While Africa has contributed the least to historic greenhouse gas emissions globally, it stands to be the hardest hit by the effects of climate change. Africa will require substantial financial resources in order to adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change. At this year’s Climate Change Conference in Durban, climate finance is expected to feature prominently.
The 2007–2008 world food price crisis caused political and economical instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations. This was only the latest example for a functioning food system being an indispensable pillar of a stable economy and a society capable of reproducing itself. A new study outlines steps how the intergovernmental Committee on World Food Security could be expanded towards a politically relevant international steering committee.
The study analysed the irrigation expansion strategy as a measure of increasing food security and securing livelihoods in Kenya, as well as its role as a measure to climate change adaptation in relation to other measures e.g. selection of crop varietal suitability, environmental conservation through afforestation, agro forestry and land use management and practices.
Zimbabwe's Marange diamonds have been tainted by reports of violence, human rights abuses and smuggling, fuelling doubts about the credibility and effectiveness of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KP). How can the Marange impasse be resolved?
State building is often misrepresented as a technical matter of setting up new institutions then training people to do their jobs. However, establishing a viable state against the background of ethnically charged conflicts and a history of exclusion is a long-term process. It involves cultivating an inclusive political community that transcends ethnic, religious and cultural differences.
Over the last five decades, successive African governments have promised their citizens dignity, equality, human rights and a better life. However, progress to achieve these ideals remains hampered in various respects, of which gender inequality is undoubtedly one of the most severe.
