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The document examines Russia's return to Africa through the lens of its 'multi-vector' foreign policy, which seeks to establish a multipolar world order and reduce dependence on the West. It details Russia's focus on niche markets—specifically nuclear energy, arms, and extractives—and its use of 'state champions' like Rosatom and Rosneft. The paper highlights Russia's military-security cooperation, including the use of private military companies in the Central African Republic and Libya, and its strategic relationship with South Africa via the BRICS framework. It concludes that while Russia offers an alternative to Western conditionalities, its engagement often prioritizes elite networks and resource extraction over broad development.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) used the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system and the Open Source Energy Modeling System (OSeMOSYS) to model climate change impacts on seven strategic river basins in Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis found that all basins face significant economic risks, with the Niger River potentially facing costs up to $200 billion and the Zambezi River showing the highest uncertainty with impacts between $50 billion and $125 billion. To mitigate these risks, SEI recommends that policy-makers integrate climate change expertise into infrastructure planning through technical guidelines, open-data repositories, and professional training programs.

The document assesses the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) against two other multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs), the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). It identifies weaknesses in the APRM's digital transparency, member accountability, and civil society integration, while suggesting the APRM can offer lessons in strategic partnership building.

The briefing discusses the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, highlighting the need to accelerate action due to IPCC warnings and youth-led climate strikes. It notes that while mitigation has seen progress with 183 parties submitting NDCs, adaptation remains severely under-implemented, particularly in developing countries. The author advocates for the integration of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) into global strategies, noting its dual benefit for resilience and carbon sequestration, especially in Africa.

The document examines the trade-offs for African nations joining the AIIB, noting that while the bank offers a new source of low-cost finance to address an annual infrastructure deficit of $68 to $108 billion, its lack of technical capacity-building and specific instruments for low-income countries outside Asia limits its appeal. It concludes that middle-income African countries are better positioned to benefit from membership than low-income countries.

The statement asserts that climate change will intensify hardships for African communities, leading to increased climate migration and potential xenophobic sentiment. It specifically highlights that climate-driven stress is likely to fuel intra-family conflict and gender-based violence, particularly affecting women in South Africa.

The report details a workshop held in July 2019 to discuss the implementation of the ASEAN Guidelines for Responsible Investment in Food, Agriculture and Forestry, which were adopted in October 2018 to promote sustainability-driven investments in the region.

The document analyzes the vulnerability of global economic infrastructure to climate hazards such as flooding, extreme temperatures, and permafrost melt. It argues for a comprehensive approach to adaptation that integrates climate risk analysis 'upstream' into the planning, design, and financing stages of the infrastructure lifecycle. Key findings highlight significant risks to road networks, thermoelectric and hydropower plants, and water supplies, while proposing solutions ranging from nature-based 'Sponge Cities' to performance-based engineering standards and programmatic financing.

The report finds that the world is not on track to meet the Goal 1 target of halving natural forest loss by 2020. Between 2014 and 2018, average annual global gross tree cover loss increased by 43 percent compared to a 2001-13 baseline. Carbon emissions from tropical tree cover loss also rose, averaging 57 percent higher than before the declaration. While Indonesia saw a significant decline in primary forest loss in 2018, tropical Africa experienced the highest percent increase in loss. The report highlights that primary forests are particularly critical due to their carbon storage and the fact that they cannot be restored within the NYDF timeframe.

The 2019 five-year assessment of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) concludes that the 2020 targets for halving tropical deforestation and restoring 150 million hectares of land are likely impossible to achieve. Tropical deforestation continues at an unsustainable pace, with a 44% increase in the loss of humid tropical primary forests compared to the 2002–2013 baseline. While Indonesia saw a reduction in deforestation in 2017–2018, Latin America remains the region with the highest annual tree cover loss. Forest restoration efforts have been slow, with only 18% of the 2020 goal realized as of April 2019, and most gains occurring outside of natural forests. The report highlights a critical lack of 'green' finance, noting that development finance for agriculture is 15 times higher than climate mitigation finance for forestry. It argues that systemic change is hindered by inadequate corporate commitments, slow governance improvements, and the continued prioritization of short-term commercial profits over long-term conservation.

The report examines the drivers of basic-needs deforestation, such as subsistence farming and woodfuel collection, and evaluates interventions like formalization, clean cooking technology, and REDD+ funding. It highlights the difficulty of measuring progress due to data gaps and emphasizes that successful interventions require social safeguards and good governance to protect livelihoods while reducing forest loss.

The document reports on a 2019 meeting in Dakar where academics, policymakers, and activists critiqued the impact of neoclassical economics and neoliberalism on Africa. Key discussions focused on the failures of Structural Adjustment Programs, the 'myth' of Africa Rising, and the exclusion of gender and care work from economic metrics like GDP. The participants proposed heterodox alternatives, including the Social and Solidarity Economy, food sovereignty, and feminist economics, while outlining a strategic roadmap for building an epistemic community to promote intellectual sovereignty and inclusive development across the continent.

The briefing introduces a policy taxonomy for agricultural transformation that categorizes interventions based on their target: agricultural markets, the rural economy, the macroeconomy, or institutions. It emphasizes the concept of 'anti-agricultural bias'—where policies favor other sectors like industry over agriculture—and argues that removing this bias is a critical precondition for successful agricultural transformation, citing Brazil and Vietnam as positive examples and Ethiopia, Malawi, Togo, and Uganda as countries where such bias persists.

The report analyzes agricultural transformation across 117 countries from 1970 to 2015, identifying six phases of transformation and five structural contexts based on land fertility, availability, and population dynamics. It argues that successful transformation requires a tailored mix of 'push' strategies (increasing agricultural productivity) or 'pull' strategies (growing non-agricultural sectors), depending on a country's endowments. Key drivers of success include removing 'anti-agricultural bias' in price policies, strategic public investment in R&D and extension services, and critical institutional reforms such as land redistribution. The report provides specific policy recommendations for 13 focus countries in Africa and Asia, matching them with historically successful 'analogue' countries based on their 2015 structural contexts.

The paper examines how digitising financial services can expand access to formal finance for underserved populations. It highlights South Africa's success in achieving high account ownership rates but argues that the focus must shift from simple access to 'quality financial inclusion'—emphasising productive usage, financial literacy, and the reduction of cash dependency in the informal economy. The author recommends a coordinated national strategy and enhanced public-private partnerships to address structural barriers and digital divides.

The document analyzes the financial system's failure to integrate physical climate risks into investment decision-making, which creates a growing adaptation financing gap. It identifies twelve key barriers—including inadequate public support, moral hazard, and low technical capacity—and proposes six systemic recommendations for the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA). These include accelerating climate-relevant financial policies, developing robust risk management practices, and utilizing public institutions to catalyze private investment through blended finance and innovative instruments like resilience bonds.

Africa is identified as the region most vulnerable to climate change due to its reliance on rainfed agriculture and natural resources. This vulnerability is compounded by megatrends such as urbanization, technology, and a projected population increase to 2.4 billion by 2050, which will strain food, water, and energy supplies. The document proposes climate-smart agriculture as a mechanism for smallholder farmers to adapt to these stressors while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The document analyzes how human land use drives climate change and how climate change, in turn, degrades land. It highlights that while land currently acts as a net carbon sink, it could become a source of emissions. The brief emphasizes the role of agriculture and deforestation in land degradation and warns that current policy trajectories could significantly expand drylands and threaten global food security. It argues that sustainable land management, incorporating indigenous knowledge and gender-sensitive policies, is essential for limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C.

The document assesses the multifaceted threats climate change poses to global food security, highlighting that while some high-latitude regions may see productivity gains, the global South—especially sub-Saharan Africa—faces severe risks of yield losses and increased hunger. It argues for a systemic approach to adaptation, moving beyond autonomous adjustments to planned strategies. Key priorities include increasing public investment in agricultural research, adopting Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), expanding irrigation, and improving the resilience of food value chains. The authors emphasize that adaptation must be balanced with greenhouse gas mitigation and social equity, particularly regarding gender and youth in agriculture.

The document argues that agroecology—combining science, practice, and social movements—provides a framework for transforming food systems to be more climate-resilient. It details how applying ecological principles (such as biodiversity and soil health) at various scales (field, farm, landscape, and food system) can mitigate climate risks. The paper provides evidence from Africa, India, and Europe, highlighting specific practices like agroforestry and Zero Budget Natural Farming. It concludes that scaling these approaches requires addressing market failures, reforming perverse policies, and shifting from a top-down technology transfer model to a co-creation of knowledge approach.