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	Humanitarian agencies are witnessing alarming human suffering due to a proliferation of conflicts by WVI, ICRC, NRC, WFP, UNICEF, agencies   Dec. 2025   Humanitarian agencies are witnessing alarming human suffering due to a proliferation of conflicts   This statement is delivered on behalf of 108 Non Governmenmt Organisations, including humanitarian organisations with operations in countries covered by the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO):   We are witnessing unspeakable human suffering due to the proliferation of conflicts lacking political solutions and the normalization of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations. Indiscriminate attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers, the bombing of schools and hospitals, and the use of starvation and sexual violence as methods of warfare are devastating communities worldwide.   Climate shocks, economic fragility, and protracted conflict are exacerbating humanitarian needs, leading to unprecedented levels of displacement and an escalating global hunger crisis.   Boundary-setting and narrower definitions of people in need are resulting in a highly prioritized 2026 GHO. With limited complementarity with development and other actors, it is unclear who will target those left behind. Despite exceptional prioritization efforts, humanitarian funding lags behind and Overseas Development Assistance cuts impact both humanitarian action and development gains.   We must turn the tide together in 2026. We urge donors to fully fund the 2026 GHO and to provide quality funding as early as possible in the year to enable flexible, timely, and principled humanitarian action.   The catastrophic effects of IHL violations – including on children, women, and people living with disabilities – urgently require donors’ re-commitment to the traditionally underfunded sectors of gender and Gender Based Violence, education and child protection in emergencies, and the stepping up of funding for hunger and forced displacement.   We call for a substantial increase in the volume and quality of funding to local and national actors, including Women’s organizations, whose essential leadership in humanitarian response must be recognized. This should be rooted in accountability to - and meaningful participation of affected people.   All stakeholders must redouble efforts to prevent and resolve conflict, and we urge humanitarian, development, peace and climate actors to work together to make nexus programming a reality and foster resilience. This requires increased Overseas Development Asistance (ODA) directed to fragile settings.   Nothing will reduce humanitarian needs unless civilians are protected. The 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions is also a year of unconscionable IHL violations. We urge parties to conflicts to abide by their obligations, and we call on governments to leverage their influence and ensure that the consistent application of IHL is a top priority.   http://www.wvi.org/newsroom/emergencies/nogs-call-action-and-funding-global-humanitarian-overview http://reliefweb.int/report/world/year-no-other-ngo-statement-launch-new-un-2026-appeal http://www.icrc.org/en/article/humanitarian-outlook-2026 http://www.icrc.org/en/publication/icrc-humanitarian-outlook-2026-world-succumbing-war http://www.msf.org/attacks-medical-care-armed-conflict-reach-record-levels http://globalprotectioncluster.org/index.php/publications/2393/communication-materials/advocacy-note/high-level-humanitarian-donors-briefing   http://www.nrc.no/news/2025/december/2026-millions-in-need-will-not-get-aid-unless-global-solidarity-revived http://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports-briefs/a-generational-collapse-tracking-the-toll-of-trumps-humanitarian-aid-cuts/ http://www.refugeesinternational.org/events-and-testimony/aid-cuts-one-year-on-local-solutions-to-indefensible-harm/ http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2025/12/11/abrupt-transitions-global-humanitarian-overview-pushes-dangerous-trend http://www.rescue.org/press-release/irc-emergency-watchlist-2026-new-world-disorder-driving-unprecedented-humanitarian http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/publications/global-hunger-hotspots-report-2026/   Oct. 2025   One in three organizations have suspended or shut down programmes on ending violence against women due to funding cuts. (UN Women, agencies)   More than a third of organizations surveyed, 34 per cent, have suspended or shut down programmes to end violence against women and girls and more than 40 per cent have scaled back or closed life-saving services such as shelters, legal aid, psychosocial and healthcare support due to immediate funding gaps. 78 per cent reported reduced access to essential services for survivors, while 59 per cent perceived an increase in impunity and normalization of violence. Almost one in four said they had to suspend or completely halt interventions designed to prevent violence before it occurs.   “Women’s rights organizations are the backbone of progress on violence against women, yet they are being pushed to the brink. We cannot allow funding cuts to erase decades of hard-won gains. We call on governments and donors to ringfence, expand, and make funding more flexible. Without sustained investment, violence against women and girls will only rise”, said Kalliopi Mingeirou, Chief of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls section, UN Women.   Violence against women and girls remains one of the most widespread human rights violations worldwide. An estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have experienced physical or sexual violence, most often at the hands of an intimate partner.   Earlier this year, UN Women warned that most women-led organizations in crisis settings were facing severe funding cuts, with nearly half at risk of closure—a warning now echoed in the findings of At Risk and Underfunded.   The report’s findings also highlight that only five per cent of organizations anticipate being able to sustain operations for two years or longer. 85 per cent predict severe backsliding in laws and protections for women and girls, and 57 per cent report serious concerns about rising risks for women human rights defenders.   Funding shortfalls are happening alongside a growing backlash against women’s rights in one in four countries. As organizations lose funding, many are forced to focus only on basic services instead of long-term advocacy that drives real change.   At Risk and Underfunded comes as the world marks 30 years since the Beijing declaration and platform for action, a progressive roadmap agreed by Governments to achieve gender equality and women’s rights, that had ending violence against women at its heart.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2025/10/one-in-three-organizations-have-suspended-or-shut-down-programmes-on-ending-violence-against-women-due-to-funding-cuts   Oct. 2025   In advance of the October 2025 UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), this open letter was sent to UN Member States on behalf of 661 civil society signatories from 106 countries working on issues related to gender equality and women’s rights, peace and security, human rights, humanitarian assistance, and protection of civilians. The letter calls on the Security Council and Member States to take decisive action to defend the fundamental tenets of the WPS agenda.   http://www.globalr2p.org/publications/2025-open-letter-to-the-un-in-advance-of-the-annual-open-debate-on-wps/ http://www.prio.org/research/topics/gender   Oct. 2025   The United Nations General Assembly will convene the 80th session of its First Committee on Disarmament and International Security from October 8 to November 7, 2025. Country Delegations need to urgently take up the task of disarmament and demilitarization.   Joint Civil Society Statement on Humanitarian Disarmament, delivered by Bonnie Docherty, Senior Arms Advisor Human Rights Watch:   I am pleased to deliver this joint statement on behalf of nearly 100 civil society campaigns and organizations.   Humanitarian disarmament has made a critical difference over the past three decades in saving countless lives around the world and in setting norms that endure over time.   The people centered approach aims to prevent and remediate arms-inflicted human suffering and environmental harm, and it has shown its ability to weather geopolitical tempests.   Since last year’s First Committee meeting, humanitarian disarmament has faced attacks on multiple fronts that have challenged the progress it has made. The use of antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions as well as threats of the use of nuclear weapons highlight the ongoing dangers posed by internationally banned weapons.   Some states have decided to withdraw from the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions, further endangering civilians due to the prospect of additional new use. The failure of states to comply with the Arms Trade Treaty and implement the commitments of the Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas has meant civilians have not been protected in current armed conflicts.   Progress on a treaty on autonomous weapons systems is not keeping pace with technological developments.   Nevertheless, while not a panacea, humanitarian disarmament has helped reduce the human cost of weapons for decades and will continue to do so.   It has made a concrete difference in the protection of civilians by stigmatizing and decreasing use of certain weapons, reducing stockpiles, and advancing clearance and victim assistance measures.   In the process, it has overcome hurdles, such as the post-9/11 world, changing governments, economic turmoil, and the evolving nature of war.   The central principles of humanitarian disarmament can both sustain this movement and ensure that it responds to today’s global challenges, including the growing disregard for the rule of law and financial shortfalls for the humanitarian sector. Those principles include:   A humanitarian focus: The goal of protecting civilians is a purpose that can transcend political and national differences.   A cooperative approach: States should meaningfully involve and work in partnership with each other, civil society, international organizations, and survivors in decision-making processes to benefit from their expertise and preserve the humanitarian focus.   A commitment to international law: International law, including humanitarian disarmament, creates obligations for states parties and standards that influence states and other actors outside of a treaty. States should not only create new law, but also implement, defend, and strengthen the law that already exists.   Ability to adapt: Humanitarian disarmament is adaptable, as shown by its move from conventional weapons to weapons of mass destruction and its application to new topics, such as the environment and armed conflict, the destruction of cultural heritage during conflict, and torture-free trade.   To maximize the influence of humanitarian disarmament and help it address current challenges, we urge states to:   Ensure that the core characteristics of humanitarianism, cooperation, rule of law, and adaptability guide all efforts addressing disarmament issues; Highlight the humanitarian concerns raised by problematic weapons in the course of discussions at First Committee.   Call, depending on the specific issue, for upholding the existing norms, improving implementation, and creating new or stronger law; and join and fully implement and comply with humanitarian disarmament instruments.   States should act now to push back against the threats to international law and help humanitarian disarmament achieve its full potential. Doing so is in the interest of us all.   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/joint-civil-society-statement-humanitarian-disarmament-17-oct-2025 http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/17/joint-civil-society-statement-on-humanitarian-disarmament http://disarmament.unoda.org/en http://humanitariandisarmament.org/2025/10/03/civil-society-demands-action-at-the-ungas-disarmament-committee/ Visit the related web page
	We are putting the stability of the entire life support system on Earth at risk by Johan Rockstrom Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)   Scientists announce that 7 of 9 key 'planetary boundaries' have been crossed. (AFP)   A team of global scientists issued a new report this week, highlighting that seven out of nine of key "planetary boundaries" have been crossed.   Humans are gambling with the very stability of Earth’s life support systems, scientists warned, cautioning that ocean acidity is yet another key planetary threshold to be breached.   The team of global scientists assessed that seven of nine so-called “planetary boundaries” – processes that regulate Earth’s stability, resilience and ability to sustain life – had now been crossed.   Climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, freshwater depletion, overuse of agricultural fertilisers, and the release of artificial chemicals and plastics into the environment were all already exceeded.   In their new report, the scientists said all seven were “showing trends of increasing pressure – suggesting further deterioration and destabilisation of planetary health in the near future".   Destructive and polluting activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, are driving these further into risky territory and increasingly interacting with each other.   “We are putting the stability of the entire life support system on Earth at risk,” said Johan Rockstrom, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), at a press conference to launch the research.   “We are moving even further away from the safe operating space, risking destabilising our Earth and with an increasing risk growing year by year,” said Levke Caesar, co-lead of Planetary Boundaries Science at PIK.   Many of the causes of deterioration are interlinked, showing both the wide-ranging impact of human activities but also avenues for action.   The use of fossil fuels is a key example, driving climate change as well as fuelling plastic pollution and the rise in ocean acidification. The world’s seas are estimated to have absorbed roughly 30 percent of the excess carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from the burning of oil, gas and coal.   This alters the pH of the ocean, affecting the ability of organisms such as corals, shellfish and some forms of plankton to form shells and skeletons. Scientists said there was already evidence of shell damage, particularly for marine animals in polar and coastal regions.   “What we see in the data is no longer abstract. It is showing up in the world around us right now,” said Caesar.   One positive in this year’s dire report is that aerosol emissions have fallen, despite the continued scourge of severe particulate pollution in some regions. The final boundary – ozone depletion – remains within safe bounds, which scientists said demonstrates the success of global co-operation to restrict ozone-depleting pollutants.   Scientists have quantified safe boundaries for these interlocking facets of the Earth system, which feed off and amplify each other. For climate change, for example, the threshold is linked to the concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere.   This hovered close to 280 parts per million (ppm) for at least 10,000 years prior to the Industrial Revolution, and researchers suggest the boundary is 350 ppm. Concentrations in 2025 are 423 ppm.   The assessment of the world’s biodiversity and ecosystems is even more perilous. “Nature’s safety net is unravelling: extinctions and loss of natural productivity are far above safe levels, and there is no sign of improvement,” the report states.   24 Sep. 2025   Johan Rockstrom, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) address to heads of state at the United Nations General Assembly:   "It’s now 10 years since the world in Paris entered a legally-binding agreement to avoid dangerous climate change. Since then, science has become overwhelmingly clear: allowing long-term global warming to exceed 1.5°C constitutes danger.   And yet, greenhouse gas emissions continue rising and in 2024 annual global temperature change was pushed beyond 1.5°C for the first time on our watch. This is a deep concern. An even deeper concern is that warming appears to be accelerating, outpacing emissions.   The long-term average warming is now between 1.3 and 1.4°C. We are on a path to breach the 1.5°C multi-decadal boundary within the next 5-10 years. Here, we must admit failure.   Failure to protect peoples and nations from unmanageable impacts of human-induced climate change.   But we don’t have to keep failing. Returning to below 1.5°C by the end of the century must remain the obligation for all international efforts to limit dangerous climate change.   Extreme heat, fires, droughts, water scarcity, flooding and soil degradation, reinforced by us, are already impacting the lives of billions of people around the world. Beyond 1.5°C, these dangers will become increasingly unmanageable. Every tenth of a degree of avoided warming saves lives and livelihoods – this is not the time for resignation.   Beyond 1.5°C there is also a real risk of crossing tipping points. The most recent science concludes we are therefore dangerously close to triggering fundamental and irreversible changes.   If we make the right choices going forward, there are still ‘overshoot’ pathways that could bring temperatures back below 1.5°C by the end of this century. Such a narrow escape remains possible, but it will be extremely challenging. It requires deep and rapid reduction of all greenhouse gases, involving the near complete transition – starting now – away from fossil fuels.   We also know that cutting emissions won’t be enough. We need to massively scale up carbon dioxide removal (through natural processes). For each 0.1°C of planetary cooling, 200 billion tons need to be removed from the atmosphere.   But even if this succeeds, we fail, unless we safeguard the world’s most powerful carbon sink and cooling system - a healthy planet.   If we don’t return to the "safe operating space” of the nine Planetary Boundaries that regulate Earth’s stability, (including biodiversity, pollutants, land, nutrients and the ocean) a safe climate will be out of reach – irrespective of our mitigation efforts.   Don’t be fooled: we are currently following a path that will take us to 3°C in just 75 years.   An existential threat we have not experienced in the last 3 million years, and there is no guarantee that efforts to cool our planet will succeed.   My message today: science is clear – we have a planetary crisis on our watch. And we do have scalable solutions for phasing out fossil fuels, efficient resource use and transformation to healthy and sustainable food. Pathways that make us all winners. The window to a manageable climate future is still open, but only just. Failure is not inevitable. It is a choice".   http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/johan-rockstrom-addresses-heads-of-state-during-united-nations-general-assembly-201cfailure-is-not-inevitable-it-is-a-choice201d http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/seven-of-nine-planetary-boundaries-now-breached-2013-ocean-acidification-joins-the-danger-zone http://www.cell.com/one-earth/fulltext/S2590-3322(25)00391-4 http://www.planetaryhealthcheck.org/ http://news.exeter.ac.uk/research/new-reality-as-world-reaches-first-climate-tipping-point/ http://global-tipping-points.org/ http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv2906 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/development-cannot-be-achieved-dying-planet-un-committee-issues-new-guidance http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/general-comments-and-recommendations/ec12gc27-general-comment-no-27-2025-economic-social http://www.solargeoeng.org/african-ministers-call-for-a-non-use-agreement-on-solar-geoengineering http://www.ciel.org/geoengineering-biodiversity-risks/ http://climateandhealthalliance.org/press-releases/cross-cutting-report-reveals-devastating-global-health-impacts-of-fossil-fuels-thru-production-life-cycle-across-human-lifespan http://forestdeclaration.org/resources/forest-declaration-assessment-2025/ http://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/banks-make-26-billion-in-a-decade-of-financing-deforesting-companies/ Visit the related web page
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