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 …
This paper reviews the evolution of biofuel policies in the United States, because it is by far the largest market for biofuels, and the European Union, because the use of oilseed crops for biodiesel, including palm oil, poses particular risks for tropical forests and for climate change. The paper analyzes …
DHAKA : Experts at a discussion here on Wednesday said the outcome of the 20th Conference of Parties (COP 20) held recently in Lima, Peru have disappointed Bangladesh and other developing countries as it failed to deal adequately with adaptation, losses and damage caused by climate change, reports UNB. They …
FAO and its partners say that a global effort is needed to prevent the rapid spread of the deadly Fusarium wilt disease in bananas, which poses a severe threat to economic welfare and food security in developing countries. Plant scientists have been warning for several years that the world's most …
Major questions persist over how rich countries will boost funding for poorer nations to tackle climate change in the next five years, after U.N. climate talks failed to decide on clear plans. Back in 2009, wealthy governments promised to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 from public, private and …
A Paris summit in 2015 will face a tougher task to agree a U.N. deal to slow climate change after the hopes of many that cooperation between Washington and Beijing would be a magic key to end global gridlock dissolved in chaotic preparatory talks in Lima. At best, Paris may …
In a tug-of-war between rich and poor nations, the United climate change summit at Lima has turned out a “lacklustre plan with little scientific relevancy”, said WWF climate expert Samantha Smith on the deal struck on Sunday. The hard-fought agreement sets out guidelines for the submission of national greenhouse-gas pledges …
While Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday reiterated that there was no role for any external review of targets that each country set for itself to cut carbon emissions, the head of the U.S. delegation at the Lima talks, Todd Stern, clarified that no climate deal is …
The IPCC Guidelines propose 3 Tier levels for greenhouse gas monitoring within the forest land category with a hierarchical order in terms of accuracy, data requirements and complexity. Due to missing data and/or capacities, many developing countries, potentially interested in the reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation scheme, have …
The climate talks in Lima are proving to be so difficult because the issue before the negotiators is whether the Climate Treaty of 1992 needs to be tweaked to take into account the changed context, or whether a new treaty is needed.
This first UNEP Adaptation Gap Report provides a framework for defining adaptation gaps and a preliminary assessment of the gap between adaptation needs and reality. It proposes an approach for identifying and assessing the current state and action in key adaptation areas, and comparing these with the potential now, and …
Access to “safe” water and “adequate” sanitation are emphasized as important measures for schistosomiasis control. Indeed, the schistosomes' lifecycles suggest that their transmission may be reduced through safe water and adequate sanitation. However, the evidence has not previously been compiled in a systematic review.
In what could push the country into the same league as the US and China, India is likely to announce new, bigger and more effective climate change targets by the time US President Barack Obama comes here as chief guest for the Republic Day parade in January next year. The …
This paper explores methodological approaches that can be used to monitor and evaluate climate change adaptation initiatives at the projects and programme levels. It examines approaches that have been used in other areas of development practice to see what lessons have been learned that can inform the development of monitoring …
Measuring a country's health performance has focused mostly on estimating levels of mortality. An alternative is to measure rates of decline in mortality, which are more sensitive to changes in health policy than are mortality levels. Historical rates of decline in mortality can also help test the feasibility of future …
International efforts to tackle climate change are at a critical juncture. At the end of 2015 governments will gather at the Paris climate summit to frame a new international agreement aimed at preventing ‘dangerous climate change’. Achieving that goal requires a high level of ambition backed by practical policy commitments. …
Central to this working paper is the notion that the concepts and methods of comparative politics can shine light on political factors important for catalysing positive change on the governance climate change adaptation and food security in the developing world. First introduce comparative politics, including discussion of epistemological and methodological …
This report provides some practical guidance on how utilities can define their own smart grid vision, identify priorities, and structure investment plans. While most of these strategic aspects apply to any area of the electricity grid, the document focuses on the segment of distribution. The guidance includes key building blocks …
This study seeks to understand how best to connect local and international institutions based on lessons learnt from existing initiatives in the forest sector that aim to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions (often referred to as ‘forest-carbon’ initiatives) in order to inform the current debates and actions on REDD+ (Reducing …
The negotiating platforms at Peru: Different bodies are mandated to negotiate for different elements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) is a broad category of emissions that has been used by the IPCC since 2006. It widely used in national greenhouse gas inventories and combines two previously distinct sectors: Land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), and Agriculture. The AFOLU sector accounts …
