The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
From Ebola to the bombing of Gaza, civil society was the first responder to humanitarian emergencies during the last year, but faces dire threats and a funding crisis around the world, says a new report. During the last year civil society was everywhere, doing great work often at the frontline …
A new report finds that civil society organisations in Africa struggle to get the support they need to play an effective role in natural resource management and conservation. Natural resource governance and biodiversity conservation in Africa is facing a period of crisis as a result of surging land acquisition, militarised …
The implementation of Community Forest (CF) rights and Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights under the Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA) can transform forest governance and rural livelihoods in India. The recognition of CF/CFR Rights under the FRA provides the Indian state with a historic opportunity to implement the largest land …
This report discusses how the major urban development schemes in India do not adequately take into account issues related to children’s health, education, growth, safety and participation. The rising urbanisation in India presents an opportunity to design child-friendly cities, those that have a system of local governance, are committed to …
Efforts to address illegal logging and reduce the trade in illegal timber have borne fruit and prompted some positive reforms in producer countries. However, changes in the sector mean overall trade has not fallen in the last decade. China is now the world’s largest importer and consumer of wood-based products, …
The effectiveness of climate governance depends on its underlying institutional arrangements. This paper examines the emergence of climate-related institutions in India, organised around three periods: pre- 2007; 2007–2009 and 2010–mid-2014. Several key themes emerge: Institutionalisation is inadequately geared to India’s co-benefits based approach to climate policy; there is a lack …
India has secured second position amongst 40 countries in a survey of trust in national governments for 2014 conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Switzerland has emerged at the top with Norway coming in third. An impressive 73 per cent of Indians polled in the survey …
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the centrepiece of a new global agreement on what society seeks to become over the next fifteen years. This agreement envisages a world free from poverty and deprivation, and where the fundamental conditions for human prosperity—healthy ecosystems, a stable climate, and a clean environment—are …
The Regional State of Coast Report for the western Indian Ocean (WIO) is the first comprehensive regional synthesis to provide insights into the enormous economic potential around the WIO, the consequential demand for marine ecosystem goods and services to match the increasing human population, the pace and scale of environmental …
This second State of the World’s Volunteerism Report on volunteerism and governance argues that volunteerism and placing people at the centre of development policy and investment offer untapped potential for sustainable development. The State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2015 is the first global review of the power of volunteer …
To achieve WHO's target to halt the rise in obesity and diabetes, dramatic actions are needed to improve the healthiness of food environments. Substantial debate surrounds who is responsible for delivering effective actions and what, specifically, these actions should entail. Arguments are often reduced to a debate between individual and …
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will set the global development agenda for the next 15 years, with SDG targets acting as a benchmark of progress for rich and poor countries alike. Although SDG ambition will be realised at the national level, during their formulation little consideration has been given to …
As cities continue to expand and ever more people migrate to urban areas, current unsustainable patterns of urbanisation and ineffective policies are no longer acceptable. The typical approaches that maintain the separation between rural and urban neglect all of the ways that connect both worlds. And nowhere else are rural …
Greenland seeks to expand its energy and minerals industries to secure the revenues to gain full independence from Denmark. The 2014 oil price crash hit oil exploration hard, bringing disappointment to the local oil industry but relief to global environmentalists. Poor public consultation on mining projects and the lifting of …
Africa is urbanizing at a very high pace, and both large and intermediate African cities are experiencing rapid and often unplanned growth. As a result, policy- and decision-makers face numerous challenges regarding planning, development and management of their cities. Based on growing concerns regarding mobility and accessibility in urban areas …
While there is growing attention to climate policy, effective coordination, design and implementation of policy require attention to institutional design for climate governance. This paper examines the case of India, organized around three periods: pre-2007; 2007–2009 and 2010-mid-2014, providing institutional charts for each. Several key themes emerge. First, the formation …
Water is key to food security and nutrition. However there are many challenges for water, food security and nutrition, now and in the future, in the wider context of the nexus between water, land, soils, energy and food, given the objectives of inclusive growth and sustainable development. This report explores …
Lafarge has published its fifteenth annual sustainability report, highlighting the acceleration it is making in the field of sustainable development, particularly in tackling the challenges of climate change.
This handbook aims to foster a better understanding of the interlinkages between international trade, the environment and the green economy. It therefore focuses on national and international trade policy and rules, on environmental governance and principles, and the relationship between both. This third edition of Environment and Trade: A Handbook …
