Good morning, this is Michelle. Negotiators have only five months left to hash out an agreement on how countries will tackle future pandemics. But as they gear up for a seventh round of discussions next week, several sore points remain.

Just three days away from crucial climate talks in Dubai where the details of a loss and damage fund agreed upon last year are expected to be sorted out, two climate advocates tell us why the new mechanism to compensate vulnerable countries for climate impacts risks being a flop.

And humanitarians heading to Dubai in large numbers are in a predicament.

Michelle Langrand

28.11.2023

On our radar

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A child gets intravenous dripping at a hospital in Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province, 26 November 2023. A combination of pathogens has caused a surge in acute respiratory infections, particularly among children, in the country. (Keystone/Avalon/Long Wei)

Future pandemic agreement talks: why it’s complicated. Negotiations in Geneva grind on for a global agreement to tackle future pandemics. While the current draft shows promise, several contentious points persist, from the “one health” approach to access to vaccines and diagnostics, as well as financing.

Geneva Solutions

Here's what else is happening

🤔Could less be more? The paradox facing humanitarians at Cop28. The aid sector heading for climate talks in Dubai for the first-ever aid, relief and peace day will grapple with a key question as countries close the cash tap: downsize, expand or transform?
The New Humanitarian (EN)
🚚'Immense relief' as UN deliveries to northern Gaza ramp up. As Israel and Hamas observe a four-day truce, the biggest shipment of humanitarian aid since the escalation of the war started to flow into the part of the besieged region caught off for weeks.
Reuters (EN)
🕊️UN chief urges continued dialogue to turn ‘pause’ into ‘full humanitarian’ cease-fire in Gaza. Antonio Guterres said through his spokesperson that countries “should use their influence to end this tragic conflict”.
Anadolu Agency (EN)
🚘Global goods trade rebounds on emand for cars, WTO says. The World Trade Organization warned however that uncertainty remained due to high geopolitical tensions.
Bloomberg via Swissinfo (EN)

Opinion of the day

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Why the loss and damage fund alone will not redress climate harm. Compensating countries that have suffered huge losses and irreparable damage from climate change is an obligation under human rights law that states, in particular wealthy nations, developed countries are still doing little to address, write Center for International Environmental Law’s senior campaigner Lien Vandamme and senior attorney Joie Chowdhury ahead of Cop28.

Geneva Solutions

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