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Press Conferences | UNITED NATIONS
Press Briefing: Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement - 21 June 2024
Two years of the Action Agenda on Solutions to Internal Displacement
Robert Piper, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Solutions to Internal Displacement, said that 24 June would mark two years since the launch of the Secretary General’s Action Agenda on Solutions to Internal Displacement. Today, there were 76 million internally displaced people (IDPs) – people who had lost their homes, livelihoods, communities and sometimes also their legal identities. They were “internal” because they had not crossed international borders but had stayed withing their own countries. Some IDPs returned home relatively quickly, usually after natural disasters; others got stuck in protracted displacements of five, ten years or longer, usually displaced by conflicts, such as in Syria and Somalia. Those numbers were growing exponentially, and today there were twice as many IDPs as in 2014. The largest number of IDPs today were in Sudan, informed Mr. Piper.
In 2023, the United Nations had helped as many as 50 million IDPs. The Secretary-General’s Action Agenda aimed to break the long-term displacement pattern; it aimed to help IDPs find a durable solution to their displacement; better prevent new displacement crises from emerging; and ensure those facing displacement receive effective protection and assistance. The Agenda set out 31 concrete commitments, and numerous UN agencies had signed up for it. Mr. Piper was focused on building a coalition to break down the pattern of protracted displacement. Governments in several affected countries, from Colombia o Iraq, had really stepped forward to take the lead, he said. Those governments had introduced new approaches to dealing with internal displacement; they had put money behind their political commitments. In Nigeria, for example, the Borno State had pledged 15 percent of its revenue to this issue over the next four years.
Mr. Piper explained that there were fifteen pilot countries which would help identify the best solutions; there were already commitments to move 8.5 million IDPs to more permanent solutions, based on international standards, which included safe, dignified, and voluntary settlement. Globally, the UN and partners had made progress with supporting those governments; a new financing mechanism had been established, and relevant UN Resident Coordinator offices had been accordingly strengthened. The UN had made a big investment in data systems, which was of critical importance. The visibility of this issue had been lifted globally, stressed Mr. Piper. Several partnerships with regional development banks had been built. The humanitarian community had upgraded its own capacity to respond to the needs of the internally displaced people, from day one onwards. The major deficit today lay with prevention, as numbers of IDPs kept going up, partly caused by natural disasters, partly by conflict. UN was still working with various partners on finding the right level of financing; providing homes and livelihoods were expensive, and a breakthrough there was still needed. The whole of the UN and the whole of national governments needed to be fully engaged on this issue. There was still no forum that brought all relevant actors together and there was no adequate international architecture in place. He appealed to Member States to create a forum to comprehensively address this issue in a more coordinated, cross-sectorial way. All parts of the system ought to come together and establish an adequate governance structure.
More details are available in the June 2024 factsheet.
Responding to questions, Mr. Piper said that the UNHCR and the IOM were by far the two most active agencies dealing with displacement, but they also recognized that this issue demanded a much broader, coordinated action to find long-term solutions for internally displaced people. They could not do it alone, he stressed. An intergovernmental forum that would bring all actors together and meet periodically could be a good way forward, said Mr. Piper responding to another question. This process ought to be led by Member States.
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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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