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 …
Traditional approaches to supplying food are an inefficient 'band aid', says Pedro A. Sanchez. New evidence shows that helping farmers to help themselves is more effective and would be six times cheaper.
Supporters of small-scale farming claim that it provides livelihoods, and it can also conserve agrodiversity. In an attempt to show this, an international network of scientists joined hands with farmer communities to document agrodiversity. By sharing this knowledge with other farming communities, they showed how it is possible to achieve …
Malaria control in Africa is most tractable in urban settlements yet most research has focused on rural settings. Elimination of malaria transmission from urban areas may require larval control strategies that complement adult mosquito control using insecticide-treated nets or houses, particularly where vectors feed outdoors.
When biofuels emerged on the global scene, they were regarded as the final answer to our dependence on fossil fuels and our climate change concerns. But over the last couple of years, biofuels have uncovered another face
Along with all the development problems confronting African cities, they are under-resourced and ill prepared to cope with the hazards of Global Environment Change (GEC). Here leading experts, David Simon and Cheikh Gu
Can pastoral communities benefit from the cultivation of biofuel crops? Work carried out by SOS Sahel International U K to facilitate debate and understanding on the current biofuel boom in dryland Africa points to some interesting possibilities. At the same time many questions need to be answered before pastoralists can …
In spite of the intention of governments to increase the use of renewable energy in electricity supply, particularly the use of solar photovoltaic (PV) for energy poverty reduction in rural and peri-urban areas of Africa, there is relatively little information on how solar PV electrification impacts on energy poverty reduction. …
This is the 13th annual report on global control of tuberculosis (TB) published by WHO. 196 countries and territories that reported data in 2008 account for 99.6% of the world
This paper analyses current policy and legislation in relation to the praxis of artisanal gold mining in Mozambique. Approximately 20,000 people are involved in artisanal mining in central Mozambique, producing annually 480–600 kg of gold, 85–90% of which remains in the informal economy. The current legislation, however, is inadequate: artisanal …
The response of terrestrial vegetation to a globally changing environment is central to predictions of future levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The role of tropical forests is critical because they are carbon-dense and highly productive. Inventory plots across Amazonia show that old-growth forests have increased in carbon storage over recent …
Apparently pristine African tropical forests are increasing in tree biomass, making them net absorbers of carbon dioxide. Is this a sign of atmospheric change, or of recovery from past trauma?
The world's poor are increasingly relying on fish, but a combination of climate change and unsustainable fishing practices could wipe out this vital protein source.
Genetically modified crops are continuing to spread across the world, according to the leading annual survey of GM in agriculture, published yesterday. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said the global area of GM crops rose from 114m hectares in 2007 to 125m hectares in 2008, …
Increasingly, voices across the world are questioning the narrow approach to a single disease, especially the huge financing for AIDS over all else in basic healthcare. Though welcome and long overdue, this debate must now move further.
