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The workshop, conducted by the Stockholm Environment Institute and partners, focused on the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for GHG inventories and the EMEP/EEA guidebook for short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP). Participants were trained in using IPCC software (version 2.691) and Excel worksheets to estimate emissions from waste sources, including solid waste disposal and open burning. The training emphasized the requirements of the Paris Agreement's Enhanced Transparency Framework, specifically the submission of Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR) by December 31, 2024.

The report examines the potential of solar PV, batteries, and ICT to transform agriculture in low- and middle-income countries. It highlights applications such as solar-powered irrigation, precision agriculture, and indoor farming, noting that while these technologies can reduce environmental harm and increase yields, they face barriers like high upfront costs and data privacy risks. The authors recommend government interventions in regulation, financing, and capacity-building to ensure inclusive and sustainable adoption.

The report examines the global cotton market, highlighting a shift toward voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) which grew from 1% of production in 2009 to 14.1% in 2016. It identifies significant sustainability challenges, including high water and pesticide use, price volatility, and labor abuses. The document argues that VSSs like BCI, CmiA, Organic, and Fairtrade are essential for mitigating these risks and improving livelihoods for the 100 million farmers globally. It specifically identifies Mali and Burkina Faso as having high potential for VSS growth among Low Human Development Countries.

The statement argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for governments to focus all resources on public health, specifically the procurement of medical supplies, vaccines, and medicines. It calls for the immediate suspension of trade and investment negotiations at the WTO, bilateral, and regional levels, asserting that such activities divert critical resources and personnel. The authors highlight that intellectual property rules under the WTO's TRIPS agreement and free trade agreements may obstruct the affordability and accessibility of life-saving supplies. The document demands the removal of all trade barriers and unilateral sanctions that hinder medical procurement and urges a fundamental rethink of trade rules that encourage monopolies and limit healthcare access.

Friends of the Earth International and a broad coalition of global endorsers call for an immediate cessation of trade and investment treaty negotiations. They argue that governments, particularly in developing and least developed countries, lack the resources to engage in these negotiations while managing the COVID-19 health crisis. The statement demands that trade negotiators focus exclusively on removing obstacles, such as intellectual property rules and unilateral sanctions, that hinder access to affordable vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics.

The report assesses the legal frameworks for artisanal gold mining in UEMOA member states, identifying significant gaps in strategic planning, institutional coordination, and regulatory alignment. It highlights that most national laws are reactive and out of touch with field realities, particularly regarding mechanization and environmental protection. The document recommends the creation of 'reserved gold mining zones' as an integrated approach to formalize the sector, introduce cleaner gravimetric processing technologies, and improve fiscal collection and social protections for vulnerable miners.

The report details the preparatory phase of a GCF-funded project in Benin, focusing on fiduciary and procurement capacity assessments of the Ministry of Livelihood and Sustainable Development (MCVDD). While no field activities were executed during the reporting period, the project established a Project Cooperation Agreement and developed terms of reference for a Project Management Unit. The project aims to restore 3,600 hectares of forest and improve 3,000 hectares of farmland to benefit 22,000 people directly.

The G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) offers a framework for macroeconomic, business, and financial reforms to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), but Zimbabwe has failed to engage with it. Despite the alignment between CwA goals and Zimbabwe's Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), the country is hindered by a lack of genuine reform culture, significant multilateral debt arrears, and a preference for bilateral infrastructure funding from China. Furthermore, there is a profound lack of awareness of the CwA among Zimbabwean policymakers and private sector stakeholders.

The document examines the AU's struggle to implement the 2014 Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, noting that only seven of 55 member states had ratified it by October 2019. It compares the AU's approach to the EU's role as a 'norm entrepreneur' through regulations like the GDPR and the Cybersecurity Act. The author highlights Mauritius as a continental best practice for holistic national cyber strategy and recommends that the AU adopt 'Agile Governance Principles', engage more with civil society, and establish a continental body similar to the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA).

The report argues that the COVID-19 pandemic acted as an 'X-ray,' exposing deep structural inequalities and the failure of neoliberal policies. It critiques the global fiscal response, noting that while US$ 11 trillion was mobilized, the support was unevenly distributed, favoring high-income countries and corporate interests over the global South and public services. The document proposes an "8 R" agenda for systemic change: re-valuing care, re-empowering public services, re-balancing value chains, reinforcing climate justice, re-distributing economic power, re-regulating global finance, re-inventing multilateral solidarity, and re-defining progress beyond GDP. It specifically highlights the dangers of IMF-mandated austerity in countries like Ecuador and the failure of the Global Health Security Index to predict pandemic outcomes due to its reliance on infrastructure over social determinants of health.

The report analyzes the intersection of gender and climate change adaptation in Benin, highlighting how patriarchal land tenure and social roles increase women's vulnerability. It identifies institutional gaps in the current NAP process and provides specific recommendations for gender-responsive adaptation in agriculture, water, health, and other priority sectors.

The report details a workshop on global economic governance and its impact on income inequality. It examines four key areas: market access, where duty-free, quota-free (DFQF) access for least developed countries (LDCs) is often undermined by domestic subsidies in rich nations; e-commerce, where data localization and source code bans are debated to protect policy space; industrial policy, which faces a trend of shrinking policy space due to WTO and regional trade agreement restrictions; and competition policy, which struggles with the market power of tech giants and a lack of international coordination. The workshop concludes that these areas are deeply interlinked and require a systemic approach to governance to support sustainable development and reduce inequality.

The document argues that while NDCs (short-to-medium term commitments) and LTSs (mid-century visions) serve different legal and functional roles, they should be developed synergistically. Aligning them prevents the 'lock-in' of carbon-intensive infrastructure and reduces administrative costs by sharing data, modeling, and stakeholder consultations. The authors suggest that ideally, an LTS should inform the NDC, though they provide options for countries developing both in parallel or those updating NDCs without a formal LTS.

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 Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) has introduced the Climate Resilience Principles to integrate climate adaptation and resilience into the Climate Bonds Standard. The framework distinguishes between asset-focused investments (ensuring an asset's performance over its lifespan) and system-focused investments (delivering broader systemic benefits). It requires issuers to conduct physical climate risk assessments—covering hazards, exposure, and vulnerability—and demonstrate that investments are 'fit-for-purpose' and do not cause maladaptation. The Principles also address the potential for 'mitigation trade-offs,' where emissions requirements might be relaxed for projects providing exceptional resilience benefits. These Principles will be used by Technical Working Groups to create sector-specific certification criteria.

The document outlines a risk-based approach to environmental and social due diligence for GCF-funded projects. It details the screening process used to identify potential impacts early in project design and defines three risk categories (A, B, and C) that determine the depth of required assessments, mitigation measures, and stakeholder engagement. It also provides specific guidance for activities involving indigenous peoples and financial intermediation.

The document details the efforts of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) to support Namibian civil society organisations (CSOs) in engaging with the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). Following Namibia's accession to the APRM in January 2017, CSOs formed a working group in 2018 to identify 13 critical governance issues and produce a written submission presented on 21 June 2019. The brief outlines ten lessons for other countries, emphasizing the need for early familiarity with the APRM, strategic issue selection, government engagement to build trust, and the use of peer learning from other states. It concludes that the process not only pressured the Namibian government to accelerate its national APRM process but also led to the creation of 'Civic +264', a new information hub for civil society coordination.

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.

The project aims to protect approximately 400,000 beneficiaries in the Mono-TOGO basin through a two-pronged approach: strengthening institutional and community capacity for Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and implementing ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) measures. Key activities include the development of a drought and flood risk early warning system, the installation of hydrological monitoring equipment, and the implementation of riverine stabilization and soil conservation measures across an estimated 40,000 hectares. The project requests USD 16 million in grant funding from the Green Climate Fund, with a total indicative cost of USD 46 million, to address technical and financial barriers in a region where agriculture is a primary economic driver but highly vulnerable to climate extremes.

The document examines the material risks climate change poses to global supply chains and the current state of private sector adaptation. It argues that while companies recognize climate risks, they often misdiagnose them by focusing on exposure rather than underlying vulnerability. Using the cotton industry as a detailed example, the paper proposes a resilience framework based on six capital assets—natural, human, social, physical, financial, and political—and provides recommendations for companies to commit to science-based resilience strategies and gender-transformative empowerment of women workers.