News headlines in March 2025

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa, Mar 21 (IPS) - World Water Day calls us all to promote the essential element of life:?water. But we must also look this year at the rapidly?vanishing sources of freshwater that we depend on, especially glaciers. Although glaciers may be remote for many of us, they are?an essential component of the water cycle, nourishing rivers and lakes that are important for millions of people around the world. As precious resources with sources under threat, glaciers in the Southern African Development Community?(SADC) region are an area of focus.

NEW DELHI, Mar 21 (IPS) - While a local community prides itself on caring for a sensitive biodiverse region, and despite centuries-long stewardship of the Kaziranga, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the authorities rebuff—sometimes aggressively—their attempts to remain involved.

OVALLE, Chile, Mar 21 (IPS) - Chile's goat tradition began in 1544. Now, despite a prolonged drought, the women herders are adapting it to climate change and producing award-winning cheese.Women goat herders in the municipality of Ovalle, in northern Chile, are confronting climate change by defending their heritage through improvements in the quality and variety of their products, which has led some to win international awards for their cheeses.

BRIGHTON, UK, Mar 21 (IPS) - The principle of leaving no one behind is central to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The progress toward achieving SDG 6, which aims to ensure universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene by 2030 is increasingly under threat with recent development funding cuts posing a significant barrier.

Classes cut short by air raid sirens have become a routine part of school life for many Ukrainian youngsters in the three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, a new UN report published on Friday details.

Israel’s renewed bombing campaign and intensifying ground operation in Gaza are reversing gains achieved during the brief ceasefire, UN humanitarians inside the devastated enclave said on Friday.

Melting glaciers, climate crises and access to clean water are some of the messages emerging ahead of World Water Day and the first ever World Day for Glaciers. Join us for live coverage of events at UN Headquarters in New York, Paris and around the world on the 2025 theme of preserving glaciers. UN News app users can follow here.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay / LONDON, Mar 20 (IPS) - In a world of overlapping crises, from brutal conflicts and democratic regression to climate breakdown and astronomic levels of economic inequality, one vital force stands as a shield and solution: civil society. This is the sobering but ultimately hopeful message of CIVICUS’s 14th annual State of Civil Society Report, which provides a wide-ranging civil society perspective on the state of the world as it stands in early 2025.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 (IPS) - On March 18, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched an attack on the Gaza Strip, effectively terminating the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement. This comes after a pause in ceasefire operations when Israel continued its blockade on humanitarian aid in the enclave and demanded the release of additional hostages.

SAN FRANCISCO, USA, Mar 20 (IPS) - Israel’s renewed assault on Gaza comes several months after both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued reports concluding without equivocation that Israel was engaged in genocide. But very few members of Congress dare to acknowledge that reality, while their silence and denials scream out complicity.