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Food situation in Afghanistan
Anthea Webb, World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy Regional Director for the Asia-Pacific, said that WFP was warning that a humanitarian catastrophe awaited the people of Afghanistan that winter unless the global community made their lives a priority. WFP was usually busy prepositioning food stocks in warehouses and with communities across Afghanistan, which were then distributed to needy families before they were cut off by brutal winter snows. That year, however, with funding levels tight and needs escalating, WFP risked running out of its core supply of wheat flour as early as October. Any further delay in its preparations could be deadly for the people of Afghanistan. Once the snow set in, communities were completely cut off, and WFP food assistance was their only lifeline. The situation in 2021 had been compounded by several years of severe drought, conflict and the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19.
Having worked in Afghanistan since 1963, including under the previous Taliban regime, WFP knew how to prevent a hunger emergency and needed US$ 200 million to deliver life-saving assistance before it was too late. Over the past tumultuous week, WFP had reached 80,000 people across Afghanistan – in addition to the more than 5 million people it had already helped since the beginning of the year. It had been able to bring 600 metric tons of food and 16 new trucks into Afghanistan in the past week alone and stood ready to scale-up operations.
Countries near and far were nervous at the prospect of a much greater refugee outflow. While United Nations agencies had solid plans to respond if people did begin to cross borders, the most urgent step that donors could take immediately was to fund existing programmes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Iran.
Special session of the Human Rights Council on the situation in Afghanistan
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service, drew attention to the statement made by the United Nations High Commissioner for human rights at the special session of the Human Rights Council, in which she had said that the people of Afghanistan were looking to the Human Rights Council to defend and protect their rights. The rapid seizure of much of the country by the Taliban had raised grave fears of a return to past patterns of human rights violations, stoking desperation among many Afghans. In recent weeks, the High Commissioner’s Office had received credible harrowing reports of the impact of human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law on civilians. The United Nations was committed to staying and delivering aid to those in greatest need, supporting efforts to restore peace and stability and promoting the rights and dignity of all Afghans.
The High Commissioner had strongly urged the Taliban to adopt norms of responsive governance and human rights and to work to re-establish social cohesion and reconciliation. She had called on all States to create safe pathways for Afghan refugees and migrants, broaden asylum and resettlement programmes and immediately halt the deportation of Afghans who sought protection. She had also asked States to use their influence with the Taliban to encourage respect for the human rights of all. United and unequivocal action by Member States would be an important signal to the Taliban that the international community would not accept a return to past practices.
The full text of the High Commissioner’s statement is available here.
Shelter needs soar for newly displaced in Marib, Yemen
Aikaterini Kitidi, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that as fighting in the Marib governorate of Yemen forced more people to flee, UNHCR was warning of alarming levels of humanitarian needs among displaced communities. Since the beginning of 2021, close to 24,000 people had been uprooted by armed clashes, shelling and air strikes in a region that was already hosting a quarter of the country’s four million internally displaced people. They had sought safety in urban centres and some 150 informal settlements, whose capacity had been exceeded and where conditions were deplorable. Inadequate shelters had been further damaged by recent floods and fires, and clean water, latrines, electricity and health facilities were in short supply. Only 21 per cent of residents could be reached owing to the prevailing insecurity.
With nine in 10 of the settlements built on private land without occupancy agreements, residents greatly feared eviction. A striking 85 per cent of displaced families, consisting mostly of women and children, were unable to pay rent on a regular basis. Further displacement due to eviction would only deplete their resources and increase their needs. With its partner, the Society for Humanitarian Solidarity, UNHCR was providing basic household items, legal assistance and psychosocial support in seven settlements in the Sirwah district of Marib. It had also distributed cash for rent to over 2,800 families as part of a plan to assist some 6,000 families at risk of eviction.
UNHCR reiterated its call to all parties to the conflict to take the necessary measures to protection civilians and public infrastructure from the impact of the conflict and to provide safe passage for civilians fleeing conflict areas.
The full text of the briefing is available here.
Haiti
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service, on behalf of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that under the leadership of the Government of Haiti, national and international humanitarian partners were scaling up multi-sectoral response efforts in all quake-affected areas. The number of critically injured people continued to grow, stretching the health system’s already limited capacity. Many of those who had survived the quake now found themselves homeless, without access to safe water and sanitation and at greater risk of violence and abuse. Meanwhile, tension was mounting on the ground, as aid trickled into the hardest-hit communities. Additional human and financial resources were needed to respond to the crisis, with organizations stretched thin from responding to multiple simultaneous crises in the country. A flash appeal would be issued on Wednesday, 25 August.
Announcements
Isabel Piquer, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that on Wednesday, 1 September, ILO would issue its World Social Protection Report 2020-2022: Social protection at the crossroads – in pursuit of a better future. The flagship report provided a global overview of progress made around the world in extending social protection in the last decade, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on new data, it offered a broad range of global, regional and country statistics on social protection coverage and related expenditures. It also identified social protection gaps and set out key policy recommendations. An embargoed virtual press briefing – with ILO Director General, Guy Ryder, and Shahra Razavi, Director of the Social Protection Department – would be held on 1 September, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
On behalf of the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, Special Envoy Geir Pedersen would brief the Security Council on Tuesday, 24 August, at 4 p.m. CEST. The briefing would be carried live on UN TV and the transcript of his remarks distributed to the press.
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service, added that the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would be conducting its virtual review of the report of Djibouti on 27 and 30 August and 1 September, from 12.30 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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