Against a backdrop of increasing scientific concern and public awareness about the climate crisis, UNDP set out to review if policymakers were keeping the promises they made in 2019 when the global state of climate ambition was assessed with UNFCCC in the first NDC Global Outlook report, The Heat is On. We were curious. Is the Paris Agreement working?
And if yes, then who is doing the work? Which countries are leading the way on ambition – and which ones are falling behind?
Reading Of The Week: The State of Climate Ambition
United Nations Development Programme
The EU’s announced ban on Russian oil imports is a strong political measure that will heavily impact international energy markets, restricting the supply of 4.1 million barrels per day (mbd) of oil and derivates to a market which is a net importer of 10.72 mbd.
The De-Globalisation of Oil Risks and Implications from the Politicisation of Energy Markets
Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI)
Solar PV is a crucial pillar of clean energy transitions worldwide, underpinning efforts to reach international energy and climate goals. Over the last decade, the amount of solar PV deployed around the world has increased massively while its costs have declined drastically.
Special Report on Solar PV Global Supply Chains
International Energy Agency
Over the past three decades, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has undergone a geopolitical transformation, punctuated by a series of critical junctures: the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990-1991, the American and NATO operations in Afghanistan the following decade, the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Arab uprisings of 2011. These regional geopolitical shifts – often dictated by domestic drivers – have been accompanied by global geostrategic changes. As a result, the Gulf sub-region, encompassing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran, has emerged as the new center of gravity in the MENA region.
The unrealized potential of cooperative security in the Arab Gulf
NATO Defense College Policy Brief
Iraq's current institutions offer no enforceable compromise between consensus rule and majority rule. The popularity of Sadr's current farming shows that many Iraqis oppose the consensus system. With no path to compromise, violence between these two groups is difficult to avoid.
Iraq must compromise between majoritarianism and consensus government formation
Al Jazeera
Kenya’s election season is now in its final stretch. On August 9, 2022, voters across the country and members of the diaspora will head to the polls for another general election. Nationally, two front-runners—Deputy President William Ruto and long-time opposition leader Raila Odinga—are facing off in a contentious race to succeed outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is completing his second and final term in office. This election cycle comes at a time of significant economic discontent, with many Kenyans concerned about rising costs of living, public debt, and pervasive corruption. Given that Kenyatta is not up for reelection and that the country’s ruling coalition has splintered, Kenya will see a leadership change no matter what the outcome is.
The Specter of Politics as Usual in Kenyas 2022 Election
Carnegie Endowment For International peace
As the frequency of natural disasters and civil conflicts spikes globally, rapid response systems, the likes of early warning systems facilitating rapid intervention, assume prominence (Smith & Frankenberger, 2018). While such interventions alleviate crises, they seldom address the underlying vulnerability. Occasionally, the short-term interventions generate serial dependence of individuals and households on aid and handouts (Alinovi et al., 2008; Bene et al., 2016). Some of these concerns motivate the recent calls for the resilience approach to development, whereby building resilience capacity becomes a primary concern of development planning and emergency interventions (Tendall et al., 2015).
The Boko Haram Conflict and Food Insecurity: Does Resilience Capacity Matter?
Center For The Studies of African Economies (CSAE)
The role of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) in the process of job creation and formalization of the informal economy has been understudied. This policy study aims to examine the issue of widespread youth employment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the mismatch between labor supply and demand to promote the creation of start-up businesses to formalize these enterprises.
Reading of the Week: Assessing the Job Creation Potential of the Social economy in the MENA Region
EUROMESCO
In comparison with other regions, such as Asia and Europe, Africa’s participation in the digital economy is relatively limited. However, the growing demand for e-commerce, combined with pandemic-related restrictions, has highlighted the significance of digitalization for the African continent. Perhaps more importantly, the pandemic has brought to light the deep digital divide that exists between developed and developing countries.
African Participation in WTO E-Commerce Negotiations: Policy Positions and Development Issues
The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
The consequences of the ongoing war in Ukraine continue to be a key topic of interest and concern for politicians, international organizations, journalists, and researchers. Following the decision of the European Union (EU) to significantly reduce its reliance on Russian gas supplies, as formulated in its REPowerEU plan, EU member states have been seeking non-Russian sources of gas imports in an attempt to secure additional and\or new gas supplies. Africa’s natural gas reserve holders are among
the first countries under consideration.
African gas supplies to Europe: between hopes and hard realities
The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
The launch of UAVs by Hezbollah toward the Karish gas field was intended to convey a twofold message – to Israel and to the Lebanese – against the backdrop of Israel’s determination to continue production from this field and the renewed diplomatic effort initiated by Lebanon to resolve the maritime border dispute between the countries.
Resolving the Gas Dispute with Lebanon: First Exhaust Diplomatic Efforts
The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
We have been hearing about transitions in the Middle East for years now. There was the hoped-for democratic transition, which has been a bust. There is an energy transition looming. There is, arguably, a water transition afoot as aquifer depletion, surface-water exhaustion, and climate change all combine to make a mostly arid region profoundly more so. But an equally profound transition may be one few are talking about: a labor transition that may reorder the economics, politics, and society of the entire Middle East, from Casablanca to Tehran.
The Middle East Transition We Need to Talk About
Center for Strategic and International Studies
For decades prior to the ongoing conflict, Yemen had been vulnerable to recurring budget deficits due to a lack of meaningful fiscal reform, high recurrent expenditures – mainly public sector salaries and fuel subsidies – and an overdependence on oil revenues. While foreign debt obligations remained low, the debt market was poorly diversified, with treasury bill holders narrowly concentrated within the banking sector and government bonds held almost exclusively by public pension funds.
Addressing the Crushing Weight of Yemens Public Debt
SANAA Center for Strategic Studies
Generally, Somali women have been under-represented at all levels of government administration since the Somali Republic was established in 1960. In 2012, As Somalia ended the transition period, women were promised 30% representation in all sectors of government. Yet this remains a gentlemen’s agreement and the gender quota remains excluded from the provisional constitution. This lack of incorporation of the gender quota is reflected in the uneven representation of women in parliament in the last three indirect elections, in 2012 (14% representation); 2016 (24% representation), and 2021/22 (20% representation).
Women and Politics: Overcoming Barries of Political Representation in Somalia
Heritage Institute
The Republic of Mozambique (Mozambique for short) suffered over 25 years or so of the war, first to achieve independence from Portugal in 1975, then from the civil war raging between Frelimo and Renamo until 1992. The country was in ruins when peace was finally signed. Peace enabled over two decades (1992-2015) of high growth averaging 8% per year. During this period, Mozambique was considered a development success. Unfortunately, the hidden debt of U.S. $ 1.4 billion (equivalent to 10% of GDP) revealed in April 2016 plunged Mozambique into a crisis, just when there was a downturn in commodity prices and a regional drought.
Implications of Food Systems for Food Security: The Case of the Republic of Mozambique
Policy Brief
The potential for intra-African digital trade and e-commerce remains constrained by traditional restrictions such as logistical challenges, limited internet penetration and access to financial systems and those related to the management and governance of data.
The AfCFTA: unlocking the potential of the digital economy in Africa
Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
The livelihoods of rural communities depend primarily on the availability of and access to renewable resources, including water, land and living resources. These resources are components of ecosystems with complex and dynamic relationships. Holling (1973) and Gunderson (2000) have shown that these ecosystems have their own capacity or resilience to adapt to external pressures induced by humans and large-scale environmental changes.
Policy Brief - The importance of Riverine and Floodplain Fisheries for Livelihood Resilience in Africa
African Development Bank Group
African island states are heavily dependent on the extraction of natural resources, while accumulating considerable amounts of waste. As these states and others in Africa pursue the development of sustainable Blue Economies, there are significant opportunities to adopt and scale circular economy practices.
Unlocking the Circular Economy Potential of African Island States
South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
In 2021, migration dynamics in Niger involved the consolidation of a trend in which the flow of irregular non-Nigerien migrants moving to Algeria overtook the numbers transiting towards Libya – historically the most popular route for sub-Saharans seeking opportunities in North Africa or Europe.
Reading of the Week: Human Smuggling and Trafficking Ecosystems North Africa and the Sahel NIGER
Global Initiative
The Al-Hawl displacement camp in the city of Hasaka, Syria witnessed the murders of six people in May 2022 alone. These deaths increased the number of documented murders in the camp to a total of 24 since the beginning of the year, and the mysterious January 2022 killing of an aid worker in Al-Hawl posed an unprecedented threat to the humanitarian and medical organizations working to assist the more than eight thousand female jihadists and wives and widows of ISIS fighters living there.
The Crisis of Female Jihadists in Al-Hawl Displacement Camp
Carnegie Endowment For International Peace
There is no doubt that Arabs and Israel are hoping for very different things from President Biden’s trip to the Mideast. Israel’s wishes for the Biden visit are straightforward. It wants Biden’s life-long commitment to Israel put on display, to serve as a reminder to countries in the region and to doubters in the U.S. not to question the vibrancy of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
From Arabs and Israelis, Biden Hears Very Different New Middle Easts
The Washington Institute
The African Development Bank Group has released a new report providing a snapshot of results of regional operations financed by its concessional lending window, the African Development Fund (ADF), over the last decade. The ADF regional operations to date show that Africa-wide changes are underway. The Bank has a proven performance track record and scores second on global rankings.
ADF Regional Operations Report Crossing Borders, Connecting Communities, Changing Lives
African Development Bank Group
Kenya’s competitive presidential elections reflect hard-earned progress in establishing independent constitutional and judicial guardrails, though a history of electoral violence demands all sides show restraint. Kenyans will vote in August in their fifth presidential elections since the introduction of multiparty politics in1991. The competitiveness of the elections, and uncertainty over the outcome, distinguishes Kenya from many of its neighbors.
Kenyan Elections - Another Test in the Country s Democratic Journey
Africa Center For Strategic Studies
In 2021, a revival of migration through northern Mali occurred, following the stark decline that took place in 2020, during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bulk of this increase was channeled through Timbuktu, which, despite a slowdown resulting from the restrictions implemented regionally and locally to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, quickly rebounded as soon as restrictions were eased and enforcement relaxed.
Human Smuggling and Trafficking Ecosystems - North Africa and The Sahel MALI
Global Initiative
International sanctions to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have overlooked a key component in the Kremlin’s toolbox for international terror and coercion: the private military company (PMC) Wagner Group, which is owned by Vladimir Putin confidant Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Reading of the Week: It s Time to Designate Wagner Group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization
LAWFARE - Hard National Security Choices
Digital technologies are becoming an integral part of humanitarian responses and increasingly facilitate access to critical support in crises. At the same time, these digital tools are becoming intertwined with some of the humanitarian sector’s most enduring challenges, including that of inclusion. As well as ensuring assistance ‘irrespective of age, sexual and gender identity, disability status, nationality or ethnic, religious or social origin or identity’, inclusive responses are those that ensure not just equal rights but also participation in humanitarian action.
Digital Technologies and Inclusion in Humanitarian Response
Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
Solar PV is a crucial pillar of clean energy transitions worldwide, underpinning efforts to reach international energy and climate goals. Over the last decade, the amount of solar PV deployed around the world has increased massively while its costs have declined drastically.
Special Report on Solar PV Global Supply Chains
International Energy Agency (IEA)
The results of the parliamentary elections in Lebanon reflect changes in the political map, in particular the weakening of the Hezbollah camp and the growing strength of its opponents. However, the opposition camp is still weak and divided, and thus the results do not enable it to form the stable and functioning government that Lebanon so desperately needs.
Hezbollah s Political Challenges following the Elections in Lebanon
The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
The question of border demarcation has been one of the most contentious issues in the historical relationship between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Border disputes have been at the heart of many of the tensions between the two countries over the past century. They fought over the border in 1934, resulting in the Treaty of Taif, a non-permanent agreement that reflected the will of Saudi Arabia. But the border was to remain a source of conflict into the 1990s, which saw a number of military skirmishes.
Resolving the Yemen Saudi Border Problem Time to Revive the Joint Committees
Center for Strategic Studies (SANAA)
This brief is part of a series published by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC’s) North Africa and Sahel Observatory. In 2021, human-smuggling activity in Chad was heavily affected by political and security developments, following a period of relative stability for smuggling dynamics. Since 2016, human smuggling through Chad has grown, though migrant numbers remain low in comparison to routes via Sudan and Niger.
Human Smuggling and Trafficking Ecosystems North Africa and the Sahel CHAD
Global Initiative
The precipitous escalation of the security crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC) risks reigniting interstate conflict in the Great Lakes region. The myriad actors and interests involved, however, often defy easy analysis. To help clarify what is driving the worsening security situation, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies compiled this explainer drawing on the insights of multiple experts.
Rwanda and the DRC at Risk of War as New M23 Rebellion Emerges: An Explainer
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Recalling all its previous resolutions, statements of its President and press statements on the situation in Mali, Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Mali, emphasizing that the Malian authorities have primary responsibility for the provision of stability, security and protection of civilians throughout the territory of Mali, urging the Malian authorities to uphold their efforts to meet their obligations in that regard, and expressing great concern at the violent and unilateral
actions taken by non-State actors hampering the return of State authority and basic social services.
The Situation in Mali - MINUSMA
United Nations Security Council
This ODI Policy brief is intended to help those working towards gender equality to better meet the aspirations and needs of those they aim to support. It departs from a growing base of evidence that those who seek to advance gender justice will accelerate progress when they intentionally channel resources to feminist social movements – one of the most important historical drivers of change.
Reading of the Week: How to Partner with Feminist Movements for Transformative Change
One Day International (ODI)
At COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 the Paris Rulebook was finalized. The rulebook provides practical guidance on implementing the Paris Agreement, which includes guidance on transparency and reporting on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through an Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). NDCs communicate each country’s national commitments to climate change and are submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) every five years. The ETF will ensure that countries report on their NDC implementation through the standardized submission and review of biennial transparency reports. With the final due date for the first such submissions set for 2024, NDC reporting and transparency are at the forefront of national and international climate action.
Enhancing the Transparency and Accountability of Climate Reporting under the Paris Agreement
Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning present both challenges and opportunities for terrorism and counterterrorism efforts. Violent extremists and other hostile actors can increasingly exploit emerging AI technologies to sow disinformation and exacerbate polarization, target humans and their information systems, manipulate data sets, and attack critical infrastructure.
Counterterrorism and Violence Prevention Safeguarding Against the Misuse and Abuse of Artificial Intelligence
Global Center of Cooperative Security
Oil dominates Nigeria’s economy- “Africa’s Giant”. Oil revenues are both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because they are the single most important contributor to government revenues; a curse because, through the Dutch Disease, they undermine the productivity and competitiveness of other non-oil sectors, primarily agriculture and agri-pcrocessing; and manufacturing, two major sources of non-oil employment and incomes.
Implications of Food Systems for Food Security: The case of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Policy Center for the New South
The present report, submitted pursuant to paragraph 55 of Security Council resolution 2612 (2021), covers developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 17 March 2022 to 16 June 2022. It describes progress made in the implementation of the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) since the previous report of 21 March 2022 (S/2022/252), including progress towards the realization of the benchmarks and indicators of the transition plan.
United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
United Nations Security Council
Among the many initiatives announced as part of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in 2021, few generated as much interest as the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between South Africa and a handful of Group of Seven (G7) members. Through this deal, the international community committed around US$8.5 billion to support the Government of South Africa to decarbonize its energy sector, which is dominated by coal and weighed down by a debt-laden state power company – Eskom.
Emerging Analysis Country Platforms for Climate Action
Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
This article proposes a relatively simple policy to help the Palestinian Authority improve its dismal fiscal situation: tax Palestinians who work in Israel and in the Israeli settlements by attaching a fixed price to entry permits, instead of taxing Them according to the Israeli/Jordanian tax code. The PA should receive all revenues from this tax. This policy would shift the regulation of the number of Palestinian workers away from an exogenously determined quota to a system that takes into account the supply and demand of Palestinian workers in Israel.
Improving the Palestinian Authoritys Fiscal Outlook
The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
At its 95th meeting, on 29 September 2021, the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict of the Security Council examined the fifth report of the Secretary General on children and armed conflict in Yemen (S/2021/761), covering the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020, which was introduced by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
Conclusions on children and armed conflict in Yemen
United Nations Security Council
The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2625 (2022), by which the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to 15 March 2023 and requested the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the Mission’s mandate every 90 days. The report covers political and security developments, the humanitarian and human rights situation and progress towards the implementation of the Mission’s mandate since the previous report, dated 25 February 2022(S/2022/156).
Situation in South Sudan Report of the Secretary General
United Nations Security Council
Kenyan elections are often high-stakes affairs, with the politicians concerned eager to protect both their careers and their significant business interests. While social tensions are now at a low ebb, in past elections, claims of electoral malfeasance have triggered violence that killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands.
Kenyas 2022 Election: High Stakes
International Crisis Group
This Joint Policy Study is structured in four chapters. The first chapter analyses national and regional policy frameworks in place, looking at three Maghreb countries: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The second chapter examines the regional and trans-regional relevance of West African diaspora policies. The third chapter assesses the Algeria-Niger bilateral cooperation in the light of the EU borders’ externalization process and the last chapter analyses the role of civil society organizations in the policymaking consultations in the Maghreb.
Algeria Morocco Tunisia: A Comparative Perspective on Maghreb Countries Migration Cooperation with their West African Neighbours
Euromesco
The following executive summary outlines the results of an Arab News / YouGov pan-Arab survey on attitudes toward the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The poll, the ninth in the series, sought to understand how Arabs across 14 countries in the Middle East and North Africa viewed the conflict in Ukraine.
Reading of the week: Russia Ukraine: Where do Arabs Stand?
Research Studies - Arab News
In 2016, Saudi Arabia embarked on a new path to diversify its economy. Implementing Vision 2030, the kingdom’s roadmap for a post-oil era, requires opening up the country and working to change public perception in the West. As part of a nation-branding strategy, Saudi leaders aim to foster the kingdom’s cultural resources to improve its image abroad as a means to attract investment and align interests.
Saudi Arabias Nation Branding Strategy
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
The cabinet of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, established in June 2021, is in crisis after the loss of its parliamentary majority in April. The divergent interests of the coalition members have generated further conflicts over internal and security affairs, thus destabilizing the government. While the government remains more effective in foreign policy than domestic matters, it is mainly thanks to regional cooperation. The weakness of the coalition has increased the probability of early parliamentary elections.
On the Brink: A Year of the Coalition of Change in Israel
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies, on a semiannual basis (in January and June). Each edition includes analytical pieces on topical policy challenges faced by these economies.
Global Economic Prospects June 2022
World Bank Group
Unsustainable use of the earth’s resources is a primary driver of the triple threat of pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change. The 100 billion tones of natural resources extracted and processed every year contribute to half of all carbon emissions and 90 per cent of all terrestrial biodiversity loss. The circular economy offers a value-chain approach to tackling this problem. Rather than the current linear flow of materials through the global economy, in which they are extracted, processed, manufactured, used, and finally disposed of as waste a circular economy uses a systemic approach to decouple economic prosperity from material use by maintaining a circular flow of resources through regenerating, retaining or adding to their value, while contributing to sustainable development.
Trade for an Inclusive Circular Economy
Chatham House
The Resolution 2584 (2021) requests the Secretary General to report to the Council every three months on the implementation of the resolution. The present report covers major developments in Mali since the previous report (S/2022/278) dated 30 March 2022.
Situation in Mali Report of the Secretary General
United Nations Security Council (UN)
The GERD is a major hydropower project built on the Blue Nile and located in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region. The dispute involves Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia and has been characterised by claims of natural and historic rights to the Nile waters under the terms of 1929 and 1959 watercourse treaties.
The Nile River Dispute: Fostering a Human Security Approach
Istituto Affari Internazionali
When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was adopted, Africa played an active role in developing the deep seabed mining regime. The continent should now play an equally active role in steering future debates on the subject. African countries must implement a clear action plan to transform the ideas presented in African blue economy instruments into action.
Africas Role in Deep Seabed Mining
Institute for Security Studies (ISS)
Infrastructure and sanitation conditions in the Gaza Strip, one of the world’s most densely populated areas, are extremely poor, including shortages of water, energy, electricity, food, and health services. Gaza’s humanitarian challenge is likely to only worsen, given the demographic trends in the Stripand its acute vulnerability to climate change.
The Gaza Strip and the Climate Crisis
Institute for National Security Studies
The present report provides an account of the activities of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) from 21 February to 20 May 2022, pursuant to the mandate set out in Security Council resolution 350 (1974) and extended in subsequent Council resolutions, most recently resolution 2613 (2021).The UNDOF was stablished to: Maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Syria; Supervise the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces; and Supervise the areas of separation and limitation, as provided in the May 1974 Agreement on Disengagement.
Report of the Secretary General on United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF)
United Nations Security Council (UN)
While Africa has contributed the least to the climate crisis, it is the most exposed to its devastating consequences. Out of the 25 countries deemed most vulnerable to climate change, 14 are conflict-ridden. The compromised capacities of governments and communities to deal with climate threats and the inaction towards climate adaptation and mitigation, and the prevention of climate-related risks have cascaded into a multitude of threats and challenges, including that of forced displacement.
Reading of the Week: The Climate-Displacement Nexus in Africa: Implications for Sustainable Peace and Development
Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA)
Global demand for food and water is expected to grow by 50% by mid-century, placing increasing pressure on existing water, energy and food systems. This increase in demand for food presents an opportunity for clean energy technologies such as geothermal energy to support the development of “sustainable food systems”.
Powering Agri-Food Value Chains with Geothermal Heat A Guidebook for Policy Makers
IRENA
Fossil fuels will continue to play an important role in the energy mix of many industrialized countries throughout the next several decades, despite the warnings from climate scientists. Carbon neutrality therefore must be an objective that transcends national boundaries, and governments and energy companies need to transparently communicate how they are adapting their climate agendas. Gulf states will have to reconcile their plans for increasing oil and gas production and investments in fossil fuels with their ambitious climate targets.
Gulf Net-Zero Pledges in a Challenging Global Energy Security Environment
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW)
Pursuing efforts to decarbonize economies and increase energy systems’ resilience is crucial to stay within global warming limits and fight the consequences of climate change, which are becoming increasingly acute. The transition to a net-zero economy will be commodity intensive and require significant quantities of critical minerals, defined as metals and nonmetals essential to high-tech sectors. As the shift to cleaner technologies progresses, supply of critical minerals for the energy transition will be challenged by the needs for large quantities.
The Energy Transition Amidst Global Uncertainties: A Focus on Critical Minerals
Policy Center for the New South
On 14 March 2022, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the establishment of a Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance (GCRG) to coordinate the global response to the widespread impacts of the war in Ukraine. Many countries from all the continents will have to face challenges of food security, energy and financing. This brief is the result of the coordinated work of the Global Crisis Response Task Team, reporting to the Steering Committee of the GCRG.
Global Impact of War in Ukraine on Food, Energy and Finance Systems
UNCTAD
The Brussels International Center organized a webinar event “Healthcare and Politics in the Europe-Africa Partnership: Improving Policy and Discourse” that brought together policy makers, practitioners, advisors, and NGOs together to discuss some of the key obstacles facing better Europe Africa trans-continental policy and practice while implementing healthcare strategies in African countries.
Challenging the Europe Africa Partnership on Healthcare: Redressing the Balance
Brussels International Center (BIC)
Much has been said about the ‘local turn’ in peace-building, but the role of diaspora actors in driving conflict resolution efforts remains inadequately examined. How do diaspora actors drive conflict resolution efforts, particularly in the Arab region, where armed conflict persists? This article presents a renewed call for ‘indigenous-led’ conflict resolution, especially following the surge in diaspora numbers with people fleeing war and authoritarian repression over the last decade.
Views A Renewed Call for Indigenous-Led Conflict Resolution in the Arab States
Rowaq Arabi
Since renewing diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Rabat, the scope of trade indeed has grown between the two countries, but the full potential still has not been realized. How can the economic cooperation be improved, which also entails many policy opportunities for both Israel and Morocco?
A Gateway to Africa? Economic Opportunities in Israel-Morocco Relations
Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
This Migration Governance Indicators (MGI) pro?le presents a summary of well-developed areas of migration governance in Liberia as well as areas with potential for further development, as assessed through the MGI. The MGI is a standard set of approximately 90 indicators to assist countries in assessing their migration policies and advance the conversation on what well-governed migration might look like in practice.
Republic of Liberia Migration Governance Indicators
International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is intensifying, with Ugandan and Burundian soldiers in pursuit of rebels and Congolese insurgents on the rebound. With help from its allies, Kinshasa should step up diplomacy lest the country become a regional battleground once more. President Félix Tshisekedi has allowed Uganda to deploy troops to fight rebels based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is tacitly permitting Burundi do to the same. Rwanda appears to be considering its own incursion in the area. Meanwhile, a Congolese armed group, the M23, is regrouping.
Easing the Turmoil in the Eastern DR Congo and Great Lakes
International Crisis Group (ICG)
Mining and the illicit trade in minerals have long been the source of social and environmental upheaval in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and coltan, a mineral essential to modern electronics, has become a particular focus of criminal networks. This study reveals a network of organised crime involved in the production and supply chain of coltan, and its connections to legitimate businesses in advanced economies. It raises awareness of the implications of this illicit trade and suggests multi-stakeholder interventions to prevent criminal networks from operating in the Great Lakes Region.
Mining and Illicit Trading of Coltan in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Enhancing Africa's Response to Transnational Organised Crime (ENACT)
Modern methods of food production are increasingly recognized as a major contributor to global warming, air and water pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss, soil degradation and the emergence of disease. This paper seeks to clarify the debate around sustainability in agriculture by examining two distinct versions of sustainability. Each is discussed in terms of its clearly defined underpinning assumptions, including the key question of whether large-scale changes in demand towards healthier, less wasteful and more sustainable diets are possible.
Reading of the WeeK: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
Chatham House
Electrolysis of water, using renewable electricity, is the sustainable option to produce green hydrogen as an attractive low-carbon energy carrier. To respond to the growing demand for renewables-based hydrogen, an extraordinary expansion of the market for electrolysers is needed linked to a significant capacity increase in the manufacture and deployment of electrolysers. A rapid reduction in electrolyser system costs is essential and technology innovation is crucial to this end.
Innovation Trends in Electrolysers for Hydrogen Production
IRENA
This report offers an independent review of the extent to which the impressive development of Security Sector Reform (SSR) policy at the United Nations over the past 15 years has shaped SSR interventions supported by peacekeeping operations. The review identifies serious deficiencies in mandates, strategy, organization, implementation and learning in United Nations mission practices regarding SSR. It suggests that the transmission of policy into practice requires substantial improvement.
Review of UN Peace Operations Support to Security Sector Refor
Clingendael
This paper argues that peaceful uses of science, technology and applications have an important role to play in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Noting that the European Union (EU) is the biggest donor of development assistance, the paper suggests that the EU enhance its contribution to peaceful uses of nuclear science, technology and applications through supporting the IAEA's technical cooperation activities. This will contribute to delivering the EU's non proliferation goals, thus strengthening global human security.
Balancing the Three Pillars of the NPT: How can Promoting Peaceful Uses Help?
SIPRI
The Islamic State group (IS) seems to have been reduced to a shadow of its former self. Public attention in the West has waned, and the priorities of the international community shifted to other issues. This warrants taking stock of the group's current status and assessing the dangers it still poses.
The State of the Islamic State
Center for Security Studies
The Islamic State group (IS) seems to have been reduced to a shadow of its former self. Public attention in the West has waned, and the priorities of the international community shifted to other issues. This warrants taking stock of the group's current status and assessing the dangers it still poses.
The State of the Islamic State
Center for Security Studies
The rapprochement between the Gulf states and Iraq is of economic and geostrategic importance. It allows Iraq to attract necessary investments and balance the influence of Iran, and through their involvement in Iraq, the Gulf states seek to improve their security and influence in the region. However, Iraq's political impasse following the 2021 elections, along with the foreign involvement in its affairs, makes it difficult for it to move closer to the Arab world and function as a bridge between the Persian Gulf and Arabian Gulf. Moreover, the recent rapprochement between Israel and some Gulf states could be detrimental to Iraq, which, due to its internal divisions, is not ripe for joining the normalization trend.
Iraq-Gulf Relations: An Anchor for Stability and Restraining Iranian Involvement in the Region?
Institute National Security Studies (INSS)
Africa's Development Dynamics uses lessons from Central, East, North, Southern and West Africa to develop policy recommendations and share good practices. Drawing on the most recent statistics, the analysis of development dynamics aims to assist African leaders in reaching the targets of the African Union's Agenda 2063 at all levels: continental, regional, national and local.
Reading of the week: Africa's Development Dynamics 2022
African Union / OECED
The African Continental Free Trade Area has the potential to be the launching pad for accelerated and more sustainable industrialisation in Africa through greater market access and expanded intraregional trade.However, there are many supply-side constraints to Africa's industrialisation efforts, including poor infrastructure on the continent and limited capacity in technological development and innovation. These shortcomings need to be addressed in a new, Africa-wide industrial policy.
Leveraging the AfCFTA Under a Unified Industrial Policy for Africa
South African Institue of International Affairs (SAIIA)
The African Continental Free Trade Area has the potential to be the launching pad for accelerated and more sustainable industrialisation in Africa through greater market access and expanded intraregional trade.However, there are many supply-side constraints to Africa's industrialisation efforts, including poor infrastructure on the continent and limited capacity in technological development and innovation. These shortcomings need to be addressed in a new, Africa-wide industrial policy.
Leveraging the AfCFTA Under a Unified Industrial Policy for Africa
South African Institue of International Affairs (SAIIA)
Recognizing that the current situation in Abyei and along the border between Sudan and South Sudan continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security, decides to extend until 15 November 2022 the mandate of UNISFA.
Resolution 2630 (2022)
United Nations Security Council
This paper, written by Refugee Law Project (RLP) at Makerere University's School of Law and produced in collaboration with the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) at ODI, reflects on a research project that examined the relationship between social media and inclusion in humanitarian action in Uganda's forced migration context.
Social Media and Inclusion in Humanitarian Action. The Case of Refugees in Uganda
ODI
Countries are yet to harness the potential of migrant workforces to support their green transitions. Efforts to facilitate the economic integration of migrants are currently not aligned with green skills development and job creation, which are themselves inadequate. Similarly, there is a lack of coordination between international cooperation to support green transitions and green skills development, and international cooperation on global migration policies.
Migration for Climate Action How Labour Mobility can Help the Green Transition
ODI
Small island developing States (SIDS) are among the most water-scarce countries in the world, with seven in ten SIDS facing risks of water shortage, including nine in ten low-lying SIDS (UNESCO, UNEP, 2016). Water being an element of life, its scarcity undermines fundamental priorities, such as the human right to clean water and sanitation and the conservation of habitat and biodiversity. By extension, water scarcity constrains economic development in SIDS.
Aligning Economic Development and Water Policies in Small Island Developing States
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
This report examines how missions are implementing their mandates to protect civilians from SGBV, including CRSV, and assesses good practices, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. The report draws on lessons learned from the UN missions in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the DRC (MONUSCO).
UN Peacekeeping and the Protection of Civilians from Sexual and Gender Based Violence
IPI
Rather than breaking the violent cycle of elite political bargaining in South Sudan, the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (the peace agreement) has become part of it. Almost every component of the peace agreement is now hostage to the political calculations of the country's military and security elites, who use a combination of violence, misappropriated public resources and patronage to pursue their own narrow interests. As a result, much of the peace agreement remains gridlocked by political disputes between its principal signatories.
Reading of the Week: Final report of the Panel of Experts on South Sudan Submitted Pursuant to Resolution 2577 (2021)
United Nations Security Council
Security forces in Federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), including the military and police units, fail to accurately and equally represent all Iraqi people or their protection needs due to an under-representation of female officers. While women comprise nearly half of the Iraqi population, only 25.2 percent of the parliament is female, and CIVIC found that there are few women in positions of meaningful power or decision-making ability within the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) or Peshmerga.
Missing in Action Women in Iraq's Security Forces
Center for Civilians in Conflict
Two and a half years after the outbreak of an unprecedented banking, monetary and debt crisis qualified by the World Bank as one of the worst financial meltdowns since 1850, fears of intermittent or cascading bank failures are high in Lebanon, as the fate of billions of dollars in deposits remains uncertain. Currently losing all its legitimacy on the national and international scenes, the political class continues to cling to power without ever reforming the confessional and clientelist system that caused the Lebanese collapse.
Crise Bancaire Libanaise : Les Rouages Systemiques d un Naufrage
IFRI
Child malnutrition remains widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in rural areas where many households are involved in subsistence farming. Increasing farm-level production diversity (FPD) is often considered a useful strategy to improve child diets and nutrition, but the empirical evidence is mixed. Most studies have investigated associations between FPD and dietary diversity. We therefore aimed to analyse associations between FPD and child and adolescent nutritional status.
Farm-Level Production Diversity and Child and Adolescent Nutrition in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: a Multicountry, Longitudinal Study
The Lancet
The future of the food system is critical to the long-term well-being of Africa and its people. An abundance and variety of safe and nutritious food, which too many Africans still lack, is the foundation for good health and cognitive development. And as African leaders have recognized, agriculture and value added food manufacturing can lead Africa's economic growth by providing jobs while meeting growing food demand in the region and the world.
Food Safety in Africa
World Bank Group
At the February 2022 Assembly of AU Heads of State and Government (HoSG) Summit, the HoSG committed to exercise leadership to advance the vaccination agenda and urge the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to ensure greater coordination and collaboration to support Member States in achieving the goal of vaccinating at least 70% of the continent's population by year 2022.
Report of the High Level Ministerial Meeting Partnerships to Accelerate COVID-19 Vaccination in Africa
African Union
The marine fish supply is increasing but the current positive growth is at a rate that cannot match the increasing population's per capita consumption demands.
The Future of Marine Fisheries in the African Blue Economy
afdb
This report presents findings and recommendations intended to assist the government of Iraq and its international partners in improving political, social, economic, and security conditions in order to enhance national stability, stabilize Iraq's democratic processes, and promote broad-based, Iraqi-generated economic growth.
Iraq: Implementing a way forward
Atlantic Council
The Impact of Peace & Security on Culture & Heritage Protection in Africa
OXFAM
RANE's Network Intelligence Report seeks to highlight key areas of risk and opportunity relevant, including issues related to safety and security.
Network Intelligence Report: Special Supply Chain Issue
Risk Assitance Network + Exchange (RANE)
This paper seeks to understand the potential for existing NBS-centered initiatives to better incorporate climate adaptation, thereby contributing to broader adaptation efforts needed to combat the climate emergency.
The Potential for Narute Based Solutions Initiatives to Incorporate and Scale Climate Adaptation
World Resources Institute
This update builds upon and refines the methodology of the ACAPS FSO Safer assessment from April 2021 (ACAPS 07/04/2021).
Reading of the Week: FSO Safer: Overview impact assessment
ACAPS
Transitional justice is a tried and tested approach in post-conflict peacebuilding. It presents challenges and opportunities in regions plagued by violent extremism, such as the Lake Chad Basin.
Transitional justice Testing the waters in the Lake Chad Basin
Institute for Security Studies
The marine fish supply is increasing but the current positive growth is at a rate that cannot match the increasing population's per capita consumption demands.
The Future of Marine Fisheries in the African Blue Economy
African Development Bank Group
Africa is one of the areas that are most vulnerable to both climate change and conflict. Despite contributing very little to the changing climate, the continent still bears the brunt of the resultant impacts.
The Climate Conflict Nexus in Africa: A Conflict Sensitive Approach
SAIIA
Throughout the crisis, Qatar has demonstrated a willingness to contribute to improve European energy security and diversification plans. However, the possibility that Europe can receive additional Qatari LNG volumes in the short term remains remote.
A Scramble for Gas: Qatari LNG and EU Diversification Plans
Istituto Affari Internazionali
This report presents findings and recommendations intended to assist the government of Iraq and its international partners in improving political, social, economic, and security conditions in order to enhance national stability, stabilize Iraq's democratic processes, and promote broad-based, Iraqi-generated economic growth.
Iraq: Implementing a way forward
Atlantic Council
This report presents findings and recommendations intended to assist the government of Iraq and its international partners in improving political, social, economic, and security conditions in order to enhance national stability, stabilize Iraq's democratic processes, and promote broad-based, Iraqi-generated economic growth.
Iraq: Implementing a way forward
Atlantic Council
Hydrogen has spurred multiple waves of interest in the past without significant impact. Two factors make this time different. First, governments worldwide have rallied behind the target of net zero emissions by the middle of this century. Second, the plummeting costs of renewables and electrolysers are improving the economic attractiveness of green hydrogen.
The Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation: The Hydrogen Factor
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
FSO Safer is a vessel that was used to store and export oil from Yemen's inland oil fields around Marib. In 2015, the vessel fell under the control of the DFA.
READING OF THE WEEK: SO Safer: Overview impact assessment
ACAPS
The present report covers developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 18 September to 30 November 2021. It provides a description of progress made in the implementation of the mandate of MONUSCO since the previous report, of 17 September 2021. It provides an overview of political developments, as well as information on the Mission's pursuit of a comprehensive approach to the protection of civilians, the stabilization and strengthening of State institutions and key governance and security reforms.
Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
United Nations Security Council - UNSC
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
this is a weekly title fro mem
Although far from being free and fair, Somalia's indirect elections, in the past two decades, have produced outcomes that were largely acceptable to political stakeholders as well as the majority of the population. This year, the delaying tactics of those leading the process, their arbitrary selection of the senators, and the self-serving agreements they reached might lead to a contested result and political instability in the country. In other words, if the politicians' gerrymandering of the indirect electoral process continues unchecked, Somalia's state-building project might unravel.
The Dangers Of Rigged Indirect Elections In Somalia
The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies