'World is on fire:' UN seeks urgent funding for global humanitarian crisis

The UN has appealed for more than $47 billion to deliver vital aid next year, warning surging conflicts and the climate crisis will leave hundreds of millions of people in need.

"The world is on fire," the United Nations' new humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday, acknowledging he was looking ahead to 2025 with "dread".

With brutal conflicts spiralling in places like Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine and as climate crisis and extreme weather take an ever-heavier toll, the UN estimated that 305 million people globally will need some form of emergency assistance next year.

"We are dealing with a poly-crisis right now globally, and it is the most vulnerable people in the world who are paying the price," Fletcher said, warning that swelling inequality combined with the convergence of conflict and climate crisis had created a "perfect storm" of needs.

Launching the Global Humanitarian Overview, Fletcher acknowledged that the UN and its partners would not be able to reach all of those in need.

The annual appeal by UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations is seeking $47.4 billion for 2025 — slightly less than the appeal for this year — which it said was enough to provide assistance to the 189.5 million most vulnerable people.

"There's 115 million that we won't be able to reach" with this plan, Fletcher acknowledged.

'Ruthless'

Pointing to significant "donor fatigue" hitting humanitarian operations around the world, he stressed the need to lay out a "realistic" plan, which will require prioritisation and making "really tough, tough choices".

"We've got to be absolutely focused on reaching those in the most dire need, and really ruthless," he said.

As of last month, only 43 percent of the $50-billion appeal for this year had been met.

Underfunding has this year seen an 80-percent reduction in food assistance in Syria, cuts to protection services in Myanmar, and diminished water and sanitation aid in cholera-prone Yemen, the UN said.

The single biggest barriers for assisting and protecting people in armed conflict, though, were the widespread violations of international law.

2024 has already been the deadliest year for humanitarian workers, surpassing last year's toll of 280 killed.

The global humanitarian system "is overstretched, it's underfunded and it's literally under attack", Fletcher said.

"We need a surge in global solidarity."

Fears meanwhile abound that Donald Trump's looming return to the presidency in the United States — the world's biggest humanitarian donor — could see aid agency budgets cut rather than raised next year.

Fletcher said he planned to "spend a lot of time in Washington" in the coming months to engage with the new administration.