Clean Water and Sanitation
Conservationists take aim at poachers
As the rate of animal poaching continues to rise, conservationists have begun calling for stronger laws and deterrents to wildlife crimes.
Africa’s quest for a cashless economy gains momentum
When she needed to transfer money to a friend in a faraway village last March, Mouna Ahmed, a gender equality activist in Liberia, did not have to worry about long bank queues and complex paperwork. Instead she took her phone, tapped on the mobile money app, punched in an amount and pressed the send button. Minutes later, her friend acknowledged the kind gesture.
Africa feeling the heat of climate change
Researchers are still trying to learn why the population of African penguins has dropped precipitously over the last 15 years—some estimates say by 90%—but most agree that climate change is a major factor in the decline of this iconic African species.
Disaster insurance against climate change attracts African countries
When disaster strikes in Africa, humanitarian aid can take months to reach people on the ground. By then a lot of damage may have been done. During a drought, for example, small-scale farmers facing a sequence of harsh dry seasons may sell their cattle and pull their children out of school. A quicker response could minimize the long-term effects of such a crisis.
Young South Africans investing in lucrative renewable energy sector
Fumani Mthembi, who runs a renewable energy producing company in South Africa, has no regrets about leaving her secure job in the middle of an economic recession to start her own business in 2009.
The internet of everything water
I magine a world where your spice cabinet reminds you to buy salt, or your cell phone sends a text message about the amount of water left in your water tank. These are the wonders of the Internet of things (IoT).
Global economic gravity moving towards Africa Interview - Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, head of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa
The second International Conference on the Emergence of Africa (ICEA) was held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in March 2017. Since the first conference in 2015—at a time of robust economic growth on the continent—hopes for economic progress have dimmed because of a crash in the price of commodities, volatile global financial markets and a slowdown in global growth. Before departing New York to attend the second ICEA conference, jointly organized by the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and head of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa Abdoulaye Mar Dieye sat down for an interview with Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor to talk about Africa’s economic development opportunities and challenges.
Africa’s digital rise hooked on innovation
When the world was changing from mechanical and analogue technology to digital electronics four decades ago, Africa was nowhere on the scene.
Pension funds, insurance companies as key drivers of regional integration
Capital markets, where money from savers is put into long-term investments, can contribute significantly to socio-economic development if they invest in productive projects and enterprises. But small size and market illiquidity can undercut this process.
How South Sudan’s ‘lost boy’ brought water to his village
Salva Dut was 11 years old, sitting through the last lesson in class and looking forward to the trip home with his schoolmates. Suddenly all hell broke loose. An infernal civil war had ignited in his native South Sudan. The year was 1985.
Gambia’s democracy survives political turbulence
As the results of The Gambia’s presidential election trickled in last December, incumbent President Yahya Jammeh realised his power was slipping away. Indeed, final results showed that a newcomer, 51-year-old businessman Adama Barrow, had garnered 45.5% of total votes, while Mr. Jammeh received 36.6%.
Plastics pose biggest threat to oceans
Renowned American oceanographer Sylvia Earle has studied the sea extensively for more than 60 years, and logged more than 7,000 hours researching and filming marine life since her first dive at age 16.
Paris Agreement on climate change: One year later, how is Africa faring?
Since December 2015, when 195 countries signed the Paris Agreement on climate change, several countries in Africa have begun implementing climate resilience activities that will allow them to better absorb and adapt to harsh climatic changes.
Special feature. It is time to save our oceans
Ocean Conference: Our best and last chance to get things right Interview - Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly
Peter Thomson assumed his current one-year term as the 71st president of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2016. Before that Mr. Thomson had served since 2010 as Fiji’s permanent representative to the United Nations and its ambassador to Cuba. Africa Renewal’s Masimba Tafirenyika sat down with Mr. Thomson in New York to discuss preparations for the Ocean Conference to be co-hosted by the governments of Fiji and Sweden at UN headquarters from 5 to 9 June 2017. The UN Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, as it is officially called, coincides with World Oceans Day (June 8). SDG 14 deals with the conservation and use of oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. The following are excerpts from the interview.
International Criminal Court: Beyond the threats of withdrawal
Sometime last year, three African countries—Burundi, the Gambia and South Africa—signalled their intention to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC). There was fear that more countries would follow.
Overfishing destroying livelihoods
It was midnight on 14 December 2016, when five fishermen in Tombo village near Freetown in Sierra Leone revved up a small outboard engine and powered their boat far out to sea. They threw in their net and soon bagged a good quantity of fish. But as they hauled in their catch, a terrible storm blew in. When the waters finally calmed, one of them, an 18-year-old named Alimamy, could not be found.
Urban growth a boon for Africa’s industrialization
There has been much talk about Africa’s urban dividends—the increased prosperity and sustained socioeconomic development resulting from the expansion and industrialization of African cities.
An emerging but vulnerable middle class: A description of trends in Asia and the Pacific
The objective of the present paper is to examine the extent to which economic growth and public social expenditure in Asia and the Pacific have translated into an increasing middle class. Using international poverty lines and an absolute definition of the middle class, it is estimated that between 1999 and 2015, 1.2 billion people moved into the Asia-Pacific middle class and that the share tripled, from 13 to 39 per cent of the total population. This expansion, however, did not translate into an income-secure middle class, as almost one billion people are vulnerable and at risk of falling back into poverty. Examination at the country-level reveals that large disparities persist in the region, as most countries need to sustain economic growth and at the same time guarantee that the gains are sufficiently distributed to increase the size of the middle class.
Water security in Central Asia and Southern Caucasus
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of new States in Central Asia and Southern Caucasus has created new political and security dynamics in these regions. The latter was affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the former is confronted by the threat of conflict over shared water resources. More than twenty years later, the protracted conflict in Southern Caucasus over Nagorno-Karabakh remains unresolved and overshadows water-related problems; despite this, the dispute over water is a very important factor in the conflict, and key to overcoming it. In Central Asia, although the threat of conflict over water resources did not materialize, the region remains under the spotlight of water-conflict literature. In the present paper, the complex nature of water security is reviewed through an in-depth analysis of security and development-related factors in their connection to water and vice versa, which leads to the conclusion that policy interventions should be based on a more holistic approach that includes a wider set of issues.