BAKU, Nov 20 (IPS) - Education is under threat as multiple crises push children out of school and into harms way. COP29 Baku could break historical barriers that hold back education from playing a unique, critical role to accelerate the ambition of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, protecting people and planet from life-threatening risks of climate change.

MONTREAL, Canada, Nov 19 (IPS) - Negar Mohtashami Khojasteh is with the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.In Indonesia's humid heat, I watched as dozens of men on motorcycles lingered outside the garment factory gates, their children hanging off their shoulders, as they waited for their partners to finish their shift. These men – many without jobs of their own – came to pick up the women who provide for their families.

BAKU, Nov 19 (IPS) - Romina Khurshid Alam, the Coordinator to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Climate Change, praised the resilience of the people of her country in the face of climate disasters and has put her faith into diplomacy to achieve climate justice.

BAKU, Nov 19 (IPS) - Delegates representing Indigenous people's rights have taken issue with the ongoing COP29 negotiations, calling for Parties to include text and language that promote Indigenous rights to be explicitly referenced in the consensus and outcome documents.

BAKU, Nov 19 2024 (IPS) - As global leaders gather at COP29 to address the urgent challenges posed by climate change, Saad Abdulla Al-Hitmi, Director of the Climate Change Department at the Government of Qatar, highlighted the nation’s ambitious goals in an interview with IPS, stressing its commitment to balancing environmental stewardship with economic growth.

VICTORIA, Seychelles, Nov 19 (IPS) - Alongside climate finance, COP29 currently being held in Baku, Azerbaijan, was expected to serve as an important platform for nations to demonstrate their intention to submit stronger national climate commitments, strengthen adaptation efforts, and show tangible progress and action on previous pledges.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov 19 (IPS) - Western financial policies have been squeezing economies worldwide. After being urged to borrow commercial finance heavily, developing countries now struggle with contractionary Western monetary policies.

BAKU, Nov 19 (IPS) - Mercury pollution from burning coal is contaminating our oceans and seafood, threatening global health.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 19 (IPS) - Over the past week, the deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti and extended efforts by the Haitian National Police has led to local gangs ramping up their offensives in order to hold onto their territories. Humanitarian organizations fear that displacement will skyrocket without more efficient security controls and relief responses.

BAKU, Nov 19 (IPS) - In the face of a growing climate crisis, the connection between housing and environmental sustainability is becoming increasingly urgent.