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The Climate Risk Assessment Guide – Central Asia establishes a framework to downscale climate impact understanding to support sub-national risk management. It integrates climate change assessment with disaster risk assessment, focusing on six types of capital: human, natural, social, financial, physical, and political. The methodology combines an impact-based assessment (using monetary damage and Delphi-based livelihood scoring) with a perception-based assessment to identify gaps between expert data and local views. The guide emphasizes the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for data management and provides a structured process for creating climate risk profiles to prioritize management actions.

The document analyzes the bipolar rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia within the Persian Gulf Regional Security Complex, examining how their competition for ideological leadership, regional security dominance, and energy market control influences their strategic engagement in Afghanistan. It explores the role of global powers—the USA, Russia, and China—in reinforcing these regional divisions and assesses the potential for a cooperative security architecture in the region.

The document assesses the security and economic relationships between Afghanistan and its neighbours, including Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia, India, and Central Asian states. It argues that Afghanistan's stability depends on a combination of internal political reconciliation, the strengthening of national security forces, and a regional shift toward economic interdependence. The author suggests that by serving as a 'land bridge' for energy and trade, Afghanistan can motivate neighbouring states to support its stability rather than treating it as a zone for proxy competition.

The document highlights the critical role of healthy ecosystems in reducing the impacts of climate extremes and disasters. It argues that ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is often a more cost-effective and accessible strategy than hard engineering, providing co-benefits for livelihoods and biodiversity. The brief details how climate extremes—such as heat waves, droughts, and floods—can lead to species extinction, regime shifts in ecosystems, and the transformation of carbon sinks into sources. It emphasizes that disaster risk is driven not only by climate events but by vulnerability and exposure resulting from skewed development. The report advocates for a paradigm shift toward transformational changes in governance and the integration of disaster risk management (DRM) with climate change adaptation (CCA) to build long-term resilience.

The report analyzes the challenges of the Afghan conflict, emphasizing the need for a proactive, inclusive peace process. It suggests that successful negotiations require third-party facilitation, a structured negotiating framework, and transitional arrangements to manage security and governance. The authors argue against narrow power-sharing between elites, proposing instead a multidimensional approach involving power-sharing, power-dividing, power-creating, and power-diffusing mechanisms across political, military, territorial, and economic dimensions to ensure long-term stability and legitimacy.

The document analyzes the Austrian Model Investment Treaty, noting that while it introduces innovations to protect public welfare and limit 'treaty shopping,' it retains problematic features such as an expansive umbrella clause, a vague Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) standard, and a lack of transparency in investor-state dispute settlement.

The document analyzes Afghanistan's role within the Regional Security Complex (RSC) framework, examining its relationship with South Asia, the Persian Gulf, and Central Asia. It argues that neighboring states' engagement in Afghanistan is driven by internal regional conflicts—such as the India-Pakistan rivalry—rather than Afghan-centric issues. Consequently, the author suggests that a unilateral non-aggression commitment by Afghanistan is a more viable strategy for stability than the integrated regional approaches often proposed by international policymakers.

President Dmitry Medvedev's June 2009 visit to Egypt, Nigeria, Namibia, and Angola focused on the exploitation of energy and minerals and the sale of Russian technology. This effort, alongside summits with BRIC and SCO nations, reflects a Russian foreign policy goal to challenge US hegemony and establish a multipolar world. Key outcomes included agreements on gas field development and pipelines in Nigeria, nuclear power projects in Egypt and Namibia, and loans for Angola's satellite programme. The document notes South Africa's absence from the Russian president's itinerary and the BRIC summit in Yekaterinburg.

The report argues that agricultural and marine resources, often dismissed as secondary in conflict analysis, can fuel violence through the taxation of trade, the destabilizing effect of price volatility, and competition over essential inputs like land and water. Through case studies in Côte d’Ivoire, Somalia, and Central Asia, it demonstrates how rebel groups and warlords extract funds from cocoa, bananas, and fisheries. It also highlights how commodity dependence and price shocks undermine political stability and how the pursuit of thirsty crops like cotton exacerbates interstate tensions over water sharing. The authors provide fourteen policy recommendations, including the use of UN sanctions on agricultural resources and increased transparency in trade.

The study finds that energy wealth, but not mineral wealth, increases the risk of civil war onset, provided a lower threshold of 25 annual battle deaths is used. The results provide evidence against the 'looting rebels' model, which predicts a non-linear relationship where very high resource wealth eventually deters rebellion, and instead tentatively support state capacity models suggesting that fossil fuel dependence weakens state institutions.

The report presents twelve reasons why large hydroelectric projects are incompatible with the goals of renewable energy initiatives. It contends that these projects fail to alleviate poverty, divert funding from cleaner decentralized technologies, and often suffer from underestimated costs and overestimated benefits. The text highlights severe social and environmental impacts, including the forced displacement of 40 to 80 million people and the emission of greenhouse gases from reservoirs. It further argues that large dams increase vulnerability to climate change, are inflexible and costly to build, and are not truly renewable due to sedimentation.

The briefing argues that establishing a functioning state in Afghanistan requires a new power-sharing formula that avoids reliance on military strength, a long-term commitment from neighboring states to prioritize Afghan stability over regional rivalries, and a shift in international aid from short-term emergency relief to long-term peacebuilding and capacity-building. It warns that any new government must be developed from within to be legitimate, though it suggests an international presence—potentially involving the UN and the Organization of the Islamic Conference—may be necessary to support the transition.

The document examines the 'peace pyramid' model of conflict management in Africa, where subregional organisations act as the base, the OAU as the linkage, and the UN as the apex. It argues that while subregional bodies like ECOWAS and SADC are often better motivated for intervention due to proximity, they lack institutionalised crisis management mechanisms and are built upon fragile states. The author suggests that effective regional security requires a focus on state-building, good governance, and the creation of permanent secretariats to ensure impartiality and reliability.

The report examines the complexities of humanitarian intervention in the post-Cold War era, where internal conflicts predominate over interstate wars. It argues that these conflicts are often driven by economic and political injustice and manipulated by 'conflict entrepreneurs' who mobilize ethnic identity for power. The text analyzes the ethical dilemmas of intervention through the Just War tradition, the systemic coordination failures between the UN and NGOs, and the specific dynamics of Russian interventions in the former Soviet south and emergent peace-keeping efforts in Africa.

The document highlights that just 1% of Tajikistan's estimated superhot rock geothermal resource could provide 68 GW of energy capacity, far exceeding the country's 2021 electricity consumption of 20,719 GWh. This resource could potentially replace all coal, natural gas, and electricity imports, reducing electricity sector carbon emissions by approximately 2 megatonnes, which represents 32% of Tajikistan's Nationally Determined Contribution goal. While not expected to reach commercial scale by 2030, the technology is presented as a way to complement hydropower and improve air quality by reducing fossil fuel combustion.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a global infrastructure and economic cooperation framework led by China, focusing on energy and transport connectivity across Asia, Europe, and Africa. While marketed as a 'win-win' development strategy, the document argues it often serves Chinese domestic interests, such as exporting industrial overcapacity and asserting geopolitical influence. The briefing highlights significant environmental risks, particularly the funding of coal-fired power plants and large hydropower projects, and a lack of transparent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) safeguards. It identifies a 'debt trap' risk for recipient countries and calls for a shift toward a 'Green BRI' aligned with international sustainability standards.

The document provides a comprehensive overview of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), describing it as a strategic framework for Chinese foreign investment and global influence. It highlights a systemic lack of environmental and social safeguards, the dominance of Chinese state-owned enterprises, and the tendency of BRI financing to favor fossil fuel projects over renewables. The briefing also details the 'debt trap' risks for recipient nations and the efforts of civil society organizations to advocate for a 'Green BRI' and greater corporate accountability.

The document analyzes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a strategic tool for China to export industrial overcapacity and expand global influence. It highlights a systemic lack of transparency, the dominance of state-owned enterprises, and significant environmental risks, particularly through the financing of coal and hydropower projects. While China promotes a 'Green BRI' and 'ecological civilization,' the report argues that actual implementation often lacks rigorous safeguards, leading to 'debt traps' and biodiversity loss. It calls for international civil society to push for binding treaties on multinationals and the adoption of higher environmental and social standards.

The document outlines mandatory requirements and recommendations for various GCF funding proposals. General requirements for all proposals include signing a funded activity agreement (FAA), completing legal due diligence, and providing certification of the accredited entity's capacity. Specific conditions are detailed for several projects, including requirements for water reduction strategies in Barbados, technology procurement for pond water treatment in Bangladesh, and GHG emission analysis for cookstoves in Bangladesh. Additionally, the document provides recommendations for project implementation, such as ensuring O&M financing in Tajikistan and strengthening community knowledge management in Zambia.

The GCF approved USD 3.7 billion for 76 projects across 79 developing countries, targeting a reduction of 1.3 billion metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Key operational developments include the launch of the Simplified Approval Process (SAP) Pilot Scheme, the adoption of an Indigenous Peoples Policy, and the establishment of an Environmental and Social Policy. The fund is also preparing for its first formal replenishment process and expanding its private sector engagement through dedicated pilot programmes for MSMEs and resource mobilization at scale.