The 29th UN Climate Change Conference, COP29, began in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, on Monday. Over the course of two weeks, representatives of more than 190 nations have been tasked with finding ways to bring under control global carbon emissions, which have been rising for decades.

After having begun on a rather positive note, the 16th global meet on biodiversity protection, known as COP16 and held in Cali, Columbia, last week ended with a mixed bag.

As proceedings got underway at Cali in Colombia, which is hosting the latest summit on the state of biodiversity conservation around the world, three main challenges before the negotiators and indeed the whole world emerged.

Over the past few years, artificial intelligence and big data have become all-pervasive in our lives, being used by businesses to drive sales and reduce costs, while individuals are turning to them to make their routine tasks easier.

A report, jointly published last month by UN Water and the UN Environment Programme, all but admits that the world is on an irreversible track to miss UN Sustainable Development Goal 6, which calls for the provision of clean water and sanitation for all by 2030.

On July 24, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in his role as the president of the G20 group of nations, launched a much-needed — and much-delayed — initiative to fight two of the world’s most basic but critical problems: hunger and extreme poverty.