This story explores how sustainable development could be achieved through new models, more specifically passing from top-down commitments to a bottom-up delivery. The financing conversation must evolve to a local scale, and Resident Coordinators of the UN are playing a catalytic role in order to achieve this goal. Indeed, “the SDGs can be won at the last mile—but only if we start putting the first dollars where they matter most.”

Beyond Capitals: Financing the Frontlines of Sustainable Development

•  Landmine casualties hit four-year high as global ban faces withdrawals, new use and funding cuts
•  Sri Lanka: UN warns of severe humanitarian impact after Cyclone Ditwah triggers deadly flooding
•  Gaza: Winter conditions worsen as OCHA scales up relief under fragile ceasefire

Audio credit: Katy Dartford, UN News

UN News Today 01 December 2025 - landmine casualties, Sri Lanka, winter conditions in Gaza

UN aid teams on the ground in northern Mozambique issued an alert on Tuesday amid a massive and ongoing displacement crisis caused by intensifying attacks on communities in previously safe districts.

Close to 100,000 people have fled violence in the past fortnight alone after non-State armed groups stormed villages, often at night.

Speaking from Nampula province, Xavier Creach from the UN refugee agency – UNHCR - in Mozambique, described how people fled in fear of their lives: “Civilians were killed, some were even beheaded...a very high number of children among the newly displaced… They fled at night, they fled without their documents, were often destroyed. They walked for days, five, six days. Some had to hide in the bush, in the meantime to avoid other attacks by the same armed group while they were fleeing.”

Needs are rising at unprecedented speed beyond the capacity of humanitarian and government actors, Mr. Creach said. His full report to UN News is available here.
The violence in northern Mozambique began in Cabo Delgado in 2017 and has displaced over 1.3 million people to date. 

The UN agency is deeply concerned that attacks are now happening simultaneously and spreading beyond Cabo Delgado into Nampula Province, threatening communities that had previously hosted displaced families.

Mozambique: close to 100,000 flee violence and attacks in the past fortnight alone, warns UNHCR

• Mozambique: close to 100,000 flee violence and attacks in the past fortnight alone, warns UNHCR
• Asia: Lives upended by cyclones, ‘extreme’ rainfall on the rise, warn UN agencies
• Millions of jobs at risk in Asia-Pacific as AI surges in wealthy nations

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News

UN News Today 02 December 2025 - Mozambique, extreme weather, AI and jobs at risk in Asia-Pacific

In an in-depth interview with Nargiz Shekinskaya of UN News, Matthias Schmale, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, describes the mounting winter risks, the deepening vulnerability of civilians, the funding shortfall facing the relief response and the resilience he continues to witness every day, in communities living under fire. In this clip he talks about the importance of the UN presence and international solidarity with Ukraine.

CLIP: Interview with Matthias Schmale

Syria is working hard to turn the page on its dismal human rights record under the former Assad regime – allowing the UN rights office (OHCHR) access to the country following years of freezing officials out.

Though the country remains fragile, the resilience of its people – and the political will to change shown by transitional authorities – is helping society move on from decades of repression and 13 years of devastating conflict.

The return of OHCHR to Damascus is “essential” to supporting a rights-based vision for a “new Syria”, said Mohammad Al Nsour, Chief of the Office’s Middle East and North Africa Section, speaking to UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri. 

Audio credit: Ezzat El-Ferri, UN News 

Syria opens ‘new chapter’ on human rights

• Ukrainians brace for another winter of hardship amid Russian invasion: OCHA
• UN deminers appeal for greater support to slow deadly legacy from world’s conflicts
• Gaza: As fragile ceasefire holds, aid teams continue vital work, WHO says

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News

UN News Today 03 December 2025 - Ukraine, UN deminers appeal, Gaza aid

Scorching temperatures across the Arab region - marked by intense and longer-lasting heatwaves -  are pushing society to the limits, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday. "It is simply too hot to handle,” said WMO chief Celeste Saulo, launching the agency's first State of the Climate in the Arab Region report.
Claire Ransom, Associate Scientific Officer at WMO’s Climate Monitoring & Policy Section, stressed that extreme heat is only of many extreme weather threats. “Dust storms, severe flooding, and other climate extremes placed immense pressure on communities all across the region in 2024, disrupting lives and impacting millions of people,” she told UN News.
There is progress, however, with nearly 60 per cent of Arab countries now deploying multi-hazard early warning systems. Many are prioritizing water security strategies to cope with the mounting climate risks, Ms. Ransom continued.

Arab Region Extreme Weather report: WMO's Claire Ransom

• Sudan: UN rights chief Türk condemns spiralling conflict in Kordofans
• Malaria control faces biggest threat from growing drug resistance: WHO
• Arab region pushed to limits by climate extremes: WMO

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News


UN News Today 04 December 2025 - Sudan horrors multiply, Malaria update, Arab world climate crisis

More than two years of conflict in Sudan have brought mass displacement, widespread hunger, the destruction of entire cities, and an end to the rule-of-law. 

Despite limited access – especially to the killing fields of Darfur – UN human rights office, OHCHR, continues to document violations, support humanitarian response efforts, and amplify the voices of victims, women, youth, and those displaced.

Ahead of Human Rights Day on 10 December, UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki spoke to the top OHCHR official in Sudan, Li Fung, who described a country enduring one of the world’s gravest humanitarian and human rights emergencies.

Audio credit: Abdelmonem Makki, UN News

‘Human rights for Sudanese ‘must be upheld’

• Syria one year after government change - UN rights office warns of ongoing killings and abuses 
• Mozambique displacement crisis deepens as attacks intensify and aid supplies run low, UN reports 
• South-East Asia: Climate disasters disrupt schooling for more than 4 million children, UNICEF says 

Audio credit: Katy Dartford, UN News 

UN News Today 05 December 2025 - Syria, Mozambique, climate disasters

Bringing together the United Nations development system to deliver on the Global Goals for people and planet.

Beyond Capitals: Financing the Frontlines of Sustainable Development

UN Sustainable Development Group

Related tracks