Economy & Trade

Nature Goes to Court

By Kanni Wignaraja
Nature is taking the stand as courtrooms worldwide become battlegrounds for Earth’s rights. The rise in climate litigation shows how the environment can take centre stage as a plaintiff, demanding justice and accountability, benefiting us all.

Unlocking SDG Success: How Better Data Can Develop Africa

By Busani Bafana
That one in three Africans will not be counted as countries failing to meet census deadlines is a huge setback for development planning.

Geopolitical Uncertainties Cloud World Economic Prospects, UN Report Says

By Oritro Karim
In the past few years, the world economy has made significant strides in mitigating inflation, unemployment, and poverty. Despite this, global growth has yet to regain its pace from before the pandemic.

The Challenges Facing the World’s Fifth Largest Economy

By Shibu Thomas
India has surged forward as the world's fifth-largest economy and has now surpassed China to claim the title of the most populous nation. However, this rapid ascent is not without its challenges; rising unemployment and inflation loom large, threatening demographic dividend and its ambitious goal of sustaining a 7 to 8% GDP growth.

Developing Countries are Being Choked by Debt: This Could be the Year of Breaking Free

By Ben Phillips
The debt disaster is back. Indeed, the aid agency Cafod reports that developing countries today face “the most acute debt crisis in history”.

Erratic Sales and Government Apathy Hurt Telangana Weavers

By Rina Mukherji
The southern Indian state of Telangana has always been home to exquisite cotton and silk weaves. But in recent years, lack of market access, expensive inputs, and government apathy have taken their toll on the weaving community. As a result, the younger generation is refraining from pursuing this traditional occupation and opting for more lucrative pursuits.

Our Health is at Stake: The Solutions SIDS Need to Fight Climate Change

By David Smith and Neisha Manickchand
Climate change is one of the most serious global threats to the future of the world’s population. Its impact extends far and wide, from the economy to governance to the very health and well-being of society.

Financing for Development Priorities Today

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The forthcoming fourth United Nations Financing for Development conference must address developing countries’ major financial challenges. Recent setbacks to sustainable development and climate action make FfD4 all the more critical.

A Renewed Vision for Prosperity for Landlocked Developing Countries

By Rabab Fatima
Over 570 million people live in the world’s 32 Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), spanning across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. These nations face unique and complex development challenges. Their lack of direct access to the sea, geographical isolation, limited infrastructure, and difficulty integrating into global trade and value chains hinder sustainable development and progress.

This Year’s Three UN Summits Set the Stage for COP30 to Transform Food Systems

By Aditi Mukherji and Cargele Masso
This year has been a landmark one for climate and environment policy. Starting with the UN’s COP16 biodiversity talks in October, followed by the COP29 climate talks in November, and closing with the desertification COP16 in December, few years have offered such critical moments back-to-back.

Civil Society Trends for 2025: Nine Global Challenges, One Reason for Hope

By Andrew Firmin and Inés M. Pousadela
It's been a tumultuous year, and a tough one for struggles for human rights. Civil society’s work to seek social justice and hold the powerful to account has been tested at every turn. Civil society has kept holding the line, resisting power grabs and regressive legislation, calling out injustice and claiming some victories, often at great cost. And things aren’t about to get any easier, as key challenges identified in 2024 are likely to intensify in 2025.

Innovative Financing to Unlock Africa’s Blue Economy

By Jean-Paul Adam
Securing new financing for global good has become more challenging than ever. Negotiations at the recently-concluded COP16 on Nature and Biodiversity failed to reach an agreement on establishing a fund to support the implementation of the Framework for Nature agreed in 2022 under the Montreal-Kunming agreement.

‘It’s Very Tough’: Turning Youth Employment Dreams Into Reality

By Catherine Wilson
It’s a bright winter day in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia in the southern Balkans. By lunchtime, the cafes are full. The atmosphere is busy and social, and it is not difficult to see why the city, home to one-third of the country’s population of 2 million, is the focus of hope for young jobseekers. But, for many, it is not an easy road.

U.S. Wins Controversial Ruling in GM Corn Dispute with Mexico

By Timothy A. Wise
A tribunal of trade arbitrators has ruled in favor of the United States in its complaint that Mexico’s restrictions on genetically modified corn violate the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA). The long-awaited ruling in the 16-month trade dispute is unlikely to settle the questions raised by Mexico about the safety of consuming GM corn and its associated herbicide.

Maya Train: Still Waiting to Become Promised Engine of Development – VIDEO

By Emilio Godoy
When he promoted the Maya Train (TM) in 2019, then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who ruled Mexico between 2018 and October this year, stated that the railway line would be an engine of development for the southeastern Yucatan peninsula.

Targeting Transformative Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia-Pacific Subregions

By Madhurima Sarkar-Swaisgood and Sanjay Srivastava
In December 2024, Vanuatu experienced yet another harrowing reminder of its vulnerability to disasters—a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific nation’s capital, Port Vila, leaving 14 dead, over 200 injured, and thousands more affected.

South Korea’s Democracy Defended

By Andrew Firmin
Democracy is alive and well in South Korea. When President Yoon Suk Yeol tried to impose martial law, the public and parliamentarians united to defend it. Now Yoon must face justice for his power grab.

2024 Is The Hottest Year Ever Recorded

By Oritro Karim
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that 2024 is on track to be the hottest year in recorded history, surpassing 2023. This can be attributed to heightened reliance on fossil fuels and the reluctance of industries worldwide to pivot to green energy practices. The rapid acceleration of global temperatures has alarmed scientists, with many expressing concern over the environmental, economic, and social implications of the worsening climate crisis.

Museum of Modern Art Set to Launch in Cotonou, Showcase Beninese Artists

By Megan Fahrney
Construction of the new Museum of Modern Art is underway in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city. The museum, along with three others being built throughout the country, are part of the Beninese government’s extensive plan to ramp up the nation’s tourism industry and preserve its culture. It is expected to open at the end of 2026.

Why is It So Hard to Change? Insights from the 2024 Human Development Report on Chile

By Javier Bronfman
As many middle-income countries in the world, Chile finds itself at a critical juncture. The country has made significant progress over the past decades in terms of economic growth and poverty reduction, yet many structural challenges remain.

Transformative Change Will Save a Planet in Peril—IPBES

By Busani Bafana
Nature is at a tipping point. With human activity having pushed up to 1 million plant and animal species close to extinction, securing sustainable development and halting global biodiversity collapse is no longer just an option but a requisite for human wellbeing.
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