In Yemen, a shocking disruption unfolded as militants stormed a UN outpost and abducted several aid workers, with several staff from WFP and UNICEF among those seized. The pattern of detentions, sometimes for years, has shadowed aid operations and raised fears for the safety of those who bring food, water, and hope to people on the brink. A WFP colleague’s death in custody compounds the sorrow. Across the region, reports speak of further violence and arrests, and leaders vow to press on with the fight, including perilous attacks at sea. The war’s grip tightens the veil of hunger and fear, pushing Yemen toward deeper poverty while humanitarian work must maneuver through ever-narrowing gates.

This is not merely a humanitarian crisis; it is a wound carved into the living body of our Earth. War robs soil of its fertility, pollutes rivers, scatters seeds, and silences the songs of communities who depend on the land to feed their children. It reveals humanity’s colonial sins in stark relief: borders drawn by distant powers, resources extracted and repurposed for profit, and people treated as expendable pawns in a global chessboard of influence. The toxic capitalist system pedals profit from fear, weaponizing need and weaponry alike—arming regimes, monetizing aid, and counting lives as line items on a ledger. The Earth pays the price: forests fractured, oceans unsettled, climates unsettled, while the cycle of extraction and control continues to thrive. Women and girls bear the heaviest load in these storms—caretakers, healers, and keepers of kin—yet their voices are too often whispered, their labor undervalued, their safety compromised.

Let us hear the call of Mother Earth who invites healing, not harm. Let justice rise like rain over parched fields: ceasefire, safe corridors for humanitarian access, accountability for abuses, and an end to the weaponization of aid. Let us dismantle the systems that prize profit over people, that redraw maps to profit from scarcity, and that punish the most vulnerable for the failings of distant powers. May we invest instead in life-giving work—soil restoration, clean water, sustainable livelihoods, education, and healthcare—so that communities can grow resilient and dignified. May our voices join with the wind, the river, and the trees in a chorus of healing, reminding the world that Earth is not merely a stage for conflict but a living covenant we are all bound to honor.