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The report examines SFA in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Somalia since 2010, finding that billions in spending have often been ineffective or counter-productive. It identifies a 'piecemeal approach' where multiple providers with diverging interests create fragmented security forces, undermining professional standards and civilian oversight. Case studies of Mali and Somalia highlight issues such as high personnel turnover, a focus on technical skills over ethics, and the diversion of equipment to illicit markets. The authors recommend long-term, coordinated partnerships based on detailed local capacity assessments to foster cohesion rather than fragmentation.

The paper analyzes conflict dynamics in Africa from 1989 to 2019, noting a record high of 25 state-based conflicts in 2019, many of which are low-intensity or involve the Islamic State. While Africa faces rising non-state conflicts and one-sided violence, it also leads other regions in the number of definitive ceasefires and peace agreements. The study further details the growth of UN peacekeeping operations in the region from 1994 to 2018, highlighting a significant increase in troop deployment peaking in 2010.

The document establishes a business case for gender equality in the decentralised renewable energy (DRE) sector, asserting that women-led businesses are often as profitable as or more profitable than those led by men. It provides a framework of recommendations for DRE companies, civil society organisations (CSOs), and investors to improve gender equality at the community, organisational, and investor levels. The report includes 17 case studies from various global regions demonstrating the impact of gender-sensitive interventions, such as solar kiosks in Togo, feminist microgrid development in Haiti, and technical training for women in Brazil.

The document analyzes the economic resilience of Senegal and Mali from 2000 to 2022, noting that Mali has faced more domestic shocks due to climate and security vulnerabilities. While both countries used expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to mitigate crises, they remain dependent on debt. The authors recommend counter-cyclical policies, structural diversification of trade and industry, investment in human capital, and improved governance to build future resilience.

The document analyzes Nigeria's economic contraction and subsequent recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the role of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and fiscal stimulus. It identifies critical gaps in social protection, gender-responsive policy, and fiscal buffers, while advocating for central bank independence and digital economy integration for long-term stability.

Insufficient cold chain logistics and unreliable electricity access are estimated to leave approximately 2.7 billion people without dependable vaccine access. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a significant portion of health facilities lack reliable power, undermining healthcare quality and vaccine efficacy. To mitigate these gaps, organizations like Gavi and UNICEF are deploying solar-powered refrigeration, while the World Bank provides financing for health system strengthening and cold chain equipment.

Chad's updated NDC aims for a 19.3% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to a business-as-usual scenario, primarily through energy efficiency and reforestation. The plan identifies agriculture as the dominant emission source (95%) and emphasizes extreme vulnerability to droughts and floods. Implementation requires an estimated 6.7 billion USD for mitigation and between 5 and 14 billion USD for adaptation, with a heavy reliance on international financial support.

The report details a study tour in the Aguié department, Niger, focused on 'productive sanitation' (EcoSan). It describes the use of hygienized human urine (Takin Ruwa) and feces (Takin Bussasché) as agricultural fertilizers. Key findings include significant yield increases in millet and peppers compared to chemical fertilizers, the importance of community engagement with religious and traditional leaders to overcome cultural resistance, and specific technical protocols for the collection, storage, and application of ecological fertilizers to ensure safety for producers and consumers.

The report assesses conservation agriculture (CA) in Niger, focusing on techniques like Assisted Natural Regeneration (RNA), Zaï, and mulching. It highlights the positive impacts of RNA on crop yields and soil fertility, particularly in the Maradi region, while identifying constraints such as limited crop residue availability and land-use conflicts.

The executive summary argues that strengthening legal forest rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities is a vital tool for mitigating climate change. It finds that forests under strong legal recognition and government protection experience significantly lower deforestation rates than those without such protections. The document emphasizes that legal rights alone are insufficient if governments undermine them through the allocation of resource concessions or failure to prevent illegal encroachments.

Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), combined with soil and water conservation, has improved crop production, income, and food security for impoverished rural communities in Niger, while offering climate change mitigation potential.

The paper argues that local governments are underutilized actors in locally led adaptation (LLA) and demonstrates how the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) supports them through performance-based grants and capacity building. Using case studies from Niger, Lesotho, and Cambodia, the text shows that while local governments can effectively bridge the gap between national policy and community action, they may also reflect exclusionary power dynamics that require broader engagement with non-state actors to ensure inclusivity.

The document identifies over two billion hectares of global land suitable for restoration, primarily in tropical and temperate regions. It categorizes these opportunities into wide-scale, mosaic, and remote restoration, emphasizing that restoration is a complementary strategy to avoiding deforestation for sequestering carbon and improving ecosystem services.

The Humbo project in Ethiopia restored 2,700 hectares of land from 2006 onwards using Farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), a low-cost method where farmers prune native tree stumps and root systems. Supported by World Vision and the World Bank's BioCarbon Fund, the project integrated carbon sequestration payments with community-led land management. Key success factors included secure land rights, the use of endemic species, and the creation of community cooperatives. While the project improved soil health, reduced erosion, and increased firewood availability, it faced challenges regarding the high transaction costs of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) compliance and delays in carbon payments.

The world faces a 69 percent gap between 2006 crop calories and those required by 2050 for a population of 9.6 billion. Closing this gap through production alone would require increases exceeding those seen between 1962 and 2006. The document proposes a 'menu of solutions' categorized by reducing consumption, increasing production on existing land, and reducing emissions. Key strategies include cutting food loss and waste in half (reducing the gap by 20%), achieving replacement level fertility in sub-Saharan Africa (reducing the regional gap by 25%), and shifting 20% of future beef consumption to other proteins. It warns that aggressive bioenergy targets could widen the food gap to 100%.

The report argues that while land restoration offers high economic returns—estimated at $7 to $30 for every dollar invested—it remains severely underfunded with an annual gap of approximately $300 billion. It identifies seven systemic barriers to investment, including the lack of market value for public benefits and long investment horizons. The authors recommend a cross-sectoral government approach, the use of carbon taxes to fund restoration, and the implementation of risk-mitigation tools like first-loss guarantees and tax credits to attract private capital. The document also provides a framework for economic valuation to make the full suite of ecosystem services visible to decision-makers.

The Restoration Diagnostic is a three-step guide developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) to increase the success rate of forest landscape restoration (FLR). By analyzing 16 historical case studies and peer-reviewed literature, WRI identified a suite of 'key success factors' categorized into three themes: motivation, enabling conditions, and implementation capacity. The diagnostic allows users to define a geographic scope, assess the status of these factors (in place, partly in place, or missing), and develop targeted strategies to close identified gaps. The tool is designed for mid-level managers in government, NGOs, and the private sector and serves as a component of the broader Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM).

The report attributes the 2022 West African floods to a combination of anthropogenic climate change, which significantly increased the likelihood and intensity of rainfall in the Lake Chad and Lower Niger basins, and systemic vulnerabilities including poor water management, rapid unplanned urbanization, and socioeconomic instability. In the Lake Chad region, climate change made the seasonal rainfall event approximately 80 times more likely and 20% more intense. In the Lower Niger basin, the 7-day maximum rainfall event became about twice as likely and 5% more intense. The human toll was exacerbated by the release of the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon and the proximity of settlements to floodplains.

The report examines the 2022 food crisis in the Central Sahel, which followed an erratic 2021 rainy season characterized by delayed onset and short duration. Using three observational datasets and multiple climate models, the study finds that it is impossible to significantly link these specific monsoon characteristics to anthropogenic climate change due to large uncertainties and discrepancies. Instead, the crisis is attributed to chronic vulnerabilities, including extreme poverty, armed conflict, political instability, and global economic shocks such as the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Flood Green Guide, published by WWF International, advocates for an Integrated Flood Management (IFM) approach that prioritizes non-structural methods and combines 'soft' (nature-based) and 'hard' (engineered) structural interventions. It provides a five-stage project cycle—preliminary analysis, method identification, selection and design, operation and monitoring, and project evaluation—to help local managers reduce flood risk. The guide details various techniques, from upper watershed restoration and constructed wetlands to engineered drainage and land-use zoning, while emphasizing the importance of gender analysis, community engagement, and the specific challenges of urban flooding, such as the urban heat island effect and land subsidence.