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The document examines the viability of nuclear energy in Africa, noting that the continent provides 14% of global uranium supply. It identifies Russia and China as leading international vendors due to their state-owned models and willingness to provide financing. The paper highlights significant barriers to deployment, including high costs, corruption, unstable electrical grids, and a lack of local expertise. It also discusses the potential of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to mitigate some of these infrastructure and financial challenges.

The report examines the political shift in the DRC following President Felix Tshisekedi's creation of the 'sacred union' coalition, which granted him a parliamentary majority. While this shift provides an opportunity for electoral reform and improved security in the east, the document highlights significant tensions over the content of these reforms, the independence of the electoral commission (CENI), and whether a proposed population census is a genuine development need or a strategy to delay the 2023 elections.

The report assesses the impact of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on African infrastructure, economic growth, trade, and debt sustainability. While finding that Chinese investment helps close the infrastructure gap and can boost GDP, the authors note risks including debt distress in specific countries, environmental degradation, and the crowding out of local manufacturing by Chinese imports. Case studies in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria demonstrate positive outcomes in transport and energy, though the failure of Nigeria's NIGCOM satellite highlights risks of using the continent as a testing ground. The report concludes that benefits generally outweigh costs, provided African nations improve project management and negotiate more symmetrical trade and loan terms.

The document examines the gap between legal design and operational reality regarding how logging companies share benefits with forest communities in four West and Central African nations. It highlights that while laws may exist, a lack of implementing regulations, low payment amounts, and limited community negotiation capacity often lead to poor outcomes. ClientEarth has responded by developing guidance tools, templates, and training to empower communities to negotiate more effective and enforceable agreements.

The report argues that preventing future pandemics requires a systems-based approach to stop zoonotic spillover at its source. It identifies the 'wildlife value chain'—from tropical deforestation frontiers to urban markets—as the primary driver of risk, where human, livestock, and wildlife interactions facilitate pathogen mutation and transmission. The framework proposes a 'Planetary Health Agenda' that integrates conservation, public health, and sustainable food systems, with specific action plans for Southeast Asia, Central Africa, and South America to mitigate both current and emerging risks.

The transition to low-carbon technologies is highly mineral-intensive, requiring an estimated 3 billion tons of minerals and metals to achieve a below 2°C future. This demand increases the risk of deforestation and fragmentation of intact forest landscapes (IFLs), particularly in the Amazon and Congo Basin. In the Amazon, mining contributes up to 9% of IFL area loss, while in the Congo Basin, the demand for cobalt for batteries drives exploration in high-forest-cover areas. Analysis shows a gap in corporate and government governance, with only a minority of assessed companies adopting specific forest-related commitments and 78% of state and regional governments lacking forest management plans that directly address mining-related deforestation.

The document examines how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of e-governance tools, specifically social media and smartphones, to maintain public service delivery. It highlights South Africa's use of WhatsApp chatbots and the 'COVID Alert SA' contact tracing app as innovative examples, while noting that the 'digital divide' and concerns over surveillance and fake news remain significant barriers to digital governance across Africa.

The report identifies 24 deforestation fronts across Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, where over 43 million hectares of forest were lost between 2004 and 2017. It argues that while commercial agriculture remains the dominant direct driver, indirect pressures such as population growth, dietary shifts toward meat, and weak governance amplify forest loss. The analysis evaluates a range of responses, from area-based protections and indigenous land rights to commodity-specific certifications and REDD+ frameworks, concluding that no single approach is sufficient and that integrated, context-specific solutions are required to halt deforestation.

The document argues that African nations should leverage the post-COVID-19 recovery to 'build back better' by adopting green finance mechanisms. It identifies green bonds as a primary tool for raising large-scale capital and emphasizes the need for targeted public finance to de-risk investments and attract private capital. The briefing details several pathways for a green transition, including the establishment of environmental funds, the deployment of renewable energy as an economic stimulus, and the implementation of green fiscal reforms such as carbon taxes. It also highlights the critical role of central banks in 'greening' the financial sector through macroprudential regulation and the development of green taxonomies to reduce information asymmetries.

The report details a System Scale Planning (SSP) framework applied to Nepal's hydropower sector, specifically the Karnali Basin. Using a Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA) and integration with the SWITCH energy model, the methodology identifies 'pareto-optimal' portfolios of projects that balance installed capacity and cost against environmental and social metrics. Key findings demonstrate that strategic project selection can significantly reduce biodiversity and livelihood impacts for a given level of energy output, and that restricting development on mainstem rivers (Scenario K03) can achieve a favorable balance of low environmental impact and low system cost.

The document examines how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing debt distress in Africa, where average debt-to-GDP ratios rose from 60% to 70%. It critiques the G20/Paris Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) for its limited scope, noting that private creditors and multilateral development banks (MDBs) have largely refused to participate. The brief highlights the role of credit rating agencies in discouraging participation due to fears of downgrades and argues that many nations face solvency crises rather than temporary liquidity issues. It recommends extending the DSSI, reallocating IMF Special Drawing Rights, and establishing a permanent UN-led forum for debt monitoring and restructuring.

ClientEarth argues that while the EUTR and FLEGT Regulation have improved transparency in timber supply chains, significant gaps in enforcement, funding, and scope persist. The organization highlights a critical lack of staff and financial resources in EU Member States, uneven implementation that disrupts the market, and a low volume of compliance checks relative to the number of operators. It recommends expanding the EUTR's product scope, introducing stricter responsibilities for traders, and harmonizing penalties to ensure they are 'effective, proportionate and dissuasive'. Regarding FLEGT, ClientEarth notes its success in driving systemic law reform and civil society participation in producer countries but warns that the EU's reduced market weight and the technical complexity of Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) may hinder progress. Finally, it calls for new mandatory due diligence legislation to address forest conversion driven by commodities like soy, cocoa, palm oil, and beef.

Africa faces a significant ICT infrastructure deficit that hinders its development, requiring an estimated $3 billion annual additional investment. While the private sector has led deployment, challenges remain regarding rural access, high costs, and limited policy capacity. The document advocates for incentivising local providers, upgrading regulatory frameworks, and expanding the technical skills base to fully realise the benefits of digital transformation.

The document outlines a comprehensive approach to forest sector law reform, emphasizing the necessity of a clear forest policy, inclusive stakeholder participation, and a structured, iterative process. It provides technical guidance on drafting clear, coherent laws that comply with legal hierarchies and avoid contradictions with other sectoral legislation. Through case studies from Ghana, the Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire, the guide demonstrates how civil society engagement and targeted advocacy can lead to improved forest governance, including the recognition of community land rights and the implementation of sustainable management principles.

The report examines the lack of controls on the manufacture, import, and export of law enforcement equipment in South Africa that facilitates torture. It identifies a domestic industry producing inherently abusive tools, such as stun belts and electrified shields, and highlights the gap between South Africa's international human rights obligations and its domestic trade practices.

The document examines the African Peer Review Mechanism's (APRM) drive for universal membership, arguing that while a worthy goal, the organization must first address its backlog of 'slow states' and improve the implementation of National Programmes of Action (NPoAs). It highlights that 40 of 55 African states have joined, but many have failed to undergo first reviews or progress to second reviews. The authors warn that 'targeted reviews' may allow governments to avoid sensitive issues and suggest that the APRM adopt stricter measures, similar to the OGP or EITI, to handle inactive members.

The document identifies the Technical Assistance (TA) Facility for the Global Subnational Climate Fund as a Category I-2 environmental and social safeguards project. It lists target countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean, and confirms that an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) has been disclosed in multiple languages to comply with requirements.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive region globally for remittances, with an average cost of 8.9% of transaction value. The report identifies critical supply-side barriers including onerous KYC requirements, lack of digital ecosystems, and fragmented payment infrastructure. It recommends a shift toward risk-proportional AML-CFT regulation, the adoption of digital identity systems, and the integration of regional payment rails to reduce informality and costs.

The document analyzes the drivers of zoonotic disease emergence, emphasizing the role of human-animal-environment interfaces. It identifies land-use change, agricultural intensification, and wildlife trade as primary direct drivers that increase human exposure to pathogens. The brief proposes a systems approach to identify leverage points for intervention, such as regulating high-risk wildlife taxa in markets and re-engineering food supply chains, while warning against rushed interventions that could undermine food security or drive illegal trade. It also examines the role of climate change in expanding the range of endemic diseases and explores future scenarios for human health and conservation.

The paper analyzes the role of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in Africa, focusing on their ability to manage resource revenues and combat the 'resource curse'. Through case studies of Angola, Botswana, Ghana, and Nigeria, it finds that while some funds have strong legal frameworks, their success is heavily dependent on the country's overarching fiscal culture and the presence of independent oversight. The author argues that SWFs cannot operate in isolation and must be integrated into broader public financial management reforms to prevent political misuse and ensure long-term sustainability.