News stories by Cecilia Russell

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan, June 5 (IPS) - “While pressures on public budgets are growing and geopolitical tensions rising, it can be tempting to see environmental finance as optional. It is not,” GEF Interim CEO and Chair Claude Gascon told the closing plenary of the Eighth GEF Assembly in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, today.

UNITED NATIONS & JOHANNESBURG, January 5 (IPS) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern about the immediate future of Venezuela.

BELÉM, Brazil, December 17 (IPS) - On the Pacific Islands, where the ocean horizon is both a lifeline and a warning, communities have long interpreted environmental change through traditional knowledge, lived experiences, stories, and practice. Their observations echo those across the Pacific region, where traditional knowledge remains central to understanding shifting environments and responsible stewardship.

BELÉM, Brazil, December 12 (IPS) - By any comparison, the statistics for Sindh People’s Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) are phenomenal.

BELÉM, Brazil & JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, November 6 (IPS) - Political courage is the biggest obstacle to limiting the rise in global average temperature to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. 

Closing the chapter on child marriages is still a distant ambition in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, and despite great strides at developing and passing legislation to eradicate it, existing and emerging drivers are still at play, making youngsters vulnerable to the practice.

NAIROBI & JOHANNESBURG, October 29 (IPS) - Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica yesterday—the strongest hurricane to impact the island on record since 1851—with expectations of tens of thousands of people being displaced and devastating damage to infrastructure. The tropical storm, slightly downgraded but nevertheless devastating, made landfall in Cuba today as UNEP’s newly released Adaptation Gap Report 2025: Running on Empty shows that the finance needed for developing countries to adapt to the climate crisis is falling far behind their needs.

TOKYO & JOHANNESBURG, October 13 (IPS) - Vulnerable children are being targeted online faster than parliamentarians and law enforcers can act, a conference convened by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) heard. Yet, with international cooperation and sharing of ideas, lawmakers believe the scourge of online abuse can be addressed.

YOKOHAMA CITY, Japan & JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, August 25 (IPS) - As funding for sexual and reproductive health rights was on a “cliff edge,” parliamentarians now needed to play a “visionary” leadership role because “financing strong, resilient health systems for all their people rests with governments,” said Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

THE HAGUE & JOHANNESBURG, July 23 (IPS) - The case was “unlike any that have previously come before the court,” President of the International Court of Justice Judge Yuji Iwasawa said while reading the court’s unanimous advisory opinion outlining the legal obligations of United Nations member states with regard to climate change.