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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 August 2019 Peace & Security Council Report examines the African Union's (AU) struggle to define 'unconstitutional changes of government' in the context of popular uprisings in Algeria and Sudan. It highlights the risks of increasing foreign military presence, particularly in the Horn of Africa, and the resulting rivalry between global powers like the US and China. The report also advocates for the inclusion of women in Sudan's peace process and warns of potential political instability in Côte d’Ivoire ahead of the 2020 elections. Finally, it discusses the limited access civil society organizations have to AU and regional economic community structures.

Friends of the Earth International expresses deep disappointment with the revised text of the UN's proposed binding treaty on transnational corporations. The organization argues that by expanding the scope to all companies rather than focusing on transnational corporations, the text ignores the power structures of parent companies and their supply chains. While acknowledging the inclusion of victims' rights, the group contends the document lacks international mechanisms to hold corporations accountable and fails to establish the supremacy of human rights over trade and investment agreements.

Friends of the Earth International expresses deep frustration with the July 16, 2019, Revised Draft of the UN Binding Treaty, claiming it dilutes the scope of the instrument by shifting focus from transnational corporations to all business activities. While the organization acknowledges the integration of victims' rights and human rights coverage, it argues the draft only sets obligations for States and fails to create international jurisdiction or direct obligations for corporations. The organization calls for a more ambitious text ahead of the October 2019 IGWG session to end corporate impunity and prioritize human rights over profit.

Friends of the Earth International expresses frustration with the Revised Draft of the UN's legally binding instrument for regulating transnational corporations, claiming it dilutes the focus on transnational entities and fails to establish direct corporate obligations, instead placing responsibility solely on States.

The document examines the material risks climate change poses to global supply chains and the current state of private sector adaptation. It argues that while companies recognize climate risks, they often misdiagnose them by focusing on exposure rather than underlying vulnerability. Using the cotton industry as a detailed example, the paper proposes a resilience framework based on six capital assets—natural, human, social, physical, financial, and political—and provides recommendations for companies to commit to science-based resilience strategies and gender-transformative empowerment of women workers.

The document examines how insurance can support climate adaptation by providing financial resilience and risk-identification expertise. It distinguishes between indemnity and parametric products, discusses government interventions to bridge the 'protection gap', and argues that insurance must be integrated into a broader fiscal framework and physical resilience strategy to avoid moral hazard and ensure long-term sustainability.

The document examines the synergies and challenges of aligning the NAP and NDC processes under the Paris Agreement. It argues that because the NDC provides high-level direction and the NAP elaborates implementation strategies, they are complementary tools. Based on dialogues with 16 countries and workshops in Grenada and Peru, the brief identifies that most countries currently have informal alignment and suggests using the 2020 NDC update cycle to integrate NAP results, improve data quality, and enhance adaptation goals.

The document argues that aligning NDCs and NAP processes provides a feasible starting point for countries to improve the coherence and efficiency of their climate policies. While NDCs offer high-level guidance, NAPs provide the technical strategies for implementation. The briefing identifies a continuum of alignment—ranging from informal to systematic—and highlights that the 2020 NDC update cycle presents a critical opportunity for countries to use NAP results to enhance the quality and ambition of their adaptation goals. It further suggests that this alignment can serve as a foundation for broader integration with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The document argues that the natural environment is fundamental to economic resilience and that Nature-based Solutions (NbS) offer cost-effective, flexible alternatives or complements to engineered infrastructure for adapting to climate change. It details the dependencies of key economic sectors on ecosystem services and provides evidence that NbS can mitigate risks from coastal hazards, intense precipitation, drought, and heat while providing co-benefits such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. The authors identify significant barriers to the adoption of NbS, including lack of awareness, limited finance, and technical capacity gaps, and recommend integrating nature into climate vulnerability assessments and procurement policies.

Nigeria is Africa's largest recipient of remittances, with 2018 inflows reaching USD 24.2 billion, yet the market is characterized by high informality and significant barriers to formal service expansion. While the country possesses a sophisticated national payment system and high internet penetration, formal remittance growth is hindered by tight foreign exchange controls, high licensing requirements, and a lack of financial access points in rural areas. The report highlights a stark contrast in costs between corridors, with USA and UK transfers being competitive while the Cameroon corridor remains exorbitant. Key recommendations include incentivizing mobile network operator participation through Payment Service Bank licenses, revising capital outflow limits, and harmonizing biometric identity systems to reduce onboarding friction.

The document assesses the market potential and specific needs of refugees and IDPs in the DRC, highlighting significant spending power and a high demand for micro-loans and energy solutions. It identifies key opportunities for businesses to provide digital credit, improved money transfer services, and affordable electricity, particularly through PAYG schemes, while noting that most displaced populations possess the formal identification necessary to access bank accounts.

The policy brief argues that South Africa's 2017 White Paper on International Migration (WPIM) neglects the 'feminisation of migration,' leaving women migrants vulnerable to exploitation and violence. While women's migration to South Africa has quadrupled since 1990, current legislation remains gender-neutral, failing to address gender-specific drivers or the economic potential of women's remittances and entrepreneurship. The author highlights risks in the informal sector and the potential for human rights violations in proposed border processing centres, urging the government to adopt gender-disaggregated data and targeted protection strategies.

The document outlines a framework for G20 nations to align their near-term climate pledges (NDCs) with mid-century visions (LTSs) to achieve Paris Agreement goals. It emphasizes that such alignment avoids carbon lock-in, supports just transitions, and unlocks economic benefits, including a potential US$26 trillion in global benefits by 2030. The paper provides guidance on NDC implementation, the process for updating pledges by 2020, and the necessity of G20 support for developing countries to overcome capacity and financing gaps.

The report examines the complex relationship between the African Union (AU) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), specifically the application of 'subsidiarity'—the principle that regional structures should lead in their own jurisdictions. It highlights systemic failures in North Africa due to the inactivity of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), tensions between the AU and SADC over elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the AU's successful re-assumption of leadership in the Central African Republic. The document also notes the East African Community's (EAC) internal trade disputes, ECOWAS's struggle to adapt to violent extremism in the Sahel, and the general lack of civil society engagement within the AU and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The report examines adaptation activities across 18 developing countries' NDC Partnership Plans, identifying critical gaps in climate risk assessments, project design, and M&E systems. It argues that these short-term plans can be leveraged to align NDC pledges with the more detailed NAP processes to improve climate resilience planning and implementation.

Kivu Green Energy (KGE) is deploying solar PV and storage mini-grids in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to replace expensive and unreliable diesel generation. Operating in challenging environments like North Kivu, KGE provides electricity to homes, businesses, and humanitarian organizations. The company aims to scale its capacity from a 1.3MW project in Goma to 1 GW by 2033 to serve 5 million urban customers, supported by the Energy Access Booster award.

The report details a workshop using the 3 Horizon approach with farmers from East and West Africa to identify future visions, promising initiatives, and challenges to resilience. Key findings emphasize the need for farmer self-organization, improved seed ownership, better infrastructure to bypass middlemen, and user-friendly climate and market information. The report notes a divergence in approaches: East African participants focused on increasing productivity through researcher-led inputs, while West African participants emphasized agro-ecological solutions and influencing consumer markets.

The African Peer Review Mechanism, established in 2003 to improve governance through voluntary peer review, experienced a period of decline between 2008 and 2016 marked by leadership vacancies and financial mismanagement. While recent reforms under the 'Three Rs Strategy' and the 2018 incorporation into the African Union as a specialised agency have revitalized the process and expanded its mandate to track Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, significant hurdles remain. These include the failure to release country reports on time, a lack of political will to 'name and shame' poor performers, and dwindling attendance of heads of state at forums.

The document examines the 'viability gap' in mini-grid business models, where high capital costs and low-revenue customer bases make private investment challenging. It outlines various retail tariff approaches—ranging from uniform national tariffs to value-based pricing—and details subsidy structures, emphasizing output-based capital subsidies for distribution. The guide provides specific country examples from Africa and Asia and offers management considerations to reduce policy uncertainty and administrative overhead for developers.