Bulawayo, Nov 07 (IPS) - Africa is counting on COP27 to deliver it from climate change. But will it?

ROME, Nov 07 (IPS) - Arms are raised, stretched out towards the sky, holding white cards with the word "peace" written in different languages. A girl, a refugee from Syria, reads the Rome’s "Appeal for peace": "With firm conviction, we say: no more war! Let's stop all conflicts […] Let dialogue be resumed to nullify the threat of nuclear weapons.” Pope Francis singed it in front of the people gathered at the Colosseum, holding the word “peace” in their hands, as representatives of the world’s religions did as well. Shortly before, members of those different religions gathered for prayer to invoke peace in their different traditions—a prayer that is “a cry” inside the ancient amphitheater.

VIENNA, Nov 07 (IPS) - Ahead of this year’s COP27 in Egypt, industry and government representatives from 15 developing countries across Asia, Latin America and Africa met in a series of consultations about the challenges and opportunities they face in decarbonizing some of their most energy intensive industries like steel, cement and concrete.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 07 (IPS) - The 27th Conference Of Parties (COP27) on Climate Change comes at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges due to the magnitude and the interconnected nature of our multiple structural crises. The world's average temperature is now at 1.1℃.

The lives of thousands of children in overcrowded, unsanitary camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are seriously at risk, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Monday.

Greater global solidarity is needed to address the rapidly unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Horn of Africa, where millions are going hungry due to two years of unprecedented drought, UN agencies and partners said in a statement on Monday. 

With climate-related disasters displacing more people than conflict, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday unveiled the details of his plan to ensure everyone on the planet is protected by early warning systems within the next five years. 

Although the global cost-of-living crisis will be an obstacle to eradicating poverty by 2030, countries can still make significant progress towards this Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), UN-appointed human rights expert Olivier de Schutter has said. 

The top UN disarmament official told the Security Council on Monday that “gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies” identified in Syria’s declaration over its use of chemical weapons, in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). “cannot be considered accurate and complete”.  

Global action to fight illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing has intensified, the Food and Agriculture Organization said on Monday, noting that 100 States have now signed on to an international agreement battling the scourge.