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Edited News | UNITED NATIONS
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: UN Special Envoy for Syria-Geir Pedersen
Syria’s warring parties will resume talks in Geneva, says UN envoy
Syria’s opposing parties have agreed to resume talks in Geneva over their war-torn country as soon as travel restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic allow, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen said on Tuesday.
“As soon as the pandemic situation allows, they have agreed to come to Geneva, and as I said, they have agreed on an agenda for the next meeting,” Mr. Pedersen told journalists via videoconference from Oslo, without setting a date.
To date, the spread of the new coronavirus has been limited, with most cases in Government-controlled areas and no cases reported in the last opposition-held areas in the northwest.
“In terms of COVID itself, so far the official case count in Syria is very low; it’s 64 and there is of course great relief that the numbers are not a lot worse when it comes to Syria,” Mr. Pedersen said. “But, at the same time, this is also what I’m hearing from Syrians when I’m talking to them, there is of course a risk of a wider spread that is ever-present, so there is no cause for complacency.”
Dismissing the possibility of holding a virtual meeting between delegates who have previously participated in UN-led Constitutional Committee discussions in the Swiss city, the negotiator highlighted fears that a fragile truce in Syria could disintegrate at any moment.
“There is a relative calm in Idlib, the ceasefire that Turkey and Russia entered into in the beginning of March is still by and large holding,” he said, echoing comments delivered on Monday to the Security Council in New York.
“And I have said that this is indeed good news, but I’ve also warned that hostilities could resume and that would have devastating consequences of course not only in Idlib, but in many other parts of Syria as well.”
Ordinary Syrians remained deeply concerned about the plight of their country, the UN official explained, citing anxiety over food shortages and disappointment at the lack of progress on reaching a political agreement to stop widespread, ongoing violence.
These developments include “mutual attempts at cross-line offensives”, he told the Security Council, “most notably by the extremist wa-Harid al-Mu’minin operations room. A number of Syrian soldiers were killed during this attack. This prompted an escalation, including increased artillery strikes on areas inside Idlib, as well as rocket fire towards Hmeimim airbase in Latakia, before the episode was contained.”
Elsewhere, “mutual shelling” incidents have been reported along with improvised explosive device attacks around Afrin and the northeast, Mr. Pedersen earlier told the Security Council, along with “targeted killings and a military build-up and clashes in the southwest”, further reports of Israeli airstrikes in Deir-ez-Zor and Aleppo and evidence of an ISIL “resurgence” in the east.
“So obviously, (it’s) very important that the US and Russia continue to work together,” he told journalists on Tuesday. “They’ve done it before with success, without the US-Russia cooperation we would never have had Security Council resolution 2254. And so, my appeal is for them to strengthen that cooperation and to move on and to support the process.”
Underscoring the profound apprehension and worry among many Syrians about the fate of detainees, abductees and missing persons since the country descended into civil war more than nine years ago, Mr. Pedersen called for their release, as part of confidence-building measures between the warring parties.
“I said have stressed again and again that the time has come now for more meaningful actions on all of these issues, you know, as I said on detainees, abductees and indeed also on missing persons.”
UN-brokered talks between the Syrian Government, opposition forces and civil society as part of the Constitutional Committee process began last November.
Should they happen, the new talks would bring together the smaller Constitutional Committee body for the third time; it comprises 15 members from the Government, the opposition and civil society. The full Constitution Committee numbers 150 participants, 50 from each delegation.
- Wide shot: exterior, UN Geneva flag alley.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “In terms of COVID itself, so far the official case count in Syria is very low; it’s 64 and there is of course great relief that the numbers are not a lot worse when it comes to Syria. But, at the same time, this is also what I’m hearing from Syrians when I’m talking to them, there is of course a risk of a wider spread that is ever-present, so there is no cause for complacency.”
- Wide shot: UN Geneva main entrance, raised angle.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “There is a relative calm in Idlib, the ceasefire that Turkey and Russia entered into in the beginning of March is still by and large holding. And I have said that this is indeed good news, but I’ve also warned that hostilities could resume and that would have devastating consequences of course not only in Idlib, but in many other parts of Syria as well.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva flag alley, UN Palais des Nations entrance with UN lettering and logo.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “So obviously, (it’s) very important that the US and Russia continue to work together; as I said, they’ve done it before with success, without the US-Russia cooperation we would never have had Security Council resolution 2254. And so my appeal is for them to strengthen that cooperation and to move on and to support the process.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva Palais des Nations building with UN lettering and UN logo.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “As soon as the pandemic situation allows, they have agreed to come to Geneva, and as I said, they have agreed on an agenda for the next meeting.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva flag alley.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “I said have stressed again and again that the time has come now for more meaningful actions on all of these issues, you know, as I said on detainees, abductees and indeed also on missing persons.”
- Wide shot: UN Geneva Palais des Nations building with UN flag flying.
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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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