Critical minerals like cobalt, lithium and copper are vital for the global economy and the defense industry. Recognizing their importance, major and middle powers are striving to secure reliable access for themselves. China in particular has grown its influence in these markets, controlling a significant portion of the world’s mining operations and refining capacities.
Reading of the Week: Accessing Africas critical raw materials
Geopolitical Intelligence Services
Les perturbations successives des chaînes d’approvisionnement durant la décennie 2010 et les premières années de la décennie 2020 ont incité les décideurs politiques et économiques, notamment aux États-Unis et en Europe, à réfléchir à des moyens pour atténuer les risques associés à une forte dépendance vis-à-vis d’un nombre limité de fournisseurs, en particulier la Chine
Minerais critiques: positionner lAfrique dans la recomposition mondiale
Le Grand Continent
During his early December visit to Angola, US President Joe Biden pledged an additional $600 million to the Lobito Corridor project—an ambitious, US-backed infrastructure initiative linking the port of Lobito on Angola’s Atlantic coast to Zambia through the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
What to know about the Lobito Corridor, and how it may change how minerals move
Atlantic Council
Les perturbations successives des chaînes d’approvisionnement durant la décennie 2010 et les premières années de la décennie 2020 ont incité les décideurs politiques et économiques, notamment aux États-Unis et en Europe, à réfléchir à des moyens pour atténuer les risques associés à une forte dépendance vis-à-vis d’un nombre limité de fournisseurs, en particulier la Chine
Minerais critiques: positionner lAfrique dans la recomposition mondiale
Le Grand Continent
Despite heightened focus in the West about dependence on China – and high-level efforts to recalibrate these relations at the strategic level – Europeans’ economic reliance on China has continued to grow in recent years. EU imports from China reached €515.9 billion in 2023, across a wide array of products, many of which are vital to advanced economies.
Reading Of The Week:Material world: How Europe can compete with China in the race for Africas critical minerals
European Council on Foreign Relations
On October 29, during Saudi Arabia’s annual Future Investment Initiative conference, Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman highlighted the kingdom’s plans for adopting low-carbon sources and renewables while maintaining “preeminence” in the oil sector. Dubbed “Davos in the Desert,” the high-profile conference is one of several events that show influential regional states increasingly prioritizing economic growth and energy diversification
Gulf Energy Transition: Assessing Saudi and Emirati Goals
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Ghana, Africa’s largest gold producer, launched its first refinery in August this year. The raw gold will come from the artisanal mining sector mainly because large, predominantly foreign-owned companies supply gold mined in Ghana to refineries outside Ghana in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and India.
Illegal mining digs up multiple problems in Ghana
Enhancing Africa's response to transnational organised crime
During the last year and a half, Iran has reportedly reactivated and accelerated activities at two former Amad Plan sites that were key to Iran’s development of nuclear weapons during its crash nuclear weapons program in the early 2000s, according to Western intelligence officials who decided to release officially the information to the Institute on the condition of remaining anonymous. The two sites, Sanjarian and Golab Dareh, were central to the Amad Plan’s development of a sophisticated multipoint initiation (MPI) system.
Renewed activity at the Sanjarian Amad site
Institute for Science and International Security
Africa’s large reserves of critical minerals could boost continental industrialisation, while helping global measures against climate change. However, geopolitical tensions between the US-led Group of Seven (G7) and China are adding to some of the structural factors hindering African efforts to move up critical mineral value chains. This policy insight compares the role of Chinese actors in the DRC and Zimbabwe’s mineral sectors with emerging counter-initiatives led by G7 partners.
Africas critical minerals : Boosting development amid geopolitical challenges
The South African Institute of International Affairs
According to the US Department of Energy, there are fifty minerals that are “critical”—in that they not only serve an essential function in the technologies of the future but are also at a high risk of supply-chain disruption. That risk is due to a number of factors, but one glaring reason is the limited availability or mining of these minerals in the United States. That is increasingly problematic as demand for these minerals rises, considering the role they play in building a green economy globally.
Critical minerals investment must avoid the mistakes of the past in African mining
Atlantic Council
Negotiations between African governments and foreign investors are often characterized by the various skills, technical capacities, and information asymmetries that shape the balance of power and influence outcomes. The dynamics of these negotiations—in pursuing extractive and infrastructure projects, in particular—merit a special focus, as agreements to carry them out often bind African countries for several decades.
Maximizing the Benefits of the Renewed Global Interest in Africas Strategic Minerals
Carnegie Endowment For International Peace
Demand for critical minerals is expected to skyrocket in the decades ahead. These minerals — such as copper, cobalt and lithium, among others — power the electronics we use every day and are essential for transitioning to greener energy technologies. The U.S. is increasingly working with African partners to develop the continent’s abundant critical minerals, an effort that is vital to advancing U.S. economic and national security interests
The Lobito Corridor: A U.S. Bet on Africas Critical Mineral Development
United States Institute of Peace
Last week, government officials from sub-Saharan Africa were in Washington, DC to discuss the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade program that gives 32 countries tariff-free market access to the US on some 1,800 products. AGOA expires in September 2025, but with the clock ticking, proponents in Congress want to modernize the program, not just renew it
Shifting Focus on Labor and Environmental Standards to Companies Instead of Countries Would Supercharge AGOA
Wilson Center
In East Africa, harvesting of main season cereals is nearing completion in the south while planting and development continues in the north, and a mix of dry and wet conditions throughout the season is impacting many areas. In the Middle East and North Africa, wheat harvesting finalized in July under mixed conditions, with generally poor to failure outcomes in western North Africa
Crop Monitor for Early Warning, August 24
Global Agricultural Monitoring
Unlike its prolific onshore, Kuwait’s offshore had long been a desert for oil and gas. Now the country has changed that, reporting a large discovery at the Al-Nokhatha field, named for the captain of a dhow, the traditional Gulf ship. How useful is this for the country, and does it herald a turnaround in Kuwaiti petroleum?
Kuwaits Big New Offshore Oil Find
Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
Le rôle du secteur halieutique dans l’alimentation du continent africain est considérable : 22 % des protéines animales disponibles viennent des produits de la mer et des eaux douces et plus de 50 % dans certains pays africains, en particulier en Afrique du Nord et de l’Ouest. Les pêches et leurs activités connexes fournissent non seulement de la nourriture, mais aussi des emplois à 12 millions de personnes, et génèrent des revenus pour les États comme pour les communautés
LAfrique face à lépuisement de ses ressources de la pêche maritime
Policy Center For The New South
The country has the second-largest proven oil reserves in Africa, after Libya. It sits on the 10th-largest proven oil reserves in the world, with roughly 2 percent of global reserves behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Russia, the United States and Libya
Unlocking Nigerias economic potential with natural gas
Geopolitical Intelligence Services
With the global economy is in its third year of deceleration amid declining inflation and oil prices, the Middle East and North Africa grew by just 1.9% in 2023, with a forecast for growth in 2024 at 2.7%. In addition to heightened uncertainty brought on by the conflict centered in Gaza, many countries in the region are also grappling with pre-existing vulnerabilities, including rising debt levels.
Conflict and debt in the Middle East and North Africa
Economic Research Forum
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the most water-scarce region in the world. Over 60% of its population lives in areas experiencing high water stress. In addition, it is vulnerable to droughts and floods, which damage agriculture and the overall economy.
The Weaponization of Natural Resources and Disasters During Conflict: The Refugee Conventions Relevance for Syria and Yemen
Baker Institute for Public Policy
China and Russia have had different relations with the Middle East since the mid-20th century. Over the years, their regional involvement has diverged, with Russia focusing on military and energy sectors and China on economic engagement.
China and Russia in the Middle East: Seeking Integration Under a Common Goal
Wilson Center
The European Union’s relationship with Africa is one based on “common values and interests”, according to the bloc’s own official declarations. Yet a key test of these shared values and interests can be found in how Europeans engage their African counterparts in diplomacy around critical raw materials (CRMs) and the energy transition to which CRMs are so important.
From mines to markets: How Africa and Europe can become green industry partners of choice
European Council on Foreign Relations
Food security is a prerequisite for any people’s sovereignty. The need for food’s physical and mental sustenance affects every human being with an existential might. It consequently ranks in import perhaps second only after the need for a planetary home with breathable air and stable gravity.
Harvesting Reforms: Lebanons Food Security and Sovereignty
Executive magazine
In February 2024, American oil giant ExxonMobil announced it was exiting the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, effectively severing a nearly three-decade-long relationship. The company played a leading role in the development of the oil sector in the African nation. In 1995, Mobil Corporation discovered the Zafiro oil field, and Exxon entered the scene after its takeover of Mobil in 1999.
Equatorial Guineas oil and gas industry continues to shrink
GIS
In December 2023, Angola made the surprise announcement that it was leaving the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) effective January 1, 2024, severing a 16-year-long relationship. When the African oil exporter joined the producers’ group in 2007, it was the first country to do so since 1975. The relationship between Angola and OPEC changed drastically over that period.
Why Angola left OPEC?
GIS
Owing to the unique amalgamation of its climatic attributes, its geographical positioning, and the intricate interplay of geopolitics and socioeconomic conditions within the majority of its constituent nations, the MENA region is one of the most susceptible regions to the physical repercussions of climate change.
Assessing Climate Adaptation Plans in the Middle East and North Africa
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
This report calls attention to the complex and interlinked relationships between sustainable water management, prosperity and peace, describing how progress in one dimension can have positive, often essential, repercussions on the others.
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2024: Water for prosperity and peace
UNESCO
While farmers across Europe are staging dramatic protests over the negative impacts green energy policies are having on their business, China is ramping up measures to support the modernization of agriculture in Africa. Already the second-largest market for agricultural exports from the continent, behind the European Union, China hopes to increase imports from Africa to $300 billion by 2025
The opportunities and challenges of mega-farming in Africa
GIS
Russia's policies and interests in the African continent have evolved over the years. Historic ties inherited as part of the Soviet legacy loosened in the years following the USSR's collapse, with domestic turmoil leading Russia to a strategic withdrawal from Africa.
Russia in Africa: An Atlas
European Parliament
In August 2023, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died after his private jet crashed about an hour after taking off in Moscow. He had been Russia’s pointman in Africa since the Wagner Group began operating on the continent in 2017.
Wagner Group is now Africa Corps. What this means for Russias operations on the continent
The Conversation
As the world bumps toward energy transitions that vary widely in approach, cost, and political commitment certain realities are becoming manifest. One is the sheer level of effort entailed in building materials supply chains that can support displacement of legacy fuels and systems to the extent, and within the time frames, imagined. Replacing legacy fuels and systems that have been the backbone of global prosperity is a complex endeavor of historic proportions
Mining, Minerals, and Materials in the Age of Sustainability and Alliances
Baker Institute for Public Policy
In the emerging landscape of global geopolitics, economic partnerships and competition for critical minerals for the green energy transition and digital transformation, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become a focal point for major actors. These partners are drawn by its abundant natural resources, growing markets and collective voting power in international fora like the United Nations.
Reading Of The Week: Beyond Natural Resources: The Growing Centrality of African Markets
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI)
A 2021 FAFT report, Money Laundering from Environmental Crime, states that illicit waste trafficking generates an estimated US$10 – 12 billion annually worldwide. Ghana plays a major role in this market, despite not having the means to recycle all the hazardous waste imported into the country. Around 150 000 tonnes of electronic waste each year are shipped to Ghana, legally and illegally
Mining and extractives. One mans poison is another mans fortune in Ghana
ENACT
This policy brief argues in favour of greater consideration of gender issues and women’s economic empowerment in natural resource value chains, to make value chain interventions more resilient and inclusive. There is a growing consensus that considering and addressing gender issues in value chains development is not only a matter of fundamental rights and equality but also a way to stimulate economic growth.
Gender Equality and Womens Empowerment in Natural Resources Value Chains - Key Issues
African Natural Resources Management and Investment Centre
Africa possesses significant reserves of the minerals that are essential for batteries, solar panels and other green tech that will underpin the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Africa’s mining industry, however, remains largely structured around a “pit-to-port” model that channels mineral ores elsewhere for processing.
Africa is a Key Source of Critical Minerals for the Global Energy Transition But There are Hidden Dangers
SAIIA
As the existential threat of climate change continues to intensify, the future of fossil fuels has been thrust into the international spotlight. Reducing hydrocarbon production and consumption, known as fossil fuel phase down, has gained traction in international climate talks during the last two years amid warnings that the window to avoid catastrophic warming is closing quickly.
In the eye of the storm: The battle over fossil fuels at COP28
Middle East Institute
Southern Iraq, once known as the Garden of Eden, is poised to become a scorching wasteland in the forthcoming decades. A study, led by this author in collaboration with the chief researcher of the Israel Meteorological Service, Dr Yoav Levi, projects that in the not-too-distant future, residents of this region will endure hours daily with temperatures soaring above 55°C.
Reading of The Week: The other looming crisis in the Middle East - Climate change
Observer Research Foundation
An estimated 82 percent of the record 149 million Africans facing acute food insecurity are in conflict-affected countries underscoring that conflict continues to be the primary driver of Africa’s food crisis. An estimated 149 million Africans are facing acute food insecurity—an increase of 12 million people from a year ago. This equates to a risk category of 3 or higher (Crisis, Emergency, and Catastrophe) on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale of 1 to 5.
Conflict Remains the Dominant Driver of Africas Food Crisis
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Over the last month, we have seen three summits – the BRICS, G20 and inaugural Africa Climate Summit – converge on three key areas for development: climate finance, the just transition and global financial reform. At the recent BRICS summit, the world watched as the BRICS group added six members, including three energy powers – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran.
The Expanded BRICS Can Be a Force to Be Reckoned With in Shaping a New World Energy Order
The South African Institute of International Affairs
Central Africa experienced accelerated growth in 2022, recording a real GDP growth rate of5.0% in 2022, up from 3.4% in 2021, according to African Development Bank statistics. This renew economic activity was driven by favourable commodity prices, particularly in a region with net exporters of not only crude oil, but also minerals and other commodities. This regional growth momentum was mainly sustained by the Democratic Republic of Congo which recorded a real GDP growth rate of 8.5% in 2022.
Central Africa Economic Outlook 2023
African Development Bank Group
Niger’s role as a transit country for sub-Saharan migrants heading to Libya has been under intense scrutiny in recent years and the focus of significant international efforts to curb these movements since 2015.1 However, largely as a result of these efforts – including the adoption by the government of Niger, under EU pressure, of a 2015 law criminalizing human smuggling – the number of migrants transiting Niger drastically decreased.
Niger. Regional Migration and Gold Mining Consolidate as Smuggling to Libya Stagnates
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Around 92% of Jordan’s citizens live in cities (World Banka, n.d.). The Kingdom also hosts a large refugee population from the conflict-ridden neighbouring states.
More than 80% of them live in urban areas. which are particularly sensitive to climate-related shocks and resource shortages. Jordanian cities are highly vulnerable to the disruption in critical food supplies, and climate change only exacerbates this vulnerability (The National Food Security Strategy 2021 – 2030, 2021). Moreover, climate shocks disproportionally affect the urban poor and vulnerable groups, such as older people, youth, people with disabilities and refugees, a large percentage of whom live in informal settlements (Alja’afreh et al., 2022) with limited access to viable livelihoods and precarious food and nutrition security, including the “silent hunger” of micronutrient deficiencies.
Urban Farming and Its Socioeconomic and Environmental Benefits for Ensuring Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in Jordan
Euromesco
UNHCR's Global Trends report presents key statistical trends and the latest official statistics on refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people worldwide. At the end of 2022, 108.4 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order.
Reading of the Week: Global Trends - Forced Displacement in 2022
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The European Union has long played a leading role in global efforts to address climate change. In today’s fraught geopolitical environment, however, there is no inevitable logic of cooperation between global powers – on decarbonisation or on any other issue. Within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), each country now assesses its national plans on climate action as part of its wider economic security, and builds alliances accordingly.
Decarbonisation nations: How EU climate diplomacy can save the world
European Council on Foreign Relations
Israel has by far the largest AI ecosystem in the Middle East as measured in AI companies and financial investments, and foreign investors play a critical role in Israel’s AI market growth. This issue brief finds that AI investments in Israel have mostly originated from the United States. To date, Chinese investors have played a limited role in funding Israel’s dynamic AI companies. But understanding the risk of Chinese investments into the Israeli AI ecosystem will be important for the national security of both the United States and Israel.
Financing The New Oil. Assessing AI Investment in Israel and the Broader Middle East
Center for Security and Emerging Technology
What will European-Chinese raw material supply chains look like in 2030? This paper outlines three possible scenarios, illustrating the combined effects of different political and socio-economic developments and the impact they could have on European-Chinese supply chains. It aims to help political actors gain a deeper under-standing of possible future trajectories and map out appropriate policy strategies in response to different scenarios.
The Future of European-Chinese Raw Material Supply Chains
Deutsches Institute fur Internationale Politik und Sicherheit
Le Burundi a initié un programme d’élaboration des Bilans Alimentaires (BA) qui essayent de couvrir la totalité des denrées alimentaires, primaires ou dérivées. Ils constituent un outil efficace de suivi de la sécurité alimentaire.
Rapport danalyse des bilans alimentaires du Burundi 2020-2021
African Development Bank Group
Although a considerable body of research has examined the relationship between information and communication technology and the food production process, less attention has been paid to whether internet utilization impacts food production in north African countries. This research sought to investigate the short and long-run relationship between internet utilization and food production in north Africa. Yearly data sets from 4 countries (Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Morocco) were used, covering the period 1990-2021.
Internet and Food Production: Panel Data Evidence from North African Countries
Economic Research Forum
This Energy Insight explores the interplay between the decarbonization and digitalization of the electricity sector. While decarbonization has been studied extensively, there has been less attention paid to the digital transition. Not only can digital technologies improve efficiency and reduce operational costs, they also can enable new energy ecosystems, create new business models, and accelerate the energy transition.
The implications of digitalization on future electricity market design
The Oxford Institute for energy studies
The World Energy Transitions Outlook outlines a vision for the transition of the energy landscape to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, presenting a pathway for limiting global temperature rise to within 1.5°C of pre-industrial levels and bringing CO2 emissions to net zero by mid-century.
World Energy Transitions Outlook 2023
International Renewable Energy Portal
La plupart des écosystèmes arides et semi-arides d’Afrique sont dédiés à différents types d’élevage extensif. Ces systèmes sont des acteurs majeurs dans la valorisation des espaces, et des ressources naturelles. En plus de nourrir les humains et les animaux, l’élevage pastoral fournit un revenu de subsistance à des populations qui ne pourraient survivre autrement dans ces régions.
Le pastoralisme en péril en Afrique
Policy Center for the New South
Water desalination is gradually emerging as the leading solution to cope with increasing water stress: i.e., the imbalance between water demand and quantities available. The United Nations estimates that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will be affected by such challenges. The causes of water scarcity are multiple, including climate change, intensive agriculture, and population growth. This requires states to rethink their water policies, which are central to preserving their stability, resilience and sovereignty.
The Geopolitics of Seawater Desalination
Policy Center
La présence iranienne en Afrique est une question à la fois idéologique, économique et sécuritaire. La politique africaine de l’Iran a connu un nouvel élan avec la Révolution de 1979. Dans le cas de la politique africaine, on peut qualifier ce tiers-mondisme militant d’arrogant. Eneffet, dans l’imaginaire des élites politiques révolutionnaires khomeynistes, les relations avec les pays du Sud global sont à comprendre non seulement dans le cadre d’un anti-impérialisme de façade mais aussi dans la perspective d’une approche révolutionnaire visant à exporter leur modèle politico-religieux.
Les ambitions iraniennes en Afrique: Une présence idéologique, sécuritaire et économique
Policy Center for the new South
In the first two weeks of November 2022, all eyes were riveted on Sharm El-Sheikh. This year, Egypt welcomed world leaders to discuss climate actions at the 27th edition of the Conference of the Parties (COP) between the 6th and the 18th of November. Following the green momentum the world displayed during COP26, with the formulation of more ambitious commitments on finance, coal, carbon neutrality, and deforestation, the objectives of this year were announced loud and clear: “COP27 must be remembered as the ‘Implementation COP’ - the one where we restore the grand bargain that is at the centre of the Paris Agreement”.
Decoding the Achievements and Failures of the Cop27: The Way Forward for More Effective Global Climate Policy
Brussels International Center
The eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) bordering Rwanda and Uganda is one of the richest in the world in terms of biodiversity and natural resources – from coltan and cobalt, to gold and tropical timber – but one of the poorest in terms of wealth, safety
and peace. Since the colonization of the Congo in the 19th century, power struggles over natural resources have played a significant role in decades of oppression, war, widespread violence and displacement of people.
Reading of the week: Business as usual? Illegal charcoal and timber trade in Eastern DRC
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Ending up the fossil fuel addiction of the global economy, which is the main reason for global warming, is a challenging task for both countries and international organizations. This is due to the hardship of collecting and distributing the financial resources needed for green investment projects amid the ongoing financial and energy crisis in the wake of Ukraine war.
COP 27, EU Green Deal, and the Birth Pain of a New International Order
Beyond The Horizon
Limiting global warming requires significant and urgent reductions of greenhouse gas emissions by the petroleum sector, in line with the Paris Agreement. The majority of the sector’s emissions arise downstream from the end use of petroleum products by thousands of industries, hundreds of countries and billions of individuals.
Minimising Greenhouse Gas emissions in the Petroleum Sector: The Opportunity for Emerging Producers
African Development Bank Group
Environmental degradation, including degradation caused by climate change, armed conflict, or the illegal exploitation of resources, can be a catalyst for violence against civilians. While addressing environmental degradation goes well beyond the mandates of UN peacekeeping operations, missions are increasingly focusing on climate-related security risks, and several missions have environment and climate-related language in their mandates.
Toward an Environmental and Climate-Sensitive Approach to Protection in UN Peacekeeping Operations
International Peace Institute
Drought is a natural phenomenon caused by a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, accompanied by high temperatures, leading to a shortage of water. Water shortages directly contribute to crop failure and the death of livestock which can quickly result in chronic food insecurity. It is important to note, however, that the severity of a drought is not simply the result of the rainfall deficit but also depends on its timing and duration.
Somalia is calling: Averting drought from becoming a famine
Heritage Institute
The aim of this research is to assist the African Natural Resources Management and Investment Centre (ANRC), an entity of the African Development Bank (AfDB), to meet its commitment to advise regional member countries (RMCs) on important aspects of natural resource management and to ensure nature fully supports Africa’s future economic development objectives. With support from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), this ambitious, nature-positive development agenda acknowledges the magnitude and importance of climate and nature for the future sustainability of regional member countries and will transform the sustainable development narrative.
Debt for Nature Swaps
African Development Bank Group
Global demand for wood and paper products is increasing rapidly. While decades of work to tackle trade in illegal timber have established legal and sustainable supply chains for timber and wood-based products in many areas, the share of the global market supplied by illegal exports remains significant and the forest sector needs to contribute more effectively to sustainable development and the establishment of resilient land and forest economies.
Establishing fair and sustainable forest economies
Chatham House
The Arab region is one of the most water scarce regions in the world with 19 States below the water scarcity threshold. This is further complicated by transboundary water resources, since two thirds of all water resources in the Arab region cross one or more borders. Other factors aggravating the water scarcity situation include pollution, inefficient use of water, high population growth rates and climate change and extreme weather events.Occupation and conflict further affect people’s ability to access water and sanitation services. More than half of the Arab states rely heavily on groundwater as the primary freshwater resource.
Groundwater in the Arab Region-ESCWA Water development Report
United Nations
L’exploitation forestière illégale est une caractéristique croissante de la criminalité transnationale organisée en Afrique, souvent facilitée par la collusion de hauts fonctionnaires, avec des répercussions considérables sur la sécurité et l’environnement des pays concernés.
Lexploitation forestière illégale en Afrique et ses implications en matière de sécurité
Centre Detudes Strategiques de Lafrique
Food prices have reached an all-time high in the Spring and Summer of 2022 because of the war in Ukraine, and farmers around the globe are facing substantially increasing fertilizer prices. These effects are not distributed evenly, with the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa suffering the most from the fall in grain exports from Ukraine.
Global Food Insecurity Due to the War in Ukraine
Netherlands Institute of International Relations
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 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
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)
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)
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
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