The Human Consciousness Now...Our World in the Midst of Becoming...to What? Observe, contemplate Now.
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
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.
Climate change crisis offers us a real chance to bring a new vision, one that's rooted in fairness, dignity and harmony with nature. The global community here has the ability and opportunity to balance people, profit, and planet in a way that has not been achieved in the past. —Binaifer Nowrojee, human rights lawyer and president of the Open Society Foundations (OSF)
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
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 18 2025 (IPS) - “I am the founder of the ‘I Lead Climate Action Initiative,’ which is a Pan-African movement that carries out grassroots-based climate action to address the climate crisis in Africa. We advocate for the restoration of Lake Chad, the world’s largest environmental crisis through research and engagement,” says Adenike Titilope Oladosu.
Lake Chad is located in west-central Africa, at the intersection of the borders of four countries: Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. It is situated in the Sahel region, a transitional zone between the Sahara Desert to the north and the savannas to the south. The dwindling waters of Lake Chad have aggravated the environmental degradation in the region.
The leading Nigerian ecofeminist, climate justice leader and researcher spoke to IPS about the start of her activism in 2018, born out of her experiences growing up and going to school in a food basket area of Nigeria, and “seeing firsthand how a climate crisis affects both food production and education.”
During floods, she says, classrooms were out of bounds as the routes to school and learning became inaccessible. But floods were not all she saw; there were heatwaves and low yields on the farms due to erratic and extreme weather patterns. Students either avoided school or decreased their attendance due to hunger.
“Families that relied on agriculture prioritized work over school, leading to a cycle of disrupted learning with lifelong negative consequences for affected children. And, when climate collided with food systems, it led to clashes between farmers and pastoralist communities,” Oladosu explains.
“I wanted to contribute to my community by advocating for climate action and justice,” she continues. “In 2018, I read an IPCC report (the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is a comprehensive assessment of the scientific, technical, and socio-economic knowledge on climate change, its impacts, and future risks). It said the climate crisis was getting out of hand, that it was time to act as we were running out of time.”
“Today, the climate crisis is no longer a threat but a reality.”
Since then, the young Nigerian activist has mobilized thousands of people globally, including many in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, who are now leading the change for climate justice. The goal is to bring up more climate-focused youth, students, and communities that could champion climate action.”
Currently, Oladosu is a fellow at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany, an institution that conducts research with the aim of investigating, identifying, and advancing development pathways for transformation processes towards sustainable societies.
At the same time, she serves as an Education Cannot Wait Climate Champion, the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies, and she understands all too well that when a climate crisis snowballs, it produces multiple and complex challenges, significantly limiting a child’s lifelong learning and earning opportunities.
She says the interconnected challenges of armed conflict, forced displacement, environmental degradation, energy crises and climate change are putting an entire generation at risk and calls on world leaders and governments to address the education/climate crises. Research shows that when children go hungry, they are 50 percent more likely to drop out of school to contribute to family income.
Extreme weather events disrupted the education of 242 million students worldwide in 2024, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Floods, droughts, or heavy smoke affected 1.17 million students in Brazil alone.
In 2024, 85 countries or territories saw their schools affected by climate-related hazards, with 23 countries experiencing multiple rounds of school disruptions. Against this backdrop, she says the climate discourse and negotiations at COP30 are, in many ways, moving in the right direction.
During a High-Level discussion, representatives of participating nations, the COP30 Presidency, and the United Nations system made it a priority to invest in preparing young people to cope with and mitigate the impacts of climate change. They also emphasized the importance of adapting schools to this new reality.
Alice Vogas, Program Director at the COP30 Presidency, stated that making education a pillar of climate action requires coordinated efforts and investment. “We hope to see in Belém a platform where countries can take a step forward and strengthen the exchange of knowledge on how education can contribute,” she said.
Vogas emphasized that the priority is climate literacy for teachers and the development of skills and technical training for young people. Oladosu agrees: “We need to protect the future of the millions of boys and girls on the frontlines of the climate crises around the world. I want world leaders to understand that this future starts now and, with urgency, position education at the core of climate resilience.”
Oladosu stresses that it is also about “educating young people on the many faces of climate change. Let’s not lose track of what climate justice means for young people. The impact of young girls walking long kilometers to fetch water on their school attendance, performance, and completion is a significant concern. In school, young people must be taught about climate change and inspired to innovate solutions to counter the climate crises.”
“Meanwhile, there is a need to fund interventions that, despite these challenges, help keep young people in school and in a conducive environment, and this includes school feeding programs.” Recognizing the intersection between education and climate change, actions to prepare young people for the effects of climate change and to help mitigate its causes were at the center of the High-Level Ministerial Roundtable on Green Education at COP30.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has already presented the first draft of the PISA 2029 Climate Literacy Framework, an international metric designed to assess students’ climate knowledge. PISA, or the Programme for International Student Assessment, is a large-scale international study by the OECD that assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics and science.
The tool has already been applied to students in the state of Pará, a northern Brazilian state that is the site of Amazonia National Park. The results show that while students demonstrate relatively solid understanding of local environmental issues such as the Amazon Forest, broader climate literacy remains limited.
PISA 2029: Climate Literacy is an upcoming assessment that will measure 15-year-old students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes about climate change as a new competency to be included in the PISA program starting in 2029. Data will be collected from students, teachers, and principals.
The initiative will assess students’ capacity to understand and respond to climate challenges, providing international data to help education systems prepare students for sustainable futures. The goal is to provide international data on how well students are prepared to face climate challenges. The results will help inform policy decisions and reforms aimed at improving climate education and resilience.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Excerpt:
We need to protect the future of the millions of boys and girls on the frontlines of the climate crises around the world. I want world leaders to understand that this future starts now and, with urgency, position education at the core of climate resilience. —Adenike Titilope Oladosu, ecofeminist and Pan-African climate activist
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 18 2025 (IPS) - After nearly two years of conflict between Hamas and Israel, displaced Palestinians in Gaza have begun returning home as humanitarian organizations work to restore essential, life-saving services. Despite recent progress, the United Nations (UN) and its partners continue to face major obstacles in reaching the most vulnerable populations due to ongoing insecurity and heightened restrictions. With winter fast approaching—and expected to further worsen living conditions—sustained aid operations remain critical.
Roughly one month into the ceasefire, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported ongoing daily bombardments of residential areas in zones where Israeli forces remain deployed, particularly in eastern Khan Younis and eastern Gaza City. The agency has also documented multiple ceasefire violations along the “Yellow Line,” leading to numerous civilian casualties.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, between October 29 and November 5, bombardments resulted in 15 Palestinian deaths and 24 injuries. An additional 31 bodies were recovered from the rubble of collapsed buildings. The Ministry further reports that since the start of the ceasefire, 241 Palestinians have been killed and 609 injured.
Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), observed that the humanitarian situation in Gaza firmly hinges on the stability of the ceasefire. “A ceasefire that merely prolongs the absence of war without charting a viable path to peace would only repeat the disastrous mistakes of the past,” Lazzarini wrote in a Guardian op-ed on November 10. “A truly peaceful future requires a genuine investment in a definitive political solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.”
Additionally, Lazzarini underscored the urgent need for an international stabilization force to protect key civilian infrastructures and facilitate a smooth flow of humanitarian operations, as well as increased accountability measures to acquire justice for victims of violations of international humanitarian law. On November 12, Lazzarini informed reporters at the UN headquarters that accountability is crucial in establishing a sustainable end to violence and a path to recovery for Palestine as a whole.
“The starting point could at least be a board of inquiry,” said Lazzarini, “More broadly, if we want to promote any lasting peace, I don’t think we would succeed if we aren’t going for the delivery of justice and healing, and recognizing the scope of atrocities that have been committed.”
Despite the UN recording considerable improvement in the humanitarian situation of Gaza, conditions remain dire, with famine and disease remaining imminent threats for most Gazans. The UN and its partners continue to face significant access constraints imposed by Israeli authorities. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informed reporters that the UN is far from having “what is necessary to eliminate famine quickly and create conditions for the people in Gaza to have the very, very minimum that is necessary for dignity in life”.
Philippe Lazzarini (right), the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) briefing on UNRWA’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territory. Credit: Oritro Karim/IPS
OCHA further notes that access to humanitarian aid and agricultural fields beyond the Yellow Line remains prohibited, with yellow-painted concrete blocks being set up to demarcate prohibited areas, as ordered by the Israeli Minister of Defence. Access to the sea also remains barred, with Israeli forces detaining at least five fishers since November 4.
According to OCHA, several essential aid items remain barred from entering Gaza—including humanitarian vehicles, solar panels, mobile latrines, x-ray machines, food and educational supplies, and generators—many of which Israeli authorities classify as outside the scope of humanitarian assistance. OCHA also reports continued restrictions on maintenance tools needed for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) systems. Dozens of UNRWA vehicles and equipment, including water tankers and jetting trucks, have yet to be cleared for entry.
UNRWA and its partners have expressed alarm over the continued imposition of such restrictions during the ceasefire, particularly with the approaching winter season projected to exacerbate living conditions for Palestinians in displacement shelters. The Shelter Cluster estimates that at least 259,000 Palestinian families, or more than 1.45 million Gazans, will be adversely affected by the winter if adequate protection services are not put in place soon.
In a November 5 joint statement from several UN agencies, including UNRWA, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN and its partners have been collaborating with Gaza’s Ministry of Health to prepare an “integrated catch-up campaign” for immunization and nutritional support, aiming to reach approximately 44,000 children who have been cut off from lifesaving services since the beginning of this conflict.
An estimated one in five children under age three are zero-dose or under-vaccinated due to the conflict, leaving them highly vulnerable to preventable disease outbreaks. The campaign will be carried out in three rounds to provide children with missed routine vaccinations, including Pentavalent, Polio, Rota, Pneumococcal, and two doses of the MMR vaccine.
Vaccination services will be available at 149 health facilities and 10 mobile vehicles across the enclave, with the first round scheduled for November 9-18. The second and third rounds of the vaccine campaign are planned for December 2025 and January 2026, respectively.
Alongside vaccinations, UNICEF and partners will screen children for malnutrition, provide treatment and follow-up for those affected, and refer severe cases to WHO-supported stabilization centers. UNICEF is also rehabilitating 15 health centers, while WHO is restoring an additional 20 facilities that were partially or fully destroyed.
On 14 October 2025 in Gaza’s Middle Area, State of Palestine, 4-year-old Abd Al Kareem eats from a sachet of Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (LNS) during a malnutrition screening. Credit: Rawan Eleyan/UNICEF
“This immunization campaign is a lifeline, protecting children’s health and restoring hope for the future,” said Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory. “It’s a crucial step in strengthening essential health services and protecting vulnerable children in Gaza who have been cut off for far too long. Yet this is only one piece of the puzzle. Much more is needed, and WHO is working to rebuild Gaza’s fragile health system so every child, every community, can access the care they deserve.”
Additionally, Lazzarini informed reporters on November 12 that UNRWA has been a lifeline for Gaza since the beginning of this crisis. Over the past two years, UNRWA has supported over 15 million primary health consultations, providing over 14,000 consultations on average on a daily basis.
UNRWA has also been instrumental in keeping the water system in the enclave from collapsing, with Lazzarini stating that roughly “40 percent of clean water is thanks to the work of (UNRWA’s) engineer(s) on the ground.” Furthermore, UNRWA has supported more than 48,000 children across 96 UNRWA schools five days a week, alongside bringing online education back to about 300,000 children.
“I do believe that we are and remain an extraordinary asset at the disposal of the international community, especially for securing critical services for the population of Gaza and any effort in stabilization and success,” said Lazzarini. “The main challenge is that we need to safeguard the operational space of the agency in Gaza. That’s challenge number one, to acknowledge that the agency is a vital key partner and an invaluable asset to the international community to help consolidate the ceasefire and ensure a successful recovery.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
NEW YORK, Nov 18 2025 (IPS) - Even as their rights face growing threats, women across the globe are driving progress. From courtrooms to communities, women’s leadership is shaping peace, justice and development—often against the odds. In the face of conflict, exclusion and inequality, we continue to see powerful stories of hope, resilience and change. We are inspired by women who mediate local disputes, push for new laws and champion the rights of survivors, holding communities together.
These stories remind us that we achieve our best results when working together, especially when the task ahead is the elimination of deeply rooted and widespread barriers. The UNDP and UN Women Gender Justice Platform – made possible thanks to generous support from Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom—continues to support access to justice and women’s leadership in rule of law institutions in over 45 countries globally, proving that cross border solidarity can dismantle even the most entrenched inequality.
1. Women at the forefront of transitional justice in South Sudan
In the context of the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and its 2022 Roadmap Agreement, peacebuilding in South Sudan is ongoing, including efforts to deliver transitional justice and community reconciliation.
To safeguard women’s participation in decision-making in these processes, the Gender Justice Platform has supported key legal advancements. In 2024, South Sudan’s parliament adopted two laws guaranteeing that women have a seat and a voice in the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing and the Compensation and Reparations Authority.
The laws explicitly recognize the distinct impacts of conflict on women, offering special protection for victims and witnesses, particularly for women, children and persons with disabilities.
The laws were informed by recommendations put forward by South Sudanese women as a result of a consultation on gender-responsive and survivor-centred transitional justice, co-hosted in June 2023 by the Gender Justice Platform.
These laws mark a major step toward ensuring that women, including survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, shape how truth-telling occurs and reparations are delivered, and that women’s leadership is woven into South Sudan’s journey toward justice, reconciliation and peace.
Through the Gender Justice Platform, UNDP and UN Women have empowered women to participate in transitional justice processes in more than 20 countries, including Colombia, Ethiopia, Liberia and Mali.
2. Expanding access to justice in Tanzania
In Tanzania, women and underrepresented groups, including women with disabilities, often face deep-rooted barriers to justice. To address them, UN Women worked closely with the Ministry of Constitution and Legal Affairs, boosting its legal aid and awareness campaign to reach more than 56,000 people, half of them women and girls. Critical issues were on the agenda, including land and property disputes, inheritance, family matters and gender-based violence.
In Tanzania, paralegals and social workers deliver legal aid and raise awareness on women’s rights. Credit: UN Women/Hanna Mtango
For lasting impact, the Gender Justice Platform empowered local champions – paralegals, aid providers and community social workers – to deliver legal aid and raise awareness on women’s rights, justice and social norms.
Complementing this, strategic training for judges on gender responsive sentencing ensures that women’s needs are considered when cases reach court. Together, these efforts show that sustainable justice must integrate both formal and informal systems to be effective and trusted.
3. Women mediators in Yemen help women resolve legal disputes
The space for women’s rights is restricted in Yemen. As around 80 percent of disputes in the country are resolved through community-based mechanisms, UNDP supported women mediators and paralegals to provide services though these customary and informal networks.
In 2024 alone, women mediators and paralegals resolved over 1,200 local disputes, primarily family-related, in partnership with local civil society organizations such as the Youth Horizon Foundation, making this initiative a critical lifeline for those most in need.
Women paralegals are working as insider-mediators to build peace in a bottom-up manner, contributing to the overall stabilization of the country.
Through the Gender Justice Platform, UNDP assisted about 300 women held in a prison, many of whom are there with their children. With UNICEF and civil society, UNDP advocated to facilitate the release and reintegration of wrongfully detained women, restoring dignity and family connections.
One woman, for example, spent an additional seven years in the prison after completing her sentence, as no one from her family would come for her. With UNDP support, Yemen Women Union (YWU) reconciled the woman with her family, and she was released.
4. Championing women’s leadership in South East Asia
In courtrooms across Southeast Asia, women judges are reshaping justice. In Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand, they are building mentoring networks to ensure the law reflects women’s lived realities.
Their enthusiasm and professionalism sparked the Women’s Leadership in the Judiciary initiative, along with a storytelling campaign through which women judges share their personal stories.
“To ensure gender justice,” explains Sapana Pradhan Malla of Nepal, “our first step was to make sure that the law reflects women’s experience and perspective, without exclusion or discrimination against women.”
By amplifying women’s voices, the Gender Justice Platform is nurturing a new generation of women leaders who are supporting the transformation of the judiciary from within.
5. Civil society advancing gender justice in Colombia
The Gender Justice Platform supports women’s civil society organizations that translate global commitments into local, feminist action, ensuring survivors’ voices shape every step of the justice process. In Colombia, the Alliance Initiative of Women for Peace brings together 248 organizations of survivors, activists and lawyers.
In 2024, with support from the Gender Justice Platform, the Alliance worked alongside survivors of sexual violence and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, Colombia’s transitional justice tribunal, to ensure full and restorative participation.
As Alliance Director Angela Cerón Lasprilla explains, “Knowing I was not the only survivor, that what happened was not my fault and that I am a human being, that I matter—it’s only possible to acknowledge that if you have the support.”
Advancing women’s rights benefits everyone. Evidence shows that the advancement of women’s rights fosters equality, economic growth and opportunities for all. When women have unimpeded access to their rights, including justice and security, societies have a better chance to prosper, live in peace and enjoy development.
Explore the 2024 annual report of the Gender Justice Platform to see and celebrate what we achieved together. Along with our partners, we will continue to foster change for women and their active participation in justice efforts, guided by the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
Revai Makanje Aalbaek is Senior Advisor on Justice and Security, UNDP Crisis Bureau;
Sarah Douglas is Deputy Chief, Peace, Security and Resilience Section, UN Women
The Gender Justice Platform is implemented under the framework of UNDP’s Global Programme for Strengthening the Rule of Law, Human Rights, Justice and Security for Sustainable Peace and Development.
Source: UNDP
IPS UN Bureau
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 17 2025 (IPS) - COP30 negotiations are midway. So far, talks about historic agreements are moving forward, backward, or stalling, depending on who you ask. The most pressing issues on the table are finances, adaptation, fossil fuel phase-outs, and climate justice.
Wide-ranging and ambitious promises across these issues are not translating smoothly into action. On the first day of COP30, the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage [established at COP27 and operationalized at COP28] launched the call for funding requests for its startup phase.
From December 15, 2025, developing countries will have six months to request funding for projects and programs of between USD 5 and 20 million. The entire kitty has USD 250 million, which compares poorly to what is needed. On matters of loss and damage, developing countries needed USD 395 billion in 2025 alone.
The issue of finance is not a sticking point in itself at COP30, but has been identified as the thread that connects all other thematic areas as encapsulated in the ‘Baku to Belém Roadmap.’ When COP29 in Baku failed to deliver an ambitious climate finance package deal, this roadmap was added on at the last minute to build on the USD300 billion per year in financing agreed upon in Baku.
But this roadmap is not a singular goal to be achieved; it is about coming together to ‘scale up climate finance in the short and long term to ensure that annual climate financing climbs from USD 300 billion to at least USD 1.3 trillion a year by 2035. The roadmap is about increasing finance across all climate funds, be it for preventing, reducing or adapting to climate change.
Climate finance discussions have focused on mobilizing new funding sources, including innovative mechanisms like the proposed Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF). Brazil has defined oceans and forests as the twin priority areas for discussion at COP30.
TFFF is a Brazil-led initiative that aims to mobilize nearly USD 125 billion for tropical forest conservation. It is a radical new solution to combat deforestation.
Brazil has, however, been left ‘surprised’ the UK would not be joining Germany, Norway and other nations towards contributing to the TFFF funds, despite the UK having helped design the tropical forest conservation initiative.
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.’
Unlike the emotive issues of fossil fuel phase-outs and finances that defined recent COPs, COP30 seems to be where the rubber meets the road. After all is said and done, with the agreements to move away from fossil fuels, the Loss and Damage Fund, and the calls for climate adaptation financing, the technical details of how these promises become actions are the sticking point.
For fossil fuels, those whose economies are not dependent on oil, gas, or coal want an immediate transition. Those that depend on fossil fuels are asking for time to find a pathway that helps the transition as they seek alternatives to cushion their economies. This is one of the most contentious climate mitigation issues.
But still all is not lost; there seems to be notable movement in this direction, in 2024 alone, more than USD 2.2 trillion was put into renewable energy—which is more than the GDP of over 180 countries.
Amidst fragile and fragmented geopolitics, COP30 is multilateralism under test. Leaders of China, the US, Russia and India are absent. Some say this is symbolic and could derail climate talks, but many observers say taking this as a sign that political support for international climate initiatives is waning is misleading.
Some observers from the natural-resource-rich African continent say the developing world simply needs to start conducting the climate business differently, particularly in how they trade with the global North over their natural resources.
To be clear, what defines this COP is not necessarily finance, adaptation, fossil fuels or even climate justice; for many, this is a COP implementation. The ongoing negotiations face challenges in translating ambitious promises into action.
Brazil has already launched the COP30 Circle of Finance Ministers—a key initiative under the COP30 presidency to support the development of the Baku to Belém roadmap. This circle will be a platform for regular consultations throughout 2025.
Another first in the history of COPs is that the Asset Owners Summit is included in the official COP agenda. Asset owners representing approximately USD 10 trillion met in Belém in the first week of the COP to work with climate scientists, multilateral development banks, and governments to meet the climate’s financial needs.
A major point of discussion is how to shift from loans to other forms of finance, with a focus on increasing funding for adaptation and ensuring transparency. Climate finance loans remain an unresolved issue.
For developing nations, developed nations whose industrial revolution is responsible for altering the climate system have a moral obligation to climate finance on terms and conditions that take into account that developing nations are the victims. Developed nations, on the other hand, see climate finance loans as a business opportunity—for every five dollars received in climate finance loans, they repay seven dollars.
Activism has been a defining issue at COP30, as has been the increased participation and visibility of indigenous people. It is a step in the right direction when 15 national governments, including Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Tanzania, the United Kingdom and Germany, and one sub-national government have formally announced their support for the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment, a landmark global agreement to secure and strengthen the land tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities on 160 million hectares in tropical forest countries.
As to how COP30 pans out, the next few days will be critical as the UN Climate Summit nears its conclusion.
IPS UN Bureau Report
This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.
Excerpt:
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.'
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 17 2025 (IPS) - Brazilian Indigenous leader and environmentalist Cacique Raoni Metuktire appealed for support for Indigenous peoples and their land. From the podium of the Peoples’ Summit, Cacique Raoni warned negotiators at the UN climate conference in Belém that without recognizing Indigenous peoples’ land rights, there will be no climate justice.
“It is getting warmer and warmer. And a big change is going on with the earth. Air is harder to breathe; this is only the beginning,” he said on Sunday while addressing representatives of the global climate justice movement at the Peoples’ Summit. “If we don’t act now, there will be very big consequences for everyone.”
Indigenous people and civil activists from around the world took part in the Peoples’ Summit. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
While Belém city is hosting world leaders, government officials, scientists, policymakers, activists, and more than 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists to decide the future course of global climate action, the Peoples’ Summit gathered frontline voices.
About nine kilometers from the COP30 venue, at the grounds of the Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA-Federal University of Pará), activists engaged in diverse dialogue for five days and issued the “Declaration of the Peoples’ Summit Towards COP30” in the presence of Indigenous leaders like Raoni, which was handed over to the COP presidency.
The Declaration states that the capitalist mode of production is the main cause of the growing climate crisis. It claims that today’s environmental problems are “a consequence of the relations of production, circulation, and disposal of goods, under the logic and domination of financial capital and large capitalist corporations.” It demands the participation and leadership of people in constructing climate solutions, recognizing ancestral knowledge.
Artists performing indigenous folklore during the closing event of the Peoples’ summit. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Sebastián Ordoñez Muñoz, associated with War on Want, a UK-based organization and part of the political commission of the Peoples’ Summit, said the political declaration constructed through the summit process reflects peoples’ demands and proposals. “It has our solutions, people’s solutions,” he said. He explained that crafting the declaration was a convergence of diverse voices, uniting around clarity on what needs to happen to address the climate crisis.
“It is an expression of the autonomy of people’s movements coming together, converging to develop clear proposals that are based on the real solutions happening on the ground-in the territories, in the forests, in the seas, in the rivers, and so on,” he added. “It’s important to hand it over because we need to make sure that our voices are represented there [at COP]. Any space that we have inside the COP has always been through struggle.”
As a space for community members to come together and deliver the public’s point of view, Peoples’ Summits have been organized as parallel conferences of the COP. It did not take place during the last three COPs. But in Brazil, civil society is actively making its case.
The Peoples’ Summit attracted a large number of Indigenous leaders and community members, whereas at COP their access is limited. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
“We need to continue making our voices heard there, but also not to beg-to state that we have the solutions and that we must be listened to, because none of these answers, none of these solutions are possible without the communities themselves,” Ordoñez Muñoz told IPS News from the Peoples’ Summit ground. “I think it’s a statement and a road map. Where do we go from here?”
Unlike COP30, the Peoples’ Summit attracted diverse groups of community members and civil society leaders. The COP venue follows the process of negotiations, while the summit emphasizes collaboration to find solutions and celebrate unity. It blends discussion with Indigenous folklore and music to bring stories of community.
“If you go into the COP summit, it’s so stale. It’s so sterile. It’s so monotonous. So homogeneous. So corporate,” Ordoñez Muñoz said. “Over here, what we have is the complete opposite. We have such diversity-differences in voice, vocabulary, language, and struggles.”
He added that the COP process is moving in one direction, unjust in nature, and reproducing many of the dynamics that led to the crisis in the first place.
“Over here, we’re all moving together. We have unity.”
This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.
IPS UN Bureau Report