Feed aggregator

China's growing economic, geopolitical and military power is changing the world order and fuelling fears about national security and competition in many countries. Commentators examine ways to respond to the challenge.

Sanna Marin, prime minister of Finland from 2019 to 2023, has presented her autobiography entitled Hope in Action - A Memoir About The Courage To Lead. In it, the 40-year-old recounts among other things how she and other female members of the government were confronted with misogyny and sexism. Commentators share their impressions.

Berlin a décidé de lever l’embargo sur les exportations d’armements à destination d’Israël, a confirmé lundi 17 novembre un porte-parole du gouvernement à l’agence allemande (dpa).

The post L’Allemagne lève ses restrictions à l’exportation d’armes vers Israël appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Après avoir lancé une promotion pour fêter l’arrivée de son nouvel Airbus, la compagnie aérienne nationale, Air Algérie, propose une nouvelle offre spéciale sur les […]

L’article Air Algérie facilite les retours depuis Istanbul : des billets disponibles en offre spéciale est apparu en premier sur .

A girl walking to collect water for her family in Sindh Province, Pakistan. Heatwave posed social impact on vulnerable groups such as women and girls. Credit: UNICEF/Saiyna Bashir
 
The Ninth Session of the ESCAP Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction is scheduled to take place from 26 to 28 November 2025 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 17 2025 (IPS)

The year 2024 was the hottest on record globally. In Asia and the Pacific, Bangladesh was the worst-hit country, with about 33 million people affected by lower crop yields that destabilized food systems, along with extensive school closures and many cases of heatstroke and related diseases. Children, the elderly and outdoor low-wage earners in poor and densely populated urban areas suffered the most, as they generally had less access to cooling systems or to water supplies and adequate healthcare. India, too, was badly affected, with around 700 heat-related deaths mostly in informal settlements.

Higher-income areas usually lie in cooler, greener neighbourhoods, so the hottest districts are often the poorest – adding to social inequality. In the city of Bandung, Indonesia, for example, a study shows that there can be temperature differences of up to 7°C between the hottest and coolest parts of town.

Future prospects for the region will depend critically on the progress of climate change. Under a high-emissions scenario, we project that extreme heat will be more frequent, intense and widespread — what were once occasional events will become seasonal or even year-round phenomena. Rising temperatures also affect other parts of the Earth’s ecosystem – notably glacial melt.

Warming in the Arctic can influence weather, precipitation and glacial behaviour across Central and South Asia. Globally, this century, glaciers have lost about 5 per cent of their volume. By 2060, under a high-emissions scenario, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mongolia, Myanmar, Türkiye and Uzbekistan could lose more than 70 per cent of their glacier mass. These phenomena also add to sea-level rise, raising existential risks for some countries in the Pacific.

To tackle these challenges, countries will meet this week at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific to consider opportunities to integrate heat risk into early warning systems and development planning.

The key priority is to move from reactive heat risk management to long-term, science-informed strategies. Policy actions are needed at local, national, regional and global levels. This is the International Year of Glacial Preservation, which offers a critical opportunity for collective action.

At the local level, nature-based solutions such as trees lining streets, urban parks, green roofs and wetland conservation help lower urban temperatures. These measures can increase shade, promote evapotranspiration and act as heat sinks, reducing heat island effects. Vegetation and tree canopies can reduce peak summer temperatures by up to 5°C.

While effects vary by vegetation type and density, green roofs and walls in Singapore, for example, have been shown to reduce surface temperatures by up to 17°C and ambient air temperatures by as much as 5°C.

Countries in Asia and the Pacific can significantly reduce heat-related illness, mortality and disruptions to livelihoods by building heat-ready, multi-hazard early warning systems. Expanding heat-health warning systems in just 57 countries could save approximately 100,000 lives each year.

To support countries, ESCAP plans to scale-up climate-responsive and inclusive social protection schemes that include technical support for heat-specific social protection provisions that ensure heat readiness, along with income and non-income support, especially for the poor living in densely populated urban areas.

Additionally, recognizing the benefits of nature-based solutions, our efforts can strengthen collaboration among national governments, municipalities and local communities to create green, cooling cross-border corridors.

These passages can chill the air, reduce surface temperatures and provide buffers against desertification, land degradation, drought and sand and dust storms.

Finally, we must push the use of innovative space solutions to strengthen heat preparedness in early warning systems. Despite the proven benefits of early warning systems, coverage remains incomplete. Only 54 per cent of global meteorological services issue warnings for extreme temperatures, and even fewer provide alerts for heatwaves or thermal stress.

In Nepal, for example, a community survey revealed that about three-quarters of respondents from vulnerable groups had not received any heat alerts.

ESCAP can leverage existing cooperation to share Earth observation data and technical expertise for mapping and monitoring heat exposure and city vulnerability to urban heat island effects. This information enables greater precision in forecasting and quantifying heat risk, as well as for issuing timely heat alerts.

The Asia-Pacific region has considerable experience in managing cascading disasters. But the rising threat of extreme heat adds a new level of urgency. Every country needs to act now to meet the scale of this evolving disaster risk landscape and to turbocharge regional cooperation. ESCAP stands ready to support countries in these endeavours – as we prepare for an ever-hotter world.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Excerpt:

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP

EU leaders are expected to provide political guidance in December on which approach to pursue

2025. 11. 17.

The ban will be lifted effectively on 24 November, because the ceasefire between Israel and Palestine’s Hamas has “stabilised in recent weeks”, said a German government spokesperson

Der polnische Vizeaußenminister Marcin Bosacki betonte am Sonntag, dass die betroffene Linie Teil einer „sehr wichtigen Route zur Versorgung der Ukraine“ sei.

AMENDMENTS 1 - 234 - Draft report Flagship European defence projects of common interest
Committee on Security and Defence
Lucia Annunziata

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP