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COP29 talks in Baku on Wednesday turned to small island nations facing an existential threat from our warming planet, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres insisted that they “deserve support to deal with a crisis [that they] have done next to nothing to create”. 

Reports of ongoing bombardments, likely starvation and despair continue to emerge from Gaza where many basic daily staples now “barely exist”, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Tuesday for countries to step up contributions to a financial mechanism to assist developing countries affected by climate change. 

Dead bodies are lying in the streets of besieged northern Gaza while hospitals run out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.

Three UN agencies appealed on Tuesday for lifesaving support in Nigeria, where record inflation, climate shocks and ongoing conflicts are projected to push the number of food insecure people to 33 million in 2025. 

After enduring 12 typhoons this year, including two back-to-back storms in less than a month, communities across the Philippines are bracing for more extreme weather. 

With Ukraine approaching 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion, civilians are facing mounting challenges as intense attacks continue and winter tightens its grip, according to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).  

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday that leaders gathered in Baku for the COP29 Climate Action Summit must take immediate steps to cut emissions, safeguard people from climate chaos, and “tear down the walls to climate finance” in response to the “masterclass in climate destruction” that the world has witnessed in 2024.

Amid intensifying military operations in Lebanon and deadly attacks on civilians, medical personnel and infrastructure, UN humanitarians warned on Monday that food insecurity in the war-wracked country is set to worsen.

A convoy of trucks from the World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday crossed into war-torn Sudan from Chad through the crucial Adre crossing, headed for Zamzam IDP Camp in North Darfur where famine conditions have already been confirmed. 

Following another year of record-high global heat and extreme weather events, UN climate chief Simon Stiell told negotiators at COP29 in Baku that setting an ambitious new climate finance target is crucial for the well-being of all nations, including the wealthiest and most powerful.

The twelfth edition of the World Urban Forum wrapped up on Friday with the adoption of the Cairo Call to Action, after intense discussions focused on the global housing crisis and financing urbanization, all under the theme “It All Starts at Home.”

The crisis in Haiti continues to deteriorate as violence escalates across the country. According to the UN human rights office on Friday, between January and September of this year nearly 4,900 people have been killed.

There is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip, food security experts said on Friday. 

Record-breaking floods in Spain, violent storms in Florida and wildfires in South America – these are just a few examples of the extreme weather events accelerating and intensifying across the world. With the cost of inaction clearer than ever, financing for clean alternatives to the fossil fuels which are driving climate change will be top of the agenda at this year’s UN climate conference, COP29.

Most of the hidden costs of agrifood systems worldwide stem from health impacts linked to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a new report published on Friday. 

Amid a deepening humanitarian crisis in Ukraine caused by the ongoing Russian invasion, the head of the UN atomic energy agency (IAEA) said that safety at the country’s largest nuclear power plant “remains a deep source of concern”.

Come hell or high water, nations must urgently scale up climate adaptation efforts, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned Thursday, starting with a commitment to boost adaptation financing at the upcoming COP29 summit.

Up to two million people in Myanmar’s Rakhine state face the dire prospect of famine, amid a broader economic collapse and worsening humanitarian crisis triggered by the military’s 2021 overthrow of the democratically elected government.

Delegates discussed a complicated urban development issue at the World Urban Forum on Tuesday: What is needed to safeguard residents and guarantee they have access to housing and basic services when war breaks out in a city crowded with people and critical infrastructure?

The world is experiencing unprecedented warming with 2024 poised to become the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous record in 2023, according to new data released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ahead of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

One of the main messages conveyed by women leaders, activists, young people and others gathered for a discussion on Wednesday in Cairo at the World Urban Forum was that: “a city safe for women is a city safe for all.”

As well as bringing emergency aid to those living in Occupied Palestinian Territory, UNRWA, the agency for Palestine refugees, also provides a range of crucial services. In Gaza, the year-long war has severely threatened the delivery of these crucial services.

Amid new Israeli airstrikes reported in Gaza and Lebanon on Wednesday morning, UN humanitarians delivered vital trauma treatment supplies to Lebanon’s sole specialist burns hospital, where the caseload has spiked because of the massive escalation in violence.

More than two billion people currently living in cities could be exposed to an additional temperature increase of at least 0.5 degrees Celsius by 2040, a new UN report published on Tuesday finds.  

Young people gathered in Cairo for the World Urban Forum led calls on Tuesday for action to ease the housing crisis impacting billions globally, and to boost local action – especially youth-led urban development movements – to secure resilient and environmentally just cities.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory appealed on Tuesday for an end to the war and suffering in Gaza during his first visit to the area since Israel launched its latest military operation in the north a month ago. 

As the world marked World Tsunami Awareness Day on Wednesday, UN Secretary General António Guterres emphasised the critical importance of early warning systems, particularly as recent disasters like the devasting floods in Spain demonstrate the increasing impact of extreme weather.

War in Sudan has devastated towns and cities across the country and pushed the healthcare system to collapse, just as cases of cholera and dengue fever are surging and hunger levels remain “above the famine threshold”, humanitarians have warned.

Aid entering Gaza reached a new low in October, the head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA said on Monday, highlighting the continued need for its lifesaving work even as Israel moves to end its activities.