We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.
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Key developments
UN food insecurity report
HUNGER DECLINES: The prevalence of hunger dropped in most parts of the world in 2024, according to a new report covered by Carbon Brief – but rates are still rising in much of Africa and western Asia. The UN’s annual report on food security and nutrition found that around 673 million people experienced hunger in 2024. Other key findings were that the cost of a “healthy” diet increased in 2023 and 2024 and that food price inflation “significantly” outpaced general inflation over the past five years. The price inflation was mostly driven by global factors, but also by localised shocks such as “climate extremes” disrupting food production, the report said.
‘UNEVEN’ PROGRESS: Global progress on tackling hunger is “encouraging”, but “uneven”, the director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Dr Qu Dongyu, said in a statement. The new report found that the entire population in Gaza faced “high levels of acute food insecurity” in 2024, alongside more than half of people in Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and Haiti. Elsewhere, the UN World Food Programme said that hunger levels in Gaza are “catastrophic”, while Reuters reported warnings from a global hunger monitor that a “worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding” there. UN chief António Guterres told the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake this week in Ethiopia: “We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war.”
‘CLIMATEFLATION’: Elsewhere, a thinktank report said the UK faces “climateflation” impacts that could “drive up food prices by more than a third by 2050”, the Guardian said. The Autonomy Institute said that “increasing numbers of heatwaves and droughts would imperil staple crops, disrupt supply chains and intensify inflationary pressures”, the outlet added. UK food price inflation increased in July for the sixth consecutive month, partly driven by “rising meat and tea prices”, BBC News reported. Carbon Brief mapped out the findings of a new study showing links between extreme weather and food price spikes around the world.
Africa’s clean-cooking and nature goals
‘UNREACHABLE GOAL’: Sub-Saharan Africa will not reach the UN 2030 goal of providing clean cooking for all, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). “Large gaps” in financing and infrastructure mean universal access by 2040 is “more realistic”, it continued. The number of Africans without access to clean cooking “has continued to grow” and is currently around 1 billion people, Climate Home News reported. The report stated that $37bn in investment is required to achieve universal access. In a statement, IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol, said that lack of clean cooking “remains one of the great injustices in the world”.
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WILDLIFE BONDS: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has planned a new wave of wildlife conservation bonds to provide up to $1.5bn to “help African countries” save endangered species and ecosystems, Reuters reported. The GEF’s head of programming told the newswire that the bonds, which provide low-cost funding in return for curbing poaching or other conservation measures, will be issued for every country in Africa. The bonds will help poorer countries receive funding without adding to government debt. While such bonds usually target “emblematic” species, the GEF hopes to use the bonds to cover entire ecosystems, such as wetlands, Reuters said.
CONGO’S BIOFUELS: Italian oil company Eni has closed one biofuels pilot project in the Republic of Congo, but two other such projects remain in an experimental phase, InfoNile reported. Eni previously signed a 50-year agreement with the Congolese government to develop the country’s agro-biofuel sector, with a plan to cover 150,000 hectares of agricultural land by 2030. However, local farmer Chris Nsimba told InfoNile that, although Eni has brought economic development to his district, the company has made “little contribution” to local food security.
‘DRAMATIC EXPANSION’: Tenders for oil development are now available across “more than half” of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a new report from Earth Insight and other groups found. The government recently launched a licensing round for 55 oil blocks, the report said – a “dramatic expansion” which poses “major threats” to forests and protected areas. The oil blocks overlap with 8.6m hectares of “key biodiversity areas” and 66.8m hectares of intact tropical forests. This decision highlights “stark contradictions between the DRC’s fossil-fuel agenda and its stated commitments to biodiversity protection, climate action and community rights”, the report said.
Spotlight
‘Unprecedented’ marine heatwaves gripped the globe in 2023
This week, Carbon Brief covers a new study, published in Science, which found that 96% of the global ocean experienced a marine heatwave during 2023.
More than 95% of the world’s expanse of oceans experienced a marine heatwave – a period of abnormal ocean warming lasting at least five days – in 2023, according to new research.
The study, published in Science, used an ocean model that incorporates satellite and observational data to identify marine heatwave events and investigate the drivers of the unusual ocean heating.
It found that 2023 was an “unprecedented” year for marine heatwaves in terms of duration, extent and intensity of the events.
Many of the events had “immediate ecological and societal consequences”, the authors wrote.
‘Comprehensive investigation’
In 2023, marine heatwaves bleached corals in the Florida Keys, boosted the prevalence of a giant-clam-killing parasite in the Mediterranean and even intensified heatwaves on land during Europe’s “hellish” summer that year.
Using satellite data and an ocean model that incorporates different streams of data, the team of researchers “conducted a comprehensive investigation” of the global ocean’s state in 2023, they wrote. Together, the authors wrote, that year’s marine heatwaves had the “longest durations, widest extents and highest intensities on record”.
They found that the average duration of marine heatwaves in 2023 was 120 days, compared to an average duration of just under 36 days between 1982-2022. Spatially, the 2023 heatwaves covered 96% of the global ocean, compared to a historical average extent of around 74%.
Prof Regina Rodrigues, a physical oceanographer at Brazil’s Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, told Carbon Brief that, while the science underlying the study is “sound”, the study itself “does not bring many new aspects”. Rodrigues, who was not involved in the new research, added:
“The results are not different from those of many previous studies, except for the analysis of these regions together and for the same year.”
Driving factors
The researchers identified four main “hotspots” of the ocean that had the highest marine heatwave “cumulative intensity”: the tropical eastern Pacific, the south-west Pacific, the north Pacific and the north Atlantic. (Cumulative intensity is a metric that accounts for both intensity and duration of a heatwave.)
The researchers then used the ocean model to investigate the underlying drivers of marine heatwaves in each hotspot.
For example, in the north Pacific, they found that a combination of low cloud cover – allowing more sunlight to reach and warm the ocean’s surface – and weak winds resulted in around 1C of average warming throughout the year. A lack of cloud cover also contributed significantly to the heatwaves in the north Atlantic and south-west Pacific, they wrote.
It is “no surprise at all” to find that marine heatwaves have increased in frequency, intensity, duration and extent, “given that the ocean absorbs 90% of the heat from manmade climate change”, Rodrigues told Carbon Brief.
She pointed to a Nature study published earlier this year that examined the global record sea-surface temperatures of 2023-24. That study concluded:
“Without a global warming trend, such an event would have been practically impossible.”
News and views
WETLANDS SUMMIT: More than 3,000 delegates met in Zimbabwe for the 15th conference of the Ramsar Convention (COP15) to discuss the future of the world’s wetlands. Opening the event, Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, called for the implementation of “collaborative approaches” towards wetlands protection, Down To Earth reported. Several southern African countries officially launched the Southern Africa Ramsar Regional Initiative to promote wetland conservation and sustainable use across borders, EnviroNews Nigeria reported. Additionally, China Daily reported that nine more Chinese locations were awarded “wetland city accreditation” at the conference, which concludes this Thursday.
‘DEVASTATION BILL’: Politicians in Brazil approved a bill to ease environmental licensing, a move criticised as the country’s “most significant environmental setback in nearly 40 years”, Mongabay said. The so-called “devastation bill” includes rule changes which would allow projects to be approved “by simply filling out an online form”, the outlet reported. It would also create a “special environmental licence” for “strategic” projects, “such as oil exploration on the Amazon coast”. Mongabay noted that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can block or enact the bill, but “congress would likely overturn a veto”. It added: ”The law is bound to be challenged in the Supreme Court.”
SEABED STRIFE: Members of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) condemned the move earlier this year by a deep-sea mining company to “bypass the authority’s protocols by applying for a permit to mine in international waters under US law”, Inside Climate News reported. Oceanographic said that the ISA has “launched an official investigation” into contracting companies “over action taken to circumvent” existing protocols. The outlet said the decision was a “critical step in protecting the deep sea”. However, delegates at the recently concluded ISA meeting once again “failed” to reach an agreement on whether or not to allow seabed mining to proceed in international waters, reported Common Dreams.
FARMER FUNDS: The EU’s new long-term budget proposal featured cuts to agricultural spending, but the European Commission “insists” farmers will not be impacted, Euronews reported. The proposal outlined plans to combine agricultural subsidies and regional development funds into one “mega-fund worth €865bn”, the outlet said. Politico reported that the proposed changes mean “biodiversity goals have no earmarked funding at all – and will have to compete with the EU’s other environmental aims, including climate change, water security, the circular economy and pollution”.
‘TOXIC’ ALGAE: A toxic algal bloom along South Australia’s coastline has shown “no sign of abating” four months in, after killing sharks, rays, fish, dolphins and seals, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The algae grew and spread due to a marine heatwave in September 2024, which caused ocean temperatures to be 2.5C warmer than usual. Marine ecologist Dr Scott Bennet told CNN: “This is symptomatic of climate-driven impacts that we’re seeing across Australia due to climate change.” Meanwhile, Reuters reported on a “revolution” in farm management that has boosted Australia’s wheat production “despite hotter, drier conditions”.
Watch, read, listen
CLOUD COVER: The New York Times profiled the scientists attempting to save the Great Barrier Reef by increasing cloud cover to cool the Pacific Ocean.
SYCAMORE SENTENCE: In Bloomberg, Josie Glausiusz argued that prosecuting the men who felled the Sycamore Gap tree in northern England in 2023 “mean[s] little” without stronger action to protect the natural world.
DECLINING SUPPLY: The Guardian visualised how Donald Trump’s “assault” on immigrants in the US could affect the country’s food supplies.
AN ICONIC TREE: Mongabay explored whether the Joshua Tree – a yucca plant native to the south-western US – can survive in the face of increasing drought, fires and development.
New science
- A Nature Communications study found that lands managed by Afro-descendant communities in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Suriname experience up to 55% less deforestation than lands managed by others. The study highlighted the adaptation of African knowledge, the authors said, calling for a greater inclusion of Afro-descendants in environmental decision-making.
- Fewer than 10% of predicted “hotspots” of a type of fungi around the world are currently contained in protected areas, according to a Nature study. The findings can benefit conservation, monitoring and restoration of the “largely hidden component of Earth’s underground ecosystems”, the study authors wrote.
- New research, published in Science Advances, found that the prioritisation of creating “biodiversity-friendly landscapes” through conservation activities may actually accelerate biodiversity loss by improving conditions for invasive alien species. The authors called for a “shift” towards “landscape-wide strategies to stop the ongoing decline of farmland biodiversity”.
In the diary
- 5-14 August: Fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution (part two) | Geneva
- 9 August: UN international day of the world’s Indigenous peoples
- 13-15 August: African Union-AIP water investment summit 2025 | Cape Town, South Africa
Cropped is researched and written by Dr Giuliana Viglione, Aruna Chandrasekhar, Daisy Dunne, Orla Dwyer and Yanine Quiroz. Svetlana Onye also contributed to this issue. Please send tips and feedback to cropped@carbonbrief.org
The post Cropped 30 July 2025: ‘Unprecedented’ ocean heatwaves; ‘Uneven’ hunger progress; Brazil’s ‘devastation bill’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.
As an extreme El Niño breaks marine temperature records, COP31 is set to boost the profile of the ocean’s role in solving climate change, but finance and clear conservation measures will be needed for it to move the needle, experts said.
The Turkish presidency has announced plans for an Antalya Ocean Declaration that recognises the centrality of the global ocean – the world’s largest carbon sink – in regulating the climate and minimising the now unavoidable overshoot of global temperatures above 1.5C over pre-industrial levels.
Meanwhile, as part of the formal UN negotiations, Australia has announced plans to land a cover decision in Antalya, which, according to veteran former US negotiator Sue Biniaz, would be the only section of the formal negotiations where the role of oceans could be included.
She added that an outcome at COP31 seems likely, given the initiative from both presidencies and a push from over 100 countries – including Brazil, the EU and the African Group of countries – calling for the UN negotiations to deliver a plan for implementing ocean measures.
Governments will arrive in Antalya with a “super El Niño” adding stress to marine ecosystems and expected to continue to intensify until December 2026, with parts of the Pacific averaging almost 30C (86F) – over 3C more than normal – in October, according to monthly EU sea temperature data.
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COP31 Briefing: What to expect from the Antalya climate summit?
Electrification, the fossil fuel transition, adaptation to rising impacts, climate science and trade are key themes as governments gather for COP31 in Türkiye -
European nations signal support for fossil fuel roadmap, says COP30 president
André Corrêa do Lago told Climate Home News that it’s up to other nations to decide how the fossil fuel and deforestation roadmaps are used -
Nepal seeks stronger recognition of mountain issues in UN climate process
Flood-hit Nepal wants COP31 to adopt a new agenda item formalising work on mountains and climate change and boosting the response to rising risks
Needs for ocean conservation and funding
While elevating the ocean agenda is “critical”, it must lead to funding for ocean conservation and a clear plan for reaching the global target – set at UN biodiversity talks in 2022 – of protecting 30% of the global ocean by 2030, said Pradeep Singh, senior ocean governance expert at Oceano Azul Foundation.
The ocean is precisely where governments are farthest off track from meeting this target – informally known as the 30×30 goal. Even if countries meet all their nature conservation plans, only about 12% of the global ocean would be protected, the UN says.
“Acknowledgment of marine protected areas and the 30×30 target as climate infrastructures will certainly boost efforts and funding for science and management,” Singh told Climate Home News.
Shamini Selvaratnam, director of international climate and clean energy at Ocean Conservancy, said an ocean commitment that makes a difference in coastal communities “takes funding, local capacity and support that countries can actually access”.
An analysis by climate think tank Zero Carbon Analytics shows that investment in the blue economy – through activities like sustainable fisheries or cleaner shipping – is only at about 2% of the needs, which are estimated at $550 billion per year.
Following-through on commitments
Selvaratnam added that countries must also establish mechanisms to follow through on these measures, which currently only exists in the form of a non-binding dialogue that is not expected to produce any negotiated agreements.
She said that countries at COP31 must find ways for their ocean commitments to inform the next global stocktake, the UN’s five-yearly review of progress on climate action. Some countries – including African countries, Latin American nations, small island states and the European Union – have backed a process that culminates in the next global stocktake.
At climate negotiations, countries are not mandated to include ocean conservation measures in their climate plans. But a group of countries led by France and Brazil is pushing them to do so voluntarily through an initiative called Blue NDC Challenge. Seventeen countries have joined the initiative so far.
In its list of COP31 priorities, the EU has called for the “critical role” of oceans to be recognised, but falls short of calling for any specific actions to feature marine action more prominently in climate plans.
As part of their demands, ocean campaign groups have called for the establishment of an “Antalya Ocean Compact”, a platform where countries can coordinate efforts across different environmental treaties, including the UN climate, biodiversity and high seas negotiations.
Ultimately, Selvaratnam said a strong deal “must accelerate emissions cuts, clean energy, and a transition away from fossil fuels, including offshore oil and gas”.
Ilana Seid, chair of the AOSIS group of small island states and permanent representative of Palau to the UN, said during a press briefing last week that “meaningful progress” on emissions reduction is “the best way” to alleviate stress on the ocean.
The post ‘Blue COP31’ set to spotlight need for ocean protections amid record heat appeared first on Climate Home News.
‘Blue COP31’ set to spotlight need for ocean protections amid record heat
In the wake of its recent glacial flooding disaster, Nepal and the kingdom of Bhutan have proposed a new agenda item on mountains and climate change for the COP31 summit which opens on Monday in the Turkish city of Antalya.
In a submission addressed to the COP31 presidency and the head of the UN climate secretariat (UNFCCC), Nepal said the agenda item, entitled “1.5°C Warming in Mountains”, is an effort to strengthen the response of the international community to the climate risks facing the world’s mountain regions.
The item proposes that mountain issues should become a regular part of the formal UN climate change process, with a focus on scientific assessment of the risks associated with warming overshooting 1.5C, an annual high-level dialogue, a dedicated work programme and improved access to climate finance.
Maheshwar Dhakal, chief of the climate change management division of Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment, told Climate Home News that Himalayan countries face similar problems such as collapsing glaciers and flooding from glacial lakes.
“We are trying to bring all Himalayan countries together under this agenda item,” he said.
COP31 Briefing: What to expect from the Antalya climate summit?
At this year’s UN General Assembly, Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah called for strong global action to ensure climate justice and proposed creating a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism led by India, China and Nepal. It would share satellite data, monitor glacial slopes and lakes, strengthen early warning systems and coordinate cross-border disaster response.
Nepal has experienced significant infrastructure losses and human casualties from flooding every year since 2020. In late August, the collapse of a glacial slope on the border with Tibet caused a torrent of water and debris to course down the Bhote Koshi River, leaving more than 6,000 people dead or missing.
According to a government needs assessment, the disaster caused an estimated $2.7 billion in physical damage and economic losses, while around $4.8 billion will be required for recovery and reconstruction.
More research needed on threats
Although high mountain regions are known to be fragile ecosystems, especially as global warming accelerates glacier melt, the extent of their vulnerability is still not fully understood. When the devastating Bhote Koshi floods hit, it opened the eyes of the world to the risks.
Dhakal said the Bhote Koshi floods “have proved the impacts of climate change in the Himalayan region”, which were linked to rising temperatures by scientists with the World Weather Attribution group. “Therefore, Nepal wants scientific studies, research and political discussions on mountain climate risks to receive greater attention at international climate conferences,” he added.
Nepal has been making efforts on this front since 2009, when it held a cabinet meeting at Kalapatthar near Mount Everest. Since COP28 in Dubai, Nepal has organised high-level events and dialogues on mountain issues at COPs and is co-hosting one at COP31 with Bhutan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.