has earmarked the proceeds for coral restoration, but it takes some years to see the results.
As if the storms and hurricanes that hit the Caribbean coast were not enough, the region has also been facing the growing arrival of sargassum, an algae from off the Atlantic African coast, for more than 10 years. This algae feeds on the organic matter present in the water as it passes through.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, the amount of sargassum appearing between March and August in 2025 was 60% higher than in 2024.
So far, some of their ecological and social effects are known, like beach erosion, nearshore waters eutrophication, mangrove ecosystems disruptions, risks to human life, and threats to the tourism and fishing industry.
But there are still many unknown aspects of it. “Reefs are exposed to many factors of stress and harm, which are difficult to divide. The sargassum leachate kills coral larvae, affects its embryo development. In nearshore zones, there have been reports of dead corals and marine pastures. But we need a better understanding of how it’s hitting fisheries, for instance”, explains the biologist Rodriguez, an expert on marine life and one of the few Mexican specialists on sargassum.
When floating and rotting, this algae blocks the sun and takes oxygen from corals, weakening them and leaving them vulnerable to germs, the main impact so far on them.
If the sargassum affects reefs, this could imply less habitat for fish and fewer catches. But so far there is no evidence of that chain in Mexico yet.
Isla Mujeres, located around 20 kilometers off the coast from Cancun, is also not immune to the effects of tourism, pollution and a warmer sea.
At first glance, everything appears spectacular: the turquoise water and seagrasses are particularly striking. Visitors arrive on the island, which had a population of 22,686 in 2020, by ferry from Cancun in a journey of about 20 minutes. The island received 284,687 visitors in 2024, since the park is one of the most visited natural areas.
Gisela Maldonado, from the environmental consulting firm Kanantic, considers the impact of environmental protection measures on phenomena like the warming ocean and sea level rise that are beyond the control of the authorities.
“There is little the municipality can do. It doesn’t matter how many instruments there are if they are not going to be applied”, said the specialist, who spends much of her working life on the island. “The place depends on tourism and fishing. But it is already facing difficulties. Fishermen complain about a drop in lobster catches”, as in Puerto Morelos, she says.
For thousands of visitors, the reef, which is part of the MAR, is a great attraction for diving. The island, which is about eight kilometers long and almost one kilometer wide, is home to species of mangrove, coral and lobster (Panulirus argus).
But that massive attraction leaves a toll on the island, since they generate trash, plastics in one form or the other, and liquid waste.
The future influence of climate catastrophe could be significant. A one-meter rise in sea level would flood 35 hectares, equivalent to 6.6% of the island’s territory, affecting 832 people. With a three-meter rise, the loss would exceed a quarter of the island’s surface area (147 hectares).
Despite the urgency, there is no specific evidence that all of the measures stipulated in the Isla Mujeres-Puerto Morelos Corridor Climate Change Adaptation Programme have been applied; one seems half-finished and only two fulfilled. This lack of action seeds doubt about the future of other existing protected areas and ones yet to be established.
Satellite images show the advance of hotel complexes on the coast of Puerto Morelos, in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, and their consequent environmental impact. These buildings disrupt vital water flows for terrestrial and marine environments, which can lead to flooding. Credit: Google Earth
In the heart of Cancún lies the Nichupté Lagoon, a haven nestled between urban sprawl and a row of hotels alongside the sea. The 4,257-hectare Nichupté Mangrove Flora and Fauna Protection Area plays a crucial role in coastal defense, but it faces threats due to its location within the city. Its resilience depends on legal protection and hydrological restoration.
The ecosystem, which is home to mangroves and crocodiles, is in moderate to poor condition due to disturbances, and is moderately vulnerable to the impact of storms and rising sea levels.
In the city, which had 934,189 inhabitants in 2020, only patches of mangroves remain, survivors of predatory construction. If they could speak, they would scream about how they were cut down to make room for houses, hotels and streets.
Despite the well-known situation and the fact that Conabio has issued a full alert due to the threats to the ecosystem, the federal government has been drilling the lagoon since 2022 with the piles of a vehicular bridge, which is almost nine kilometers long and affects the boundaries of the NPA, to connect the city with the hotel strip.
The environmental impact assessment recognises species migration and death, as well as loss of surface area and mangrove habitat fragmentation.
If the temperature were to increase by two degrees Celsius, coastal areas of Cancún in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo would be flooded by the end of this century.
Although the sources consulted disagree on the effectiveness of protection measures, they all agree that better measures are needed.
In light of the urgent situation regarding the NPAs, fisherman Sánchez is urging the authorities to be more vigilant in protected marine areas. “A comprehensive review is needed to refocus all activities,” he says.
Fabiola Sánchez, a Puerto Morelos resident, requests greater interest from the government in understanding the area’s natural phenomena and citizens’ rights. “You have to tighten the screws. The sea is not a pool; it flows and moves. What goes from point A to D of the NPA will affect areas outside the polygon. It is reductionist to assume that the NPAs are isolated islands,” she says.
Antele believes that tools such as the land use plan are useful for protecting the areas more effectively. “It will provide the legal basis to stop construction. Our efforts are geared towards ecosystem services and conservation,” he says.
For biologist Rodríguez, a prompt solution does not appear on the horizon, as determination and a larger budget are urgently needed.
“The strategies are not applied. There are a lot of meetings and nothing happens. That’s where we stay, in meetings, documents, strategies. But we fell short in the instrumentation. There are few mitigation actions,” she says..
IPS produced this article with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network
PORTLAND, USA, Nov 19 2025 (IPS) - With the longest shutdown of the U.S. government now over, the White House, Congress, the media, and the public have shifted their attention to the contentious and highly political issue of releasing the files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The White House’s resistance to releasing Epstein-related documents brings to mind the famous line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet that the U.S. president “doth protest too much, methinks.”
For many, the president’s continued denials of any wrongdoing suggest the opposite is true.
According to a Marist poll conducted in October, 77% of the U.S. public support the release of all files relating to Jeffrey Epstein. Another 13% want some of the Epstein files released, while only 9% don’t want any documents released (Figure 1).
Source: Marist poll.
According to other polls, a majority of the U.S. public, 67%, believe that the government is covering up evidence and 61% think the Epstein files contain embarrassing information about the president (Figure 2).
Source: Polls of The Economist/YouGov, the Washington Post, and University of Amherst.
A similar percentage, 63%, believe the president is hiding important information, while 61% disapprove of the president’s handling of the Epstein files. Additionally, 53% believe the files are sealed because the president is named in them.
Much of the country’s population believes that the president does not want the Epstein files released because the information contained within is criminal or embarrassing. In a national poll conducted in July, a majority of the U.S. public, 61%, thought that the Epstein files contain embarrassing information about the president.
Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans in Congress are pushing for the release of all Epstein files and actively working towards a Congressional vote to make it happen.
Furthermore, a bipartisan group of Congressional lawmakers believes that releasing the Epstein files is a moral imperative that will help bring justice to more than a thousand victims and prioritize truth over political convenience. In addition, a group of Epstein’s victims are featured in a new ad calling on Congress to pass the pending legislation.
In addition to acknowledging its widespread support among the U.S. public, the president’s reversal also seems to recognize that supporters of the measure to release the Epstein files have enough votes to pass it in the House. However, the president never truly needed the approval of Congress, as he has the power to release the files himself
Recent news reports indicate that the White House is now in panic mode. In addition to criticizing Democrats who are pushing for a Congressional vote, the president has spoken out strongly against Republican lawmakers who support the release of the Epstein files.
Further complicating matters are the newly released documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate that contain several messages referencing the U.S. president. Additionally, a review by the Wall Street Journal found that the U.S. president was mentioned in more than 1,600 of the 2,324 email threads.
Despite this, the president continues to object to the release of the Epstein files, claiming it is a Democrat-manufactured hoax. He further asserts that there is nothing in the Epstein files that would incriminate him. The president’s supporters argue that the issue is merely a fake narrative intended to smear and slander him.
The Epstein files refer to the extensive collection of documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the pedophile ring that victimized hundreds of children.
On August 10, 2019, prison guards claimed that Epstein had apparently committed suicide in his prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Initially expressing suspicion about the suicide, the country’s attorney general described Epstein’s death as “a perfect storm of screw-ups,” Subsequently, Epstein’s death unleashed conspiracy theories online suggesting that he was killed to prevent him from incriminating others.
For example, in 2011, Epstein wrote the following to Ghislaine Maxwell, his associate and aide: “I want you to realize that the dog that hasn’t barked is trump … (victim) spent hours at my house with him.” In 2018, Epstein further wrote, “I am the one able to take him down and you see, I know how dirty donald is”.
The president’s name also appeared in Epstein’s correspondence, indicating that he was aware of Epstein’s activities. Despite previously praising Epstein as a “terrific guy”, the president now claims that they barely knew each other.
National polling data from mid-2025 shows that nearly half of the U.S. public, about 46%, believed the president was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.
A growing number of the U.S. population support the release of the Epstein files to ensure all information is available, allowing the innocent to go free, and ensuring the guilty face judgment.
After months of attempting to delay or prevent a vote and a discharge petition by Democrats, joined by four Republicans, the House of Representatives reached the 218-signature threshold. On 18 November, the House voted on legislation to compel the Department of Justice to release all its case files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
After the legislation passed 427 to1 in the House, the Senate considered mandating the release of the files. Similar to the House, the Senate decided to pass the bill by unanimous consent without any objections raised. The legislation is now on track to reach the president’s desk for his signature, despite his previous attempts to kill it.
Recently, the president made an unexpected and stark reversal from his previous position of opposing the release of the Epstein files. The president called on House Republicans to support a proposal to release files connected to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, stating that “we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax”.
In addition to acknowledging its widespread support among the U.S. public, the president’s reversal also seems to recognize that supporters of the measure to release the Epstein files have enough votes to pass it in the House. However, the president never truly needed the approval of Congress, as he has the power to release the files himself.
Furthermore, the president’s reversal allows him to claim support for transparency. It is also seen as a strategic move that shifts the responsibility onto Congress, limits politically damaging defections by Republican lawmakers, and avoids a likely political setback.
This move also has the potential to use the ongoing investigation as a way for the administration to control the timing and extent of future document releases, especially those concerning the president’s ties to the sex offender. The situation is further complicated by the president’s call for the U.S. Attorney General to investigate several Democrats, with these investigations serving as a justification for withholding the files.
With both the Senate and the House having passed bills for the release of the files, the legislation is now being sent to the president for his approval or veto. However, it is unclear when the files could be released and whether they would satisfy those advocating for the complete release of the Epstein files.
In a significant change to his political strategy, the president recently announced that he would sign the Epstein files bill if Congress passed it. However, as he has done in the recent past, the president could change his mind upon reviewing the legislation and decide to veto it.
At this point, it seems unlikely that the president will veto the legislation as Congress has the power to override his veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
If all the files related to Jeffrey Epstein are released, the information they contain has the potential to trigger the largest scandal in the history of the United States presidency. Such a scandal could compel the president to say something similar to the line from Hamlet: “Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me.”
Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division, and author of many publications.
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 19 2025 (IPS) - “Sometimes the best way to grasp a concept,” says Chris Folayan, co-founder and executive officer of Luma Learn, “is to learn it in your native language.”
Seventeen-year-old South African Simphiwe is one of more than 10,000 learners already using Luma Learn, an AI-powered tutor platform. For him, artificial intelligence isn’t an abstract idea: it is a personal tutor that is patient, consistent, and always online.
When on his phone, he’s not always chatting with a classmate or scrolling through social media. Many times, he’s studying physics with Luma Learn, that replies instantly, even in IsiZulu, his mother tongue.
Across several countries on the African continent, innovators like Folayan, Nthanda Manduwi, and Anie Akpe are reimagining what education can look like: localised, practical, and accessible to anyone with a phone or connection.
Together, they’re building a new learning ecosystem: one where AI isn’t replacing teachers but multiplying their reach.”
Nthanda Manduwi: Turning digital skills into interactive ecosystems
“I’ve always believed that technology can democratize opportunity,” says Nthanda Manduwi, founder of Digital Skills for Africa (DSA) and Q2 Corporation. “AI gives us a real chance to leapfrog the barriers that have slowed Africa’s progress, from infrastructure gaps to unequal access to training.”
Her journey began with Digital Skills for Africa, a platform designed to equip young people with practical tech competencies from AI and automation to no-code tools and digital marketing.
“Our courses like ‘Effective Use of AI’ or ‘AI and the Future of Digital Marketing’ were created to help learners not only understand AI but actually apply it,” she explains. “You leave with real, marketable skills you can use to build something or get hired.”
But scaling that vision revealed a challenge many edtech startups face. “We realised enthusiasm alone doesn’t pay the bills,” she says. “There was low willingness to pay for courses, even from institutions. So, we had to rethink how to make digital learning sustainable.”
That rethink led to Q2 Corporation, her new venture linking learning with livelihood. Under Q2’s umbrella sits Kwathu Farms—an innovative gamified agricultural simulator where users learn how to manage farms, predict supply chain issues, and test business models before investing real money.
“AI makes the learning immersive,” Ms. Manduwi explains. “Through simulations, learners can see how weather or market shocks affect yield, and how small decisions impact entire value chains. It turns agriculture into a classroom. And a business lab.”
Behind these simulations run Q2’s proprietary engines, NoxTrax and AgroTrax, which apply AI to real-time logistics and resource management. “It’s about showing that AI isn’t just for coders,” she says. “It’s for farmers, small businesses, anyone who wants to think and plan more intelligently.”
Ms. Manduwi’s mission remains rooted in access. “For Africa to truly benefit from AI, it can’t be an elite tool. It must live where people already are: on their phones, in their communities, in local languages.”
Anie Akpe: Creating spaces where AI meets human creativity
Where Ms. Manduwi builds ecosystems, Anie Akpe builds spaces. Through her work with African Women in Technology (AWIT)and Lumo Hubs, Ms. Akpe has spent over a decade helping innovators, especially women, turn curiosity into competence.
“With AWIT, I started by organising conferences across the continent,” she recalls. “We created safe spaces where women could connect with mentors and learn skills that weren’t taught in schools: digital literacy, entrepreneurship, coding, design.”
Soon, even male students began asking to participate. “That’s when I realized it wasn’t just about women in technology. It was about us (Africans) finding a place in a digital world that was changing fast.”
The next step came naturally. “When AI began to disrupt industries, I saw that we couldn’t just talk about skills. We had to create environments where people could use those skills,” she says. “That’s how Lumo Hubs was born.”
Each hub combines education, creativity, and entrepreneurship. “In one space, you might find a student learning AI-assisted graphic design, a seamstress using AI to plan production, and a young podcaster recording a show in a studio powered by the hub,” Ms. Akpe explains. “The model is hybrid, physical and digital, so even small towns can host a Lumo Hub.”
She is also deliberate about sustainability. “Community members pay; students pay less. It’s important that we don’t depend only on grants,” she says. “That balance keeps the hubs alive and the learning continuous.”
At the heart of Lumo Hubs lies mentorship. “You can’t separate technology from human guidance,” Akpe insists. “AI helps scale learning, but mentorship builds confidence.” Her approach remains rooted in empowerment. “AI can level the playing field if used right. A young person in Lagos or Uyo doesn’t have to wait for opportunity. They can create it.”
Chris Folayan: A tutor that never sleeps
For Chris Folayan, the idea behind Luma Learn came from a simple observation: “The continent doesn’t just have an access problem. It has a teaching gap too.”
According to UNESCO, Sub-Saharan Africa will need 15 million new teachers in the next five years to meet demand. “With classrooms that sometimes have over 100 students per teacher, no one can give every child the help they need,” Mr. Folayan says. “That’s where Luma Learn steps in.”
Luma Learn is an AI tutor that runs on WhatsApp, not a separate app.
“We chose WhatsApp for a reason,” he explains. “It’s already on most phones, it’s free to message, works on low bandwidth, and keeps data safe through encryption. That means a child in a rural area can learn without worrying about internet costs or app installations.”
The platform adapts to the learner’s grade level, curriculum, and preferred language. “Whether you need algebra in English or history in Swahili, Luma Learn can teach, quiz, and explain at your level,” he says. “It learns how you learn.”
Mr. Folayan shares two powerful testimonies. In Durban, a mother named Happyness wrote that her son, after years of illness, seizures, and missed schooling, caught up with the rest of the class with help from Luma Learn.
“Every time Vuyo wants to know something about school, we just ask Luma! What’s great is that Luma explains in our native language, IsiZulu.”
In another case, Simphiwe, a Grade 11 student from KwaZulu-Natal, sent over 1,200 messages to Luma. “Luma Learn wasn’t just another study resource,” he said. “It became the personal teaching assistant I desperately needed.”
Shared goals: One vision, many pathways
Three innovators. Three different models. One shared purpose: to make AI work for Africa’s learners, not the other way around. Across their stories, several threads stand out.
First, access—from WhatsApp tutors to open learning hubs to gamified ecosystems that teach real-world problem-solving.
Second, localisation—learning in local languages, within familiar tools, and around community realities.
Third, empowerment—every model links knowledge directly to opportunity.
From Ms. Manduwi’s gamified farms to Ms. Akpe’s creative hubs, to Mr. Folayan’s WhatsApp tutor, future classrooms are already here — decentralised, digital, and deeply human.
As Ms. Manduwi puts it, “We must stop treating AI as something imported. It’s a tool we can mold to fit our own systems.”
Ms. Akpe echoes that sentiment: “Africa doesn’t lack talent. It lacks platforms that meet learners where they are.”
And Mr. Folayan completes the picture: “No teacher wants their student left behind. With AI, we can make sure no one is.”
At the end of the day, a student in Durban learns physics through Luma. A young designer in Uyo experiments with AI tools at a Lumo Hub. A farmer in Lilongwe tests market scenarios on Kwathu Farms. Each represents a different face of the same revolution — a continent using intelligence, both human and artificial, to learn without limits.
As Ms. Akpe says: “The vision is simple: a generation that doesn’t just survive AI disruption but thrives because of it.” And as Ms. Manduwi concludes: “AI is not a threat to Africa. It’s our greatest chance to catch up. And lead.”
Anie Akpe and Chris Folayan were participants at the Global Africa Business Initiative (GABI): Unstoppable Africa2025, held in New York City on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September. The platform helps foster networking, exposure to potential business partners, and garner support for their initiatives.
Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations
IPS UN Bureau
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 18 2025 (IPS) - Decades ago, a little girl was born in a place called Cleveland, Ohio, in the heart of the United States of America. Born to a woman from the deep South, the place of Martin Luther King, her mother left her ancestral lands for the economic opportunities in the north.
“Off she went, making it all the way to the east side of Cleveland,” says Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith. “To the place where most people who look like me lived, and still live, and are subjected to policies of injustice, race and gender.”
Here, she found a more pressing issue.
“I couldn’t breathe, my mother couldn’t breathe, and we all couldn’t breathe,” she narrates.
This urbanization, driven by fossil fuels, occurred in Cleveland, Ohio, where her mother relocated and where her relatives still live today. During the Great Migration, over six million people of African descent traveled from the South, believing that economic opportunities would be better in the North.
Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, regional president of the World Council of Churches, speaks at an event titled ‘Faith for Fossil Free Future.’ Credit: IPS
“Upon our arrival, we discovered that we just couldn’t breathe.”
As one of eight regional presidents representing the World Council of Churches, Walker-Smith says for the World Council of Churches in over 105 countries, over 350 million adherents, and over 350 national churches all over the world, supporting the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty “is all about the issue of injustice, life and life more abundantly.”
“We are saying yes to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable life-giving energy.”
Kumi Naidoo, a prominent South African human rights and environmental justice activist and the President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, says if the goal is renewable life-giving energy, the world has been going the wrong way for the past 30 years.
“If you come home from work and see water coming from the bathroom, you pick up the mop. But then you realized you left the tap running and the sink stopper on. What will you do first? Of course! You’ll turn off the water and pull the stopper. You will not start mopping the floor first.”
“For 30 years since the time science told us we need to change our energy system and many of our other systems, what we’ve been doing is mopping up the floor. If fossil fuels—oil, coal, and gas—account for 86 percent of what drives climate change, then we must turn off the tap.”
Masahiro Yokoyama was speaking at an event titled Faith for a Fossil-Free Future co-sponsored by Soka Gakkai International. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
Naidoo was speaking at an event titled ‘Faith for Fossil Free Future’ co-sponsored by several organizations, including Soka Gakkai International (SGI), Laudato Si’ Movement, GreenFaith—a global interfaith environmental coalition and EcoJudaism, a Jewish charity leading the UK Jewish Community’s response to the climate and nature crisis.
He spoke about the contradiction of the climate talks at the doorsteps of the Amazon, while licensing for drilling is still ongoing in the Amazon even as the people in the Amazon protest, calling for a fossil-free Amazon.
Continuing with the thread of contradictions, Naidoo said, “Some of you might be shocked that even though fossil fuels are 86 percent of the cause of climate change, it took 28 years before the words ‘fossil fuels’ could even be mentioned in the COP document. It is as absurd as Alcoholics Anonymous holding 28 years of conferences before they get the backbone to mention alcohol in an outcome document. If we continue on this path, we'll warm up the planet to the point where we destroy our soil and water, and it becomes so hot we can't plant food. The end result is that we'll be gone. The planet will still be here. And the good news is, once we become extinct as a species, the forests will grow back, and the oceans will recover.
“And actually, staying with that analogy, can you imagine how absurd it is that the largest delegation to this COP this year, last year, and every year is not even the host country?
“It’s not even Brazil—for every 25 delegates that are attending the COP, one of them is from the fossil fuel industry. That’s the equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous having the largest delegation to its conference annually from the alcohol industry.”
People, groups and movements of different faiths and consciousness are increasingly raising their voices in robust support of a rapid fossil fuel phase-out, a massive and equitable upsurge in renewable energy, and the resources to make it happen—in the form of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Naidoo says the treaty is “a critical success ingredient for us not (only) to save the planet, but to secure our children and their children’s future, reminding ourselves that the planet does not need any saving.
“If we continue on this path, we warm up the planet to the point where we destroy our soil and water, and it becomes so hot we can’t plant food. The end result is that we’ll be gone. The planet will still be here. And the good news is, once we become extinct as a species, the forests will grow back, and the oceans will recover.”
This treaty is a proposed global agreement to halt the expansion of new fossil fuel exploration and production and to phase out existing sources like coal, oil, and gas in a just and equitable manner.
The initiative seeks to provide a legal framework to complement the Paris Agreement by directly addressing the supply side of fossil fuels.
Its ultimate goal is to support a global transition to renewable energy and is supported by a growing coalition of countries, cities, organizations, scientists, and activists. More importantly, it has multi-faith support.
Masahiro Yokoyama of the SGI, which is a diverse global community of individuals in 192 countries and territories who practice Nichiren Buddhism, spoke about the intersection between faith and energy transition and why the fossil fuel phase-out cannot wait.
“The just transition is also about how young people in faith can be the driving force to transformations.”
“So, a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, in my view, is not only about phasing out other fossil fuels but it also represents an ethical framework.”
“It’s a way to move forward while protecting people’s livelihoods and dignity within the context of the environment and also the local business and economies. So, a just transition is not merely a technical issue but a question of ethics, inclusion and solidarity,” Masahiro Yokoyama said.
The most pressing issue at hand is how to implement the treaty in the current environmental context.
“The pathway that we are following is a pathway that has been followed before. We are not going to negotiate this treaty within the COP or within the United Nations system. We’re going to do what the Landmine Treaty did.
“The landmine treaty was negotiated by 44 countries outside of the UN system and then brought to the UN General Assembly for ratification. The second question that people ask, justifiably, is, what about the powerful exporting countries, for example?” Naidoo asked.
“They’re not going to sign it. And to that we find answers in the landmine treaty. Up to today, the United States, Russia and China have not signed the Landmine treaty. But once the treaty was signed, the social license to continue as business as usual was taken away. And you saw a drastic change.”
Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Excerpt:
Some of you might be shocked that even though fossil fuels are 86 percent of the cause of climate change, it took 28 years before the words 'fossil fuels' could even be mentioned in the COP document. It is as absurd as Alcoholics Anonymous holding 28 years of conferences before they get the backbone to mention alcohol in an outcome document. —Kumi Naidoo, President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Nov 18 2025 (IPS) - As the COP30 entered its second week in Brazil, the urgency to tackle climate change has never been greater, as is the appetite to feed a growing world population.
In the high-stake negotiations expected to discuss climate finance, nature conservation, fossil fuels and renewable energy, farmers, activists and scientists call for food and agriculture to take center stage on the COP30 agenda.
In Zimbabwe’s Umguza District, farmer Agnes Moyo saw her neighbor’s maize—a national staple—wilt as severe drought hit. Yet her pearl millet thrived in simple hand basins dug in the ground where seed and manure were placed. She harvested ten [50-kilogram] bags of millet.
Thanks to conservation farming, known locally as Intwasa/Pfumvudza, Moyo had enough food to feed her family until the next planting season.
“Conservation farming is profitable and helped me harvest even during drought,” says Moyo. “Intwasa is a method farmers should adopt, especially for drought-tolerant crops like millet and sorghum.”
290 kms away in southeast Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, Elizabeth Mpofu is preparing her field for planting. Mpofu’s 10-hectare environmentally friendly farm grows sorghum, pearl millet, indigenous maize, finger millet, groundnuts, Bambara nuts, and pulses. Mpofu’s agroecology methods promote soil fertility, conserve water, and reject industrial pesticides.
“Agroecology strengthens food sovereignty by encouraging local production and consumption,” says Mpofu, who has practiced agroecology for 25 years. As a former General Coordinator of Via Campesina, a global organization representing 200 million peasants, she led campaigns that resulted in the approval of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018.
She urges global leaders meeting at COP30 to support small-scale farmers and sustainable farming as a solution to combating climate change by implementing the UN Declaration of Rights of Peasants and Other People Living in the Rural Areas.
Sustainable food production is a blueprint to combat climate change. Experts note farming methods such as agroecology and conservation agriculture are lifelines for farmers grappling with climate change impacts.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states that agrifood systems contribute one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions. But agriculture remains on the margins of climate action.
Transforming agrifood systems through sustainable food production, waste elimination and clean energy can help the world meet its climate goals, experts say.
While food and agriculture systems have been ignored in climate negotiations, that has changed, says Danielle Nierenberg, an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues and President of Food Tank.
“COP30 is called the Implementation COP. Negotiators and civil society understand that agriculture has to be part of the conversation or we won’t be able to make enough progress toward limiting warming to 1.5 °C,” Nierenberg told IPS. “We need governments, the private sector, and philanthropy to make catalytic investments that will make agriculture more resilient to the climate crisis and help farmers not just survive but thrive.”
Ten years after the historic Paris Agreement’s pledge to keep global warming to 1.5°C, that target is fast slipping. COP30 has a tall order to produce a bold commitment to reducing planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions. In its framework, the Paris Agreement recognizes the critical role of agriculture and food systems in both climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Scientists note that agriculture has been affected by severe weather events, worsened by climate change. From frequent crippling droughts, flooding, high temperatures to ocean acidification, climate change has hit agriculture hard, triggering a food crisis.
An analysis study by the FAO shows that agriculture has been highly impacted by climate change, suffering losses of hundreds of billions of dollars annually—equivalent to 5 percent of the global agricultural GDP over three decades. Between 2007 and 2022, agriculture accounted for 23% of total disaster-related losses, with droughts responsible for over 65%.
Almost all countries have included agriculture in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as a solution to climate change. A 2024 analysis by the FAO found that 94% of NDCs mention agriculture for adaptation and 91% for mitigation.
Countries have pledged to reduce methane emissions from livestock through improved feed and livestock breeding and reducing deforestation for farmland. At the same time, they are promoting carbon storage in the soil through agroforestry, conservation agriculture and agroecology.
Edward Mukiibi, Slow Food President, argues that food systems have not been central in climate change negotiations due to the powerful influence of agribusiness and fossil fuel lobbies.
“The current global climate architecture lacks a clear, formal negotiation track capable of addressing the complex, cross-cutting nature of food systems, allowing governments to focus on easier targets like transport and energy,” Mukiibi tells IPS. “This systemic failure lets industrial agriculture avoid accountability for its massive contribution to global emissions.”
“While the rhetoric around COP30 is strong, true optimism must be tempered by the persistent structural inertia of the global negotiations,” Mukiibi cautioned. “The failure to integrate agriculture was not an oversight; it was a deliberate exclusion to protect the dominant industrial model.”
“Ultimately, COP30 provides the platform and the language for change, but the political will to dismantle the profitable industrial ecosystem that fossil fuels enable remains the highest hurdle.
Fossil fuels are on the COP30 agenda. It remains to be seen whether the phase-out or phase-down of fossil fuels will win the day.
Agroecology works, but uptake slow
Fossil fuel-free food systems already exist, as seen in the practice of agroecology but the world is not embracing agroecology widely.
“That’s the fundamental political question of the global food crisis,” Mukiibi observed. “The world is not fully embracing agroecology because the current, fossil fuel-intensive industrial food system is engineered for centralized control and exponential corporate profit, which fundamentally clashes with the decentralized, autonomous nature of agroecology.”
“The core political issue in the global food crisis is that the current fossil fuel–intensive system is engineered for centralized control and corporate profit, clashing with agroecology’s decentralized, autonomous nature,” Mukiibi explains.
Teresa Anderson, ActionAid International’s Global Lead on Climate Justice, highlighted that agriculture has featured at climate negotiations where discussions have tackled adaptation, early warning systems, soils and livestock.
“We wait and see what the agriculture negotiations will come up with this year and the result next year. But the request for just transition negotiations is to make sure the just transition negotiations include agriculture. It is a parallel track and important to make sure the question of justice when transitioning is part of the just transition conversation.”
Fossil fuels are feeding the world. Global food systems have become a new area for the expansion of fossil fuels, detecting how we produce, eat and market, a report by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) found.
The IPES-Food Fuel to Fork report calls for major shifts to delink fossil fuels from food systems.
Raj Patel, IPES-Food panel member and food research professor at the University of Texas, says global appetite to end this dependence is growing despite huge fossil fuel subsidies—USD 7 trillion annually, according to the World Bank.
“This isn’t a technology problem—it’s a political one. The sums involved are vast,” Patel tells IPS. “There are plenty of vested interests guarding this subsidy, but at the same time, USD 7 trillion means that there are huge savings to be gained by switching away from funding climate chaos and beginning to invest in agroecology—which is already delivering results in the real world, from soil health to food security.”
Food systems consume 15 percent of all fossil fuels and 40 percent of petrochemicals globally but food remains almost entirely sidelined in national climate pledges and international negotiations, says the IPES-Food report.
Tackling climate change is impossible without cutting fossil fuels out of food systems, researchers say, urging governments to seize the opportunity at this year’s COP30 in Brazil to phase out fossil fuel and agrochemical subsidies while shifting food and farming toward agroecology and resilient local food systems.
“Brazil has a powerful voice on climate and food—but it risks losing credibility if it says one thing at COP30 and does another in the Amazon,” said Patel. “Expanding fossil fuel production while hosting a climate summit is a contradiction too big to ignore. Brazil has a chance to lead—but it must walk the talk.”
This week, 43 countries and the European Union signed the Belém Declaration, pledging to place hunger and poverty alleviation at the center of climate action.
The Declaration commits to address the needs of small-scale farmers, fishers, pastoralists, and Indigenous peoples who are most affected by climate change and are stewards of sustainable food systems.
IPES-Food welcomed the declaration, noting that its implementation will test political courage.
Elisabetta Recine, IPES-Food panel expert and president of the Brazilian National Food and Nutrition Security Council (Consea), said Brazil has, in just two years, lifted 40 million people from hunger through political action that prioritized family farmers, Indigenous and traditional communities, and access to healthy local food.
“This declaration is about taking Brazil’s hunger-beating formula global,” Recine said in a statement. “The message is clear—tackling hunger, inequality, and climate change must go hand in hand. That’s a powerful message to open these international climate negotiations in Belém.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.
Excerpt:
Agroecology strengthens food sovereignty by encouraging local production and consumption. —Elizabeth Mpofu, Zimbabwean farmer