Carbon offsets will not save the Amazon rainforest
1/8/2023: The deal set up between the Norwegian government and Guyana demonstrates how the carbon offset market is plagued with problems. It routinely inflates its climate impact, diverts money to middlemen who cream off profits, and exploits Indigenous communities.
Source: Climate Home News
UN Security Council: Food insecurity tops agenda
3/8/2023: A draft communique presented by the US Secretary of State calls on the UN Security Council to "take action to end the use of food as a weapon of war." The collapse of the Black Sea grain deal poses a serious threat to the food security of many lower-income countries already grappling with hunger and economic crises.
Source: DW
Niger coup: How ordinary people are paying the price
4/8/2023: Just over a week after Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum was ousted in a coup, prices are rising in the impoverished and landlocked Sahel nation. The Economic Community of West African States has slapped severe sanctions on Niger in response to the coup, including a number of border closures.
Source: DW
Fixing Africa’s electricity woes needs more than power
2/8/2023: The total number of people without access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa stayed roughly the same in 2021 as in 2011, according to the latest energy progress report published by a group of international agencies. More than four out of five people living in rural areas remain without power.
Source: DW
West African leaders suspend ties with Niger junta
30/7/2023: An emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States has agreed to immediate financial sanctions against Niger and authorized the use of force if the junta doesn't cede power and release the country's elected president Mohamed Bazoum from detention.
Source: DW
How to mend the world’s broken food systems
24/7/2023: The 2021 UN Food Systems Summit launched a global drive to transform the way humanity grows, processes and transports food. Prior to the second summit, a senior official from the UN Environment Programme discusses mounting concerns about the planet’s long-term ability to feed a fast-growing human population.
Source: UN Environment Programme
Nigeria’s economic reforms fail to protect vulnerable citizens
28/7/2023: In May the Nigerian government discontinued fuel subsidies, an action long recommended by economic advisers. In the first month after the subsidy was cut, the government saved $530 million but the poorest are struggling to cope with rising prices.
Source: Devex
UK spending on refugees may no longer count as aid
26/7/2023: In 2022 the UK diverted 29% of its overseas development assistance budget to pay the hotel and other bills for asylum-seekers. Its new Illegal Migration Act - which threatens to detain and deport asylum-seekers - may put a stop to this accounting practice.
Source: Devex
Bridgetown Agenda author rejects idea of climate reparations
24/7/2023: A working and financed climate loss and damage fund is seen by many experts as essential to clinching a global agreement at COP 28 later this year. Complex negotiations to set up the fund are off track as many high-income countries are sensitive to the blurry line between reparations and funding loss and damage.
Source: Devex
Putin to skip BRICS summit in fear of ICC arrest
19/7/2023: Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend a BRICS nations summit in South Africa next month, ending months of speculation he could be detained under an International Criminal Court arrest warrant. As an ICC member South Africa would be expected to implement the warrant.
Source: The East African