()* — As COP29 climate talks in Baku enter their final week, the UN climate chief told negotiators on Monday [] to “cut the theatrics,” get down to business and hammer out a new finance deal to compensate countries for climate-driven damages and pay for a clean-energy transition.
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UNFCCC/Kiara Worth | UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell addresses negotiators as the final week of COP29 begins in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“We can’t lose sight of the forest because we’re tussling over individual trees,” said Simon Stiell, urging delegates to wrap up “less contentious issues” as early as possible this week, so there is enough time for the major political decisions.
BAKU, Nov 12 2024 (IPS)* – Scientists warn of vastly higher impacts on billions of people’s livelihood and cost to the global economy by the accelerating losses in the world’s snow and ice regions, aka the cryosphere.
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Mountain range in Mt. Everest region in Nepal; loss of snow and glacier melting in the region impacting people living in the region and downstream communities. Photo: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
(UN News)* —The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, is living through the “darkest moment” of its 75 year history, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Wednesday [], pointing to a trifecta of legislative, operational and security challenges.
Speaking at a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York, he detailed the implications of the recent laws passed by the Israeli Knesset, which aim to dismantle UNRWA activities across the occupied Palestinian territory, including Gaza and the West Bank.“
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 2024 (IPS)* – US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House on January 20 next year may be another calamity for the United Nations—particularly if the second term turns out to be a re-run of his first presidency (2017-2021).
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President Donald Trump addresses the General Assembly’s 75th sessions back in September 2020. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
Nov 12 2024 (IPS)* – So, the worst has happened. American voters have apparently just elected the most chaotic and kleptocratic individual in their country’s political history as their president. (We say ‘apparently’, because these days nothing can be certain about the integrity of the US political or electoral system – as is the case with far too many other countries.)
As the annual global Climate Conference (COP29) continues its first week in Baku, Azerbaijan, we can already see what the impact of the next Trump presidency will be. Credit: Shutterstock
That means the previous president, Donald Trump – who opposed every one of those climate-friendly investments and has promised the greatest re-investment in oil, gas and coal of any nation in history – is back in.
MADRID, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)* – During his electoral campaign, incoming U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted that the U.S. holds more oil reserves than any other country, even surpassing Saudi Arabia. In this context, he openly encouraged big businesses to tap into these reserves with the words: ’Drill, baby, drill.’
Trump’s focus: Drilling for oil, not saving the planet. Credit: Shutterstock
The US president-elect has also threatened to impose record tariffs on electric cars’ imports from China, by increasing them between 100% and 200%, and has hinted at higher taxes on European vehicles as well.
(UN News)* — Climate talks at COP29 in Baku on Wednesday [] turned to the pressing issue of how to manage the demand for minerals essential to producing electric vehicles and solar panels without triggering a “stampede of greed” that exploits local communities and crushes the poor.
After enduring 12 typhoons this year, including two back-to-back storms in less than a month, communities across the Philippines are bracing for more extreme weather.
Typhoons Kristine and Leon caused widespread damage in the Philippines, leaving thousands of families and children without access to safe water and sanitation facilities.
The 11th and 12th tropical cyclones to hit the country this year affected at least 4.2 million individuals – approximately 1.3 million of them children – and displaced over 300,000.
UN calls for urgent action at COP29 climate summit
(UN News)* — Come hell or high water, nations must urgently scale up climate adaptation efforts, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned Thursday [], starting with a commitment to boost adaptation financing at the upcoming COP29 summit.
UNICEF/Vlad Sokhin | A girl from the Iñupiat community stands on an ice floe on a shore of the Arctic Ocean in Barrow, Alaska in the United States. The anomalous melting of the Arctic ice is one of the many effects of global warming that has a serious impact on the life of humans and the wildlife.
Baku, Azerbaijan, 11 November 2024 –The year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record after an extended streak of exceptionally high monthly global mean temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The WMO State of the Climate 2024 Update once again issues a Red Alert at the sheer pace of climate change in a single generation, turbo-charged by ever-increasing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 