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In today's edition: CMA, pharma package, health taxes

Belgian Prime Minister De Wever will head to see King Philippe on Thursday to report on the lack of progress – and potentially hand in his notice

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In today's edition: Biocontrol, EU-US tariffs, NGTs

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Photos from UNICEF show the impact of destruction in Jamaica, with neighborhoods being submerged in water and communities lacking access to a host of basic services. Credit: UNICEF

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 6 2025 (IPS)

In late October, Hurricane Melissa, a powerful Category 5 storm, made landfall in the Caribbean, causing catastrophic damage to civilian infrastructure and a devastating loss of life. Humanitarian agencies have mobilized on the ground to deliver urgent assistance to affected communities facing widespread destruction of homes, mass displacement, fatalities, and severe shortages of essential services, including food, water, medicine, shelter, and electricity.

The United Nations (UN) estimates that roughly six million people across the Caribbean have been affected by Hurricane Melissa. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) projects that approximately 1.6 million children in the Caribbean are at risk of the impacts of flooding, landslides, and regional disruption.

As of November 4, at least 84 civilian deaths have been reported—43 in Haiti, largely due to flooding and landslides, and 35 in Jamaica. The coastal town of Black River in Jamaica suffered particularly severe damage, with an estimated 90 percent of homes losing their roofs. Other districts across the nation also reported extensive destruction to infrastructure, including building collapses and widespread flooding.

“All efforts to prepare for the arrival of the hurricane are vital to mitigate damage and loss of life in the most vulnerable communities, especially in regions like the Caribbean,” said Roberto Benes, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “UNICEF helps strengthen national capacities to anticipate and respond to climate-related emergencies, and to deliver essential services for children. This is fundamental to protecting those who need it most.”

According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN and its partners are on the ground in Jamaica, leading a “robust national response”, in an effort to strengthen humanitarian cooperation, working to restore access to life-saving services and revitalize schools and hospitals in areas that have been hardest hit.

On November 3, the World Food Programme (WFP) launched an emergency response plan for the hardest hit communities in Jamaica. As of now, over 1,500 people have received food assistance with parcels containing food staples such as rice, lentils, meat, and vegetable oil. An additional 2,000 food kits were transported from Barbados.

“More shipments are arriving this week and WFP is facilitating the transportation of this assistance in coordination with partners across the UN system,” said Brian Bogart, WFP’s Country Director for the Multi-Country Office for the Caribbean. “WFP plans to assist up 200,000 people across the country with food assistance and transition to cash as and when markets begin to recover. This is critical for transitioning from an immediate humanitarian response to a longer term recovery strategy, supporting markets and the economy of Jamaica.”

Bogart adds that the UN and its partners are working “hand-in-hand” with the Jamaican government to support relief efforts and strengthen emergency preparedness programs. In Cuba, UN agencies were able to mobilize critical support services prior to Hurricane Melissa’s landfall, positioning USD $4 million allocated from the OCHA-managed Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

Additionally, the Cuban Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) are currently working together to issue early-warning messages and provide psychosocial support. It is estimated that the delivery of over 3.5 million early warning messages saved thousands of lives.

In the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, WFP was able to deliver food for 180,000 people in protection centers across Cuba. “We plan to assist 900,000 people for three months and half of those in need of assistance for an additional 3 months,” said Etienne Labande, WFP’s Country Director in Cuba.“The UN in Cuba finalized its response plan which has been approved by the government and will be launched officially tomorrow in La Habana, appealing for a total of USD $74 million, all sectors included, and aiming to assist over 1 million people affected for a total of 12 months.”

UNICEF was also able to assist with water-treatment kits and hygiene kits for thousands, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was able to assist with shelter resources to protect civilians who have had their houses destroyed or damaged, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has delivered health and dignity kits.

Despite these gains, humanitarian experts continue to stress the urgency of the situation, highlighting severe access constraints and urging for strengthened humanitarian cooperation and a steady flow of funding.

“In times like this, international solidarity isn’t just a principle – it’s a lifeline,” said Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. “Local leadership, global solidarity, and early action are saving lives across the region. This is the humanitarian reset at work – acting together with greater impact.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By Juan Carlos Jintiach and M. Florencia Librizzi
NAPO, Amazonia, Ecuador / NEW YORK, Nov 6 2025 (IPS)

As world leaders prepare to gather in Brazil for COP30 next week, they will convene in the heart of the Amazon — a fitting location for what must become a turning point in how the world addresses the intertwined crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Around the world, Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ leadership has long been and will continue to be a critical path forward.

A new report released by the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) and Earth Insight exposes the staggering scale of industrial threats facing the 36 million Indigenous Peoples and local communities who steward more than 958 million hectares of vital tropical forests.

The findings underscore the need for immediate action from the governments, financial institutions, and international bodies gathering at COP30 to reinforce solutions led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities who have cared for these forests and multiple ecosystems for generations.

Aerial view of Indigenous participants at a demonstration for “The Answer Is Us” campaign. Credit: The Answer Is Us

Alarming Threats in the Pan-Tropics

The evidence is sobering. In the Amazon, 31 million hectares of Indigenous Peoples’ territories are overlapped by oil and gas blocks, with an additional 9.8 million hectares threatened by mining concessions. In the Congo Region, 38% of community forests face oil and gas threats, while peatlands critical to global carbon storage — holding roughly 30 billion tons of carbon — are threatened by new licensing.

In Indonesia, Indigenous Peoples’ territories confront massive overlaps with timber and mining concessions. In Mesoamerica, Indigenous Peoples and local communities face extensive mining threats across their lands.

These forests regulate the global climate, sustain biodiversity, and are essential for cultural and spiritual continuity for millions of people. These territories produce oxygen, regulate rainfall systems across continents, and store carbon essential to preventing runaway climate change.

When these forests are destroyed, the consequences reach far beyond their borders — destabilizing weather patterns, accelerating species extinction, and pushing the planet closer to irreversible tipping points.

These statistics represent the lived reality of communities like the Waorani in Ecuador, whose territories face a 64% overlap with oil blocks despite a historic court victory affirming their rights. They describe the plight of the O’Hongana Manyawa in Indonesia, one of the last Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation on Earth, now surrounded by nickel mining operations destroying their forest homeland in the name of the “green transition.”

The violence accompanying this destruction is equally stark. Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendants, defending lands they have protected for generations, are being killed for standing in the way of corporate profits and national development schemes that ignore both human rights and planetary boundaries.

Solutions and Success Models That Need to be Scaled

Amid these threats, there are also stories of resilience, proven solutions, and a clear pathway forward. In Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve, community forest concessions lost only 1.5% of their forests over ten years — seven times less than the national average. In Colombia, 25 Indigenous Peoples’ Territorial Entities maintain over 99% of their forests intact.

In Indonesia’s Wallacea Archipelago, Gendang Ngkiong communities reclaimed 892 hectares of customary land through participatory mapping and legal reforms. The pattern is consistent and undeniable: when Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights are secured, and communities lead, forests thrive.

This is the paradox world leaders must finally confront at COP30 and beyond. Despite representing less than 5% of the global population, Indigenous Peoples and local communities safeguard 54% of the world’s remaining intact forests and 43% of Key Biodiversity Areas.

While Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ governance systems, ancestral knowledge, and traditional ways of life have kept these multiple ecosystems in balance for generations, that balance is now threatened by the relentless advance of extractive industries. Mining operations, agribusiness expansion, oil extraction, illegal logging, and land invasions — often backed by policies that actively undermine Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights — are dismantling the very systems that have proven most effective at conservation.

Indigenous Peoples and local communities are not obstacles to progress or barriers of last resort; they are the foundation of viable climate solutions and the living embodiment of synergy between people and nature.

At COP30 and moving forward, world leaders must move beyond symbolic recognition to concrete action. The Brazzaville Declaration provides the roadmap: securing Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ land rights, guaranteeing free, prior, and informed consent, ensuring direct financing, protecting defenders’ lives, and integrating traditional knowledge into global policies.

These demands should guide governments, funders, and institutions in how to shift from extraction to regeneration, demonstrating that without securing Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ rights and supporting community-led stewardship, international climate and biodiversity targets cannot be achieved. Yet by following the leadership of those who have protected these ecosystems for generations, the world has a viable roadmap toward regeneration.

As COP30 opens in Brazil, the symbolism is powerful. Will world leaders honor the wisdom of the land they gather upon? Will they listen to those whose ancestral knowledge has sustained the Amazon and countless other ecosystems for millennia? Or will they continue policies that treat forests and nature as expendable and Indigenous Peoples and local communities as obstacles to progress?

The future of the world’s tropical forests and vital ecosystems, and humanity’s shared climate, will be determined by whether governments, funders, and global institutions act on this knowledge. The answer is us — all of us, working together, with Indigenous Peoples and local communities leading the way.

Juan Carlos Jintiach is Executive Secretary, Global Alliance of Territorial Communities and M. Florencia Librizzi is Deputy Director, Earth Insight

IPS UN Bureau

 

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In today’s edition: Parliament pushes for a rewrite of the EU’s €2 trillion budget after talks over €865 billion in national subsidy plans yield no breakthrough, the Commission prepares alternative funding options for Ukraine as its Russian asset loan scheme remains blocked, and the EPP considers turning to the far right for support after its red tape reform was shot down

On 4 November, the European Diabetes Forum (EUDF) and EDENT1FI (European Action for the Diagnosis of Early Non-clinical Type 1 Diabetes for Disease Interception) convened experts, policymakers, people living with diabetes and industry partners to discuss how early detection can transform the future of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) care. The event was hosted by MEP Stine Bosse at the European Parliament in Brussels, under the auspices of the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU.

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Negotiators have struck a deal to extend the €93.5 billion research and innovation programme to cover projects with both civilian and military uses

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Europe cannot afford another decade of declarations without delivery

Thousands of Greenlandic Inuit women will be able to pursue IUD compensation claims, starting late next year

With drug funding exhausted, time-sensitive reforms are needed to protect both innovation and public health

The presidency of the Council and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional agreement on the proposal to incentivise defence-related investments in the EU budget to implement the so-called ReArm Europe plan.

The Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement aimed at ensuring that transport services can use a single method for calculating their greenhouse gas emissions.

On Wednesday, Parliament and Council negotiators agreed on a single EU methodology for calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport services.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Transport and Tourism

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

On Wednesday, Parliament and Council negotiators agreed on a single EU methodology for calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport services.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Transport and Tourism

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

As part of the ReArm Europe Plan, the measures aim to strengthen Europe’s defence technological and industrial base by channelling EU funding to defence and security.
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP