Development & Aid

No Region is Immune from Rising Inequalities, Trade Tensions & Declining Growth Rates

By Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations*
We are facing tense and turbulent times around the globe. Rising inequality is a danger everywhere. Trade and technology tensions are building. Growth forecasts are being revised down. Unease and uncertainty are going up. This is a global phenomenon. No region is immune.

Africa’s Youth make Land Restoration their Business

By Diana Wanyonyi and Nalisha Adams
The last time Siyabulela Sokomani ran a marathon he did so with a tree strapped to his back. A native wild olive sapling to be exact. It affected his race time for sure, with the seasoned runner completing the 42.2 km race in 4.42 hours rather than his usual 3.37 hours.

Locked Out – Nigeria’s Trafficked Children Have Never been to School

By Tobore Ovuorie and Yemisi Onadipe
“Human trafficking is when someone is taken from Nigeria to another country to be a prostitute. Or, to do other illegal jobs that are not good for humanity,” said Kingsley Chidiebere, a commercial motorcycle rider in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.

Going with the Wind: Transition to Clean Energy in Latin America & the Caribbean

By Luis Felipe López-Calva
The UN Climate Action Summit 2019, which took place in the days leading up to the 74th UN General Assembly, delivered new pathways and practical actions for governments and private sector to intensify climate action.

Red Alert for Blue Planet and Small Island States

By Farhana Haque Rahman
Barely a week passes without alarming news of the most recent scientific research into the global climate crisis compounding a growing sense of urgency, particularly the impact on small island states from rising sea levels and extreme weather.

As Urbanisation Grows, Cities Unveil Sustainable Development Solutions

Over half of the world’s population now live in cities, with numbers expected to double by 2050, but while urbanization poses serious challenges, cities can also be powerhouses for sustainable development; something the UN is spotlighting on World Cities Day, marked 31 October. 

Solar Cookers Produce More Than Food for Mexican Women

By Emilio Godoy
The sun's rays are also used to cook food and thus replace the burning of firewood and gas, improve the health of local residents and fuel the energy transition towards the use of renewable sources - the objectives of an enterprise in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Africa Watch: Morocco Tourism Gains Momentum

By Hugo Bourhis
The crème de la crème of Hollywood was in Marrakech, Morocco, for the wedding of British movie star Idris Elba in April this year. Elba tied the knot with his Canadian model girlfriend, former Miss Vancouver Sabrina Dhowre, at the Ksar Char-Bagh hotel, an exquisite Alhambra-style hotel.

How Can We All Hear That the World is on Fire?

By Andrew Bovarnick
The annual rhythm of the United Nations year peaks with the General Assembly in September. One month on, it’s a good time to reflect on this year’s gathering which was remarkable for its focus on fighting climate change, the transforming effect of one 16 year old girl telling it like it is, and the way people heard her words in a way they haven’t heard before.

Mother Earth’s Café Dares Climate Crises in India

By Manipadma Jena
The sun has barely risen when Phlida Kharshala shakes her 8-year-old grandson awake. He hoists an empty cone-shaped bamboo basket on his back, sets the woven strap flat across his forehead and off they go into the wilderness.

UN Turns to Global Investors for Billions Needed for its 2030 Development Agenda

By Thalif Deen
A Republican US Senator of a bygone era was once quoted as saying “a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.”

Industrial Policy Still Relevant

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
Industrial policy refers to the promotion of new investments and technology by governments to encourage the growth and development of specific economic sectors. However, scepticism persists about the feasibility and desirability of using industrial policy, especially of the ability to ‘pick winners’, often accused of leading to ‘propping-up failing industries’.

Nepal and Colombia Struggle With Mental Health Burden of Conflict

By Sewa Bhattarai
Children sit in a circle experimenting with different colours on palettes at a shelter in Godavari one morning this week. Some design flowers in bright colours, others draw homes nestled below mountains. Many of the children are survivors of rape or domestic violence, from rural parts of Nepal. The one thing they have in common is mental trauma.

India has a Groundwater Problem

By Rachita Vora and Smarinita Shetty
A majority of India’s water problems are those relating to groundwater—water that is found beneath the earth’s surface. This is because we are the largest user of groundwater in the world, and therefore highly dependent on it.

Climate Change to Further Escalate Violence in Western Africa

By Rabiya Jaffery
Nearly 50 million people in west Africa rely on agriculture and livestock for their livelihood but the land available for pastoral use has been rapidly shrinking.

Governments Must Short Circuit Tobacco Industry’s Pervasive Tactics

By Dr. Mary Assunta and Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo
The tobacco industry’s new rhetoric that smoking is harmful and that its so-called less risky products will reduce the global tobacco epidemic, should see the industry stop opposing or fighting government efforts to reduce tobacco use. However, this is not the case.

Sustainable Development and Education – Is the Non-Aligned Movement Still Relevant?

By Manssour Bin Mussallam
By the time of publication, representatives, senior officials, and Heads of State and Government of 120 countries from around the world will have converged on Baku in Azerbaijan for the XVIIIth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Nutrition – the Best Investment for a Developing Africa

By Busani Bafana
There is evident correlation between countries with high levels of children under five years of age who are stunted or wasted and the existence of political instability and/or frequent exposure to natural calamities, experts say. But current food systems in Africa are not addressing nutrition because of the combination of poor investment in the agriculture value chain, inadequate policies and lack of accountability in addressing malnutrition.

World Closer Than Ever to Seeing Polio Disappear for Good

In a “historic achievement for humanity”, two of three wild poliovirus strains have been eliminated worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday, following the conclusion by a group of experts that WPV3, type three of the disease, has been eradicated completely.

Solar Tubewells Suck Water out of Sindh Desert

By Zulfiqar Kunbhar
At the southern end of Pakistan’s Sindh-Balochistan border near the Kirthar mountain range, Sindh’s Kachho desert has witnessed an unprecedented surge in the use of solar-powered tubewells for groundwater extraction in agriculture.

World’s Spreading Humanitarian Crises Leave Millions of Children Without Schools or Education

By Thalif Deen
As massive protests escalated worldwide last month, millions of children walked out of schools to demonstrate against the lackadaisical response – primarily from world leaders --to the ongoing climate emergency resulting in floods, droughts, typhoons, heat waves and wildfires devastating human lives.
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