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This briefing from the World Resources Institute argues for a holistic 'water-energy-food nexus' approach to resource management, highlighting how climate change, population growth, and economic development create interconnected crises. Using examples from India, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, and Pakistan, the author demonstrates how water scarcity triggers failures in energy production and food security, and proposes a management framework based on knowledge, governance, and cooperation.

This report details a youth working meeting on 08 October 2020 aimed at identifying governance issues for a South African submission to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). Participants outlined a vision for success involving increased youth representation and better service delivery, and identified key concerns such as unemployment, gender-based violence, and climate change. The project will utilize 12 working groups to develop a submission, with a final launch planned for March 2021.

This briefing provides notes from a three-part webinar series organized by Natural Justice in October 2020. The sessions focused on the development, application, and legal recognition of community protocols within the framework of Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS), emphasizing community-led processes to protect traditional knowledge and biological resources.

The World Resources Institute provides a three-step guide for governments and communities to transform degraded landscapes effectively. The process emphasizes the integration of biophysical data with social landscape analysis to avoid pitfalls such as planting trees in incorrect locations or violating human rights, ensuring that restoration pledges to initiatives like the Bonn Challenge and AFR100 result in high-impact outcomes.

This policy brief argues for increased investment in resilience in Malawi to mitigate the rising economic costs of extreme weather events. It introduces the 'triple dividend' of resilience—avoided losses, unlocked development potential, and co-benefits—and provides evidence from various sectors and regions showing that such investments are highly cost-effective compared to humanitarian aid.

This policy brief analyzes the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, arguing that while the conflict is framed as religious extremism, it is rooted in systemic neglect, regional inequality, and a 'resource scramble' involving rubies and natural gas. The authors suggest that the Mozambican government's security response and the marginalization of local communities have exacerbated structural problems, drawing parallels to the Niger Delta in Nigeria.

This workshop report by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) synthesizes discussions from July 2020 regarding the standardization of data for integrated energy planning. It focuses on the use of geospatial least-cost modelling to achieve universal energy access, identifying critical data gaps and quality standards for both electrification and clean cooking planning, and exploring the convergence of these two sectors through electric cooking.

This research paper examines the increasing risk of African sovereign debt defaults exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on China's role as a primary bilateral lender and the limitations of international debt relief initiatives like the DSSI.

This briefing, produced by the South African Institute of International Affairs and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, outlines strategic priorities for a green transition and energy access partnership between the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU). It emphasizes the need to maintain momentum on climate goals despite the COVID-19 pandemic, advocating for a transition that supports Africa's developmental objectives, including industrialization and employment growth.

This briefing by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the intersection of skills transfer, gender equality, and the green energy transition in Africa. It highlights the systemic under-representation of women in energy value chains and the need for a 'just transition' that addresses unemployment risks in fossil fuel-dependent economies through reskilling and targeted AU-EU strategic partnerships.

This policy brief examines the potential for the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) to collaborate on a circular economy transition in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that the EU's goal to shorten global value chains for food and medical security, combined with Africa's need for sustainable economic growth and job creation, provides a mutually beneficial opportunity to implement green recovery strategies and achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

This policy brief by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the role of green financing and blended finance in scaling renewable energy across Africa, using Kenya as a primary case study to illustrate how public and private capital can be combined to meet rising energy demands and climate commitments.

This policy brief argues for a strategic AU-EU partnership to facilitate sustainable energy transitions, emphasizing that such cooperation can provide Africa with increased energy access and jobs while helping the EU meet its carbon neutrality goals. It highlights the need for diplomatic sensitivity, tailored incentives, and a focus on 'just transitions' to ensure that fossil-fuel-dependent African nations are not unfairly penalized by European climate standards.

This policy brief examines the strategic opportunities and challenges for cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Africa following the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It argues that the AfCFTA allows the EU to move beyond traditional development aid toward a political partnership based on equal terms, while highlighting the need for the EU to align its investment and trade support with the AfCFTA's goals to foster African economic resilience and productive capacity.

This policy brief examines the tension between fossil fuel development and renewable energy transitions in Africa, highlighting the geopolitical competition between China's Belt and Road Initiative and the EU's 'green transitions' strategy. It argues that for the EU to effectively partner with African nations, it must shift its framing from climate change to energy security and economic development, while promoting transparency and social innovation to avoid foreign exploitation and 'debt traps'.

This research paper by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the necessary adaptations for South Africa's trade policy following the COVID-19 pandemic. It advocates for a revised Trade Policy Strategic Framework that emphasizes regional integration through the AfCFTA and SACU, a strategic redesign of South Africa's role within the WTO, and the diversification of global trading partnerships to ensure economic resilience in the 2020s.

This research paper by Bariki G. Mwasaga analyzes the response of the United Republic of Tanzania to the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the role of President John Magufuli's leadership, the tension between government claims and scientific data, and the resulting social and political consequences.

This research paper examines the challenges of clean cookstove adoption in peri-urban Kenya, highlighting how user values and socio-cultural influences affect sustained use. The study utilizes service design methods and quantitative monitoring to evaluate a pilot project introducing biomass pellet cookstoves, identifying three distinct user archetypes based on their motivations: saving money, convenience, and health and safety.

The African Environmental Defenders Fund, launched in December 2019 by Natural Justice and the International Land Coalition (ILC), provides emergency financial support to land and environmental defenders in Africa facing imminent threats. Between March and August 2020, the Fund processed 15 applications, approving 10 and distributing over USD 30,000 to assist with legal fees, bail, relocation, and safe houses.

This policy brief examines the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, detailing its origins, the diplomatic tensions between developed and developing nations, and its lasting impact on international environmental law and the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).