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Announcements
Santiago Mantorana, for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), stated that on 17 May, the ITU would celebrate the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) with a spotlight on older persons and healthy ageing. This annual celebration of information and communication technologies marked the founding of ITU and the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865. Mr. Mantorana explained that WTISD-22 would put the spotlight on digital technologies for older persons and healthy ageing, reflecting a defining demographic trend of the 21st century. The high-level panel would be held at the ITU on 17 May at 1 pm, and accredited media were invited to attend. More information is available here.
Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), informed that an embargoed virtual press conference on the First Global Report on Assistive Technology would be held today at 3:30 pm. This technology referred to any devices that assisted people in their daily lives.
The Health for All Film Festival Awards ceremony 2022 would also be held mainly online today, at 5 pm. Speakers/jurors would include actresses Sharon Stone and Emilia Clarke.
WHO would hold a virtual press briefing ahead of the World Health Assembly on 16 May at 3 pm. Speakers would be: Peter Singer, Special Adviser to Dr. Tedros; Steven Sullivan, WHO Legal Adviser; and Timothy Armstrong, Director, Department of Governing Bodies at WHO.
Speaking for the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ms. Vellucci informed that members of the media who had not already been accredited and who wished to attend the WTO 12th Ministerial Conference, taking place in Geneva from 12 to 15 June, could now apply for accreditation. The deadline for receiving applications would be 18 May 2022 at 6 pm Geneva time. Journalists and media representatives who had been accredited last year and had confirmed their wish to keep their accreditation were not required to re-apply. They would have already received an e-mail from the WTO confirming their accreditation status. The main Press Centre would be located on the gallery level of the WTO new building, with approximately 160 workstations.
Regarding the killing of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin, Ms. Vellucci said that the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General had spoken on this issue, and the latest remarks from the 12 May noon press briefing were available here.
Ms. Vellucci further informed that on 17 May at 9:15 am, there would be a hybrid launch of the report “Unprecedented and Unfinished: Covid-19 and Implications for National and Global Policy”. Speakers in Room B-128 would be: Peter Gluckman, President, International Science Council; Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction; Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, World Health Organization; and Mathieu Denis, Acting CEO and Science Director, International Science Council; while Salim Abdool Karim, Vice President, International Science Council, would connect by Zoom.
On 17 May at 12:30 pm, UN Women would hold a hybrid press conference on Gender Dynamics in Humanitarian Crises: Lessons learned from the Rapid Gender Analyses of Ukraine and Moldova. Speakers would be: Erika Kvapilova, UN Women Representative Ukraine; Delphine Pinault, CARE Humanitarian Policy Advocacy Coordinator & UN Representative in Geneva; and Dominika Stojanoska UN Women Representative Moldova.
Finally, on 18 May at 10 am, there would be a hybrid press conference on the State of the Global Climate in 2021, with speakers Petteri Taalas, WMO Secretary-General, and Omar Baddour, Head, Climate Monitoring Division at WMO.
Ms. Vellucci informed that the Committee on the Rights of the Child was concluding this morning its review of the report of Djibouti.
The Committee Against Torture was concluding this morning its 73rd session and would issue its concluding observations on the six countries whose reports had been reviewed during this session: Iceland, Cuba, Iraq, Montenegro, Kenya, Uruguay.
The Conference on Disarmament would hold on 19 May the first public meeting of the second part of its 2022 session, still under the presidency of Ambassador Juan Antonio Quintanilla Román of Cuba. This second part of the session would run until 1 July.
On 14 May, the world community marked the World Migratory Bird Day, the spotlight of which would be on light pollution and how it was affecting migratory birds. There would be events around the world to dim the lights.
At the end of the briefing, Ms. Vellucci informed that UN Information Service would host a global meeting of heads of UN Information Centers from around the world, with the generous support of the Swiss Government.
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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
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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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