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The paper examines the risks climate change poses to rural livelihoods in Asia, Africa, and Central America, noting that current adaptation efforts are insufficient. It advocates for a systemic transformation involving policy reform, digital agriculture, innovative finance, and the scaling of climate-resilient technologies. The authors propose five distinct pathways for adaptation—ranging from market integration and farming system shifts to exiting agriculture—tailored to different household types such as those 'stepping up', 'stepping out', 'hanging in', or those who are 'food insecure'.

The document argues that climate services—the production and use of climate knowledge for decision-making—are essential for adaptation but are currently underdeveloped and misaligned with user needs in the developing world. It identifies critical gaps in the use of long-term climate projections, which are often unsuitable for planning horizons of 10-30 years, and calls for a shift toward resilience-based approaches and improved national meteorological service (NMS) capacity. The authors propose ten recommendations focused on co-production between providers and users, filling observational data gaps, and reforming data policies to treat meteorological data as a public good.

The report details the Green Climate Fund's overall pipeline of 349 projects with a total value of $52,189M (including co-financing). It breaks down these figures across public and private sector divisions, geographic regions, and thematic areas such as adaptation and mitigation. The pipeline is further divided into funding proposals (80 projects) and concept notes (269 projects), with specific data on financial instruments, approval modalities, and impact potential for funding proposals.

The August 2019 Peace & Security Council Report examines the African Union's (AU) struggle to define 'unconstitutional changes of government' in the context of popular uprisings in Algeria and Sudan. It highlights the risks of increasing foreign military presence, particularly in the Horn of Africa, and the resulting rivalry between global powers like the US and China. The report also advocates for the inclusion of women in Sudan's peace process and warns of potential political instability in Côte d’Ivoire ahead of the 2020 elections. Finally, it discusses the limited access civil society organizations have to AU and regional economic community structures.

The document examines the use of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) and blockchain in the mineral sector to address conflict minerals and improve supply chain management. While blockchain offers a tamper-proof record of transactions and origin, the authors argue that it cannot guarantee socially or environmentally responsible practices on its own and must be coupled with rigorous due diligence. The brief highlights the risk of digital exclusion for artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) and the potential for private data ownership to marginalize upstream actors. It recommends that blockchain initiatives integrate recognized responsible mining standards, ensure data transparency, and design inclusive protocols for mining communities.

The report examines the actions of 14 African countries at the UN Human Rights Council in 2017. It finds that the African Group is no longer a unified voting bloc, with significant divergence in how members approach human rights. Botswana, Ghana, and Rwanda are identified as the strongest defenders of international human rights among the group, while Burundi, Egypt, and Nigeria are characterized as the most antagonistic. The analysis highlights a recurring tension between the principle of national sovereignty and the universality of human rights, particularly regarding 'item 4' resolutions that mandate investigations into specific countries without their consent.

Friends of the Earth International expresses deep disappointment with the revised text of the UN's proposed binding treaty on transnational corporations. The organization argues that by expanding the scope to all companies rather than focusing on transnational corporations, the text ignores the power structures of parent companies and their supply chains. While acknowledging the inclusion of victims' rights, the group contends the document lacks international mechanisms to hold corporations accountable and fails to establish the supremacy of human rights over trade and investment agreements.

Friends of the Earth International expresses frustration with the Revised Draft of the UN's legally binding instrument for regulating transnational corporations, claiming it dilutes the focus on transnational entities and fails to establish direct corporate obligations, instead placing responsibility solely on States.

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) is urging the South African government to penalize Eskom for chronic air pollution at the Kendal power station. Evidence from 2016-2019 shows frequent exceedances of particulate matter (PM) limits, with some units emitting 12 to 13 times the allowable limit. The CER argues that previous enforcement notices have been ineffective and that Eskom is violating both its AEL and the National Environmental Management Act's duty of care, impacting the health of communities in the Highveld Priority Area.

The report details the Green Climate Fund's pipeline as of June 2019, covering 349 overall projects with a total value of $53,465M. This includes 87 funding proposals valued at $14,309M and 262 concept notes valued at $39,156M. The pipeline is categorized by division (Public and Private Sector), region, theme (Adaptation, Mitigation, and Cross-cutting), and approval process.

As of 30 June 2019, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) reports that portfolio concentration and liquidity remain within approved risk tolerance levels, with no non-performing loans for eight consecutive quarters. The portfolio consists of 101 approved funding proposals totaling USD 4.97 billion equivalent, with a distribution of 44% mitigation, 22% adaptation, and 13% cross-cutting projects. Geographically, Africa holds the largest share of approved funding at 43%, followed by Asia-Pacific at 31%. The fund maintains a foreign exchange commitment risk buffer of USD 46.6 million equivalent.

The briefing argues that while private sector financing is often promoted to bridge Africa's infrastructure deficit, it carries significant risks including higher costs, a lack of development mandates, and extreme risk aversion. It suggests that public funds should be strategically targeted toward social infrastructure and project preparation where private interest is low, while emphasizing the need for capacity building to prevent exploitation and improve project quality.

The document outlines a strategic roadmap for the Green Climate Fund's Private Sector Facility (PSF), based on demand and supply analyses of climate finance. It identifies significant barriers to private investment in developing countries, particularly for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and in least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS). To address these, the Secretariat proposes five new modalities: targeted endowments for adaptation, local currency funding pilots, climate-focused centres of excellence for early-stage innovation, co-investment solutions for institutional investors, and a direct investment approach to bypass accreditation bottlenecks.

The document argues that while a low-carbon future requires increased mining of specific minerals, South Africa must shift away from coal dependence toward a 'green industrialisation' strategy. It highlights how Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies can make mining less invasive and create new value chains in renewable energy components, while warning that automation and the abandonment of fossil fuels will necessitate large-scale worker reskilling to avoid social upheaval.

The briefing identifies that agriculture accounts for 70 percent of annual freshwater withdrawals and proposes five interventions: reducing food loss and waste, shifting diets toward less water-intensive foods, investing in nature-based solutions like agroforestry, optimizing crop placement and water management, and adopting efficient technologies such as drip irrigation.

The briefing argues that empowering forest-linked communities is essential for forest protection and is most effectively achieved through tiered organizational structures that aggregate strength-in-numbers. While some progress has been made in recognizing indigenous and local community rights, overall empowerment in rural areas remains constrained by land fragmentation, gender inequality, and insufficient access to finance. The document highlights successful innovations in business development and policy advocacy from the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) and warns that while digital technologies offer new market opportunities, they may also facilitate commercial land acquisition that threatens community assets.

The report examines the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to drive long-term GDP growth and poverty reduction by 2050, while noting that immediate gains will come from manufacturing and technology leapfrogging. It details the AU's suspension of Sudan following the military junta's crackdown on protestors and warns of risks including civil war and external influence from Gulf powers. The document highlights a democratic setback in Africa, where incumbents use constitutional amendments and electoral law changes to maintain power, citing Benin as a key example. It reviews AU peace support operations (PSOs) in Somalia and Darfur, arguing that military action must be paired with political solutions and questioning the neutrality of deploying neighbouring states. Finally, it discusses the AU-UN partnership, emphasizing the need for UN Security Council reform and sustainable financing for AU-led operations.

The document analyzes the impact and implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) across Africa, with a detailed focus on Zambia. It explores the benefits of trade facilitation, such as increased exports and regional integration, while highlighting systemic barriers including inadequate infrastructure, reliance on donor funding, and poor inter-governmental coordination. Through a case study of four Zambian border posts—Nakonde, Kasumbalesa, Kazungula, and Chirundu—the paper illustrates the gap between high-level political commitment and on-the-ground operational realities, such as the failure to implement functional Single Window systems and the regression of previously successful One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) due to lack of data-sharing and poor donor exit strategies.

African cities face a 'triple challenge' of rapid population growth, urban expansion, and poor waste management, which threatens urban sustainability and marine ecosystems. The report advocates for a transition from linear 'take–make–dispose' models to a circular economy that prioritises resource efficiency and waste removal. Key recommendations include integrating the informal waste sector, implementing municipal composting, and leveraging regional policy frameworks like Agenda 2063 to foster green entrepreneurialism.

The policy brief argues that South Africa's 2017 White Paper on International Migration (WPIM) neglects the 'feminisation of migration,' leaving women migrants vulnerable to exploitation and violence. While women's migration to South Africa has quadrupled since 1990, current legislation remains gender-neutral, failing to address gender-specific drivers or the economic potential of women's remittances and entrepreneurship. The author highlights risks in the informal sector and the potential for human rights violations in proposed border processing centres, urging the government to adopt gender-disaggregated data and targeted protection strategies.