UNITED NATIONS, Jul 1 2025 (IPS) – Five years from the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we face a development emergency. The promise to eradicate poverty, combat climate change, and build a sustainable future for all is slipping away. The SDG financing gap has ballooned to over $4 trillion annually—a crisis compounded by declining aid, rising trade barriers, and a fragile global economy.
At the heart of this crisis is a systemic failure: the world’s most vulnerable nations—Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS)—are being left behind. The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) in Seville is a historic chance to correct course.
We must seize it.
LDCs: Progress Stalled, Financing Denied
Three years into the Doha Programme of Action, LDCs are lagging precariously. Growth averages just 4.1%, far below the 7% target. FDI remains stagnant at a meager 2.5% of global flows, while ODA to LDCs fell by 3% in 2024. Worse, 29 LDCs now spend more on debt than health, and eight spend more on debt than education.
USG Rabab Fatima
These numbers demand action: scaled-up concessional finance, deep debt relief, and innovative tools like blended finance to unlock private investment. Without urgent measures, the 2030 Agenda will fail its most marginalized beneficiaries.
LLDCs: Trapped by Geography, Strangled by Finances
Six months after adopting the ambitious Awaza Programme of Action, LLDCs remain hamstrung by structural barriers. Despite hosting 7% of the world’s people, they account for just 1.2% of global trade, with export costs 74% higher than coastal nations. FDI has plummeted from $36 billion in 2011 to $23 billion in 2024, while ODA continues its downward spiral. Official Development Assistance (ODA) has also declined significantly from $38.1 billion in 2020 to $32 billion in 2023, with projections indicating continued downward trends.
The Awaza Programme outlines solutions—trade facilitation, infrastructure, and resilience—but these will remain empty promises without financing. FFD4 must align with its priorities, ensuring LLDCs get the investment they need to transform their economies.
For SIDS, the crisis is existential. Over 40% are in or near debt distress; 70% exceed sustainable debt thresholds. Between 2016 and 2020, they paid 18 times more in debt servicing than they received in climate finance. This is unconscionable. Countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis should not be left on the margins of global finance. Nations drowning in rising sea level – which they did not contribute to – should not be drowning in debt.
We can continue patching over cracks in a broken system. Or we can build a more equitable foundation for sustainable development, and for that addressing debt sustainability is not only an economic necessity, but also a development imperative. No country should be forced to choose between servicing debt and protecting its future.
The Way Forward: Solidarity in Action
FFD4 must deliver:
1. Debt relief and restructuring for LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS to free up resources for development. 2. Scaling up concessional finance and honoring ODA commitments. 3. Mobilizing private capital through de-risking instruments and blended finance. 4. Climate finance justice, ensuring SIDS and LDCs receive grants and concessional finance, not loans, to build resilience.
The moral case is clear, but so is the strategic one: A world where billions are left in poverty and instability, should be a world of shared risks and responsibilities. FFD4 must be the moment we choose a different path—one of equity, urgency, and action. The time for excuses is over. The agreement on the Compromiso de Sevilla is the start – the real test will be its implementation.
As we move forward on those important responsibilities s and necessary actions, my Office, UN-OHRLLS, is with you every step of the way.
Rabab Fatima, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States
Jun 27 2025 (IPS) – CIVICUS discusses autonomous weapons systems and the campaign for regulation with Nicole van Rooijen, Executive Director of Stop Killer Robots, a global civil society coalition of over 270 organisations that campaigns for a new international treaty on autonomous weapons systems.
Nicole van Rooijen
In May, United Nations (UN) member states convened in New York for the first time to confront the challenge of regulating autonomous weapons systems, which can select and engage targets without human intervention. These ‘killer robots’ pose unprecedented ethical, humanitarian and legal risks, and civil society warns they could trigger a global arms race while undermining international law. With weapons that have some autonomy already deployed in conflicts from Gaza to Ukraine, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has set a 2026 deadline for a legally binding treaty.
What are autonomous weapons systems and why do they pose unprecedented challenges?
Autonomous weapons systems, or ‘killer robots’, are weapons that, once activated by a human, can select and engage targets without further human intervention. These systems make independent decisions – without the intervention of a human operator – about when, how, where and against whom to use force, processing sensor data or following pre-programmed ‘target profiles’. Rather than using the term ‘lethal autonomous weapons systems’, our campaign refers to ‘autonomous weapons systems’ to emphasise that any such system, lethal or not, can inflict serious harm.
The implications are staggering. These weapons could operate across all domains – air, land, sea and space – during armed conflicts and law enforcement or border control operations. They raise numerous ethical, humanitarian, legal and security concerns.
The most troubling variant involves anti-personnel systems triggered by human presence or individuals or groups who meet pre-programmed target profiles. By reducing people to data points for algorithmic targeting, these weapons are dehumanising. They strip away our inherent rights and dignity, dramatically increasing the risk of unjust harm or death. No machine, computer or algorithm can recognise a human as a human being, nor respect humans as inherent bearers of rights and dignity. Autonomous weapons cannot comprehend what it means to be in a state of war, much less what it means to have – or to end – a human life. Enabling machines to make life and death decisions is morally unjustifiable.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has noted it is ‘difficult to envisage’ scenarios where autonomous weapons wouldn’t pose significant risks of violating international humanitarian law, given the inevitable presence of civilians and non-combatants in conflict zones.
Currently, no international law governs these weapons’ development or use. As the technology advances rapidly, this legal vacuum creates a dangerous environment where autonomous weapons could be deployed in ways that violate existing international law while escalating conflicts, enabling unaccountable violence and harming civilians. This is what prompted the UN Secretary-General and the ICRC president to jointly call for urgent negotiations on a legally binding international instrument on autonomous weapons systems by 2026.
How have recent consultations advanced the regulatory agenda?
The informal consultations held in New York in May, mandated by UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 79/62, focused on issues raised in the UN Secretary-General’s 2024 report on autonomous weapons systems. They sought to broaden awareness among the diplomatic community and complement the work around the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), emphasising risks that extend far beyond international humanitarian law.
The UNGA offers a crucial advantage: universal participation. Unlike the CCW process in Geneva, it includes all states. This is particularly important for global south states, many of which are not a party to the CCW.
Over two days, states and civil society explored human rights implications, humanitarian consequences, ethical dilemmas, technological risks and security threats. Rich discussions emerged around regional dynamics and practical scenarios, examining how these weapons might be used in policing, border control and by non-state actors or criminal groups. While time constraints prevented exhaustive exploration of all issues, the breadth of engagement was unprecedented.
The Stop Killer Robots campaign found these consultations energising and strategically valuable. They demonstrated how UN processes in Geneva and New York can reinforce each other: while one forum provides detailed technical groundwork, particularly in developing treaty language, the other fosters inclusive political leadership and momentum. Both forums should work in tandem to maximise global efforts to achieve an international legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.
What explains the global divide on regulation?
The vast majority of states support a legally binding treaty on autonomous weapons systems, favouring a two-tier approach that combines prohibitions with positive obligations.
However, roughly a dozen states oppose any form of regulation. Among them are some of the world’s most heavily militarised states and the primary developers, producers and likely users of autonomous weapons systems. Their resistance likely stems from the desire to preserve military superiority and protect economic interests, and the belief in inflated claims about these weapons’ supposed benefits promoted by big tech and arms industries. Or perhaps they simply favour force over diplomacy.
Whatever their motivations, this opposition underscores the urgent need for the international community to reinforce a rules-based global order that prioritises dialogue, multilateralism and responsible governance over unchecked technological ambition.
How do geopolitical tensions and corporate influence complicate international regulation efforts?
It is undeniable that geopolitical tensions and corporate influence are challenging the development of regulations for emerging technologies.
A handful of powerful states are prioritising narrow military and economic advantages over collective security, undermining the multilateral cooperation that has traditionally governed arms control. Equally troubling is the expanding influence of the private sector, particularly large tech companies that operate largely outside established accountability frameworks while wielding significant sway over political leaders.
This dual pressure is undermining the international rules-based order precisely when we most need stronger multilateral governance. Without robust regulatory frameworks that can withstand these pressures, development of autonomous weapons risks accelerating unchecked, with profound implications for global security and human rights.
How is civil society shaping this debate and advocating for regulation?
Anticipating the challenges autonomous weapons systems would pose, leading human rights organisations and humanitarian disarmament experts founded the Stop Killer Robots campaign in 2012. Today, our coalition spans over 270 organisations across more than 70 countries, working at national, regional and global levels to build political support for legally binding regulation.
We’ve played a leading role in shaping global discourse by highlighting the wide-ranging risks these technologies pose and producing timely research on weapons systems evolution and shifting state positions.
Our multi-level strategy targets all decision-makers who can influence this agenda, at local, regional and global levels. It’s crucial that political leaders understand how autonomous weapons might be used in warfare and other contexts, enabling them to advocate effectively within their spheres of influence for the treaty we urgently need.
Public pressure is key to our approach. Recent years have seen growing weapons systems autonomy and military applications, particularly in ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, alongside rising use of technologies such as facial recognition in civilian contexts. Public concern about the dehumanising nature of these technologies and the lack of regulation has grown online and offline. We frame these concerns along the whole spectrum of automated harm, with autonomous weapons representing the extreme, and highlight the critical need to close the gap between innovation and regulation.
We also collaborate with experts from arms, military and technology sectors to bring real-world knowledge and credibility to our treaty advocacy. It is crucial to involve those who develop and deploy autonomous weapons to demonstrate the gravity of current circumstances and the urgent need for regulation.
We encourage people to take action by signing our petition, asking their local political representatives to sign our Parliamentary Pledge or just spreading the word about our campaign on social media. This ultimately puts pressure on diplomats and other decision-makers to advance the legal safeguards we desperately need.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Living in Camp Roe in the Democratic Republic of Congo Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 2025 (IPS) – The demand for cobalt and other minerals is fueling a decades-long humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In pursuit of money to support their families, Congolese laborers face abuse and life-threatening conditions working in unregulated mines.
Used in a variety of products ranging from vitamins to phone and car batteries, minerals are a necessity, making daily tasks run smoothly. The DRC is currently known as the world’s largest producer of cobalt, accounting for nearly 75 percent of global cobalt production. With such high demands for the mineral, unsafe and poorly regulated mining operations are widespread across the DRC.
The exploitation of workers is largely seen in informal, artisanal, small-scale mines, which account for 15 to 30 percent of the DRC’s cobalt production. Unlike large industrial mines with access to powerful machines, artisanal mine workers typically excavate by hand. They face toxic fumes, dust inhalation, and the risk of landslides and mines collapsing daily.
Aside from unpaid forced labor, artisanal small-scale mines can be a surprisingly good source of income for populations with limited education and qualifications. The International Peace Information Service (IPIS) reports that miners can make around 2.7 to 3.3 USD per day. In comparison, about 73 percent of the population in the DRC makes 1.90 USD or less per day. However, even with slightly higher incomes than most, miners still struggle to make ends meet.
Adult workers are not the only group facing labor abuse. Due to minimal regulations and governing by labor inspectors, artisanal mines commonly use child labor. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs reports that children between the ages of 5 and 17 years old are forced to work in mineral mines across the DRC.
“They are unremunerated and exploited, and the work is often fatal as the children are required to crawl into small holes dug into the earth,” said Hervé Diakiese Kyungu, a Congolese civil rights attorney.
Kyungu testified at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., on July 14, 2022. The hearing was on the use of child labor in China-backed cobalt mines in the DRC. Kyungu also said that in many cases, children are forced into this work without any protection.
Children go into the mines “…using only their hands or rudimentary tools without protective equipment to extract cobalt and other minerals,” said Kyungu.
Despite the deadly humanitarian issue at hand, the solution to creating a more sustainable and safe work environment for miners is not simple. The DRC has a deep history of using forced labor for profit. Starting in the 1880s, Belgium’s King Leopold relied on forced labor by hundreds of ethnic communities across the Congo River Basin to cultivate and trade rubber, ivory and minerals.
While forced and unsafe conditions kill thousands each year, simply shutting down artisanal mining operations is not the solution. Mining can be a significant source of income for many Congolese living in poverty.
Armed groups also control many artisanal mining operations. These groups use profits acquired from mineral trading to fund weapons and fighters. It is estimated that for the past 20 years, the DRC has experienced violence from around 120 armed groups and security forces.
“The world’s economies, new technologies and climate change are all increasing demand for the rare minerals in the eastern Congo—and the world is letting criminal organisms steal and sell these minerals by brutalizing my people,” said Pétronille Vaweka during the 2023 U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) award ceremony.
Vaweka is a Congolese grandmother who has mediated peace accords in local wars.
“Africans and Americans can both gain by ending this criminality, which has been ignored too long,” said Vaweka.
One way to mitigate the crisis is through stricter laws and regulations. Many humanitarian organizations, such as the United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), strongly advocate for such change.
Alongside peace missions, the UN has made multiple initiatives to combat illegal mineral trading. They also created the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which is dedicated to helping children in humanitarian crises.
The ILO has seen success through its long-standing project called the Global Accelerator Lab (GALAB). Its goal is to increase good practices and find new solutions to end child labor and forced labor worldwide. Their goal markers include innovation, strengthening workers’ voices, social protection and due diligence with transparency in supply chains.
One group they have set up to coordinate child protection is the Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS). In 2024, the ILO reported that the program had registered over 6,200 children engaged in mining in the Haut-Katanga and Lualaba provinces.
Additionally, GALAB is working on training more labor and mining inspectors to monitor conditions and practices.
While continued support by various aid groups has significantly helped the ongoing situation in the DRC, more action is needed.
“This will require a partnership of Africans and Americans and those from other developed countries. But we have seen this kind of exploitation and war halted in Sierra Leone and Liberia—and the Africans played the leading role, with support from the international community,” Vaweka said. “We need an awakening of the world now to do the same in Congo. It will require the United Nations, the African Union, our neighboring countries. But the call to world action that can make it possible still depends on America as a leader.”
Delegates at AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, which focused on the ICPD Program of Action and 2030 Agenda. Credit: People’s Majlis of the Republic of Maldives
MALÉ & JOHANNESBURG, Jun 26 2025 (IPS) – A meeting of parliamentarians in Malé, the Maldives, pledged to provide an enabling environment for emerging women leaders by supporting them and promoting a political culture rooted in mutual respect, inclusivity, and equal opportunity.
This was one of the main features of the Malé Declaration, agreed to by more than 40 participants from parliaments, governments, international organizations, NGOs, youth organizations, and academia across 15 countries during the AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, which focused on the ICPD Program of Action and 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, aiming to address youth and women empowerment.
The meeting was co-hosted by the People’s Majlis of the Maldives and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through the Japan Trust Fund (JTF).
The lawmakers agreed to commission evidence-based research on barriers to women’s political participation. The research will “examine the social, cultural, economic, and institutional impediments to women’s pursuit of political office and leadership roles in the member states in Asia, including the Maldives,” the declaration said, with the outcomes serving as a foundation for targeted policy interventions and legislative reforms to enhance women’s political engagement.
Dr. Anara Naeem, MP, Huraa Constituency/Maldives
In an interview ahead of the meeting, Dr. Anara Naeem (MP, Huraa Constituency/Maldives) told IPS that advocating for women’s rights started when they were young and parliamentarians had an active role in ensuring that women are encouraged to become involved in the economy.
Reacting to a question on the UNFPA research, which shows that 40 percent of young women are not engaged in employment, education, or training (NEET), she noted many core challenges, including high youth unemployment despite free education up to a first university degree. The country, like others, had to deal with gender stereotypes that prioritized women’s domestic role over careers—and with social participation barriers, “stereotypes limit women’s public engagement.”
Policymakers, Naeem said, were focusing on addressing these using multiple strategies, including promoting postgraduate scholarships and vocational training (tourism, tech, and healthcare aligned with job markets), encouraging women into STEM and non-traditional fields via mentorship, and integrating leadership and career advancement programs to address the glass ceiling.
Parliamentarians were also looking at innovative ways to boost the public sector hiring of women and incentivize private sector partnerships through tax benefits, flexible work, and career progression pathways.
“We also host community dialogues (haa saaba) and engage religious leaders to shift mindsets,” Naeem said.
AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, held in Malé, Maldives. Credit: People’s Majlis of the Republic of Maldives
Speakers at the AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, held in Malé, Maldives. Credit: People’s Majlis of the Republic of Maldives
The Maldivian government was working to enforce gender equality laws (anti-discrimination, parental leave, and addressing the glass ceiling) and allocate a budget for childcare, job programs, and women’s grants, including the enforcement of paid maternity leave for up to six months and no-pay leave for a year in all government offices. It was also encouraging the private sector to do likewise.
However, the success of these plans requires “coordinated action across government, the private sector, NGOs, and communities to create relevant jobs, dismantle cultural barriers (including the glass ceiling), provide critical support (childcare, robust maternity leave), and enable flexible pathways for young women’s economic and social participation.”
Parliamentarians also committed to working with the relevant Maldivian authorities to undertake a thorough “review and enhancement of national school curriculum to align it with job matrix. This initiative shall integrate principles of gender equality, women’s rights, civic responsibility, leadership, and sustainable youth development, fostering transformative educational content to instill progressive values from an early age.”
Naeem said lawmakers were also playing a special role in addressing issues affecting the youth like drug use and mental health, where they were “combining legislative action, oversight, resource allocation, and public advocacy.”
This included updating drug laws to target traffickers, decriminalizing addiction, and prioritizing treatment. While parliamentarians were lobbying for increased funding for rehab centers and the training of psychologists and medication subsidies, they were using national media to create awareness and holding local dialogues.
“Our key focus in law reform includes better rehab frameworks, funding oversight, public awareness partnerships, building support systems, minimizing service delivery gaps, and reducing relapse—shifting towards prevention and recovery in the Maldivian context,” Naeem said.
Participants at the meeting recommitted themselves to working with all stakeholders to advance the ICPD PoA and achieve the 2030 Agenda and reaffirmed the 2024 Oslo Statement of Commitment.
For streetside sellers of artificial jewelry and for recyclers toiling under the increasingly torrid temperatures caused by climate change, innovative insurance means not all is lost when their wares are ruined or it is too hot to work. But is this a panacea or an opportunity for the authorities to ignore their responsibilities to the poorest workers of India?
Street vendor Deviben Dhaundhaliya waits by her iron-frame mobile ‘shop’ to be shifted to the marketplace for evening-time sales in Ahmedabad city in Gujarat state. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS
BHUBANESWAR/AHMEDABAD, India, Jun 26 2025 (IPS) – As Deviben Dhaundhaliya, 45, a streetside seller of artificial jewelry, waits for her husband Devabhai to arrive and help her shift their iron-frame mobile ‘shop’ to the Bhadra Fort open-air marketplace in Ahmedabad city, she tells of how “as heat increased, my wares started melting under the direct exposure to the sun, or they got discolored.”
It was not the first time Deviben’s wares got heat-damaged. It has been happening most years ever since Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city in May 2010 experienced an unprecedented week-long deadly heat wave spiking to 46.8°C. Deviben says she feels an unrelenting anxiety deep within her as summer approaches.
“For over a decade our income plummets, sickness stalks us through the hottest months.”
However, succour has arrived in India in the form of a newer kind of income protection insurance against extreme heat. A parametric microinsurance has informal sector self-employed women like Deviben covered, building their resilience to growing extreme heat in India.
Parametric insurance depends on one or a few predetermined indexes or parameters, and if these are triggered, a pre-agreed payout happens quickly, which is its attraction. The payout is regardless of the quantum of loss. This creates a much lower risk and time-effort for daily-wage-dependent insurance participants. Whereas traditional indemnity-based insurances necessitate a loss-assessing survey, taking months for compensation payout.
Parametric insurance beneficiaries often pay a small premium, which is subsidized in these initial stages, but group insurers like SEWA visualize beneficiaries realizing benefits and eventually paying.
“Livelihoods and incomes decrease by 30-50 percent due to decreased work efficiency, reduced work hours, increased raw material expenses, spoilage of goods, loss of customers, and reduced workdays due to heat-related illnesses,” according to Sahil Hebbar, Senior Coordinator in charge of the parametric micro-insurance pilot at Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA).
WMO chart: The 1991-2024 warming average trend has almost doubled from that of 1961-1990.
The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) just-released State of the Climate in Asia 2024 finds that in 2024, Asia’s average temperature was about 1.04°C above the 1991–2020 average, ranking as the warmest or second warmest year on record, depending on the (final) dataset.
WMO warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. The 1991-2024 warming average trend has almost doubled from that of 1961-1990.
Extreme heat is one of the deadliest climate risks, responsible for almost half a million deaths per year globally, said Swiss RE one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance. It partnered with SEWA’s group insurance in 2024.
Beyond the impacts on worker health and well-being, extreme heat can also cause a myriad of economic impacts. Globally, 675 billion hours are lost every year because of excessive heat and humidity, amounting to roughly 1.7% of global GDP, according to Swiss RE.
Women in informal employment face climate heat and exclusion
Waste recycler Hansaben Ahir checks a discarded tarpaulin sheet in Ahmedabad city, Gujarat state. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS
Around 90 percent of women workers participate in the informal employment sector in India. If they are unable to go out to work due to extreme heat conditions, they lose their daily wages. Overall, developing nations are the most exposed to the frequency of climate shocks and chronic onset of mainly extreme heat and floods. Women workers are the most impacted.
A workers’ union, SEWA members total 2.9 million informal sector women workers. Salt-pan workers, recyclers from ship-breaking yards, construction site workers, street vendors, farmers, street waste recyclers, head loaders and home-based workers are included as beneficiaries. These women survive from one day to another on daily wages averaging 150-450 rupees (USD 1.74 – USD 5.22).
Deviben sells bangles, neck pieces and eardrops of brightly colored fiber material inset in crudely worked metal and gaudy wristwatches with Tissot or CK emblazoned on their dials.
“Because we all streetside sellers sit directly exposed to the sun, dehydration is common. Sometimes my head reels like a carnival merry-go-round; I can barely stand. I go under a tree shade but for only a short while, fearing I’d lose customers,” Deviben said.
When it is really bad, she buys a packet of Oral Dehydration Solution but cannot always afford the 20 rupees (US 0.23 cents) cost.
Hansaben Ahir, 49, a waste collector and recycler, has been a SEWA member for 15 years. She said dehydration, a resultant urinary tract infection, and sudden heat cramps in her legs are so painful, she just has to sit herself down, even if on a road. Last summer she also developed hypertension, mainly stressing over a rising-cost home loan and plummeting income.
“Late-March till the end of June almost every year, my daily earnings fall to 250 rupees (USD 2.90), just half of my normal income, because customer footfall drops drastically,” Deviben, the street vendor, said.
Out-of-pocket medical expenses for the entire family take a chunk from their meager savings. “The insurance payout helps us meet medical expenses,” she said.
Where traditional insurance hesitates, parametric climate insurance can spread its reach
Home-based worker Dipikaben with her teenage friends in Odni Chawl slum, gluing stones and beads on a fabric length in Ahmedabad city in Gujarat. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS
While SEWA’s 2023 parametric heat insurance pilot was a non-starter, nevertheless, “It was a pilot, and we learned a lot of lessons,” Sahil Hebbar told IPS earlier when the parametric insurance failed to trigger any payout although 2023 was the second warmest on record in the country since 1901 according to the India Meteorological Department.
The single parameter that was considered for the 6-week pilot was satellite-determined maximum daytime temperature. Only when a consecutive 3-day average temperature topped 45-46 degrees Celsius would the women have seen a payout.
Hebbar said there is a difference between satellite-recorded temperature and that on the ground where SEWA women worked. Wet-bulb effect, that dangerous effect of heat combined with humidity that inhibits sweating to cool off the body, should be another parameter. So should high nighttime temperature, which is more harmful for health than daytime heat. Hebbar is also a consulting physician with SEWA.
The challenge, in this case of extreme temperatures, was that the perception of heat and its tolerance can be relative, with significant degrees of variation depending on the location (even within the same Indian province). Somehow local climate variations need to be reflected in the final design of the solution, according to Swiss RE which designed SEWA’s 2024 parametric insurance.
That year, with modifications to design, mainly using locale-by-locale historic temperature data, the parametric insurance was scaled up to 50,000 members across 22 districts in three provinces—Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra—up from the pilot’s 21,000 members across just 5 districts in Gujarat alone.
From getting zero payout in 2023 because of the unrealistically high trigger of 45-46 degrees Celsius, in 2024, the insurance was triggered in 17 out of the 22 districts, and 46,339 SEWA members received payouts ranging from 151-1651 rupees (USD 1.75-USD 19).
In 2023 the climate adaptation equipment that the insurance beneficiaries got for the USD 3 premium they paid were umbrellas and cooler water flasks for urban workers, while rural workers got tarpaulin and solar lanterns. In the summer of 2024, these were replaced by a cash assistance layer that triggered in all 22 districts, and members received cash assistance of 400 rupees (USD 4.64).
The two-layered combination of insurance payouts and a direct cash assistance programme helps reduce marginalized women workers’ burden of income losses from climate events.
Similarly, another Gujarat women-centric non-profit, Mahila Housing Trust (MHT), has also, in 2024 introduced parametric heat insurance as a financial safety net for urban poor communities vulnerable to extreme heat.
However, parametric insurance is now also bailing out extreme monsoon victims, and this time not non-profits but a provincial government itself, the first in India, has disaster-insured the entire State of Nagaland in India’s northeast.
Nagaland’s annual rainfall averages between 70 and 100 inches, concentrated over May to September. However, torrential rainfall squeezed into just a few days can cause havoc, triggering landslides and home and crop damage in the mountainous topography.
The pre-agreed payouts here are based on high, medium, or low flood risk zones. The parametric monsoon coverage by the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) is provided under the Disaster Risk Transfer Parametric Insurance Solution (DRTPS). It saw its first successful payout in May this year for damages during the monsoons of 2024.
However, the new insurance may not be the panacea it’s being visualized to be. A section of policy experts and climate activists questions the long-term sustainability of parametric insurance.
Such mechanisms nudge governments to abdicate responsibility, providing social safeguards
“In the face of escalating climate impacts, the notion that insurance can serve as a panacea is not only misguided but dangerous. As climate impacts grow more severe, large areas of our planet are becoming impossible to insure. This means that the safety net of insurance is disappearing, even in the most developed parts of the world. Moreover, the structure of parametric insurance, which disburses funds based on predetermined triggers rather than actual losses, starkly fails those in dire need, often leaving them with a fraction of what is required to rebuild their lives,” climate activist Harjeet Singh told IPS.
“Such mechanisms not only deepen existing inequalities but also perilously nudge governments towards abdicating their duty to provide essential social safeguards. These very protections are vital for communities to rebuild their livelihoods and homes after disasters,” Singh, a lead campaigner for the United Nations’s Loss and Damage movement, added.
“We must pivot towards social protection mechanisms, such as unconditional cash transfers post-disaster, subsidized food grains, guaranteed wage employment for the able-bodied, and financial support for reconstructing homes, livelihoods, and ecosystem restoration. These not only assist in immediate recovery but also strike at the heart of vulnerability, fostering a resilient recovery from the climate-induced devastation,” he said.
“This is not merely a matter of policy preference but a fundamental human right for communities on the front line of the climate crisis. Robust social protection is required for genuine resilience and a fairer, more equitable response to the climate emergency,” he asserted.
Note: This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jun 25 2025 (IPS) – Poland’s embattled Prime Minister Donald Tusk emerged bruised but still standing after his government survived a parliamentary vote of confidence on 11 June. He’d called the vote, which he won by 243 to 210, just days after the presidential candidate of his Civic Platform (PO) party suffered an unexpected defeat.
Karol Nawrocki, an independent nationalist conservative backed by the former ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) defeated liberal pro-European Union (EU) Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski in a nail-biting presidential runoff. The result offers a broader test of Poland’s democratic resilience that could have implications across the EU.
The electoral blow
Nawrocki’s path to victory was anything but predictable. The 42-year-old former president of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance had never held elected office before emerging as PiS’s chosen candidate. Yet his populist message resonated with frustrated voters.
Economic grievances provided fertile ground for nationalist appeals. Despite Poland’s relatively low unemployment, youth unemployment of over 10 per cent is an understandable source of anxiety for younger voters. Increasingly, they’re reacting by rejecting mainstream political offerings.
This helped cause the fragmented results of the 18 May first round. Trzaskowski won only 31.36 per cent of the vote and Nawrocki took 29.54 per cent. The combined vote share of right-wing candidates – Nawrocki and far-right politicians Grzegorz Braun and Sławomir Mentzen – exceeded polling expectations. Braun and Mentzen took over 21 per cent between them, thanks to the support of many young voters.
The 1 June runoff saw Nawrocki win 50.89 per cent to Trzaskowski’s 49.11 per cent, a margin of under two percentage points. Nawrocki took 64 per cent of the rural vote while Trzaskowski commanded 67 per cent in urban centres – an established geographic divide that reflects an enduring ideological division between a conservative, nationalist Poland and its liberal, cosmopolitan counterpart.
Election interference
Disinformation is helping fuel polarisation. The election campaign unfolded against a backdrop of foreign interference concerns that echoed troubling developments across the region – particularly in Romania, where the Supreme Court cancelled the 2024 presidential election due to evidence of Russian interference.
Just days before the first round, Poland’s Research and Academic Computer Network discovered evidence of potentially foreign-funded Facebook ads targeting all major candidates. According to an investigation by fact-checking organisation Demagog, TikTok was flooded with disinformation, particularly but not exclusively against Trzaskowski. The platform’s algorithm displayed far-right content twice as often as centrist or left-wing content to new users, with pro-Nawrocki videos appearing four times more frequently than pro-Trzaskowski content. Over 1,200 fake accounts systematically attacked Trzaskowski, while another 1,200 promoted Nawrocki.
The influence operation extended beyond individual character assassination to sowing distrust in the democratic process and sharing broader far-right narratives. Fake accounts systematically promoted anti-Ukrainian sentiment and anti-immigration conspiracy theories.
Donald Trump also gave Nawrocki an unprecedented level of support: he received him at the White House just before the election and sent his Homeland Security Secretary to campaign for him in Poland as she attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). This year, CPAC, a US conservative platform, held two international events, in Hungary and Poland. The Polish one, timed to coincide with the runoff, offered a clear indication of how the nationalist far right has become internationalised.
Institutional paralysis
The viability of Tusk’s ideologically diverse coalition and his own political future have been called into question by the result. With critics in the Civic Coalition blaming the election defeat on the government’s communication failures and Tusk’s personal unpopularity, the confidence vote became a key test.
But even though Tusk has survived the confidence vote, it will be a tall order to implement the reforms needed to restore the democratic institutions that came under strain during the PiS administration. In eight years in power, PiS dismantled judicial independence, made public media its propaganda mouthpiece and undermined women’s rights by introducing one of Europe’s harshest anti-abortion laws. The new government’s attempts to reckon with this legacy had already been hampered by outgoing President Andrzej Duda, who used his veto power to block key reforms. Nawrocki will continue that, leaving Tusk unable to realise his promises to Polish voters and the EU.
The European Commission had counted on Tusk completing promised judicial reforms as it unlocked billions in pandemic recovery funds frozen over rule-of-law concerns during PiS rule. With progress now unlikely, the Commission faces the difficult decision of whether to maintain its funding even if the government’s unable to deliver promised changes.
Beyond the EU, Nawrocki’s foreign policy positions threaten to complicate Poland’s previously staunch backing of Ukraine. Although supportive of continued aid, Nawrocki has pledged to block any prospects of Ukraine joining NATO and prioritise Polish interests over refugee support.
High stakes
The razor-thin margin of victory in the presidential election, combined with record turnout of 72.8 per cent, tells a complex story of a divided society. While high participation suggests robust civic engagement, the deep polarisation reflected in the results reveals faultlines that extend far beyond conventional political disagreements.
The outcome offers further evidence that, when economic grievances aren’t addressed, institutional trust is allowed to erode and information environments are left vulnerable to manipulation, opportunistic politicians will exploit social divisions and anti-establishment anger.
For Poland, the coming years will test whether democratic institutions can withstand the pressures of sustained political deadlock. Poland faces potential institutional paralysis that could further erode public trust in democratic governance. Poland’s institutions will need to try to demonstrate their continuing effectiveness, and civil society and independent media will need to maintain their credibility, to help protect and nurture democratic values.
