News stories by Joyce Chimbi, page 3

NAIROBI, September 25 (IPS) - The 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report shows a modest global decline in hunger since 2022, with 673 million people facing hunger in 2024, indicating a decrease of 22 million compared to 2022. While progress is seen in Asia and South America, hunger is rising in Africa and Western Asia.

NAIROBI, August 13 (IPS) - Current rates of land degradation pose a major environmental and socioeconomic threat, driving climate change, biodiversity loss, and social crises. Food production to feed more than 8 billion people is the dominant land use on Earth. Yet, this industrial-scale enterprise comes with a heavy environmental toll.

AWAZA, Turkmenistan, August 8 (IPS) - As the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3) concludes today (Friday, August 8) in Awaza, Turkmenistan, with the adoption of the Awaza Political Declaration and the formal endorsement of the Awaza Programme of Action (2024–2034), there is optimism that LLDCs are finally at the dawn of a new era.

AWAZA, Turkmenistan, August 7 (IPS) - “Progress towards gender equality and equity remains uneven and far too slow. One in four women in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) live in extreme poverty, and this is nearly 75 million women,” said Rabab Fatima, Secretary-General of the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries or LLDC3 ongoing in Awaza, Turkmenistan.

AWAZA, Turkmenistan, August 6 (IPS) - Agriculture is a critical sector in landlocked developing countries, as more than half (55 percent) of the population is employed in the agriculture sector – significantly higher than the global average of 25 per cent. As such, the deterioration of food security in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) is an unfolding catastrophe.

AWAZA, Turkmenistan, August 5 (IPS) - Heads of State, ministers, investors and grassroots leaders are gathered in Awaza on Turkmenistan’s Caspian coast for a once-in-a-decade UN conference aimed at rewiring the global system in support of 32 landlocked developing countries whose economies are often ‘locked out’ of opportunity due to their lack of access to the sea.

NAIROBI, August 1 (IPS) - Landlocked developing countries face a unique set of challenges. Without coastal ports, they rely on transit nations, causing higher trade costs and delays.

NAIROBI, Jun 24 (IPS) - Finland now ranks first in global sustainable development goals progress. Barbados is ahead globally in its commitment to UN multilateralism or cooperation among multiple nations.

BUSAN, Korea, Apr 30 (IPS) - Indigenous people play a vital role in ocean protection due to their deep-rooted connection to the marine environment and their traditional knowledge of sustainable resource management. They often possess centuries-old practices and stewardship ethics that prioritize ecological balance and community well-being.

BUSAN, Korea, Apr 30 (IPS) - Participants from over 100 countries will leave the 10th Our Oceans Conference in Busan, the Republic of Korea, with stark reminders that with sea levels rising dangerously, coastal regions and low-lying areas globally, particularly densely populated areas, are threatened.