A new partnership between the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organisation (GEIDCO) and the UNFCCC is set to bolster the energy transition in developing countries through targeted, coordinated capacity-building support.
Clean energy in devevloping countries. Photo credit: Maurizio Di Pietro / Climate Visuals Countdown
A key outcome of the partnership is the establishment of the Energy Cluster under the umbrella of the Paris Committee on Capacity-building (PCCB) Network. The Energy Cluster is an online platform designed to strengthen collaboration, coordination and knowledge exchange among diverse stakeholders.
It aims to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy systems by providing accessible capacity-building resources and addressing persistent gaps in clean energy planning and implementation, particularly in the Global South.
“GEIDCO brings valuable experience and vision in promoting clean energy development and global energy interconnection, an essential path to building resilience and low carbon societies. This partnership sets the tone for how we will work collectively and collaboratively within the cluster,” said Princess Abze Djigma, co-chair of the PCCB.
By streamlining efforts and bringing together actors across the energy and climate landscapes, the Energy Cluster will prevent fragmentation and duplication of capacity-building activities. It also promotes South-South cooperation, enabling developing countries to share innovative solutions and learn directly from one another’s experiences in accelerating the energy transition.
“We encourage Energy Cluster members to prioritise countries and communities with limited energy access and urgent capacity-building needs in project design and resource allocation,” said Dr Cheng Zhiqiang, Executive Secretary for Cooperation at GEIDCO. “The aim is to help these countries and communities strengthen their energy transition capabilities and climate resilience.”
The Cluster’s activities focus on three pillars:
Knowledge-sharing to facilitate the exchange of best practices and lessons learned across countries and organisations.
Technical training to develop specialised skills for energy professionals and policymakers in developing countries.
Strategic engagement to enhance multistakeholder collaboration and integrate capacity-building into national and regional energy strategies.
Already, the Energy Cluster has begun supporting efforts to align national capacity-building initiatives with long-term energy transition goals. Recent technical training sessions and regional dialogues – co-led by GEIDCO under the Energy Cluster – have brought together policymakers, technical experts and development practitioners to share tools, strategies and good practices for low-carbon energy planning.
The partnership tackles a key barrier to climate action: limited institutional and individual capacity in implementing energy transition plans. By providing targeted, coordinated support, the GEIDCO-PCCB collaboration is accelerating progress toward global climate goals, ensuring that no country is left behind in the energy transition.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) have named the first World Restoration Flagships for this year, tackling pollution, unsustainable exploitation, and invasive species in three continents. These initiatives are restoring almost five million hectares of marine ecosystems – an area about the size of Costa Rica, which, together with France, is hosting the 3rd UN Ocean Conference.
The three new flagships comprise restoration initiatives in the coral-rich Northern Mozambique Channel Region, more than 60 of Mexico’s islands and the Mar Menor in Spain, Europe’s first ecosystem with legal personhood. The winning initiatives were announced at an event during the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, and are now eligible for UN support.
“After decades of taking the ocean for granted, we are witnessing a great shift towards restoration. But the challenge ahead of us is significant and we need everyone to play their part,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “These World Restoration Flagships show how biodiversity protection, climate action, and economic development are deeply interconnected. To deliver our restoration goals, our ambition must be as big as the ocean we must protect.”
FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, said: “The climate crisis, unsustainable exploitation practices and nature resources shrinking are affecting our blue ecosystems, harming marine life and threatening the livelihoods of dependent communities. These new World Restoration Flagships show that halting and reversing degradation is not only possible, but also beneficial to planet and people.”
The World Restoration Flagship awards are part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – led by UNEP and FAO – which aims to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. The awards track notable initiatives that support global commitments to restore one billion hectares – an area larger than China – by 2030.
TheNorthern Mozambique Channel
This small region boasts 35 per cent of the coral reefs found in the entire Indian Ocean and is considered its seedbed and nursery. Agricultural run-off, overfishing, and climate change threaten this economically and ecologically important stretch of ocean.
Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania are already working together to manage, protect, and restore almost 87,200 hectares of interconnected land- and seascapes, benefitting both nature and people.
Actions undertaken today to maintain it include restoration of blue and green forests by creating interconnected restoration corridors, mangroves, and coral reef ecosystems, and improving fisheries management. These efforts, championed by the NGO World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and UN agencies alike, encompass multiple levels and sites, spanning both land and seascapes.
With adequate financing, 4.85 million hectares are expected to be restored by 2030. This is expected to improve communities’ well-being and socio-economic development, including a 30 per cent increase in household income in target areas, and create over 2,000 jobs and 12 community-based enterprises, while integrating indigenous practices.
Madagascar’s mangroves already store more than 300 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e), comparable to the annual electricity use in over 62 million homes in the United States. The restoration is expected to increase these countries’ capacity to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) and help tackle climate change.
Mexico’s seabird islands
Recognised worldwide as vital hotspots for biodiversity, particularly for being home to one-third of the world’s seabird species, the Mexican islands had long suffered the negative impacts of invasive species.
Then, 26 years ago, Mexico’s National Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) and the civil society organisation Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas (GECI) launched an ambitious, comprehensive ecological restoration program, in collaboration with partners from government agencies, civil society, academia, and local communities.
Efforts include removing 60 populations of invasive species and restoring seabird colonies, as well as forest landscape restoration. Coupled with implementing biosecurity protocols, the comprehensive programme restores the island’s endemic richness and supports local island communities.
Thanks to restoration efforts, 85 per cent of formerly extirpated seabird colonies have returned to the islands, including species at risk of extinction. The initiative will complete the restoration of over 100,000 hectares by the end of the decade – equivalent to almost a million hectares of continental land in terms of biodiversity value — encompassing almost 100 islands, and protecting over 300 endemic species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and birds.
An enduring relationship with local communities ensures their involvement in the initiative and their benefits: enhanced resilience facing extreme weather events, sustainable fisheries, and ecotourism.
Spain: The Mar Menor lagoon
With its famously transparent water, the Mar Menor lagoon is essential to the region’s identity, local tourism, small-scale fishing and unique flora and fauna, including water birds. Surrounded by one of Europe’s key agricultural regions, it is the continent’s largest saltwater lagoon, and its biodiversity has successfully adapted to conditions of extreme temperatures, high salinity, and low levels of nutrients.
However, nitrate discharges from intensive agricultural activity, as well as other polluting land and marine activities, have led to the lagoon’s rapid degradation, including the emergence of damaging algal blooms.
A positive turn came when over half a million citizens mobilized in response to episodes of “green soup” and fish kills and supported a Popular Legislative Initiative to make the Mar Menor a legal entity with rights. Actions were also promoted from the justice system to demand the application of environmental liability regulations and possible criminal liability into the pollution.
The Spanish Government launched an ambitious intervention through the Framework of Priority Actions to Recover the Mar Menor (MAPMM), aimed at restoring the natural dynamics and solving the problem from the source, articulated in 10 lines of action and 28 measures, by creating wetlands, supporting sustainable agriculture, constructing a wide green belt around it, cleaning up abandoned and polluted mining sites, improving flood risk management, increasing its biodiversity, and sustaining social participation.
The total area targeted for restoration amounts to 8,770 hectares, representing 7 per cent of the entire basin flowing into the Mar Menor. This area would support Spain’s climate change objectives, including its overall national target of restoring 870,000 hectares by 2030. For one of the proposed interventions, the Green Belt, it is estimated to absorb more than 82,256 tonnes CO₂ by 2040 – the equivalent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions from almost 14,000 people in Spain.
World Restoration Flagships are chosen as the best examples of ongoing, large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration by a group of ecosystem restoration experts from the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’s network. Selection follows a thorough review process with 15 criteria, embodying the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade.
In 2022, the inaugural 10 World Restoration Flagships were recognized as part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, followed with the recognition of seven initiatives in 2024.
President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr. Ike Neliaku, will review the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers’ (GOCOP) upcoming book on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr. Ike Neliaku
GOCOP President, Maureen Chigbo, said the book, titled “Nigeria Media Renaissance: GOCOP Perspectives on Online Publishing”, would be presented at an event chaired by Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris Malagi.
The Publicity Secretary, GOCOP, Ogbuefi Remmy Nweke, in a press statement reiterated that the book presentation, which would hold at the Abuja Continental Hotel, Wuse Zone 4, serves as a fundraiser for the N2.3 billion GOCOP Media Centre, a multi-purpose resource centre featuring a secretariat, 21st-century library, and event halls.
Dr. Neliaku, he said, is an accomplished public relations expert, author, and public speaker as well as serves as Chairman of Council, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter of NIPR; and has held notable positions, including Senior Special Assistant to the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria (2010-2015).
GOCOP promotes professionalism in online publishing, upholding fundamental journalism principles. With 120 corporate publishers as members, GOCOP continues to uphold the highest standards of online journalism.
Brazil and France have launched a new challenge to countries to put oceans at the centre of climate action.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. Photo credit: AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool
On Monday, June 9, 2025, at the UN Ocean Conference, the two countries called on all nations to place ocean-focused action at the heart of their national climate plans – also known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs – ahead of the UN climate summit COP30 Brazil is hosting in November.
Alongside Brazil and France, an inaugural group of eight countries, including Australia, Fiji, Kenya, Mexico, Palau, and the Republic of Seychelles, has joined the initiative.
“For Brazil, the Blue NDC Challenge represents a key opportunity to strengthen ocean-related climate action and to emphasise the essential role of ocean-based solutions in achieving emission reduction targets,” says Marina Silva, Brazil’s Minister for the Environment and Climate Change.
“Through this initiative, Brazil seeks to advance international cooperation on ocean climate action in the lead-up to COP30, and to underscore the need for all countries to fully integrate the ocean into their national climate strategies.”
Silva added that in its most recently submitted NDC, Brazil had explicitly included ocean-based climate actions for the first time. That includes commitments like establishing programmes for the conservation and restoration of vital marine ecosystems such as mangroves and coral reefs.
40 per cent of Brazil’s territory is located at sea, and it hosts marine ecosystems of global significance – including the only coral reefs in the South Atlantic and the world’s largest contiguous mangrove belt along the Amazon coast.
Oceans-based actions are vital for wider climate goals
NDCs are the centrepiece of countries’ efforts to reduce emissions and limit warming to 1.5°C under the Paris Agreement.
Countries remain largely off track for meeting the Paris goals, according to the most recent UN emissions gap report, with the next round of climate pledges needing to deliver a “quantum leap in ambition” to give the world a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
Brazil is one of only five G20 countries that have submitted updated plans alongside the US under the Biden administration, the UK, Japan and Canada. The real deadline is now September, when the plans will be tallied up before COP30.
As the world prepares to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement this year, the Blue NDC challenge is aimed at highlighting the role oceans can play in enhancing these plans.
“Ocean-based climate solutions can deliver up to 35 per cent of the emissions reductions needed to keep 1.5°C within reach,” says Tom Pickerell, global director of the ocean programme at the World Resources Institute and Head of the Secretariat for the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
“But we are running out of time to maximise the ocean’s potential. That’s why countries must place the ocean at the heart of their climate strategies.”
Industrial marine sectors and natural ecosystems are “underused tools” in addressing climate change, Wavel Ramkalawan, President of the Republic of Seychelles, one of the eight inaugural countries that joined the initiative, added.
Most smokers will never quit and need better alternatives to cigarettes, a Philip Morris International (PMI) executive said on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at a Cape Town event on tobacco harm reduction.
Tommaso Di Giovanni making a presentation
“The vast majority of people, of smokers out there… do not quit. They continue smoking, using one of the most dangerous tobacco and nicotine products out there,” said Tommaso Di Giovanni, PMI vice president for communications and engagement.
“It’s time to look at this with new eyes, with a new paradigm.”
Di Giovanni argued that nicotine is addictive but “relatively harmless compared to many other substances” created by cigarette combustion, which he called the primary cause of smoking-related diseases.
The “Technovation: Cape Town” gathering brought together PMI executives, public health experts and consumer advocates to discuss accelerating a “smoke-free future” by encouraging smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives.
Speakers discussed alternatives, including e-cigarettes, pouches and heated tobacco products that avoid burning tobacco and creating harmful chemicals.
“We have alternatives that do not burn and do not create that chemical factory you have in cigarettes or cigars,” Di Giovanni said.
PMI has invested heavily in these products based on a vision “where everyone can move out of cigarettes and use better products,” he added.
Di Giovanni cited Japan and Sweden as markets where alternative product adoption contributed to significant smoking rate declines.
Panel discussions covered leveraging collective action, strategies for adopting smoke-free innovations, developing health regulation, ensuring accurate consumer information and building trust through scientific evidence.
Participants examined South Africa’s proposed Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill as a case study for African policy, questioning stakeholder inclusion and balancing public health goals with harm reduction approaches.
Di Giovanni concluded by calling for continued dialogue, even with those who disagree, to accelerate positive change for smokers.
At the conference, Yael Ossowski, deputy director of the U.S.-based non-profit Consumer Choice Centre, said that consumers globally should have a wide array of choices for tobacco harm reduction alternatives, and restrictive regulations often impede access to potentially life-saving products.
“Whether it be Malawi, Zimbabwe, or any other country on the continent, [consumers] need to have a wealth of choices available,” Ossowski stated.
He argued that denying access to alternatives available in other countries deprives individuals of “innovative change or improvements to their health.”
Ossowski emphasised that consumers are capable of making informed decisions.
“Consumers make decisions every single day. We vote with our wallets, we vote with our feet,” he said, adding that when deprived of options, consumer choice is diminished.
“If you can have the full plethora of choice in using whatever product you want to transition away from smoking, you should have that right and that ability.”
He identified several significant regulatory barriers preventing smokers from accessing reduced-harm tobacco alternatives.
“Number one, it’s going to be price,” Ossowski said, criticising regulations that equate the taxation of safer alternatives like nicotine pouches or heated tobacco devices with traditional cigarettes.
“That is just nonsensical… we’re penalising people for making a healthier decision.”
Lack of information due to advertising bans in many countries was cited as another major hurdle.
“Consumers have zero information. None. And if we don’t have access to that information as a consumer, how am I supposed to know what to choose?” he questioned.
Regulatory hurdles that prevent products available in one country from being accessed in another, simply due to differing approval processes, also limit consumer choice.
Regarding youth access, Ossowski stressed the need to differentiate between protecting children and allowing adults to make informed choices.
“We all want to make kids safer… but for adults who want to make an active choice when it comes to a safer, let’s say, non-smoke-related item, they should have that right,” he said.
He warned that “blanket bans” intended to protect youth often end up harming adults by limiting their options.
To amplify consumer voices, Ossowski highlighted the power of individual stories.
“One of the best practices is individual stories,” he explained.
Sharing experiences of people who successfully quit smoking using alternatives can make an impact and help others learn.
The Consumer Choice Centre engages in media campaigns, op-eds, video production, and social media advertising to disseminate information and advocate for consumer perspectives, ensuring that views beyond public health bodies or governments are heard.
The centre also focuses on real-time monitoring of policy debates to inform the public about potential laws or restrictions affecting consumer access to harm reduction products.
Global energy investment is set to increase in 2025 to a record $3.3 trillion despite headwinds from elevated geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty, a new IEA report says, with clean energy technologies attracting twice as much capital as fossil fuels.
Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA)
Investment in clean technologies – renewables, nuclear, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency and electrification – is on course to hit a record $2.2 trillion this year, reflecting not only efforts to reduce emissions but also the growing influence of industrial policy, energy security concerns and the cost competitiveness of electricity-based solutions, according to the 2025 edition of the IEA’s annual World Energy Investment report.
Investment in oil, natural gas and coal is set to reach $1.1 trillion.
In addition to a comprehensive assessment of the current investment landscape across fuels, technologies and regions, this 10th edition of the World Energy Investment report explores some of the major changes over the past decade.
“Amid the geopolitical and economic uncertainties that are clouding the outlook for the energy world, we see energy security coming through as a key driver of the growth in global investment this year to a record $3.3 trillion as countries and companies seek to insulate themselves from a wide range of risks,” said IEA Executive Director, Fatih Birol.
“The fast-evolving economic and trade picture means that some investors are adopting a wait-and-see approach to new energy project approvals, but in most areas we have yet to see significant implications for existing projects,” added Birol.
“When the IEA published the first ever edition of its World Energy Investment report nearly 10 years ago, it showed energy investment in China in 2015 just edging ahead of that of the United States,” Dr Birol added. “Today, China is by far the largest energy investor globally, spending twice as much on energy as the European Union – and almost as much as the EU and United States combined.”
Over the past decade, China’s share of global clean energy spending has risen from a quarter to almost a third, underpinned by strategic investments in a wide range of technologies, including solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear, batteries and EVs. At the same time, global spending on upstream oil and gas is gravitating towards the Middle East.
Today’s investment trends clearly show a new Age of Electricity is drawing nearer. A decade ago, investments in fossil fuels were 30% higher than those in electricity generation, grids and storage. This year, electricity investments are set to be some 50% higher than the total amount being spent bringing oil, natural gas and coal to market.
Globally, spending on low-emissions power generation has almost doubled over the past five years, led by solar PV. Investment in solar, both utility-scale and rooftop, is expected to reach $450 billion in 2025, making it the single largest item in the global energy investment inventory. Battery storage investments are also climbing rapidly, surging above $65 billion this year.
Capital flows to nuclear power have grown by 50% over the past five years and are on course to reach around $75 billion in 2025. Rapid growth in electricity demand also underpins continued investment in coal supply, mainly in China and India. In 2024, China started construction on nearly 100 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plants, pushing global approvals of coal-fired plants to their highest level since 2015.
In a worrying sign for electricity security, investment in grids, now at $400 billion per year, is failing to keep pace with spending on generation and electrification. Maintaining electricity security would require investment in grids to rise towards parity with generation spending by the early 2030s. However, this is being held back by lengthy permitting procedures and tight supply chains for transformers and cables.
Lower oil prices and demand expectations are set to result in the first year-on-year fall in upstream oil investment since the Covid slump in 2020, according to the report. The expected 6% drop is driven mainly by a sharp decline in spending on US tight oil. By contrast, investment in new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities is on a strong upward trajectory as new projects in the United States, Qatar, Canada and elsewhere prepare to come online. Between 2026 and 2028, the global LNG market is set to experience its largest ever capacity growth.
Spending patterns remain very uneven globally – with many developing economies, especially in Africa, struggling to mobilise capital for energy infrastructure, the report finds. Today, Africa accounts for just 2% of global clean energy investment. Despite being home to 20% of the world’s population and rapidly growing energy demand, total investment across the continent has fallen by a third over the past decade due to declining fossil fuel spending and insufficient growth in clean energy.
To close the financing gap in African countries and other emerging and developing economies, international public finance needs to be scaled up and used strategically to bring in larger volumes of private capital, according to the report.
This year’s edition of the World Energy Investment report features an interactive data explorer that enables users to compare energy investments across multiple sectors, fuels and technologies between the periods 2016–2020 and 2021–2025, covering global trends as well as data for 19 individual countries and regions.
The second edition of the African Conference on Agricultural Technologies (ACAT) officially kicked off on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Kigali, Rwanda, with speakers issuing a rallying call for increased investment and stronger partnerships to support the sustainable adaptation and adoption of agricultural technologies.
The African Conference on Agricultural Technologies (ACAT) 2025
The four-day event running is co-hosted by the Government of Rwanda, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources (MINAGRI), and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), under the theme: “NextGen Ag-Tech Solutions for Africa’s Farmers.”
“We need supportive ecosystems – including enabling policies, investments in infrastructure, access to finance – and, most importantly, the voices and agency of farmers themselves must shape the solutions we develop and promote,” said Dr. Édouard Ngirente, Prime Minister of the Republic of Rwanda, as he presided over the official opening ceremony in Kigali.
He urged all the stakeholders attending the conference to use the ACAT platform to not only share knowledge but also forge practical partnerships that can scale proven innovations and bring real transformation to smallholder farmers who are the true custodians of Africa’s food systems.
“Let us remember that technology is not just about tools and platforms – it is about people. It is about a farmer, young or old, in a rural village using a mobile phone to check crop prices. It is about a young innovator developing a drone to monitor pests and diseases. It is about a continent that believes in its capacity to feed itself and to thrive,” added Dr. Ngirente.
Addressing the gathering, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Former President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, said: “Africa can turn around some of the current challenges facing its agricultural sector. However, he maintained that no single country, institution, or actor can transform African agriculture alone.
“Transforming Africa’s agriculture can only happen if countries and institutions in the region collaborate across borders and sectors. African governments must work hand-in-hand with private sector players, research institutions, civil society, and most importantly, with the farmers themselves to birth and sustain a new era of farming and food production. It is a high-paced era that leaves no room for excuses. Africa must make progress and move forward,” noted Dr. Jonathan.
He pointed out that the future of agriculture on our continent is intricately tied to our ability to embrace and scale available and emerging technology. These technologies range from precision farming and satellite imaging to drone technology and artificial intelligence, digital tools and can revolutionise the sector.
“We are already witnessing promising innovations in this regard across the continent. In Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda, tech-driven platforms are connecting farmers to markets, providing weather forecasts, and facilitating access to credit. Yet, for these innovations to scale, we must deliberately invest in rural infrastructure, digital literacy, and affordable connectivity,” he stated.
Dr. Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Republic of Rwanda, emphasised that putting farmers’ needs and preferences first is a paradigm shift. It means placing smallholder farmers, the unsung heroes of our food systems, at the center of all decisions, investments, and innovations. It involves listening to their challenges, valuing their traditional knowledge and wisdom, and co-creating solutions that empower them to enhance productivity.
“Our policies and programmes in Rwanda are based on the knowledge that providing farmers with the necessary resources, information, and support networks is essential for sustainable development,” he said.
He pointed out that Rwanda’s agricultural transformation agenda has been informed by a farmer-centric approach, which ensures that useful innovations are accessible to farmers.
Dr. Canisius Kanangire, the Executive Director of AATF, noted that when farmer-centred technologies are implemented within a supportive and enabling environment, they significantly increase productivity, improve livelihoods, and drive economic empowerment.
“For over two decades, AATF has coordinated the formation and implementation of public-private partnerships aimed at facilitating development and access to agricultural technologies that address production challenges, enhance yields, and contribute to the continent’s economic growth while enhancing community health and wealth.”
Despite progress in research and technology development, the diffusion of these innovations to end-users, especially farmers, remains limited. Persistent bottlenecks are preventing the delivery of these innovations to market, which diminishes the return on investment in agricultural R&D and undermines the intended impact.
“Addressing these challenges requires deliberate action by high-level decision-makers and institutions across the continent to improve value chain optimisation and facilitate intra-African trade,” Dr. Kanangire added.
ACAT will continue to provide a critical platform for stakeholders who are committed to advancing Africa’s socio-economic development and food security through agricultural innovation. It stimulates conversations on sustainable pathways for developing, transferring, and adopting agricultural technologies among smallholder farmers to achieve rural economic transformation.
The Conference has brought together over 800 delegates drawn from the African continent and beyond. They include government representatives, industry thought leaders, policymakers, technical experts, private institutions, farmers, women, and youth.
The convening is expected to build momentum towards action on current discussions and recommendations on the importance of the utilisation of innovative agricultural technologies.
On the occasion of the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), UNESCO has called on its Member States to make education a central lever for ocean protection.
Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General
In Nice, UNESCO unveiled new initiatives, ranging from classrooms to video games, to raise young people’s awareness of the need to safeguard marine ecosystems. The organisation also strengthened its partnerships to ensure funding of those initiatives.
“To protect the ocean, we must change our relationship with it, and this change begins with education. UNESCO is supporting its Member States to integrate the ocean and the environment into classrooms and the daily lives of young people,” said Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.
Putting the ocean at the heart of classrooms
UNESCO has made environmental education a priority, to integrate it into school curricula and in the daily life of schools. The organisation supports its Member States – such as South Africa, Portugal and South Korea – in developing educational content on the protection of the ocean. With UNESCO’s support, Brazil this year became the first country to adopt a national curriculum, from primary to secondary level, dedicated to ocean literacy.
Presented in 2022 at the One Ocean Summit, UNESCO’s educational reference framework for ocean education has enabled nearly 2,400 schools in 48 countries to join the global network of Blue Schools. It provides a framework for schools wishing to integrate the ocean into their teaching, through practical activities and field projects. In addition, UNESCO has trained nearly 350,000 young people and adults in ocean protection issues.
Video games and ocean sciences: a new tool for learning
UNESCO has unveiled Ocean Heroes, a new adventure in the Minecraft video game. Developed with Minecraft Education and Voice of the Ocean Foundation, over 35 million players will be able to explore coral reefs, seaweed forests and mangroves aboard a research vessel, while facing real threats such as pollution and invasive species.
Through entertaining missions, young players will acquire practical knowledge of ocean sciences, biodiversity and conservation techniques. The game offers concrete scientific challenges to solve, develops critical thinking skills and reinforces understanding of the impact of human activities on marine ecosystems.
Increased financial support for educational and scientific programmes
UNESCO and the Prada Group have announced the renewal of their SEA BEYOND partnership, a global educational programme dedicated to spreading knowledge about the ocean and its preservation. With the commitment of both organisations, since 2019, the programme has resulted in the training of more than 34,000 students in 56 countries, as well as the opening of an ocean education centre in Venice.
Together, they announced the creation of a fund to finance projects led by young people on every continent, strengthening ocean education and culture within their communities. With an initial contribution of €2 million from the Prada Group, this UNESCO fund will be open to the participation of new partners in 2026.
UNESCO has also turned its scientific campaigns into educational tools: its pilot program on environmental DNA, which mapped 4,500 marine species in 21 World Heritage marine sites, involved scientists and local schools in sampling missions for three years. With the support of the Minderoo Foundation, this project will continue in 25 new marine areas protected by UNESCO.
A lecturer at the University of Uyo, Prof. Edem Eniang, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, expressed worry at indiscriminate tree felling for timber and charcoal production, describing it as destruction of the environment.
Felled trees at the Heritage Park and Gardens, UI
Eniang said in Lagos that illegal logging increased in Nigeria in the past two years.
According to him, economic hardship contributed to the situation.
The biodiversity expert, however, cautioned that destroying the environment for a temporary economic gain would be counter-productive.
He said that illegal logging would have long-term negative consequences and should be avoided.
Eniang said that the environmental was being highly degraded by indiscriminate felling of trees as unpatriotic people turned mangrove forests to alternative sources of income and energy.
He warned that nature’s ways of reacting to such could be catastrophic.
“Violation of the nation’s forest reserves without regard to measures put in place to protect such assets depicts high level of retrogression.
“The environment remains the bedrock of human existence, and development efforts should be consistently geared toward its protection for sustainability.
“Renewable energy should be the trend toward better environment.
“Government should avoid polices that make people to dependent on trees in the forest as an alternative source of energy or means of livelihood,” Eniang said.
UN-Habitat and the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan have announced the theme for the upcoming thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13): “Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities.”
Baku in Azerbaijan will host WUF13 in May 2026
The announcement was made at the recently held resumed second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya.
Set to take place in Baku from May 17 to 22, 2026, WUF13 will focus global attention on the housing crisis and underscore the role of adequate housing in building inclusive, climate-resilient, and sustainable cities and communities.
“The World Urban Forum is one of the largest UN platforms convening diverse parties to exchange, partner and act on priorities to promote sustainable cities and communities – in line with the priorities of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals – and is a truly transformative global urban coalition,” said Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of UN-Habitat.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of the Assembly, which brought together 193 Member States and urban stakeholders from across the world to advance sustainable urban development.
Housing at the heart of sustainable urbanisation
The theme of WUF13 comes at a critical moment, with nearly 3 billion people currently experiencing some form of housing inadequacy, including more than 1.1 billion living in informal settlements or slums and over 300 million experiencing homelessness.
“We are determined to work closely with a wide range of partners to make WUF13 in Baku a major milestone for the global housing agenda,” said Anar Guliyev, Chairman of the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of Azerbaijan and WUF13 National Coordinator.
As the world approaches the midpoint in implementing the New Urban Agenda, WUF13 will explore housing as a catalyst for more equitable and climate-resilient urban development. The Forum will also contribute directly to the 2026 UN Secretary-General’s quadrennial report on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
Looking ahead to WUF13
Since its inception in 2001, the World Urban Forum has grown into the UN’s premier platform for examining the impacts of rapid urbanisation and sharing solutions. The last session, held in Cairo in 2024, brought together more than 25,000 participants from 182 countries and culminated in the Cairo Call to Action – a roadmap for sustainable urban transformation.
