The Seville Debt Forum will promote fairer lending, faster restructuring and long-term reform of the post-war financial system.

Hosted by Spain and supported by the United Nations, the forum is designed to maintain global attention on the debt crisis while delivering on strong commitments made at the June summit Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) in Seville in concrete actions.

Governments, finance ministers and creditors from developed and developing countries will unite for what the UN Secretary-General calls “a global debt dialogue” – a dialogue that aims to achieve financial justice and ensure that borrowing benefits, not against, developing economies.

“Developing countries spend $1.4 trillion a year on debt servicing.» said António Guterres at the launch in Geneva.

“And 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt servicing than on health or education. Countries should never have to choose between servicing their debt or serving their people.»

Commitment to action

The new forum will also support the Seville commitmentan ambitious roadmap agreed at the FFD4 conference to make global finance fairer and more sustainable.

This document sets out plans to reduce borrowing costs, enable rapid and fair debt restructuring and increase transparency and accountability.

He also established a borrowers forumlaunched in Seville in July, to help struggling countries coordinate their efforts, share legal and technical expertise and amplify their voice in a system long dominated by big lenders.

Serve the people

The Seville Process – including both Commitment and the Action Platform – reflects growing concern that skyrocketing debt is derailing progress toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

More than 60 developing countries now spend at least 10 percent of their public revenue on interest payments.while many face decreasing access to affordable credit.

Under this new framework, countries will work to develop common principles for responsible borrowing and lending, strengthen crisis prevention mechanisms, and explore reform of the global debt architecture – long considered outdated and fragmented.

“The Seville Debt Forum help ensure the financial justice that citizens and countries need and deserve“, said Mr. Guterres. “The United Nations is proud to participate in this effort, and I thank Minister [Carlos] Cuerpo and the Spanish government for their tireless efforts.

“Early warning systems work,” he told the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva. “They give farmers the power to protect their crops and livestock. Allow families to evacuate safely. And protect entire communities from devastation.”

“We know that disaster-related mortality is at least six times lower in countries with good early warning systems,” the UN chief said.

He added that just 24 hours’ notice before a hazardous event can reduce damage by up to 30 percent.

In 2022, Mr. Guterres launched the Early warnings for everyone initiative to ensure that “everyone, everywhere” is protected by a warning system by 2027.

Progress has been made: more than half of countries are now equipped with multi-risk early warning systems. The world’s least developed countries have almost doubled their capacity since official reporting began, “but we have a long way to go,” the UN chief acknowledged.

At a special meeting of the World Meteorological Congress earlier this week, countries endorsed an urgent call for action to close remaining monitoring gaps.

Extreme weather conditions worsen

WMO Director Celeste Saulo, who has called for increased adoption of early warning systems, warned that the impacts of climate change are accelerating as “more extreme weather destroys lives and livelihoods and erodes hard-won development gains.”

She spoke of a “profound opportunity to harness climate intelligence and technological advances to build a more resilient future for all.”

Weather, water and climate hazards have killed more than two million people over the past five decades, with developing countries responsible for 90 percent of deaths, according to the WMO.

Mr. Guterres stressed that for countries to “act at the speed and scale required,” increased funding will be essential.

Increased funding

“Reaching every community requires increased funding,” he said. “But too many developing countries are stuck with limited fiscal space, slowing growth, crushing debt burdens and growing systemic risks..”

He also called for action at the source of the climate crisis, to try to limit rapidly progressing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures – even though we know this target will be exceeded in the coming years, he said.

“One thing is already clear: we will not be able to contain global warming below 1.5 degrees in the coming years“, warned Mr. Guterres. “Overshooting is now inevitable. Which means that we will have a period, more or less long, with a greater or lesser intensity, greater than 1.5 degrees in the years to come.

However, “we are not condemned to live with 1.5 degrees” if there is a global paradigm shift and countries take appropriate measures.

At the next UN climate change conference, where states are expected to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, “we need to be much more ambitious”, he said. COP30 will take place from November 10 to 21 in Belén, Brazil.

“In Brazil, leaders must agree on a credible plan to mobilize $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 for developing countries to finance climate action,” insisted Mr. Guterres.

Developed countries should honor their pledge to double climate adaptation funding to $40 billion this year and the Loss and Damage Fund must attract “substantial contributions”, he said.

Mr. Guterres stressed the need to “fight disinformation, online harassment and greenwashing,” referring to the UN-backed Global Initiative on Climate Change Information Integrity.

“Scientists and researchers should never be afraid to tell the truth,” he said.

He expressed solidarity with the scientific community and said the “ideas, expertise and influence” of WMO, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this week, are now “needed more than ever.”

Speaking to journalists at the United Nations Office at Geneva, Shoko Arakaki, director of humanitarian affairs at the United Nations reproductive health agency (UNFPA), said essential services have been severely disrupted, while incidents of conflict-related rape and sexual violence increased by a third compared to last year.

“Congolese women and girls endure enormous suffering, but never lose hope,” she said, adding that even before the latest escalation of conflict, three women were dying every hour from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth in the country.

During her visit to the capital Kinshasa and Goma, in the east of the country, Ms. Arakaki was able to see first-hand the harsh realities faced by women and girls. She met midwives who continue to give birth in extremely difficult conditions and listened to mothers who had lost everything.

Neglected humanitarian crises

“Women and girls are also raped, exploited and abused in camps, in transit and within their own communities,” she said.

Often described as one of the world’s most neglected humanitarian crises, the DRC continues to face alarming levels of gender-based violence. According to recent reports, incidents of sexual exploitation, abuse and coercion are widespread – particularly in crowded IDP camps where protection and security measures remain limited.

The crisis is further exacerbated by chronic hunger and lack of livelihoods for displaced and host communities.

Across the DRC, demand for emergency assistance is increasing sharply, with 27 million people expected to need humanitarian assistance in 2025. Without a solution to the ongoing conflict in the eastern provinces, the humanitarian and displacement situation is expected to further deteriorate.

Survivors of multiple rapes

Ms. Arakaki said she met a 14-year-old girl who had survived multiple rapes and was recovering from surgery at a UNFPA-supported hospital, while maintaining her dream of returning to school.

UNFPA currently provides essential health services to women and girls in the DRC, targeting 1.4 million people. The agency is urgently calling for increased funding to provide lifesaving reproductive care to those who need it most, including medical treatment and psychosocial support for survivors of gender-based violence.

The agency also urged all parties to the conflict to respect their legal obligations to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure – including health facilities – and to ensure the safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance to where it is needed.

Nearly 500 million hectares (ha), the equivalent of around 750 million football fields, have been lost since 1990.

However, deforestation has slowed in all regions of the world over the past decade, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Deforestation refers to the loss of forest or its conversion to other uses, such as urban use or wastelands.

Every year for ten years, the planet has lost around 10.9 million hectares. of forest. This rate represents an improvement compared to the 13.6 million hectares lost each year during the previous period and the 17.6 million before that.

Who monitors the forests?

This encouraging trend was revealed Tuesday in the latest FAO forest assessment. reportwhich is published every five years.

It provides comprehensive analysis of global and regional forest trends using data collected through remote sensing – an advanced process using imagery and satellites – and national reports.

Thanks to international agreements focused on combating climate change, such as Paris Agreementthe UN promotes a collective approach to environmental protection.

Assessments such as the FAO Forests Report check whether countries are on track with the UN treaties and frameworks they have signed up to.

Qu Dongyu, director general of the agency, said the data produced by these assessments serves many purposes “from informing the global community about the state of forests and their changes, to supporting decisions, policies and investments related to forests and the ecosystem services they provide.”

How are forests preserved?

A fifth of the world’s forests are in legally established protected areas. 251 million ha of additional protected forest since 1990 – according to the evaluation. Asia has the highest share among all regions, with 26 percent forest covered.

Beyond protection orders, more than half of all forests are managed. This means that land is used either to produce wood, fiber and bioenergy, for soil and water protection and biodiversity conservation, or for tourism, among other uses. In Europe, 94 percent of forests are managed.

If forests are managed, who owns them? Since 2020, 71 percent of the world’s forests are state-owned. In North and Central America, indigenous peoples and local communities owned 41.6 million hectares of forest.

Fires, insects, diseases

Last year, the FAO related the increasing risk of wildfires and pests linked to climate change.

Fires remain a widespread threat, affecting an average of 261 million hectares of land each year, almost half of which is forested.

In 2020, an additional 41 million hectares of forest were damaged by insects, diseases and severe weather.

Contributing to forest monitoring and protection efforts, a Forest lodge will promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable development at the upcoming UN COP30 climate conference next month in Brazil.