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COVID-19 testing for regional truckers in Kenya
Paul Dillon, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), stated that thousands of truck drivers across Kenya were being tested for COVID-19 by the IOM, one element of a broader effort to reinvigorate regional economies feeling the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. Billions of dollars’ worth of goods began the final leg of their in-land journey to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo aboard transport trucks originating at the sprawling port in Mombasa in southeast Kenya.
IOM saw the integration of COVID-19 testing and other health measures into border management systems as critical to reanimating national and local economies and blunting the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. IOM had sent medical staff, lab technicians, and a semi-automated Thermo Fisher testing system to the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital, enabling the testing of up to 400 samples within a day. The impact was measurable, reducing the turn-around time for results to between 24 and 36 hours, an important consideration for drivers under pressure to deliver their goods as quickly as possible.
Full press release is available here.
WFP support to urban poor in Kenya
Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that in response to food shortages and hunger among the urban poor because of the impact of COVID-19 in Kenya, the WFP was rolling out cash and nutrition assistance for more than 400,000 people living in informal settlements in Nairobi and Mombasa. In Nairobi, WFP was on course to provide cash and nutrition products to 300,000 people for four months while in Mombasa, WFP was rolling out cash and nutrition supplements for over 100,000 people for three months.
WFP office in Kenya reported that the food and nutrition security of an estimated 1.7 million people in informal urban settlements was adversely affected by COVID-19. WFP would provide USD 40 monthly through mobile transfers to each eligible household to cover up to half the food needs for an average family of four – in line with the Government’s own cash assistance programme. Out of USD 64 million requirement by the WFP, only 36 percent had been secured thus far, said Mr. Phiri. With adequate funding, 725,000 people could be provided with food assistance in Nairobi’s informal settlements.
More information on the WFP’s work in Kenya can be found here.
COVID-19
Responding to a question from a journalist, Alessandra Vellucci, for the UN Information Service (UNIS), informed that as of 28 October, 34 new UN Secretariat staff in Geneva had tested positive for COVID-19; those were the new cases registered since 19 October. The number was undoubtedly high but also followed the broader trend in Geneva and Switzerland. No clusters had been identified so far. Ms. Vellucci informed about the contact-tracing procedures conducted by the UN Medical Service, which included staff, delegates, contractors and journalists that may have been in contact with an affected person on the UN premises.
Geneva announcements
Alessandra Vellucci, speaking on behalf of the Human Rights Council, informed that the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group would hold its 36th session starting on 2 November, for two weeks. A background press release had been issued the previous night, with details and a list of the 14 States who would be reviewed. The session would now take place in the Assembly Hall to allow for social distancing. Given the maximum capacity of 50 allowed in the room at any given time, the journalists were encouraged to cover the session on webcast.
Sophie Fisher, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), informed about the 340th session of the ILO’s Governing Body, which would be held from 2 to 13 November. It would be the first session to take place this year, and the first to be held as an essentially virtual event. In addition to the usual sections on policy development, legal issues, program, financial and administration, the agenda would also include a high-level day on 6 November, a report of the Director-General, a report of the committee on freedom of association, etc. More information is available here. If journalists wanted to follow any session, they should write to newsroom@ilo.org.
Graham Alabastair, for UN-Habitat, announced an embargoed hybrid press conference today at 1:30 p.m. The press conference was held on the occasion of the launch of the UN-Habitat World Cities Report 2020 on the Value of Urbanization and promotion of World Cities Day, which would be under embargo until 11 am on 31 October. The speakers would be Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN-Habitat Executive Director; Eduardo Moreno, UN-Habitat Head of Knowledge and Innovation; Paola Deda, Director of Forest, Land and Housing Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe; and Daria Cibrario, Director Geneva Cities Hub.
Ms. Vellucci added that the Secretary-General had issued a video-message on the occasion of the World Cities Day on 30 October; the message had been distributed.
She also informed about the upcoming Geneva Peace Week, which would take place virtually from 2 to 6 November and was jointly organized by UN Geneva, the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, and the Graduate Institute. The 2020 theme was "Rebuilding trust after disruption: Pathways to reset international cooperation". The event would aim to galvanize leadership, build trust and contribute to transforming international cooperation in the wake of COVID-19.
Ms. Vellucci further informed that the Human Rights Committee, currently holding its virtual 130th session, would meet in private until the end of the session, scheduled for 6 November.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women would meet in private until the end of the session, scheduled for 5 November at 5 p.m.
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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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