BELÉM, Brazil, November 20 (IPS) - Just 30 minutes from where the UN climate negotiations are unfolding in the port city of Belém, Afro-descendant communities are engaged in a fierce struggle for the full recognition and legal titling of their ancestral territories—critical as their security and livelihoods are compromised by businesses wanting to set up contaminating landfill sites and drug cartels.

BELÉM, Brazil, November 20 (IPS) - Around the world, the climate crisis is fast becoming the biggest public-health threat of the century. Extreme heat now kills more Europeans than any other natural disaster. Floods in Asia displace millions and contaminate water supplies. Mosquito-borne diseases once confined to the tropics are appearing in southern Europe and the United States.

BELÉM, Brazil, November 20 (IPS) - The language of agricultural sustainability changes like the seasons – from “climate-smart” to “regenerative,” “agroecological,” and “nature-positive.” Each term reflects good intentions, but the growing list risks duplication, confusion and delay.

PRETORIA, South Africa, November 20 (IPS) - The end of South Africa’s G20 presidency does not mean the end of its ability or responsibility to promote the issues it prioritised during 2025. It can still advocate for action on some of these issues through its further participation in the G20 and in other international and regional forums.

Millions in Ukraine have been left without heating, water or basic public services as winter temperatures plunge – and civilian deaths this year have already surpassed the total for 2024, the UN Security Council heard on Thursday.

Between January and September, over 7,400 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) were reported in Haiti – an average of about 27 per day, according to UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.

With the clock ticking on climate negotiations in Belém, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, speaking separately, delivered a united message: the world is watching, and compromise cannot wait.

The Security Council is holding a rare open briefing on Ukraine following days of deadly attacks by Russia on civilian areas and amid a renewed US mission to Kyiv in search of a peace deal. With attacks on energy infrastructure soaring and civilian casualties climbing, Council members have demanded answers and action. Can the Council increase pressure on veto-wielding Moscow, secure better protection and aid for civilians, and push toward an elusive ceasefire? Follow live below, find full UN meetings coverage here; UN News app users can click here.

As climate talks in Belém enter their final stretch, negotiators are working on three fronts: technical details, ministerial consultations, and Presidency-led discussions. Behind the jargon and complex frameworks lie fundamental choices for more than 190 countries – choices that could shape how the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, is turned into real-world action.

More than 19 per cent of children worldwide live in extreme poverty, surviving on under $3 a day, according to a new UNICEF report.