Delegates met in Rome this week for the resumption of the UN Biodiversity Conference to hammer out an agreement at COP16.2 after attempts to reach a deal on financing at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, fell short last November.

It is hoped that the hard-won decisions made by parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will shore up biodiversity and fragile ecosystems which are bearing the brunt of increased conflict, deforestation, mining, toxic waste dumping and other environmental impacts worldwide.

“We very much welcome this announcement,” the UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Friday. “We need to mobilise at least $200 billion dollars a year by 2030 to close the global biodiversity finance gap.”

However, discussions on who pays to protect the Earth’s biodiversity have long been a point of contention, while more than a million plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction.

Hammering out an agreement

“These days of work in Rome have demonstrated the commitment of the parties to advance the implementation of the [Kunming-Montreal] Global Biodiversity Framework,” said COP16 president Susana Muhamad, referring to the landmark 2022 agreement and underscoring “the collective effort to reach consensus of key issues that were left pending in Cali”.

Why is biodiversity important? Read our explainer here.

Delegates worked through Friday morning following days of intense negotiation and reached decisions on outstanding issues including biodiversity finance, planning, monitoring, reporting and review.

Negotiators also agreed on a set of indicators to measure global and national progress towards implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework.

The framework was finalised a little over two years ago – a historic UN-driven agreement to guide global action on nature through to 2030, which was hashed out at meetings in Kunming, China, and Montreal, Canada, in 2022.

Keeping promises made in Canada and China

The Global Biodiversity Framework aims to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, who suffer disproportionately from biodiversity loss and environmental degradation.

The global framework also contains concrete measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including protection measures covering 30 per cent of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems by 2030.

Currently only 17 per cent of land and around eight per cent of marine areas are protected.

“Only by working together can we make peace with nature a reality,” said Ms. Muhamad.

‘Multilateralism works’

Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the positive outcome in Rome shows that “multilateralism works” and is “the vehicle to build the partnerships needed to protect biodiversity and move us towards peace with nature”.

After intense negotiations, parties to the convention agreed on a way forward in terms of resource mobilisation with a view to close the global biodiversity finance gap and achieve the target of at least $200 billion a year by 2030.

This includes working to improve existing financial tools, especially to provide resources for developing countries, under the temporary leadership of UN agencies and partners.

“We now have a clear mandate” for implementation, Ms. Schomaker said. “As we do this and implement the other supporting elements for resource mobilisation, the world will have given itself the means to close the biodiversity finance gap.”

Call for pioneering investors

On the margins of COP16.2, the Cali Fund, which was created in Colombia in late 2024, was officially launched, ushering in a new era for biodiversity financing.

“Today’s launch is the culmination of multilateralism that delivers,” said Elizabeth Mrema, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

“The ball is now in the court of businesses around the world. Those who pay into the fund will go down in history as pioneers and will reap the benefits as the public increasingly recognises the importance of giving back to nature.”

Here’s how the Cali Fund will benefit biodiversity:

• Companies making commercial use of data from genetic resources in nature in a range of lucrative industries will be expected to contribute a portion of their revenue to the fund
• Contributions to the Cali Fund will be used to implement the UN Biodiversity Convention, including by supporting the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
• At least 50 per cent of the Cali Fund resources will be allocated to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, recognising their role as custodians of biodiversity

He condemned the reported killing of more than a thousand people, including women and children, since the collapse of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on 18 March.

In his daily press briefing, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that large-scale Israeli shelling and ground operations have resulted in widespread destruction and the displacement of more than 100,000 Palestinians from Rafah in the past two days alone, most of whom have been displaced multiple times.

Deadly attack on medical personnel

“The Secretary-General is shocked by the attack of the Israeli army on a medical and emergency convoy on 23 March resulting in the killing of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian workers in Gaza,” he said.

Mr. Dujarric stressed that all parties to the conflict must protect medical, humanitarian and emergency workers at all times, and respect and protect civilians, as required by international humanitarian law. He underscored the need to end the denial of life-saving assistance.

Since October 2023, at least 408 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, including 280 UN humanitarian personnel.

Resume the ceasefire

Mr. Dujarric said the Secretary-General honours all humanitarian workers killed in this conflict and demands a full, thorough and independent investigation into these incidents.

The UN chief reiterated his strong condemnation of the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, stressing that there was no justification for the terror attacks or the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

Mr. Guterres renewed his urgent call for the immediate resumption of the ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and unhindered humanitarian access throughout Gaza.

UN rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change

Mr. Dujarric was asked about the plans Israel has announced to take control of more land in Gaza.

“The Secretary-General also reminds that Security Council resolution 2735 (2024) rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza,” he said.

In this regard, the UN chief is increasingly concerned about inflammatory rhetoric which calls on the Israeli military to “capture extensive territory that will be added to the State of Israel’s security areas.”

‘Even ruins have become a target’

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA), reported on Wednesday that Israeli forces shelled one of its buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

He said in a social media post that the building was previously a health centre and had been badly damaged earlier in the war.  In Gaza, “even ruins have become a target,” he remarked.

Initial reports indicate that the facility was sheltering more than 700 people when it was bombed, and that “among those killed are reportedly nine children, including a two-week-old baby,” Mr. Lazzarini said, noting that displaced families had stayed in the shelter after it was hit because “they have nowhere else to go.”

Investigate all attacks

Since the war began, more than 300 UN buildings have been destroyed or damaged, although the coordinates of these locations have been shared regularly with the parties to the conflict. He said more than 700 people had been killed while seeking UN protection.

Mr. Lazzarini added that too many UNRWA premises have also reportedly been used for military and combat purposes by Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, or by Israeli forces.

“The total disregard of UN staff, premises or operations is a profound defiance of international law,” he said.

“I call once again for independent investigations to find out the circumstances of each of these attacks and the serious violations. In Gaza, all lines have been crossed over and over again.”

Gaza ‘a death trap’

Jonathan Whittall, acting director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, described the situation in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday as a “war without limits.”

He described what is happening there as “an endless loop of blood, pain, death,” saying “Gaza has become a death trap.”

Mr. Whittall was briefing reporters at UN Headquarters in New York via video link from Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.

The top official noted that he was not sure what he could say to describe the situation on the ground, but decided against mincing his words especially after having coordinated a mission on Sunday that uncovered the mass grave of a number of humanitarian workers who were killed in Rafah.

The dead paramedics were “still wearing their uniforms, still wearing gloves” and killed while trying to save lives, he said. He added that their ambulances “were hit one by one” as they entered an area where Israeli forces were advancing.

He noted that the grave where they were buried had an emergency light from one of the ambulances. 

Mr. Whittall said he began by highlighting this case as it was emblematic of where the Strip stands today: “What is happening here defies decency, it defies humanity, it defies the law,” he said. “It really is a war without limits.”

He said that forced displacement orders resumed after the collapse of the ceasefire, and 64 per cent of the Gaza Strip is now under active forced displacement orders by Israel or within the so-called “buffer zone.”

One month since Israeli aid blockade began

“Nowhere and no one is safe,” according to Mr. Whittall, who said his colleagues tell him they “just want to die with their families” and that their worst fear is to survive alone.

“We cannot accept that Palestinian civilians are dehumanized to the point of being somehow unworthy of survival,” he said, noting that a month has passed since aid supplies were blocked from entering Gaza.

Responding to reporters’ questions, he said there was nowhere else in the world, to his knowledge, where an entire population of 2.1 million people is under siege, denied all forms of humanitarian aid, and the commercial sector is destroyed and then expected to survive entirely dependent on aid in a besieged and bombarded area.

He added that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was spiraling out of control, with all bakeries supported by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) closed, markets reduced to rubble, ambulance teams being killed, and people living on an aid system which is under attack.

Mr. Whittall emphasized the lack of humanitarian solutions to the problems facing Gaza. He stated that the crisis requires political action that begins with accountability, stressing that aid cannot compensate for political failures.

End the cruelty

“I think it’s important for us to acknowledge that what is happening in Gaza is not going to stay in Gaza,” he warned. “We cannot let the rules-based order be replaced by one set of rules for some people, and another set of rules for others.”

The UN official expressed hope that Member States would use their political and economic influence to enforce international law, that a ceasefire would be reached to stop the slaughter and free the hostages, that “Palestinians would be finally seen as human, and that this cruelty will end.” 

In the run-up to the UN Ocean Conference 2025 in June, the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD, emphasised that oceans are essential to all life, by sustaining biodiversity, regulating the climate and generating oxygen.

Oceans also have massive untapped economic potential that is capable of delivering food security, creating jobs and driving global trade.

“The amount of exports of ocean goods and services reached $2.2 trillion in 2023, so it’s growing very fast,” said David Vivas, UNCTAD Chief for Trade, Environment and the Sustainable Development Branch, on the sidelines of the 5th UN Ocean Forum in Geneva.

According to the UN agency, the world’s ocean economies have grown 250 per cent since 1995, far outpacing the global economy, which grew by 190 per cent over the same period.

Rising tide of potential

Behind this growth is growing South-South trade, where fresh fish exports have increased by 43 per cent; processed fish exports have risen by a staggering 89 per cent from 2021 to 2023.

Today, 600 million people are sustained by and therefore dependent on the fishing industry alone, most of them in developing countries.

According to UNCTAD, two thirds of species living in the ocean have yet to be identified, offering the potential for the discovery of new antibiotics, low-carbon foods and other bio-based materials such as plastic substitutes, which provide a $10.8 billion market opportunity alone.

In 2025, the marine biotechnology market is set to grow by more than 50 per cent this year, compared to 2023.

© Unsplash/Benjamin L. Jones

Seagrass, which evolved over 70 million years ago from terrestrial grass, is one of the most diverse and valuable marine ecosystems on the planet.

Looming dangers

However, despite this potential, the ocean economy faces imminent threats from poor governance, underinvestment and climate shocks.

These include our already warming oceans, rising sea levels and extreme weather hazards which endanger marine ecosystems, fish populations, coastal infrastructure and shipping routes, particularly for coastal communities.

And while most national climate plans do not take into account the ocean economy, UNCTAD’s Mr. Vivas underscored its importance in achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement as an estimated 11 per cent of all emissions worldwide are caused by ocean-based activities.

Drop in the ocean

Beyond climate-related impacts, woeful underfunding for ocean preservation and harmful practices further threaten the industry.

“While oceans represent 70 per cent of the biosphere, less than one per cent of the global development assistance is invested into its conservation and sustainable use,” Mr. Vivas told journalists in Geneva.

Achieving the universally agreed Sustainable Development Goal 14 of protecting life below water requires $175 billion annually, yet only $4 billion has been contributed from national funds, philanthropists and private investment, making it the most underfunded sustainability goal (SDG).

The sum “is nothing less than peanuts; basically, politicians are not putting their money where their mouth is,” Mr. Vivas said. “This huge part of the planet is totally invisible in terms of sustainable-use conservation for future generations.”

This stands in stark contrast to $22 billion invested in harmful subsidies in the global fishing industry, which contributes to overfishing.

Further obstacles limiting the potential of the marine economy involve extraordinarily high tariffs among developing countries. While high-income countries apply 3.2 per cent tariffs on fish products, developing countries on average apply 14 per cent tariffs among themselves, curbing trade heavily.

The Fazenda de Camarão shrimp farm in Calhau, Cabo Verde, aligns with goals of promoting sustainable agriculture and fisheries.

Buoyed by innovation

Among the UN agencies calling for action, UNCTAD recommends:

• integrating ocean-based sectors into national climate and biodiversity plans
• reducing trade barriers
• expanding data collection on ocean-related emissions, trade and investment
• ending harmful subsidies
• finalising legally binding treaties on plastic pollution

To drive urgently needed progress, the UN agency’s Ocean Forum will launch initiatives that include a renewed Ocean Trade Database to help analyse the fast-evolving sector, a proposal for a UN task force on seaweed development and a project on evidence-based ocean climate action.

The latter, involving UNCTAD and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), uses artificial intelligence (AI) and data innovations to support Caribbean small island developing States in particular.

The UN Ocean Conference 2025 takes place in the French Riviera city of Nice from 9 to 13 June.

Ambassadors met for an emergency session to discuss the escalation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Rights chief Volker Türk said he was pained to brief the Council once again on the “catastrophic suffering of people in Gaza,” noting that “the temporary relief of the ceasefire, which gave Palestinians a moment to breathe, has been shattered.” 

He reported that since 1 March, Israeli military operations have killed more than 1,200 Palestinians, including at least 320 children, according to the Gaza health authorities.

Call for investigation

Mr. Türk said he was appalled by the killing of the medical and humanitarian personnel. 

“There must be an independent, prompt and thorough investigation into the killings, and those responsible for any violation of international law must be held to account,” he said.

He highlighted that there is nowhere safe to go in Gaza amid ongoing bombardment. Furthermore, half of the territory is now under mandatory evacuation orders or has been declared a no-go zone.

At the same time, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups continue to launch indiscriminate rockets from Gaza into Israel, in breach of international humanitarian law. 

“I am also deeply concerned about the fate and well-being of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza,” he said.

Humanitarian aid blockade

Meanwhile, a month has passed since Israel imposed a complete blockade on vital humanitarian aid and supplies entering Gaza, including food, water, electricity, fuel and medicines. 

“The blockade and siege imposed on Gaza amount to collective punishment and may also amount to the use of starvation as a method of war,” he said.

The UN rights chief was alarmed by the inflammatory rhetoric by senior Israeli officials around seizing, annexing and dividing territory, and about transferring Palestinians outside Gaza.

“This raises grave concerns about the commission of international crimes and runs counter to the fundamental principle of international law against the acquisition of territory by force,” he said.

West Bank violence

Mr. Türk also addressed the “extremely alarming” situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where Israeli operations have killed hundreds, destroyed entire refugee camps and displaced over 40,000 Palestinians.

“Illegal settlement expansion continues unabated as some Israeli ministers advocate for Israeli sovereignty in the occupied territory,” he added.

The High Commissioner urged the immediate restoration of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza.

He stressed that “nothing can justify the horrific attacks committed against Israeli communities on 7 October 2023. And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

High risk of atrocity crimes 

More than 50,400 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, and more than 114,000 others injured, since the beginning of the war, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. 

La Niña, a natural climate phenomenon, results in cooler Pacific Ocean temperatures and influences weather conditions worldwide. The latest forecasts from WMO indicate sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific are expected to return to normal.  

The agency says that there is a 60 per cent chance conditions will shift back to what scientists call an ENSO-neutral temperature range during March-May 2025, increasing to 70 per cent for April-June 2025.  

ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation)-neutral simply means the ocean is neither unusually warm (El Niño) nor unusually cool (La Niña). Likewise, the probability of El Niño developing is very low during this period, the agency said.  

According to WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, El Niño and La Niña associated forecasts are critical for early warnings and taking preemptive action.  

“These forecasts translate into millions of dollars’ worth in economic savings for key sectors like agriculture, energy and transport, and have saved thousands of lives over the years by enabling disaster risk preparedness”.

La Niña, with its large-scale cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific, changes wind, pressure, and rainfall. Typically, it brings climate impacts opposite to El Niño, especially in tropical regions.  

For instance, during El Niño, Australia often experiences drought, whereas La Niña can bring increased rainfall and flooding. In contrast, parts of South America may experience drought during La Niña but wetter conditions during El Niño.

Bringing the heat

Notably, these natural climate events are currently occurring alongside human-caused climate change, which is warming the planet and causing more extreme weather. According to WMO, January 2025 was the warmest January on record, despite the cooler La Niña conditions.

The agency looks at ENSO but also issues regular Global Seasonal Climate Updates (GSCU) that provide a more comprehensive climate outlook based on other key patterns such as those in the Atlantic and Arctic. These updates also track sea temperatures, global and regional temperature and rainfall changes.

With most maritime regions set to be warmer than normal, except in the eastern Pacific, WMO forecasts above-average temperatures across nearly all land areas worldwide during the upcoming season.

Last Sunday, a joint PRCS and UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) mission uncovered a shallow grave in Rafah. The bodies of eight PRCS paramedics, six civil defence workers, and one UN staff member were found.

They had been killed by the Israeli military while attempting to reach victims of shelling on 23 March.

“They were humanitarians. They wore emblems. They should have been protected,” the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC)’s Permanent Observer, Dylan Winder, told journalists during a briefing at UN Headquarters on Friday.

Dr. Younes al-Khatib, PRCS President, confirmed that one of the team members – now identified as Assad – is still unaccounted for.

He explained that the incident was the “single most deadly attack” against Red Cross Red Crescent workers anywhere in the world since 2017.

Investigation in progress

PRCS officials said it remains unclear whether their colleague, Assad, had been killed at the scene or taken into detention.

A video recorded from one of the PRCS ambulances appears to show Israeli tanks firing on clearly marked emergency vehicles, refuting claims that the ambulances were unidentifiable or operating without sirens.

“It’s a trap,” one responder can be heard shouting in the footage, according to PRCS Vice President Marwan Jilani.

The final words of one PRCS paramedic, captured in an audio recording found on his phone, were also shared during the briefing.

“Forgive me, mom. I just wanted to help people. I wanted to save lives,” he said, moments before he was killed. His phone was discovered with his body.

Dr. al-Khatib noted that a forensic report is being prepared and will be released in due course.

PRCS officials reiterated calls for an international, independent investigation, challenging the “narrative” put forward by the Israeli Government and demanding justice for the victims and their families.

Humanitarian operations under siege

The grim discovery comes as Gaza’s humanitarian crisis deepens, with all crossings still closed.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric warned that thousands more families have been forced to flee westward in the Gaza Strip, following new displacement orders issued by Israeli forces in parts of Gaza City.

“These displacement orders have left civilians exposed to hostilities and deprive them of access to essential services for their basic survival,” he said, citing information from OCHA.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), food parcel distributions are expected to end soon. Hot meal distributions continue but supplies are running low.

Meanwhile, sanitation conditions are worsening. OCHA reports infestations of fleas and mites in three makeshift displacement sites in Al-Mawasi, causing rashes and other health issues.

Treatment is impossible without the chemicals and medical supplies that remain blocked at closed border crossings.

UN humanitarian partners also report a spike in criminal looting and insecurity – a food distribution centre from the Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) and surrounding buildings were looted on Wednesday.

West Bank operations

In the West Bank, OCHA reports that tens of thousands of people remain displaced due to ongoing Israeli operations, particularly in Jenin and Tulkarm.

Mr. Dujarric noted that humanitarian partners are providing urgent assistance and psychosocial support to affected communities, but conditions continue to deteriorate.

‘Gaza cannot be left alone’

More than 220 PRCS staff have been killed over the last 50 years, noted Dr. al-Khatib, stressing: “We are looking for action.”

The PRCS leadership made five formal appeals to the international community, including an immediate ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian access and an end to impunity for attacks on aid workers.

“Gaza cannot be left alone,” Dr. al-Khatib concluded. “This is a cry to our international community.”

During a discussion on early childhood development, the High Commissioner for Human Rights underscored that 80 per cent of the human brain is formed in the first three years of life, as he appealed for a reset in youth-centred policy.

“Investments in early childhood are one of the smartest ways to achieve sustainable economic development; studies indicate that the economic return can be up to 13 times the amount invested,” he insisted.

Citing South Africa’s Child Support Grant and the Bolsa Familia programme in Brazil, the High Commissioner pointed out that they “help to ensure that children born into the toughest circumstances can still have the most essential needs covered”.

Today’s threats to children are also virtual, and youngsters everywhere lack the tools to stay safe online, Mr. Türk continued, before warning that children’s access to food, basic sanitation and drinking water remains unequal across the world; two in five lack access even to basic sanitation.

Children suffering extreme heat to rise eight-fold

Climate change is also likely to make children and future generations more vulnerable, Mr. Türk told the Council, noting that in the next 30 years, eight times as many children could be exposed to extreme heat waves and twice as many to extreme wildfires.  

Emphasising the wider benefit to society of early childhood development, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on violence against children, said that that “even the very youngest and those in the most vulnerable situations have rights, including rights to development, protection and participation”, as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UN Human Rights Council/Marie Bambi

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. (file)

Brain drain

More than one million new neural connections form every second in the first few years of life, the practicing paediatrician explained, as she warned of the long-term impacts on very young children’s health, learning and behaviour when caregivers are unable to provide nurturing and safe care.

Many children with disabilities or from minorities have no access to supportive early child development services, along with others in poor or emergency settings, Dr. M’jid noted.

“Given the unprecedented humanitarian crisis – due to conflict and forced displacement – we must ensure that [early child development] programmes are embedded in the humanitarian response,” she insisted.

One chance at parenting  

Also taking part in the debate at the Human Rights Council was 13-year-old child rights advocate, Vlad.  

“Raising a child is not a maths test that you can retake it if you haven’t done it right the first time,” said the young Moldovan, noting that parents, family and the community form the pillars of a child’s first year of life.  

“But what happens when a child is born with a disability or into a family that doesn’t have enough resource to rise them? Do we step aside because this is not our problem or – on the contrary – do we help the child and the family to develop and overcome those difficulties?” he asked.

Vlad, who volunteers at a free centre for children with disabilities and developmental difficulties run by NGO Lumos Foundation, stressed “how important it is to intervene early in child development, because the earlier we react, the more chances we give to the child to develop harmoniously … a child’s difficulties, however great they may be, can be overcome or, at least, minimized.”

‘I miss my home, my family and friends’

Ten-year-old Joyce, who was forced to flee Syria’s civil war, told the Council precisely what children needed in her home country, so that other youngsters just like her could stay there in safety: “Education, safety and child friendly spaces – not shootings, missiles, bombs or kidnappings,” she said.

Speaking via videolink, Joyce addressed world leaders directly, asking them to understand that for children to live happily and safely, “you need to stop the wars”.

She added: “We need to go to school, to play, to have food and water and most importantly, not to live in fear.”

Admitting that one can’t really argue with Joyce’s statements, Mr. Philip Jaffé, Member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child said, that it wasn’t needed to be verbose, “when what is being said, is essential.”

The Convention on the Rights of the Child calls on all countries “to ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child”.

Speaking on behalf of the Committee on the Rights of the Child which assesses the progress that countries make in adhering to the Convention, Philip Jaffé insisted that for children to thrive in their early years, governments should implement comprehensive and rights-based, coordinated strategies and across departments and at central and local levels.

In addition, “there must be special consideration and social support given to the early childhood needs of children with disabilities and their families,” Mr. Jaffé said.

The Palestinian co-director of the documentary, Basel Adra, delivered remarks to the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Ambassador Riyad Mansour of the Observer State of Palestine and Israeli Human Rights lawyer Netta Amar Schiff – who joined via videolink – also took part.

No Other Land, directed by Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, sheds light on the lived reality of Palestinians under occupation in Masafer Yatta, a collection of 19 hamlets, in the occupied West Bank.

‘The same reality’

“I wanted the world to know that we exist in this land…But even after winning the Oscar we went back to the same reality,” said Mr. Adra at the beginning of his remarks.

Addressing the overall human rights situation, James Turpin, who heads the Prevention and Sustaining Peace Section at OHCHR, said that for 15 years his office “has monitored, recorded and warned about the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the widespread violations resulting from Israel’s 57-year military occupation.”

“The documentary film, No Other Land, brings to life, in a compelling and accessible way, what the UN has documented in countless reports,” added Mr. Turpin.

As of 2022, approximately 20 per cent of the West Bank had been designated as “firing zones” by Israeli authorities – or military areas closed to civilians – affecting over 5,000 Palestinians from 38 communities.

Settlement expansion continues

“There are now over 737,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank” and “steps are regularly taken to accelerate construction of additional housing units in new or existing Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem”, Mr. Turpin said.

Israel’s policies and practices in the OPT “undermines the territorial integrity essential to the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and violates the prohibition against acquiring territory by force,” he added.

In October 2023, in Masafer Yatta, Basel Adra’s cousin was shot in the chest by an Israeli settler. The scene unfolded in front of an Israeli soldier, Mr. Adra told the committee.

“Israel systematically fails to prevent or punish settler attacks, with a reported policy of police non-enforcement in relation to settler violence, leaving Palestinians bereft of any hope of obtaining justice and accountability,” said Mr. Turpin.

Livelihoods lost

The OHCHR official added that settler violence “combined with arbitrary movement restrictions devastates Palestinian livelihoods,” highlighting also the use of unnecessary and disproportionate force against Palestinians, movement restrictions, and mass displacement.

“Israel’s illegal presence in the OPT must end, as confirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ)” said Mr. Turpin, referring to the July 2024 Advisory opinion from the ICJ.

“Almost every day there are settler attacks against Masafer Yatta,” added Basel Adra, co-director of No Other Land. 

The latest State of the Global Climate report confirms 2024 as the hottest year since records began 175 years ago, with a global mean temperature of 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels – surpassing the critical warming threshold of 1.5°C for the first time.  

While a single year above 1.5°C doesn’t break the Paris Agreement‘s long-term goals (a long-term average below 1.5°C), it is a stark warning of the urgent need for emissions reduction.

Multiple climate indicators also set new records. Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are at their highest in 800,000 years, and the oceans continue to warm at unprecedented rates.  

Glaciers and sea ice are rapidly melting, contributing to a rise in global sea levels that threatens coastal ecosystems and infrastructure worldwide.

Furthermore, tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, and other hazards last year led to the highest number of new displacements recorded in 16 years, contributing to worsening food crises, and fuelling massive economic losses.  

Leveraging renewables and early warning systems

Despite these alarming trends, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the Paris Agreement goals are still achievable and called on world leaders to step up their efforts in response to the mounting crisis.

“Our planet is issuing more distress signals – but this report shows that limiting long-term global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible. Leaders must step up to make it happen –seizing the benefits of cheap, clean renewables for their people and economies – with new national climate plans due this year’’, he urged.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo called the report findings a “wake-up call” to the increasing level of deadly risk facing human life, economies and the planet.

“WMO and the global community are intensifying efforts to strengthen early warning systems and climate services to help decision-makers and society at large be more resilient to extreme weather and climate. We are making progress but need to go further and need to go faster”, she said.  

Irreversible changes

The report explains that the record-breaking global temperatures in 2023 and 2024 were primarily driven by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, amplified by the transition from La Niña to El Niño.  

Other factors that might have contributed include solar cycle variation, volcanic activity and changes in ocean circulation.

Scientists also underscore the urgency of taking action, outlining some already irreversible changes – including the rate of sea level rise – that has doubled since satellite measurements began.

Projections show that ocean warming, which reached its highest level on record, will continue over the rest of the 21st century and beyond, even if the world were to significantly reduce emissions. Similarly, ocean acidification will continue to increase for the rest of this century, at rates dependent on future emissions.

Other key findings

• Globally, each of the past ten years were individually the ten warmest years on record.
• Each of the past eight years has set a new record for ocean heat content.
• The 18 lowest Arctic sea-ice extents on record were all in the past 18 years.
• The three lowest Antarctic ice extents were in the past three years.
• The largest three-year loss of glacier mass on record occurred in the past three years.
• In 2024, ocean heat content reached its highest level in the 65-year observational record.
• Tropical cyclones were responsible for many of the highest-impact events of 2024. These included Typhoon Yagi in Viet Nam, the Philippines and southern China.  

No aid has been allowed into Gaza since 2 March, representing the longest period of aid blockage since the start of the war, resulting in shortages of food, safe water, shelter, and medical supplies.

UNICEF said that without these essentials, malnutrition, diseases and other preventable conditions will likely surge, leading to an increase in preventable child deaths.

The agency has thousands of pallets of aid waiting to enter the enclave, said Edouard Beigbeder, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Most of this aid is lifesaving – yet instead of saving lives, it is sitting in storage,” he said.

“It must be allowed in immediately. This is not a choice or charity; it is an obligation under international law.”

Young lives at risk

UNICEF warned that children receiving malnutrition treatment are at serious risk as 21 treatment centres, representing 15 per cent of total outpatient facilities, have closed due to displacement orders or bombardments.

Furthermore, only enough ready-to-use infant formula (RUIF) is currently available for 400 children for a month. Estimates indicate that nearly 10,000 infants under six months old require supplementary feeding, which could force families to use alternatives mixed with unsafe water.

Meanwhile, UNICEF has also had to scale back mental health and psychosocial support, mine education, and child protection case management due to the ongoing hostilities and displacement.

Water access plummets

During the ceasefire, UNICEF began repairing critical wells and waterpoints, but the collapse of the truce means that many remain unrepaired or at risk of further damage.

The agency further noted that drinking water access for one million people, including 400,000 children, has dropped from 16 litres per person per day to just six.

If fuel runs out, it could plunge to below four litres, forcing families to use unsafe water and increasing the risk of disease outbreaks, especially among children.

Ensure basic needs

“For the sake of more than one million children in the Gaza Strip, we urge the Israeli authorities to ensure, at a minimum, people’s basic needs are met, in line with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” said Mr. Beigbeder.

“This includes their legal responsibility to ensure that families are supplied with the food, medical and other essential supplies they need to survive.”

Meanwhile, UNICEF and partners are maintaining a critical presence in Gaza.

The agency continues to call on the parties to cease hostilities and reinstate the ceasefire, stressing that humanitarian aid and commercial goods mut be allowed to enter and move freely across the Gaza Strip.

Together with ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, glaciers lock up about 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves. They are striking indicators of climate change as they typically remain about the same size in a stable climate.

But, with rising temperatures and global warming triggered by human-induced climate change, they are melting at unprecedented speed, said Sulagna Mishra, a scientific officer at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Hundreds of millions of livelihoods at risk

Last year, glaciers in Scandinavia, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and North Asia experienced the largest annual loss of overall mass on record. Glaciologists determine the state of a glacier by measuring how much snow falls on it and how much melt occurs every year, according to UN partner the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) at the University of Zurich.

In the 500-mile-long Hindu Kush mountain range, located in the western Himalayas and stretching from Afghanistan to Pakistan, the livelihoods of more than 120 million farmers are under threat from glacial loss, Ms. Mishra explained.

The mountain range has been dubbed the “third pole” because of the extraordinary water resources it holds, she noted.

‘Irreversible’ retreat

Despite these vast freshwater reserves, it may already be too late to save them for future generations.

Large masses of perennial ice are disappearing quickly, with five out of the past six years seeing the most rapid glacier retreat on record, according to WMO.

The period from 2022 to 2024 also experienced the largest-ever three-year loss.

“We are seeing an unprecedented change in the glaciers,” which in many cases may be irreversible, said Ms. Mishra.

Ice melt the size of Germany

WGMS estimates that glaciers, which do not include the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets, have lost more than 9,000 billion tonnes of mass since 1975.

“This is equivalent to a huge ice block of the size of Germany with a thickness of 25 metres,” said WGMS director Michael Zemp. The world has lost 273 billion tonnes of ice on average every year since 2000, he added, highlighting the findings of a new international study into glacier mass change.

“To put that into context, 273 billion tonnes of ice lost every year corresponds about to the water intake of the entire [world] population for 30 years,” Mr. Zemp said. In central Europe, almost 40 per cent of the remaining ice has melted. If this continues at the current rate, “glaciers will not survive this century in the Alps.”

Echoing those concerns, WMO’s Ms. Mishra added that if emissions of warming greenhouse gases are not slowed “and the temperatures are rising at the rate they are at the moment, by the end of 2100, we are going to lose 80 per cent of the small glaciers” across Europe, East Africa, Indonesia and elsewhere.

A trigger for large-scale floods

Glacial melt has immediate, large-scale repercussions for the economy, ecosystems and communities.

The latest data indicates that 25 to 30 per cent of sea level rise comes from glacier melt, according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service.

Melting snowcaps are causing sea levels to rise about one millimetre higher every year, a figure that might seem insignificant, yet every millimetre will flood another 200,000 to 300,000 persons every year.

“Small number, huge impact,” glaciologist Mr. Zemp said.

Glacier cumulative mass balance change since 1970.

Everyone is affected

Floods can affect people’s livelihoods and compel them to emigrate from one place to another, WMO’s Ms. Mishra continued.

“When you ask me how many people are actually impacted, it’s really everyone,” she stressed.

From a multilateral perspective, “it is really high time that we create awareness, and we change our policies and…we mobilise resources to make sure that we have good, policy frameworks in place, we have good research in place that can help us to mitigate and also adapt to these new changes,” Ms. Mishra insisted.

A day to consider world’s glaciers

Providing added momentum to this campaign, the World Day for Glaciers on 21 March aims to raise awareness about the critical role that these massive frozen rivers of snow and ice play in the climate system. It coincides with World Water Day.

To mark the occasion, which is one of the highlights of the 2025 International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, global leaders, policymakers, scientists and civil society representatives are due to gather at UN Headquarters in New York to highlight the importance of glaciers and to boost worldwide monitoring of the cryospheric processes of freezing and melting that affect them.

WGMS’s Mr. Zemp, who also teaches glaciology at the University of Zurich, is already preparing for a world without glaciers.

“If I think of my children, I am living in a world with maybe no glaciers. That’s actually quite alarming,” he told UN News.  

“I really recommend going with your children there and having a look at it because you can see the dramatic changes that are going on, and you will also realise that we are putting a big burden on our next generation.”

Scientists collecting data on South Cascade Glacier in the US state of Washington.

Glacier of the Year

This year’s Glacier of the Year 2025 is South Cascade Glacier in the US state of Washington.

The body of ice, which has been continuously monitored since 1952, provides one of the longest uninterrupted records of glaciological mass balance in the western hemisphere.

“South Cascade Glacier exemplifies both the beauty of glaciers and the long-term commitment of dedicated scientists and volunteers who have collected direct field data to quantify glacier mass change for more than six decades,” said Caitlyn Florentine, from the U.S. Geological Survey.

In a joint statement, the heads of the UN’s aid agencies warned that “we are witnessing acts of war in Gaza that show an utter disregard for human life,” with Israeli displacement orders forcing hundreds of thousands to flee – with nowhere safe to go.

“With the tightened Israeli blockade on Gaza now in its second month, we appeal to world leaders to act – firmly, urgently and decisively – to ensure the basic principles of international humanitarian law are upheld.

“Protect civilians, facilitate aid, release hostages – renew a ceasefire,” they urged.

Trapped, starved, bombed

More than 2.1 million Gazans are being “trapped, bombed and starved again,” top UN officials said.

Any assertions that there is sufficient food inside the Strip to feed everyone is far from the reality on the ground, they added.

Over the weekend the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced the closure of 21 malnutrition treatment centres in Gaza, owing to the resumption of hostilities and the recent evacuation orders issued for areas where the centres were operating.

The development came as the UN agency warned that more than one million children in Gaza have been impacted by the Israeli embargo.

Spokesperson Abu Khalaf condemned the blockade while confirming it has thousands of aid parcels waiting to be delivered to Gaza.

Milk supplies dwindle

Complementary food supplies for infants in Gaza have now run out, he said, with only enough ready-to-use milk left to feed 400 children for a month.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees and the largest in Gaza, highlighted the increasingly dire impact of Israel’s 2 April decision to stop allowing all humanitarian and commercial supplies into the enclave.

Media reports citing the Gazan health authorities on Sunday said that Israeli strikes killed at least 32 people, including over a dozen women and children.

In other reports, the Israeli military was alleged to have completely destroyed almost all homes in Rafah and isolated the southern city from the rest of the enclave.

“It’s been over a month since the State of Israel banned the entry of aid and commercial supplies into #Gaza,” UNRWA said. “Stocks are getting low and the situation is becoming desperate.”

Although the United Nations agency continues to provide assistance “with whatever supplies remain”, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday reported that its 25 subsidized bakeries have had to close.

Stocks are dwindling and prices of the few remaining items in shops have soared because no food aid nor cooking gas is entering Gaza.

“Poor kids are looking all day for food to eat, and they can’t find any,” said Jalila Abu Laila, at a camp for displaced Gazans in the north of the enclave. “Basically, nothing is available; they might only get some rice from the good people who give some out, but in general, we are unable to provide anything.”

Israeli cities also reportedly came under attack on Sunday – including the southern city of Ashkelon – after Palestinian fighters Hamas claimed responsibility for firing rockets at Israel.

Israel’s military said around 10 projectiles were fired, but most were successfully intercepted. 

Córdoba in Argentina, Fortaleza in Brazil and Manchester in the UK picked up accolades at a healthy cities summit, co-hosted by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), Bloomberg Philanthropies and Vital Strategies.

The Argentinian city won recognition for its policy to eliminate sugary and artificially sweetened drinks – along with ultra-processed foods – from all schools by 2026. So far, 15,000 primary schoolchildren in 26 schools have benefited.

“We’re seeing a lot of progress in local leadership and mayors from across the world taking on the fight and trying to lower rates of the world’s biggest killers, heart disease, diabetes, cancers and respiratory diseases,” said Jaimie Guerra, Communications Officer at WHO.

The Summit in Paris brought togethers mayors and officials from 61 cities around the world to discuss how to build healthier local communities.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus congratulated the three winners, who he said were a model for other cities to follow, at the forefront of the fight against non-communicable diseases and injuries.

Non-communicable illnesses include heart disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease. They are responsible for the vast majority of fatalities, said UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, Michael Bloomberg, who was also at the summit in France.

The diseases “are responsible for more than 80 percent of all deaths globally, but the good news is, they are preventable”, said Mr. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and the three-time former mayor of New York City.

Breathing more easily

Winner Fortaleza established its first legal framework for air quality surveillance in a bid to curb air pollution and help people breathe more easily.

The Brazilian city authorities in 2023 adopted a decree ensuring local monitoring of air pollutants and the installation of low-cost sensors for better data collection.

Greater Manchester meanwhile has continued its efforts to curb tobacco use, introducing its first smoke-free 6.5-acre park.  

The northern English city also launched a smoke-free toolkit for hospitals and is developing a broader toolkit to support organizations to create tobacco-free spaces.

Tackling the world’s biggest killers

Participants in the healthy cities summit included representatives from Dhaka in Bangladesh, Helsinki in Finland, the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, Lusaka in Zambia and Quito in Ecuador.

The participating urban centres are part of the Partnership for Healthy Cities, a global network of 74 cities launched in 2017 to prevent non-communicable diseases and injuries through policy and programmes.  

“These programmes are really making a difference,” said WHO’s Ms. Guerra. “And in the partnership, most of the cities are one million-plus people. In total, it covers more than 300 million people.”