The Saudi Green Initiative Forum in Riyadh has brought together world leaders, public officials, businessmen and climate activists to chalk out the regional roadmap for tackling the disastrous effects of global climate change. Its highlight is the official launch of the Saudi Green Initiative and Middle East Green Initiative, unveiled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in March.
The forum is also a prelude to the 26th UN Climate Chance Conference, or COP26, to be held Oct. 31-Nov. 12 in Glasgow, which is expected to renew the global commitment to realize the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the global temperature rise by 2 C — ideally 1.5 C — by reducing carbon emissions down to zero by 2050.
In August, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying. Its destructive potential was visible in this year’s record-breaking summer temperatures, flash flooding across China, central Europe and the US and forest fires on almost every continent.
Fortunately, 2021 has also turned out to be a promising year, with the US re-joining the Paris Agreement and the rest of the world expressing greater resolve on climate action at various world forums, including the US Earth Day virtual summit in April and the G20 Meeting on Environment, Climate and Energy held in July in Naples.

Afghanistan is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. The end of the 20-year war may have silenced the guns for a while, but the war-torn country is at serious risk of imploding due to the worsening conditions it faces. This could have grave consequences for regional stability and international security in the form of mass migration and refugee influx, as well as a renewed proxy war and transnational terrorism.

The current humanitarian crisis was in the making before the Taliban takeover in August. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 18.4 million people, nearly half of the population, were already in need of humanitarian and protection assistance in 2021. A third of Afghans were facing acute food insecurity and more than half of all under-fives were expected to face acute malnutrition. Moreover, violence had displaced half a million Afghans.

However, with the Taliban in power, humanitarian relief efforts suffered a setback, as the staff of UN agencies and other organizations were evacuated. The World Bank stopped its developmental activities. Under US pressure, the International Monetary Fund also suspended Afghanistan’s access to $440 million of emergency aid allocated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Consequently, on Aug. 31, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that “a humanitarian catastrophe looms” in Afghanistan and urged donor governments to “dig deep” to fund an emergency appeal. The UN needed $606 million to provide relief to 11 million suffering Afghans by the end of 2021. Donor nations responded beyond expectations by pledging $1.2 billion at an Afghan aid conference in Geneva last month.