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Nick Ferris

Nick Ferris is The Independent’s London-based climate correspondent. He is particularly focused on underreported climate stories in sub-Saharan Africa and the developing world, and the impact of aid cuts and geopolitics on responses to the climate crisis. Before joining the Independent in 2025, he covered the climate beat at The New Statesman and Carbon Pulse, and he is a former team winner at the Newspaper Awards. Nick's work is contributing to The Independent's Rethinking Global Aid project

<p>An image of the wild dog family taken by a camera trap earlier this year</p>
Africa

Endangered wild dog pups die in Zimbabwe ‘thanks to Trump’s aid cuts’

<p>A World Food Programme Truck in the Afar Region of Ethiopia - part of a fleet of more than 500 trucks that helps to keep the country of 130 million people fed</p>
Africa

How the World Food Programme is changing in an era of Trump’s aid cuts

<p>Deforestation in the Amazon (Luis Barreto/WWF-UK/PA)</p>
Climate

A fight for survival: the reality of Amazon life in the shadow of Cop

<p>John Kerry, the former US Secretary of State and climate envoy, who has been in London this week</p>
US

Trump administration ‘most corrupt of my lifetime’, says John Kerry

<p>Dona Nena, a smallholder cocoa farmer close to the city of Belém in Brazil, who told <em>The Independent</em> how climate change is seriously impacting her business, and she needs more support from authorities to adapt</p>
Climate

‘Deeply disappointing’: Experts slam Cop30 for ignoring food supply

<p>Alo Baniya, 40, a father if seven, shows <em>The Independent</em> around his village, which remained flooded two months after the Awash River burst its banks</p>
Climate

The village enduring climate catastrophe as Trump’s aid cuts bite

<p>Attendees pose for a photo outside the venue of the Cop30 climate conference in Belém, Brazil</p>
Climate

Lack of leadership proved to be the ultimate stumbling block for Cop30

<p>A lady walks through the midday heat in one of Belém’s many baixadas, which is the local name for favela areas</p>
Climate

Why the Cop summit is failing to win over residents of its host city

<p>British prime minister Keir Starmer attends a meeting at Cop30 in Belem last week</p>
Climate

The UK used to be a world leader on climate – does it still count?

<p>China’s pavillion at Cop30 in Belém, Brazil</p>
Climate

China basks in the spotlight at Cop30 as Trump forces US to stay away

<p>People inspect the damage at the National Museum in Yemen after airstrikes earlier this year</p>
Climate

War-stricken countries warn they are being left behind at Cop30

<p>Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, is seriously under threat from rising sea levels</p>
Climate

Poorer nations call on rich countries to open their wallets at Cop30

<p>Christiana Figueres is attending Cop30, her first such summit in years</p>
Climate

Trump ignoring the climate opens door for China, says Paris deal chief

Climate

Trump ignoring the climate opens door for China, says Paris deal chief

<p>Christiana Figueres is attending Cop30, her first such summit in years</p>
<p>UK PM Keir Starmer, president of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the Prince of Wales at the Cop30 summit in Belem, northern Brazil</p>
Climate

Leaders ignore Trump’s threats and remind us what is at stake at Cop30

<p>Workers make finishing touches to the conference venue for Cop30 in Belem, Brazil </p>
Climate

Why Cop30 remains key to fighting the climate crisis

<p>A woman walks past a Cop30 sign in Belem, Brazil, ahead of the summit</p>
Climate

Six pieces of data that give hope for the future of the climate

<p>Cubans ride in a horse-pulled cart past downed power lines following the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Climate finance to help countries like Cuba prepare for climate shocks like hurricanes is too hard to access at the moment, according to a technical expert</p>
Climate

Climate aid too hard to access, warns top advisor ahead of Cop30

<p>Cubans ride in a horse-pulled cart past downed power lines following the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Climate finance to help countries like Cuba prepare for climate shocks like hurricanes is too hard to access at the moment, according to a technical expert</p>
Climate

Climate aid too hard to access, warns top advisor ahead of Cop30

<p>Children flee recent floods in Kenya. Events such as this are becoming more common as the Earth’s climate warms - but developing countries are struggling to access financing to adapt </p>
Climate

Countries facing climate disaster warn of dire impact of aid cuts

<p>The Congo rainforest in DRC, which is the world’s last great rainforest carbon sink</p>
Climate

Away from Brazil’s ‘forest’ Cop30, Congo’s fate hangs in the balance

<p>An oil drilling platform in Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil</p>
Climate

Brazil’s oil drive in run up to Cop30 slammed by indigenous activist

<p>Waves whipped up in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa approaches. The storm shows the need to adapt to the climate crisis as extreme weather worsens</p>
Climate

Money to fight climate crisis falls by £1.5bn, and aid cuts won’t help

<p>Donald Trump has slashed foreign aid from the US</p>
Climate

Aids cuts will help drive ‘lost decade’ for global progress, UN warns

<p>David Sengeh, Chief Minister of Sierra Leone, speaks at an event held in London this month to drum up investment into the West African country</p>
Climate

‘More than blood diamonds’: Sierra Leone seeks post-aid investment

<p>Makeshift homes in Maslah camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia </p>
News

Somalia faces ‘food catastrophe’ after aid cuts

<p>Internally displaced people in Baidoa, South West State, Somalia</p>
Africa

Risk of famine in parts of Somalia due to aid cuts, warns minister

<p>David Sengeh, Chief Minister of Sierra Leone, speaks at an event held in London this month to drum up investment into the West African country</p>
Climate

‘More than blood diamonds’: Sierra Leone seeks post-aid investment

<p>Makeshift homes in Maslah camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia </p>
News

Somalia faces ‘food catastrophe’ after aid cuts

<p>Internally displaced people in Baidoa, South West State, Somalia</p>
Africa

Risk of famine in parts of Somalia due to aid cuts, warns minister

<p>Palestinians gather to receive cooked meals from a food distribution center in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza</p>
Africa

Gaza and Sudan show why detecting famine cannot just be left to AI

Africa

Gaza and Sudan show why detecting famine cannot just be left to AI

<p>Palestinians gather to receive cooked meals from a food distribution center in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza</p>
<p>The aftermath of Cyclone Freddy in Malawi in 2023. It is one of the countries most affected</p>
Climate

Poor nations pay more on debt interest than they get for climate aid

<p>An estimated 46,000 waste pickers come to sites like Dandora in Nairobi every day, where they typically spend 12 hours per day looking for things to sell</p>
Climate

Climate crisis leaves waste pickers struggling at ‘full’ Nairobi dump

<p>Kawangare in Nairobi – where residents described the impacts of intensifying extreme weather caused by climate change</p>
Climate

Kenya’s slum-dwellers struggling to survive on the climate frontline

<p>Dinah, 27, who lives with her brother and five children, has described how the food crisis in Turkana has devastated her family</p>
Africa

One third of children in parts of Kenya suffering severe lack of food

<p>Dinah, 27, who lives with her brother and five children, has described how the food crisis in Turkana has devastated her family</p>
Africa

One third of children in parts of Kenya suffering severe lack of food

<p>Teresiah and Francis told <em>The Independent</em> that as climate change has disrupted weather patterns, they have experienced respiratory and joint problems after spending all day outside picking tea</p>
Climate

Tea farmers struggle to pay bills as climate crisis impacts crop sizes

<p>Young people at an HIV conference in Kenya</p>
Africa

Trump’s aid cuts bring fresh hate for young people with HIV in Kenya

<p>Climate change-driven extreme weather is a constant preoccupation for Nancy Githaiga who has a tea farm near Kenya’s Aberdare National Park</p>
Africa

Storm in your teacup: How climate crisis threatens Kenya’s tea trade

<p>Motorists drive along a flooded road following Typhoon Ragasa, in Pampanga province, Philippines</p>
News

Aid cuts leave the Philippines exposed to cyclones like Typhoon Ragasa

<p>Dairy cattle in Kenya</p>
Climate

Development banks ‘fund industrial livestock despite climate promises’

<p>A malnourished child receives treatment in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria</p>
Climate

Poor climate crisis warnings put countries at risk of acute hunger

<p>Three men rest in the shade of a makeshift coffee place in Guyah, in the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia's Afar region. In the heart of the Horn of Africa, the Danakil Depression is one of the hottest, most inhospitable place on earth, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius </p>
Africa

African countries push for radical change to tackle climate crisis

<p>African leaders gather at the summit in Addis Ababa</p>
Climate

Africa’s climate summit is fighting against Trump’s fossil fuel agenda

<p>Jacob, Red Cross volunteer and the Chairman of the Agagbe IDP camp, Jacob’s wife is Agathe, his daughter (4) is Gloria and his son (1) is Kumator, Gwer West, Benue State, Nigeria.</p>
Africa

How conflict and climate crisis left Nigeria’s ‘food basket’ reeling

<p>In 2024, some 7.3 per cent of Africa’s landmass was burnt, compared to just 0.6 per cent in both Europe and the US</p>
Climate

Wildfires are blazing across Africa – but leaders like Trump turn away

<p>Urgent requests for more climate finance at the Africa Climate Summit have come against a backdrop of rich countries gutting overseas aid programmes</p>
Africa

Aid cuts cast long shadow over key Africa climate talks

Africa

Aid cuts cast long shadow over key Africa climate talks

<p>Urgent requests for more climate finance at the Africa Climate Summit have come against a backdrop of rich countries gutting overseas aid programmes</p>
<p>Dahaboo, 38 stands for a portrait with her baby Aaden, one, at a nutrition centre in Baidoa, Somalia. Nutrition centres such as this are under threat across Africa due to aid cuts</p>
Africa

Countries to ‘run out of supplies to fight malnutrition’ over aid cuts

<p>Ereng, 18 months, eating the fortified peanut paste she has been given by as part of her malnutrition treatment</p>
News

Global aid cuts putting millions of children’s lives at risk

MrBeast attends as MrBeast celebrates the premiere of the new Prime Video Competition Series “Beast Games” at a content creator special screening on December 18, 2024 in Santa Monica, California.
Culture

How super-rich influencers are helping to supply international aid

<p>Youtubers Mr Beast and Ben Azelart - key figures driving the influencer-led #TeamWater campaign - during a visit to Dyetse Village, Malawi where a new well point has been installed to provide clean drinking water to the community</p>
Climate

Influencers like MrBeast can ‘help plug funding gap left by aid cuts’

<p>Youtubers Mr Beast and Ben Azelart - key figures driving the influencer-led #TeamWater campaign - during a visit to Dyetse Village, Malawi where a new well point has been installed to provide clean drinking water to the community</p>
Climate

Influencers like MrBeast can ‘help plug funding gap left by aid cuts’

<p>A woman receives a food package from Food Banking Kenya, which has reported soaring demand in the wake of cuts to USAID</p>
Africa

Soaring demand at food banks across Africa thanks to massive aid cuts

<p>Zebras by Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Tanzania-based conservation charity African People and Wildlife has told The Independent that it is already planning for drastically reduced revenues as a result of UK aid cuts </p>
Africa

UK aid cuts will cause untold damage, wildlife charities warn

<p>Elephants parade through the Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia. Conservation Lower Zambezi, a key NGO carrying out conservation work in the park, has been hit hard by cuts to US foreign aid</p>
Climate

The struggle to protect wildlife as Trump’s aid cuts start to bite

<p>Morocco is one of the nations set see the biggest growth in desalination capacity over the next five years</p>
Climate

The environmental impacts of a boom in desalination cannot be ignored

<p>Women and children will bear the brunt of the impact of the cuts</p>
Home News

UK admits aid cuts could see deaths rise – with women most at risk

<p>Emelyne Flavienne, 40, holds treated and cured vanilla pods in Andengondroy village, SAVA, Madagascar</p>
Climate

How climate crisis and aid cuts could devastate supplies of vanilla

<p>Students eat lunch at an elementary school in Banten, Indonesia</p>
Education

Education aid cuts to harm futures of children across developing world

<p>Rwandan policemen guard The Total Mozambique LNG Project in Afungi in the Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique</p>
Climate

Activists sue US development bank over loan to Mozambique gas project

<p>Habiba Abdulahi, a mother of ten, is a beneficiary, of the World Food Programme's Anticipatory Action programme in Ethiopia</p>
Climate

Aid cuts put key work to protect millions from climate crisis at risk

<p>Hundreds of millions of people across Africa still don't have access to stable electricity</p>
Climate

Trump ended Obama’s project to power Africa – but the dream isn’t dead

<p>Residents carry their salvaged belongings on a motorcycle in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in the Lake Chad region of Nigeria </p>
World

Aid cuts create starvation crisis in Nigeria as food supplies run out

World

Aid cuts create starvation crisis in Nigeria as food supplies run out

<p>Residents carry their salvaged belongings on a motorcycle in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in the Lake Chad region of Nigeria </p>
<p>Somalis who fled drought-stricken areas carry their belongings as they arrive at a makeshift camp for the displaced on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia </p>
Africa

Somalia has relied on aid for decades – can it survive without it?

<p>Britain's Minister of State for Development Jennifer Chapman speaks during the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, in Seville</p>
UK Politics

UK accused of hypocrisy at landmark UN foreign aid conference

<p></p>
News

Critics question UK’s foreign aid commitment at UN conference

<p>The charity ActionAid UK has told <em>The Independent</em> that it is moving away from using banking giant HSBC </p>
Climate

Leading charity pulls accounts from HSBC over ‘£100bn climate damage’

<p>The charity ActionAid UK has told <em>The Independent</em> that it is moving away from using banking giant HSBC </p>
Climate

Leading charity pulls accounts from HSBC over ‘£100bn climate damage’

<p>Recent climate-focused investments from British International Investment include £1.7 million committed to SunCulture, a Kenya-based company that provides solar-powered irrigation systems to smallholder farmers</p>
Climate

‘There are better ways to tackle the climate crisis than foreign aid’

<p>Aid from the United States Agency for International Development to be handed to refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo</p>
Africa

Aid cuts push global funding down by a third in 2025, UN data shows

<p>Mozambican marines are seen guarding the docks of the LNG plant</p>
Africa

Death, violence, delay: Inside Africa’s most troubled energy project

<p>StopEACOP activists in the KCB Uganda basement</p>
Climate

Activists accuse major bank of suppressing protest over oil pipeline

<p>Lomanat, 39, and her 18-month-old daughter Ereng, on the day she was discharged from malnutrition treatment in Turkana, Northern Kenya</p>
Africa

UK aid cuts will decimate the fight against malnutrition across Africa

<p>The leader of Burkina Faso’s military junta, Ibrahim Traore, and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands</p>
Africa

How Russia is pushing to take control of Africa’s nuclear future

<p>Internally-displaced children look out from family's makeshift homes in Maslah camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, earlier this year</p>
Climate

Trump’s aid cuts leave millions facing famine

<p>Donald Trump has cut climate spending as part of his broader global aid cuts</p>
Climate

Trump is slashing US spending on climate aid. But all is not lost

<p>Zain, a 13-year-old boy from rural Pakistan, whose life is already impacted by 50°C heatwaves, and whose home was destroyed by devastating floods in 2022. He is pictured with his mum, Sughra, 35</p>
Climate

Tens of millions of children to face dangerous levels of heat

<p>‘We do not believe there is room for backtracking,’ said one group about HSBC’s climate policies</p>
Climate

HSBC accused of ‘bulldozing through’ key climate policy

<p>A family eats a snack by candlelight during the blackout in Barcelona</p>
News

Did Spain’s renewable energy push have an impact on its blackout?

<p>A man sells battery-powered radios and torches on a Barcelona street amid the outage</p>
News

Attention turns to renewable energy after Spain-Portugal blackout

<p>Desta Abreha, 32, and her 8-month-old baby girl Capital, receive malnourishment<a href="/topic/malnutrition"></a> assistance at Hitsats Internally Displaced Persons Camp in the Tigray region of Ethiopia</p>
World

Cuts to food aid put more than 3 million people at risk in Ethiopia

<p>NatWest has developed a reputation for being relatively progressive on fossil fuels in recent years</p>
Climate

NatWest changes its policy over investing in oil and gas companies

<p>Ocean is also a deeply personal film, with the much-loved naturalist describing how his lifetime has coincided with a ‘great age of ocean discovery’</p>
Climate

David Attenborough to release new feature film to mark 99th birthday

<p>A cocoa farmer dries cocoa beans in the village of Satikran, in eastern Côte d’Ivoire. </p>
Climate

How the climate crisis will push up prices for your Easter chocolate

<p>NatWest has developed a reputation for being relatively progressive on fossil fuels in recent years</p>
Climate

NatWest changes its policy over investing in oil and gas companies

<p>Ocean is also a deeply personal film, with the much-loved naturalist describing how his lifetime has coincided with a ‘great age of ocean discovery’</p>
Climate

David Attenborough to release new feature film to mark 99th birthday

<p>A cocoa farmer dries cocoa beans in the village of Satikran, in eastern Côte d’Ivoire. </p>
Climate

How the climate crisis will push up prices for your Easter chocolate

<p>Recent days have seen the DRC grapple with devastating floods that have killed at least 72 people and injured 170 more</p>
Climate

Deadly floods in DRC becoming more likely with climate change

<p>World Food Programme packages, paid for with international aid, await passage across the Reyhanli Border Crossing to Syria</p>
World

International aid fell in 2024 for first time in five years

<p></p>
Climate

Why USAID is such a critical piece of the global climate aid puzzle

<p>The Kariba Dam hydroelectric plant, whose record low waters prompted Zambia and Zimbabwe to propose new coal-fired power stations</p>
Climate

Drought fuels demand for new coal power stations

<p>The aftermath of violent storm on Tuvalu, the likes of which are increasing with climate change </p>
News

Why Cop28 barely scratches the surface on the cost of climate change

<p>West Africa is suffering from a major hunger crisis </p>
News

Food insecurity bites in countries hit by extreme weather

<p>A failure to account for demand in developing countries is often a major oversight in models looking at peak emissions </p>
Climate

The greenhouse gas breakthrough that should give us hope

<p>Samantha Woll, president of the board at the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, who was found stabbed to death outside her home in Detroit. (David Guralnick/Detroit News via AP)</p>
US Crime News

Funeral held for Detroit synagogue president stabbed to death at home

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