Renewed efforts to protect the world’s most exotic and endangered animals and plants from illegal traders, overexploitation and extinction are set to begin at UN-partnered biodiversity talks in Uzbekistan at the end of the month.

At least 600,000 litres of desperately needed diesel fuel has managed to enter the Gaza Strip in less than a week, UN aid coordinators OCHA said in an update.

Civilian casualties in Ukraine were 27 per cent higher from January to October 2025, compared to the same period last year, according to the latest UN human rights report on the situation in the eastern European country.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) warn of a major hunger emergency, with acute food insecurity set to worsen in 16 countries and territories between now and May 2026, putting millions of lives at risk.

Forty-two people are missing and presumed dead following a shipwreck off Libya – the latest fatal crossing in the Central Mediterranean, where more than 1,000 lives have been lost this year.

For more than 40 years Ivanil lived in a house raised on stilts just 20 metres from the water’s edge, in the same community where she was born, on Marajó Island where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean in northern Brazil.

BELÉM, Brazil, November 11 (IPS) - “Devastating climate damages are happening already, from Hurricane Melissa hitting the Caribbean, Super Typhoons smashing Vietnam and the Philippines to a tornado ripping through Southern Brazil,” said Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, on the eve of COP30 in the Amazonian City of Belém. “This is why COP must achieve three things: It must send a clear signal: nations are fully on board for climate cooperation—that means agreeing to strong outcomes on all the key issues.”

OSLO, Norway, November 11 (IPS) - When world leaders now gather in Belém, Brazil for the UN climate conference, expectations will be modest. Few believe the meeting will produce any breakthroughs. The United States is retreating from climate engagement. Europe is distracted. The UN is struggling to keep relevant in the 21st century.

BELÉM, Brazil, November 11 (IPS) - Indigenous leaders from across the Amazon region are calling on climate negotiators to base climate initiatives on the recognition of the land rights of affected Indigenous communities. From the COP30 venue in Belém, these leaders are demanding full participation in the design and implementation of proposed projects.

KARACHI, Pakistan, November 11 (IPS) - When 23 children died in India’s Madhya Pradesh after consuming contaminated cough syrup in early September, the news barely registered across the border. In Pakistan—where self-medication is rampant and syrup bottles are household staples—the tragedy strikes dangerously close to home.