The Human Consciousness Now...Our World in the Midst of Becoming...to What? Observe, contemplate Now.
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 14 2025 (IPS) - Farmer and climate activist from Nigeria, Melody Areola, is beating the heat in Belém and voicing farmers’ rights in climate discussions. As the UN Climate Conference, COP30, in Brazil approaches the end of its first week, activists like Melody are making their voices louder.
Ignoring the humidity-fueled heat on Wednesday evening, she chanted slogans and addressed the crowd of activists and participants. “No Farmer, No Food,” she said loudly, with the group echoing her chants.
“Every international agreement should be about and centered around people,” she says.
Indigenous activists want recognition of their land. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Activists voice concerns about the planet at COP30. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Palestinian rights activist says there can be no climate justice without Palestinian liberation. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Protests at the gate inconvenienced delegates. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
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. They are calling out fossil fuel industries and demanding climate justice with human rights, food security based on local knowledge, and support for locally based solutions.
“Just transition relies on real solutions from people on the ground,” said Nona Chai, Program Coordinator at the Just Transition Alliance. “We need to move away from fossil fuels and industrial agriculture.”
After a few years of constrained protests at COPs, Belém is preparing for a large protest on Saturday.
In the Blue Zone’s main hallway, a group of youth activists staged a silent protest on Wednesday. With their mouths taped they carried placards with slogans such as ‘Adaptation Justice Now,’ ‘We Demand Public Grants-Based Adaptation Finance Now,’ and ‘Public Property, No Trespassing.’
Faith-based protest groups demonstrated with long blue cloths as a “River of Hope” to showcase the cry of the earth. “It’s a moral call for action to the leaders here,” said Laura Morales of the Laudato Si’ Movement.
Ana Sanchez, a community organizer, is actively participating in different protests and connecting climate justice to the Palestinian cause.
“There cannot be climate justice without Palestinian liberation,” she said. “Carbon emissions from bombs dropped in Gaza are greater than the annual emissions of 100 countries. We need to connect climate justice with Palestinian liberation.”
Silent protest for adaptation justice. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Security is increasingly tight at COP30 in Brazil. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
In Belém, day by day, protests from Indigenous communities are growing. They are demanding recognition of their land and knowledge as a system of climate adaptation. This morning (Friday, Nov 14), a group of Indigenous people blocked the main entrance for some time while protesting silently.
While their protest was peaceful, a breach of the premises by protestors earlier in the week meant the UNFCCC sent out a message of reassurance.
“Please be aware there is a peaceful demonstration taking place at the front entrance to the Blue Zone. There is no danger.”
And with each new protest, security is more and more visible. With riot gear and shields, they stand guard as many of the more than 56,000 accredited delegates take selfies in front of the venue.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Excerpt:
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.
The fossil fuel industry has polluted our art, and now it’s polluting our information. So, we clearly say: stop the lies. —Brazilian political scientist Rayana Burgos
If I could meet the COP president, I would speak to him about the need to preserve the environment, to truly preserve it, alongside the Indigenous people. I would also speak about the need to put life above profit. —Jeane Carla, activist at COP30
A lot of the time, we talk about acronyms … we’re not talking about us. And ‘us’ is life. ‘Us’ is land. ‘Us’ is knowledge. So start thinking about us, because ‘us’ is our future, our kids’ future. —Allison Kellen, canoe builder and Indigenous activist
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 14 2025 (IPS) - As the world gathers in Brazil for the UN climate talks, the country’s livestock sector – one of the largest in the world – is understandably in the spotlight.
Livestock are a significant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil (and around the world) and have been linked to deforestation, but these animals represent so much more than that to so many, especially in the Global South.
Brazil accounts for approximately 20 per cent of global beef exports. The livestock sector is a major contributor to the country’s economy – responsible for 8.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and roughly nine million jobs.
For 1.3 billion people worldwide, livestock is a lifeline: a protector of livelihoods, guardian of nutrition, cornerstone of tradition, and potential pathway out of poverty. For the majority and especially pastoralists, reducing herd sizes is not an easy, or frankly viable, option.
COP30 is supposed to bring people from vastly different contexts together, to find solutions that work for everyone, as well as funding to enable it to happen. This year’s host offers special lessons for Africa’s livestock sector, as Brazil’s livestock sector was not always so productive and efficient.
Brazilian policies and investments have seen livestock productivity rise 61 per cent in the past two decades, while pasture land use and emissions intensity – that is, the emissions per unit of meat, milk or eggs produced – have gone down.
The key to this success has been avoiding uniform prescriptions and instead adopting regionally adapted and context-specific approaches.
For example, high-yield tropical grasses like Brachiaria have become central to boosting productivity across the country’s Cerrado region, improving cattle health and overall performance, and reducing costs. In southern Brazil, where smaller farms are more common, the integration of crop-livestock systems have increased land efficiency, promoted biodiversity, and diversified farm incomes. Mineral supplements and high-energy feeds have had the biggest impact in the Southeast of Brazil, where there are large feedlots.
Much like Brazil thirty years ago, many of today’s developing countries struggle to produce meat, milk and eggs efficiently. Poor quality feed, animal health, and genetics mean animals take much longer to reach slaughter weight or milk volume. Even if herd sizes are smaller, the emissions per unit of product can be 16 times higher.
The impact is that hunger and poverty are prevalent in these countries and, in some, still rising. Micronutrient deficiency – a result of insufficient animal-source food consumption – is also widespread among children, which has a devastating effect on health and economic development (contributing to annual GDP losses up to 16 per cent).
This is why at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) we are researching science-based interventions that raise productivity and cut emissions intensity. For example, MaziwaPlus is an animal health-oriented project focused on Mastitis, a disease in dairy cows responsible for milk yield losses of up to 25 per cent. With Scotland’s Rural College we are also working on highly digestible forages, which could result in 20 per cent methane emissions reductions. EnviroCow is another productivity-oriented initiative, trying to identify livestock that remain productive despite environmental challenges.
And ILRI’s work does not stop at research. The Institute also connects evidence with policy and practice, as seen in Kenya’s recent submission to the UNFCCC’s Sharm el-Sheikh portal, which cites participatory rangeland management approaches developed by ILRI and partners.
Unlocking these benefits at the global level will require reframing the worldwide sustainability discussion around livestock – seeing it as a solution to be invested in, rather than a problem to be swept under the rug.
For example, climate finance should start rewarding reductions in emissions intensity (not just absolute emissions), so that countries improving productivity and lowering emissions per litre of milk or kilo of meat are supported. Moreover, the world needs to invest far more than the 0.2 per cent of climate finance currently put towards livestock research and innovation (and even less to developing solutions in low- and middle-income countries).
Most importantly, livestock should be embedded in national climate plans. Livestock should be recognised as more than a source of emissions, and as an important solution for climate resilience, food security, and adaptation – especially in developing countries and regions where they are the backbone of rural economies.
But as COP30 concludes, the conversation cannot end there.
This year’s conference must be a moment when the world recognises that livestock, managed well, are an important part of a more pragmatic global strategy which both protects the planet and raises the welfare of its people.
The timing could not be more fitting as next year will begin the UN-declared International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Rangelands cover over half of the Earth’s land surface, store vast amounts of carbon, and support hundreds of millions of pastoralist livestock keepers, yet barely feature in most national climate plans.
If we choose to recognise and act on the potential of rangelands and pastoralists, they can become one of the great success stories of climate and development – driven by science, stewardship, and local knowledge.
Professor Appolinaire Djikeng is the Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
IPS UN Bureau
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov 14 2025 (IPS) - The urgency of linking climate action with social and wider environmental priorities is clear. Climate change, environmental degradation and violent conflict are often deeply connected and even mutually reinforcing. At the same time, climate action can either support or undermine efforts to improve social justice and halt environmental degradation.
These connections are nowhere more visible than in global food systems, where environmental pressures, social inequality and economic shocks converge. And Latin America, where COP30 is taking place, could be central to the solution.
Climate change, violent conflict and economic crises are major drivers of food insecurity, while food production itself contributes to more than one-third of global emissions and accelerates biodiversity loss through land use change.
Despite steady growth in agricultural production over the past two decades, hunger persists: in 2024, around 8 per cent of the world’s population faced hunger, many of them small-scale farmers in crisis-affected regions.
Latin America’s paradox: ecological abundance amid social and environmental fragility
Latin America embodies the contradictions at the core of the global climate and development agenda: vast ecological resources and food production capacity coexist with significant inequality, environmental degradation, and social unrest.
Its ecosystems regulate carbon and water cycles essential to planetary stability and the region is the world’s largest provider of ecosystem services. Latin America also holds the greatest per capita availability of agricultural land and water, making it both the world’s largest net food exporter and a carbon sink.
Yet these assets face mounting pressure from deforestation, land-use change, and extractive industries. The degradation of forests, soils, and watersheds not only accelerates emissions and biodiversity loss but also deepens local grievances over land, livelihoods, and access to resources. This, in turn, heightens the risk of social tension and violence in a region marked by extreme inequality, widespread violence, and the world’s highest number of environmental conflicts.
Unequal land distribution and the expansion of extractive and agricultural frontiers perpetuate a cycle of degradation and displacement. Environmental decline erodes resilience to droughts, floods, and other climate impacts, undermines food security and increases competition over dwindling resources.
Climate change exacerbates these challenges: extreme weather events reduce crop yields and fuel migration, while the destruction of ecosystems diminishes the capacity of nature to buffer against future shocks.
Many of the region’s environmental conflicts stem from disputes over territory, water, and the impacts of large-scale projects that privilege short-term, growth over sustainable livelihoods. Criminal networks and weak governance exacerbate instability through illegal mining, logging, and land grabs, whereas violence against environmental defenders deepens distrust in state institutions.
Agriculture and governance at the crossroads
The agricultural sector lies at the centre of this nexus. It is a cornerstone of Latin America’s economy and a major source of global food supply. Agricultural exports grew 1.7 times between 2010 and 2023, generating a trade surplus of US$161 billion. Production and trade are projected to expand further by 2031.
Yet, if expansion continues to rely in deforestation and exclusion, it risks deepening insecurity, fuelling new conflict and ecological collapse. Without inclusive governance and environmental safeguards, economic growth will remain fragile and unsustainable.
Breaking these cycles requires an integrated approach that links governance, environmental justice, and sustainable land use. Strengthening land governance, protecting environmental defenders and supporting small-scale and Indigenous producers are essential to building resilience.
Secure land rights and respect for collective territories reinforce local autonomy and reduce pressures for extractive expansion. Protecting defenders safeguards those facing repression and violence in resource conflicts, while inclusive, locally rooted development pathways sustain livelihoods and reflect diverse worldviews for many rural populations, to which land is not only a resource but also a cultural identity.
Promising developments
The Escazú agreement provides a framework for embedding these principles in practice. Entering into force in 2021 and ratified so far by 18 Latin American countries, it is the region’s first legally binding treaty on environmental governance. Its three pillars – access to information, public participation, and justice for environmental defenders- make it not only an environmental agreement but also a democratic one.
By strengthening transparency and participation, Escazú promotes accountability and peaceful resource governance, helping to prevent the very conflicts that undermine climate resilience.
However, its transformative potential remains uneven. The majority of the region’s countries have yet to ratify it, whereas implementation in those that have is hampered by limited technical capacity, weak crisis response mechanisms, and, in some cases, a lack of political will. These obstacles, compounded by democratic backsliding in parts of the region and the declining global prioritisation of environmental issues, threatens to blunt its impact.
Yet, fully realising the promise of Escazú could provide the region with a solid foundation for more equitable resilient, and sustainable, food systems built rooted in transparency, inclusion, and accountability.
As COP 30 unfolds, Latin America’s experience offers a critical lesson to the world: climate action cannot succeed without social justice, transparency, and peace. The region’s experience shows that safeguarding ecosystems and empowering those who defend them are inseparable from ensuring food security and global stability.
Building resilient food systems and sustainable economies depends on empowering those who defend the land and ensuring that environmental governance benefits both people and the planet.
Dr Caroline Delgado is Director of the Food, Peace and Security Programme at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
IPS UN Bureau
GEBZE, Türkiye, Nov 14 2025 (IPS) - Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing our world. It has helped a few companies in developed countries set record-breaking profits. Last month, Nvidia, a leading US AI company, hit a market value of USD 5 trillion.
Nvidia, together with the other six technology companies known as the Magnificent Seven, reached a market capitalisation of USD22 trillion. This value easily eclipses the combined GDP of the world’s 44 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States and Landlocked Developing Countries.
These businesses continue to make massive investments in this transformational technology. Not only are investments being made in AI for the future, but benefits are also already being reaped as it accelerates global commerce and rapidly transforms markets.
According to the World Economic Forum, AI is streamlining supply chains, optimising production, and enabling data-driven trade decisions, giving companies a big competitive edge in global markets.
Thus far, the beneficiaries have been those living in the developed world, and a few developing countries with high technological capacities, like India.
By and large, developing countries have lagged far behind this technological revolution. The world’s 44 LDCs and the Small Island Developing States are those that have been almost completely left out.
According to UNCTAD, LDCs risk being excluded from the economic benefits or the AI revolution. Many LDCs and Small Island Developing States struggle with limited access to digital tools, relying on traditional methods for trade documentation, market analysis, and logistics. This is happening as others race ahead.
This widening gap threatens to marginalize these countries in international trade and underscores the urgency of ensuring they can participate fully in the AI-driven global economy.
AI holds transformative potential for developing countries across sectors critical to economic growth and trade. The World Bank has noted that in agriculture, AI-driven tools can improve crop yields, forecast market demand, and enhance supply chain efficiency. It can also strengthen food security and export earnings. In trade and logistics, AI can optimize operations, reduce transaction costs, and help local producers access new markets.
Beyond commercial applications, AI can bolster disaster preparedness, enabling governments and businesses to allocate resources efficiently and minimize losses. The use of AI can be a game changer in responding to massive natural disasters such as the one caused by Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica a few days ago.
Despite these opportunities, the poorest and most vulnerable countries face significant hurdles in accessing and benefiting from AI. The International Telecommunications Union has noted that many countries lack reliable electricity, broadband connectivity, and computing resources, impeding the deployment of AI technologies. This is compounded by human capacity constraints and limited fiscal space to make the requisite investments.
Given this, what is the best way forward for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries? Firstly, policy and governance frameworks for leveraging AI for development transformation are urgently, and we can learn from others.
For example, Rwanda, a leader in the field of using technology to drive transformation has developed a National Artificial Intelligence Policy. Another example is Trinidad and Tobago, which recently established a Ministry of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence.
Secondly, capacity building, especially for policy leaders, is key. This must be augmented by making the requisite investments in universities and centers of excellence. Given the importance of low-cost and high-impact solutions, building partnerships with institutions in the global south is absolutely vital.
Finally, financing remains key. However, given the downward trends in overseas development assistance, accessing finance, especially grant and concessional resources from other sources will be important. Consequently, international financial institutions, especially the regional development banks, have a critical role to play.
Since the countries themselves are shareholders, every effort should be made to establish special purpose windows of grants and concessional financing to help accelerate adoption of relevant, low-cost, relevant and high-impact AI technological solutions.
In an adverse financing environment, achieving the above will be difficult. This is where Tech Diplomacy comes in and must be a central element of a country’s approach to foreign policy. This will be the subject of another piece.
In summary, AI is shaping and changing the world now. For the poorest and most vulnerable countries, all is not lost. With strategic investments, forward-looking and inclusive policies, and international cooperation via Tech Diplomacy, AI can become a powerful tool for their sustainable growth and development.
Deodat Maharaj, a national of Trinidad and Tobago, is presently the Managing Director of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries. He can be contacted at: deodat.maharaj@un.org
IPS UN Bureau
PARWAN, Afghanistan, Nov 13 2025 (IPS) - When Roya, a former police officer under Afghanistan’s Republic government, left the country with her family, she felt a great sense of relief, having escaped from the horrors of Taliban rule. She never imagined that less than three years later she would be forced back into the same conditions, only worse.
She now spends sleepless nights, terrified of being identified as a former police officer, a label that carries dire consequences.
Roya, 52, is a mother of four. During the Republic years, she worked in the women’s search unit of Parwan province, earning enough to support her family.
When the government collapsed and the Taliban returned to power in 2021, she, like hundreds of other women in uniform, became the target of direct and indirect threats. Fear for her life and dignity pushed her onto the path of migration. She fled to Iran, where she and her six-member family spent a few years in relative safety.
“In Iran, I worked in a tomato paste factory”, she recalls. “We had a house, we ate well, and above all I had peace of mind because we lived in relative security”, says Roya.
Street life in Parwan provice, Afghanistan. Credit: Learning Together.
Her daughters also found work. “Zakia, 23, who had completed her first year at Kabul University prior to our departure, found a job in a large home appliances store as a salesclerk and computer operator. Setayesh, who turned 21 this year, threw herself enthusiastically into a job at a beauty salon, specializing in hair braiding. Everyone had something to do and earned an income.”
But that stability did not last. Escalating political tensions between Iran and Israel soon triggered harsh crackdowns on Afghan migrants in Iran.
“At two in the afternoon, Iranian officials entered our home without any warning”, says Roya. “We had no time to gather our belongings, and even much less to recover the lease for the house we were living in, she says.”
She and her daughters were forcibly deported back to Afghanistan while the men were still at work. A week later, one of her sons called from the Islam Qala border, and the family was finally reunited.
Roya now lives in Afghanistan under extremely difficult conditions. She has no job, no support, and carries a constant fear that her past work with the police could put her and her family in danger.
“Every night I go to sleep in fear, worried that my identity might be exposed. I don’t know what will happen if they find out I previously worked in the police service.”
A market scene in Parwan province, where women navigate restricted public spaces under Taliban rule. Credit: Learning Together.
She is one of several hundred women who were forcibly expelled from Iran, back into a country where women who had previously worked in the security forces are treated like criminals and where the memory of their uniform has become a nightmare of imprisonment.
Under Taliban rule, former military and civil service women are forced to hide their identities. Some have even burned their work documents. Others, like Roya, stay inside their homes, avoid social contact, and spend their nights haunted by the fear of being recognized.
“We decided to escape to Iran to rid ourselves of the strict laws of the Taliban. But now we are caught in the same restrictions again, this time, with empty hands and even more exhausted spirits,” Roya says.
Roya and her family now live temporarily in a relative’s home in Parwan province, facing an uncertain future.
The widespread deportation of Afghan migrants from Iran is particularly consequential for women whose situation has progressively worsened under Taliban rule. Job opportunities for them and participation in public life are shrinking by the day.
The Taliban have stripped women of the right to work, education, travel, and even the simple freedom to visit parks. Women who once served their government are now treated as second-class citizens in their own homes.
Roya’s story mirrors the life experience of hundreds of women – the repercussion of a combination of dysfunctional regional politics across the borders and domestic religious extremist government intolerant of women’s rights.
Roya also recounts the story of her neighbor, Mohammad Yousuf, a 34-year-old construction worker, who was violently beaten by Iranian officials. He was thrown into a vehicle without receiving his wages for several months or allowing him to collect his belongings from the small room where he had been living.
Meanwhile, the pace of deportations of Afghan migrants from Iran has accelerated sharply in 2025, according to several domestic and international media outlets, including Iran Time, Afghanistan International, and Iran International, as well as international organizations.
The International Organization for Migration has reported that since early May 2025, a wave of forced mass deportations has taken place, primarily affecting families unlike previous trends, which mostly involved single men.
In the first five months of 2025, more than 457,100 people returned from Iran. Of these, about 72% were deported forcibly, while the rest returned voluntarily.
In one year, over 1.2 million people were deported from the Islam Qala border into Afghanistan.
The deportation campaign’s peak coincided with a rise in Iran-Israel tensions in June this year. More than 500 000 people were deported in just 16 days between June 24 and July 9. In total, by early July 2025, over 1.1 million people had been forcibly returned. Daily deportation rates of up to 30,000 people were reported.
Iran has employed harsh and often violent methods to expel Afghan migrants. These measures include workplace inspections, nighttime arrests, home raids, and the destruction of legal documents, even passports and valid visas. Numerous cases of violence, mistreatment, and deprivation of basic services such as healthcare and food have been reported.
International humanitarian and human rights organizations have described these actions as violations of the principle of non-refoulement and a serious threat to refugees and have called for an immediate halt to forced deportations and respect for legal rights.
Reports from the United Nations and human rights organizations indicate that Afghan returnees especially women, minorities, and those who worked with the previous government face a high risk of arbitrary detention and torture.
Iran has stated that it intends to deport a total of 4 million Afghan migrants, of which around 1.2 million have already been sent back.
Iranian officials have claimed that the deportations will be “dignified and gradual,” but evidence shows that pressure, threats, and arrests without consent have been widespread.
The health, social, and security consequences of these returns have placed a heavy burden on Afghanistan, overwhelming border crossings and reception camps. Many are enduring extreme heat of up to 50°C, without access to water or shelter.
According to a UN report published in July, 1.35 million Afghan refugees have been forced to leave Iran in recent months. Many were arrested and deported, while others returned voluntarily for fear of arbitrary arrest.
Excerpt:
The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 13 2025 (IPS) - Binaifer Nowrojee, a human rights lawyer and the president of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), has lauded the Brazilian government “for significant steps taken to breathe life into the climate commitments.”
A distinguished human rights advocate with over three decades of experience navigating politically sensitive operating environments to drive meaningful change, she particularly noted that events at the Conference of the Parties (COP) run differently and as they should when held in a country with a democracy as compared to those without democratic governance.
Speaking to IPS at COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025, Nowrojee said the venue is “a strong statement in support of the indigenous and Afro-descendant people who continue to struggle to control their environment or live their lives to their full potential. Their inclusion and participation sends the right message.”
OSF, the world’s largest private funder working to promote human rights, equity, and justice, works around the world, addressing various complex and most pressing issues such as the intersection between climate change, justice, equity and human rights while at the same time leveraging emerging and existing opportunities to rebuild economies, revitalise democracies and improve livelihoods.
She spoke extensively of the changing world order, stressing that even in these uncertain times, opportunities abound. While the absence of the US and particularly representatives of the President Donald Trump administration from COP30 is symbolic, Nowrojee says this move presents a real opportunity for the global South to regroup and chart a more inclusive path forward.
So far, she believes “the global South is stepping up, as they are now able to speak more freely and not water down their commitments to reach a compromise climate agreement. There is now a real possibility for countries in the global South to emerge with new ideas.”
Nowrojee said these new ideas include rethinking the intersection between climate change, environmental protection and human rights, because environmental and land defenders are the most targeted globally among all rights defenders. More than 146 land and environmental defenders were killed or disappeared globally in 2024 defending their land, communities, and the environment.
Leadership doesn't have to come from government; it can come from anywhere.
The Latin America region experienced the majority of these attacks, with Colombia being the country with the most killings for the third year in a row. Indigenous people are disproportionately affected, representing nearly a third of lethal attacks despite being only 6 percent of the global population.
Against this backdrop, Nowrojee says the OSF is “very pleased that there is now a treaty called the Escazú Agreement, which commits Latin American governments to protecting human rights defenders, reinforces their commitment to climate, and ensures that information is given to their publics.”
She noted that the Escazú Agreement is a regional treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean that guarantees the right to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters. It is the first and only treaty of its kind, and it also includes special provisions for the protection of environmental human rights defenders and vulnerable groups.
OSF supports the Escazú Agreement by funding initiatives that strengthen its implementation, promote environmental rights, and protect environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean. At COP30, the organization has already announced a major USD 19.5 million commitment to advance environmental justice and support a fair and sustainable economy in Latin America.
Meanwhile, Nowrojee is optimistic that the climate negotiations are moving in the right direction. Stressing that this “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.”
On the current and fragmented world order and increasingly nationalistic governments, she says, “we are living through a moment in the world where the structures and ways of doing things that we have had since the end of the Second World War are beginning to crumble. We’ve taken them as far as they can go.”
But the present is not a moment to fold hands and fret—instead, she sees these changes as providing opportunities to rebuild and “for people with moral imagination to step forward to envision and deliver a new and different world where all human beings can thrive. And so, we are no longer living in a unipolar world where the United States is the preeminent force.”
“We’re not even living in a G7 world. We are now living in a world that is a G20 world, where Africa will now have the highest population as a continent and where young people are coming forward and imagining a new world order that truly embraces principles of human rights and dignity. Notably, even young people who’ve never even lived in a democracy are now calling for it. You see it in Kenya, Senegal, Bangladesh and Nepal.”
While the road to rebuilding can be laden with uncertainties, challenges and pitfalls, Nowrojee is hopeful that the global community is up to the task. She advocates finding inspirational leaders and notes that people in every corner of the world are beginning to rise to the challenge. “We’re seeing young people organizing differently within their movements. This, in my opinion, is a real sign of inspiration.”
“Leadership doesn’t have to come from government; it can come from anywhere. And I also see emerging new arrangements such as the coming together of the BRICS countries, which is a group of major emerging economies with 11 member countries. The fact that it’s South Africa that brings a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and Qatar negotiating and mediating various conflicts means we are now entering a new world. We’re seeing countries doing things that they wouldn’t have done 20 years ago.”
On the place of philanthropy in these uncharted waters, she says “philanthropy is a small part of the globe, and it’s a place and space where new ideas can be catalyzed and risks taken that would otherwise be impossible to take. Philanthropy is really about trying new ideas, new ways of thinking and acting, and maybe even failing, but if these ideas succeed, they then become examples of what could be done.”
On multilateralism or cooperation among many nations, she says the multilateralism structures are not crumbling, “only that, having been built after the Second World War, they are now in some ways frayed at the edges. They’re not performing the same way that they did, but I also see a multipolar world emerging, where different countries are beginning to cooperate and coordinate with each other.”
“I see a lot of imagination in different regions and also across regions. Latin America is taking major steps towards a new world. I see the Vatican with its Jubilee 2025 and attempts to rethink debt forgiveness and the unequal debt burden that countries carry. So, I see signs of change in different places and like-minded people who have the same values coming together to chart a new path towards a new world.”
In this new world, Nowrojee envisions climate justice as “a win-win for communities at the front line who are living in places and efforts to expand their participation in decision-making around how their natural resources are used. Justice also means ensuring that the excluded or those at the edges become part and parcel of the democratic discussions, and ultimately this helps improve livelihoods and people’s well-being across the board.”
“Equally important is that we protect the planet, because if we are going to live on this planet, we are going to need to take significant and sustainable steps to address the damage that we, the human race, have done to this planet.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
Excerpt:
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)
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 13 2025 (IPS) - Least Developed Countries have hailed the debut call for proposals for the Loss and Damage Fund, which was launched on 11 November at the United Nations climate summit known as COP30 in Belem, Brazil.
Climate-hit countries have been invited to prepare their proposals and submit them, with approval expected to be in July next year.
The fund, initially established at COP27 in Dubai and operationalized at COP28 in Dubai, holds approximately USD 397 million in total. In 2024, there were pledges totalling more than USD 700m.
In the last board meeting of the fund, the minutes emphasized the urgency of operationalizing it and underscored the crucial role of the initial USD 250 million allocation in supporting the most climate-vulnerable nations. It also called for global solidarity to sustain and scale the Fund. Eligible countries will be able to receive between USD 5m and USD 20m per project.
Evans Njewa, Least Developed Countries (LCD) Group chair, says parties should start preparing proposals. “This is good news to us as a group of least developed countries,” Njewa, who represents 44 nations spanning Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and the Caribbean with over one billion people, tells IPS. “We have been expecting this to happen.”
But Njewa warned that the fund should be accessible, transparent, useful and grant-based to ensure that countries are not trapped in debt.
“I have talked to the executive director and board members and co-chairs of the fund that there should be no complexities in the process,” he says.
Njewa says the fund is a lifeline for least developed countries, which are highly susceptible to environmental and economic shocks and disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. “Therefore, there must be no talk about risks or rejecting certain projects. Let us manage the crisis that we have: the loss and damage,” he says.
Estimates for economic losses due to climate change in 2025 alone range from USD 128bn to USD 937bn. So, the USD 250m is not enough.
Njewa says the current levels of the resources in the fund have risen to around USD 800m but the package for the readiness is only about USD 250m, falling far short of the needs. “My message to the contributors is we need the scaling up of those resources, USD 800m plus, so that we can reach more countries to address climate action through supporting the impacts associated with loss and damage,” he says.
The Loss and Damage fund is meant for the least developed countries to address both economic issues, such as rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by floods and non-economic losses, like loss of life and cultural heritage.
Dr. Richard Muyungi, chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) and Climate Envoy and Advisor to the President of Tanzania, has also reaffirmed that the USD 250m currently available in the Loss and Damage Fund is not enough. “Therefore, we call on the Fund’s capitalization, and Belém must advance political support for a significant capitalization of the Fund for responding to loss and damage when it initiates its agreed replenishment cycle in 2027,” he says.
The least developed countries are least responsible for this crisis, as they contribute just a fraction to global emissions but are the hardest hit by climate change. They suffer the worst impacts from floods to drought and food insecurity. But they are also poor and unable to respond to climate disasters.
This year’s climate summit, which kicked off on November 10, is happening in Belem, a humid port city on the edge of the Amazon forest. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva dubbed it the “COP of Truth.” The South American country wants this summit to deliver real solutions.
It is also 10 years after the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius.
But the world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement goals, as the current climate action is not enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme Emission Gap report, the Paris Agreement has contributed to the decline of the global warming projections from 4 degrees Celsius at the time of its adoption to just below 3 degrees today.
Njewa says communities in least developed countries are being displaced, crops are failing, and lives are being lost. He says only funding will enable communities on the frontlines to defend themselves against climate impacts. “Our countries did not light this fire – but we are burning in its heat. And the smoke does not stop at our borders,” Njewa says.
He says even with the greatest efforts to mitigate climate change and even with the best defenses against climate impacts, there are limits, and when those limits are breached, loss and damage follow.
“Climate justice demands that those responsible for the crisis act first and fastest and support those already living with its consequences,” he says. “Failing to act on climate change is not just immoral, it is unlawful.”
ActionAid United States of America’s director of policy and campaigns, Brandon Wu, who has been following the fund since its inception, welcomed its operationalization.
“The call for proposals launched today is a key step towards getting money to directly impacted communities,” Wu says. “However, there’s still a long way to go. Only USD 250m is available—a drop in the bucket compared to the trillions needed.”
Wu says it is concerning that there is no mechanism to distribute the funds immediately after a disaster. “For the fund to truly deliver, it must be more responsive to communities and immediate needs, and rich countries must urgently increase their contributions,” he says.
This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Excerpt:
Our countries did not light this fire—but we are burning in its heat. And the smoke does not stop at our borders. —Evans Njewa, Least Developed Countries Group chair, when talking about the importance of the Loss and Damage Fund for LDCs