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Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section at the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria (OSE), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
Libyan military talks
Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed about this morning’s press stakeout by Ghassan Salamé, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, on the occasion of the start of a meeting in Geneva of the 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission. Mr. Salamé had said it was the very first time senior military officers from both sides of the Libyan conflict were meeting. The talks were very important to discuss how to consolidate the truce agreed to in early January and move towards a more permanent ceasefire. A transcript of the press stakeout would be sent out shortly. In response to questions, Mr. LeBlanc said Mr. Salamé had said the meeting was expected to last at least until Thursday. He had also expressed the hope that political talks could be held in Geneva within weeks.
Situation in Idlib, Syria
Jenifer Fenton, for the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, said that the Special Envoy, Geir O. Pedersen, was alarmed by the continued and further escalation of violence in Syria’s northwest, the consequences of which were devastating and the price the civilians were paying was high. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced, and their numbers continued to swell. The most vulnerable – women, children, and the elderly – were particularly affected. Any attacks on civilian objects, which continued to be reported, were unacceptable. There needed to be strict respect of rules, respect of civilians and civilian objects, and observance of the principles of proportionality and distinction. There was an urgent need for a renewed focus on finding a political solution, facilitated by the United Nations.
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), informed that the UN and humanitarian partners were scaling up their response for hundreds of thousands of people displaced in northwest Syria. Since 1 December 2019, some 520,000 people had been displaced from their homes, the majority of them women and children. They urgently needed shelter, food, medicine, and, not least, protection. An additional 280,000 people from urban centres on the M4/M5 highway axis were at imminent risk of displacement if ongoing military operations continued. The humanitarian community had a plan in place to address up to 800,000 people in need in northwest Syria over the next six months; USD 336 million was needed for the implementation of those emergency humanitarian programs. There were no safe places in Idlib, with bombs falling everywhere and anywhere, staff from the ground reported. The scale of the crisis was overwhelming and the available aid was not enough.
Responding to a question, Mr. Laerke said that information from the OHCHR showed that from 20 to 30 January there had been 83 verified civilian deaths in Idlib.
Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that 53 health facilities had ceased operations in northwest Syria the previous month. Not all of them had been destroyed; some had been abandoned due to population movements. In January, two separate attacks on healthcare facilities had taken place, claiming 10 lives and leading to numerous injuries. There were fears of outbreaks of measles, polio, and diarrhoea. About two months of supplies of essential medicines had been positioned on both sides of the Syria-Turkey border. The current gap for funding for the health needs in northwest Syria was USD 8.6 million.
Venezuelans in Colombia
Shabia Mantoo, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), informed that UNHCR welcomed the Colombian Government’s announcement of the creation of two new special stay permits that sought to benefit more than 100,000 Venezuelans, by allowing them to stay and work in the country.
Colombia was host to more than 1.6 million Venezuelans, of whom more than half lacked a regular status. Many of them faced difficulties accessing essential services, such as health, education, and employment. UNHCR protection monitoring exercises indicated that access to the labour market remained a top priority among Venezuelans in Colombia.
The full UNHCR statement can be read here.
Any such measures by countries in the region were commendable, said Ms. Mantoo in a response to a question. Refugees and the hosting countries needed more support from the international community.
Geneva announcements
Jean Rodriguez, for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), informed about a press conference on road safety on 7 February at 3 p.m., Press Room I. Ahead of the Ministerial Conference, the UNSG’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, and UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova would make a call for a paradigm shift in Road safety for 2030.
Despite some progress during the Decade of Action, over 3,700 people died on the roads every day, or 1.3 million per year; in addition, between 20 and 50 million were injured every year. The magnitude of the problem should not be forgotten. The Ministerial Conference, to take place in Stockholm 19-20 February, was a wakeup call for the paradigm shift before 2030.
Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), informed that, on the occasion of World Cancer Day, 4 February, the WHO would be shortly sending out information on cancer situations per country.
He informed that on 5 February at 1 p.m., the WHO Independent High-level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases would be publishing its recommendations. Meanwhile, the WHO Executive Board was continuing its meetings, which would all be webcast. A new Director for Europe had been elected, while the Director for Africa had been reappointed, stated Mr. Jašarević.
A press conference on the new Coronavirus with Dr. Sylvie Briand of the WHO would take place in Press Room III at 11:30 a.m. today.
On 5 February, at 10 a.m. UNHCR would be releasing its 2019 resettlement data, in Press Room I. Grainne O’Hara, Director of UNHCR Division of International Protection, would present the data.
On 5 February, at 11 a.m., the US Permanent Mission would hold a press briefing in Press Room I on “Venezuela: Threats to Free and Fair Elections in 2020”.
Mr. LeBlanc also informed that the Conference on Disarmament held its public plenary this morning, under the presidency of Algeria.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child would be closing its 83rd session on 7 February, when it would issue its concluding observations on the six countries reviewed during this session: Belarus, Costa Rica, Hungary, Rwanda, State of Palestine, and Austria.
The first screening of Ciné-ONU for 2020 would take place at Cinerama Empire at 7 p.m. today, when “The Accountant of Auschwitz” would be shown, to be followed by a discussion on accountability with Catherine Marchi-Uhel and Nicholas Koumjian, who head the independent investigative mechanisms on Syria and Myanmar, respectively.
The full list of upcoming meetings and press conferences at UN Geneva can be found here.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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