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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 Islamic Finance Toolkit provides a comprehensive overview of Shariah-compliant financial systems, detailing key contracts, the global industry landscape, and specific strategies for integrating Islamic finance into African economies. It identifies significant underdevelopment in Africa—where the region holds only 1% of global Islamic banking assets despite housing 27% of the world's Muslim population—and offers a framework of eleven recommendations covering legal, tax, and regulatory reforms to unlock the potential of Sukuk, Takaful, and Islamic fintech.

The document examines the shortcomings of current border security reforms in North and West Africa, noting that they often ignore the unique needs of borderland communities and the complexity of overlapping security mandates. It recommends a shift toward community consultation, the reduction of military roles in favour of law enforcement, and increased cross-border cooperation between neighbouring states.

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, tree plantations, and extractive activities are primary drivers, responses must be tailored to local contexts and integrated across area-based and sector-specific approaches to be effective.

The proposal aims to support Morocco's 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) by addressing the lack of climate finance at the regional, provincial, and communal levels. It proposes two main components: the design of a multi-sector National Financing Vehicle (NFV) to blend public and private capital, and the creation of a 'train-the-trainer' capacity-building program for the Climate Change Competency Center (4C). The project will identify a 'champion' region to develop a climate finance pipeline and a GCF concept note, which will then inform the national training program. The initiative is designed to transition Morocco from a project-based funding approach to a coherent national integrated climate change investment strategy.

The proposal seeks USD 998,258 over 18 months to address gaps in Indonesia's climate finance mobilization. Key objectives include establishing a formal coordination mechanism between climate finance focal points, supporting the accreditation of 2-3 new Direct Access Entities (DAEs), and developing a national climate finance strategy to support the Environmental Fund Management Agency (BPDLH). The project, implemented by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), also focuses on improving the quality of project concept notes and increasing private sector engagement.

The report argues that framing migration as a security threat—driven largely by EU policies to stem migration to Europe—leads to restrictive border controls and the criminalisation of smuggling. Using Agadez, Niger, as a case study, the author demonstrates that these securitised approaches do not stop irregular migration but instead increase local insecurity, empower high-level smugglers, expose migrants to greater risks, and erode trust between citizens and governments. The document recommends shifting the narrative toward evidence-based migration management and expanding legal pathways for movement within Africa and between Africa and the EU.

The proposed programme aims to protect North African oases from climate change impacts, such as extreme heat, drought, and water scarcity. It focuses on establishing a regional management framework, implementing adaptation and mitigation measures (including solar energy for irrigation), and strengthening stakeholder capacity. The initiative seeks to transition from top-down to bottom-up, participatory decision-making to safeguard biodiversity and rural livelihoods.

The report examines the risks of increased arms sales to Africa, the fragile peace negotiations in Sudan and Mozambique, and the role of the AfCFTA in addressing structural drivers of conflict. It also critiques the AU Peace and Security Council for its lack of meeting records and discusses security threats in the Sahel.

The document argues that current NDCs insufficiently address the transport sector, which accounts for approximately one-quarter of energy-related CO2 emissions. It advocates for a comprehensive approach based on the "Avoid-Shift-Improve" framework: avoiding unnecessary travel through land-use planning, shifting to low-carbon modes like public transit and cycling, and improving vehicle technology via electrification and fuel efficiency. The authors identify three primary opportunities for NDC enhancement: accelerating electrification and fuel economy, amplifying avoid-and-shift measures, and addressing freight emissions through clean fuels and information technology.

The paper argues that ignoring gender and power inequalities in climate change adaptation is maladaptive and leads to further exclusion. It advocates for 'gender-transformative adaptation'—which seeks to change the fundamental attributes of a system and address the root causes of vulnerability—across the natural environment, food security, sustainable cities, infrastructure, industry, and finance. The authors highlight how intersecting inequalities (income, ethnicity, age, etc.) compound vulnerability and recommend rigorous, participatory gender analyses to inform policy and project design. Key findings include the risk of 'elite capture' in the green economy and the critical need for women's land and resource rights to enable nature-based solutions.

The paper argues that ignoring gender and power inequalities in climate adaptation is maladaptive and recommends transforming social structures to ensure equitable resilience. It analyzes six key systems—natural environment, food security, sustainable cities, infrastructure, industry, and finance—demonstrating how patriarchal norms and intersecting inequalities (such as class, ethnicity, and age) disproportionately burden women and marginalized groups. The authors advocate for rigorous gender analyses, the redistribution of care work, and the inclusion of diverse voices in decision-making to move beyond tokenistic gender mainstreaming toward systemic, gender-transformative change.

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 provides a comparative analysis of the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy against two Chinese green frameworks: the NDRC Green Industry Guiding Catalogue and the PBC Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue. It highlights that while the EU Taxonomy is rooted in the Paris Agreement and employs a systemic approach with six environmental objectives and strict carbon thresholds, the Chinese catalogues focus more on pollution prevention and industry guidance without specifying carbon emission thresholds. The EU framework explicitly excludes fossil fuel activities without carbon capture, whereas the Chinese catalogues include them. The report also details the EU's 'Substantial Contribution' and 'Do No Significant Harm' (DNSH) principles, which require activities to benefit at least one environmental goal without harming others.

The report outlines a roadmap for 24 national and regional development banks to transition from incremental climate finance to full Paris alignment. It proposes a three-dimensional framework focusing on a comprehensive scope of action, a long-term time horizon, and an ambitious scale of contribution. Recommendations are divided into country-level support for governments, strategic-level institutional leadership, and operational-level investment criteria and project development.

The document examines how 'migration' and 'development' are defined and measured in quantitative research, highlighting a gap in evidence regarding migration aspirations, failed attempts, and involuntary immobility. It discusses the challenges of establishing causal links due to endogeneity—specifically reverse causality, self-selection, and omitted variables—and evaluates experimental and non-experimental methods to address these biases. The paper advocates for a holistic, multi-dimensional approach to development that moves beyond economic metrics to include social, institutional, and environmental outcomes.

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 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 paper finds that removing fossil fuel subsidies across 26 modeled countries leads to an average 6% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which increases to 13.2% if combined with a 10% energy tax and reinvestment in renewables and energy efficiency. Globally, the removal of these subsidies is estimated to reduce emissions by 6.4% to 8.2% by 2050. The study highlights that governments save an average of USD 93 for every tonne of CO2e removed through subsidy reform, with total cumulative fiscal savings across the 26 countries reaching USD 2.56 trillion by 2030.