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The report examines the experience of South African companies operating in Senegal, highlighting the country's political stability and macroeconomic reforms as key attractions. While sectors like mining and energy are lucrative, investors face challenges including rigid labour laws, weak intellectual property enforcement, and limited local disposable income. The document provides specific policy recommendations for both the Senegalese and South African governments to foster stronger economic ties.

The document analyzes the roots of the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire, tracing it from the death of President Felix Houphoüet-Boigny in 1993 to the 2002 rebel seizure of the north. It highlights the role of 'Ivoirité' in disenfranchising northerners and the failure of peace accords like Marcoussis and Accra II and III. The author argues that because all major political actors—including Laurent Gbagbo, Henri Konan Bédié, Alassane Ouattara, and Guillaume Soro—have acted in bad faith, they should be barred from politics in favor of an interim government and neutral election supervision.

The report analyzes the environmental vulnerability of West Africa, focusing on the interplay between poverty, environmental degradation, and natural hazards. It identifies key sensitivities in health, water availability, and food security, while detailing the diverse farming systems and urban livelihoods that shape resilience. The document emphasizes that vulnerability is exacerbated by social inequities, political conflict, and population growth, and argues for integrated poverty reduction strategies that prioritize diversification and adaptive capacity to mitigate the impacts of climate change and resource scarcity.

The report identifies Burkina Faso as highly vulnerable to climatic shocks, epidemics, and environmental degradation, with 44.5% of the population living below the absolute poverty line. It highlights the critical role of agriculture, particularly cotton, and the risks associated with rainfall variability and drought. The document details the sensitivity of vulnerable groups—especially women, children, and nomadic pastoralists—and examines migration as a key coping strategy. It concludes that reducing vulnerability requires integrated environmental management, improved food security, and targeted support for marginalized populations.

The report identifies Mali as highly vulnerable to environmental and climatic stresses, particularly droughts and floods, which exacerbate poverty and food insecurity. It highlights that vulnerability is shaped by regional disparities, social hierarchies, and health crises like HIV/AIDS. Environmental degradation, driven by deforestation and unsustainable agricultural expansion (especially cotton), further reduces the resilience of rural populations. The document argues for integrated strategies to reduce vulnerability, focusing on income diversification, improved water and sanitation, and targeted support for the most marginalized groups, including women and children.

The report examines South African foreign direct investment in Ghana, highlighting the country's role as a stable 'beacon of hope' and a strategic springboard for expanding into the wider West African region. While South African firms benefit from Ghana's political stability, skilled workforce, and attractive investment incentives—particularly in the mining, telecommunications, and franchising sectors—they face significant hurdles. Key constraints include the high cost of finance, a slow legal system, bureaucratic red tape, and limited consumer disposable income. Despite these challenges, most South African companies remain optimistic about Ghana's economic prospects and intend to maintain their operations.

The report assesses Ghana as a strategic 'gateway' for South African investment in West Africa, highlighting the country's political stability and economic reforms as primary attractors. While South African firms have achieved significant market share in mining, multimedia, and brewing, they face constraints including high costs of finance, bureaucratic red tape, and land tenure disputes. The document provides specific policy recommendations for both the Ghanaian and South African governments to further enhance bilateral trade and investment.

The report examines the experiences of South African companies operating in Mali, noting that while the country is a democratic success story with strong economic growth, significant practical barriers exist. South African investment is heavily concentrated in gold mining and energy, contributing substantially to Mali's GDP and state revenue. However, investors face challenges including a complex tax system, weak judicial infrastructure, poor transport logistics due to Mali's landlocked position, and a lack of skilled labour. The document recommends structural reforms in taxation, labour law, and infrastructure to attract more diversified foreign investment.

The report examines the impact and challenges of South African investment in Mali, noting that while the country offers political stability and significant gold mining opportunities, investors face severe bureaucratic, legal, and infrastructural hurdles. South African firms, particularly in gold mining, have significantly boosted Mali's GDP and state revenues, but struggle with a complex tax system, an inefficient judiciary, and a lack of skilled local labor. The document highlights the case of the Syama gold mine to illustrate the environmental and social risks of mine closures. It recommends that the Malian government modernize its tax and labor laws and that the South African government provide better diplomatic and commercial support for its firms in the region.

The research paper examines the failure to operationalize the SADC Organ for Politics, Defence and Security, noting a deadlock between member states over its legal and operational structure. It critiques a 1997 Review and Rationalisation Report for ignoring the security-development nexus and suggests that SADC's economic focus is incompatible with the sensitivities of defence co-operation. By comparing SADC to regional arrangements like L'ANAD in West Africa, ASEAN in Southeast Asia, and the OSCE and WEU in Europe, the author argues that Southern Africa should 'divorce' its security mechanism from SADC to create a dedicated, flexible security convention or union focused on conflict prevention and democratic stability.

The report argues that traditional electricity burden assessments undercount the financial strain on businesses by ignoring 'extra costs'—expenses for generators, voltage stabilizers, and alternative energy used to mitigate power outages and fluctuations. Using 2015 survey data from 1,002 grid-connected firms in Benin, the study introduces three metrics (EB1, EB2, EB3) to distinguish between burdens caused by bills alone and those driven by defensive costs. Findings show that extra costs account for 44% of total electricity expenditure and that 60% of businesses face an electricity burden when these costs are included, compared to 55% when only bills are considered. The authors recommend that policymakers in Benin and Sub-Saharan Africa incorporate these defensive costs into policy design, prioritize grid reliability infrastructure, and provide targeted financial support for vulnerable groups, particularly informal sector businesses.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is implementing an Africa-led program to address energy poverty and economic development by expanding energy access and building a foundation for decarbonization. The program emphasizes the need for centralized grids and industrial energy use over a limited focus on micro-grids and solar home systems. Key activities include developing energy transition modeling for Sub-Saharan Africa, establishing technology innovation hubs in West and East Africa, and improving the financial health of utilities. CATF is seeking $10 million over five years to scale these efforts, with current projects in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana, and scoping activities in Rwanda and West Africa Power Pool member countries.

The document explains the step-by-step process for navigating the IPCC's Interactive Atlas to analyze climate variables and presents specific projections for Africa, noting that the continent is likely to warm faster than the global average with varying impacts on rainfall and extreme weather.

The report details how over 500,000 tonnes of fish are diverted annually from West African coastal communities to produce FMFO for European and Asian aquaculture and livestock. It identifies Mauritania as the primary exporter, with a significant portion of its fish oil destined for the EU, particularly France and Denmark. The document links this trade to major European aquafeed companies and retailers, while highlighting the severe socio-economic impacts on local artisanal fishermen and women processors.

The document argues that the EU's proposed intellectual property (IP) provisions in Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with ACP countries are premature and potentially harmful to development. It highlights concerns that the proposals omit public interest safeguards, restrict farmers' rights through UPOV 1991, fail to address biopiracy regarding traditional knowledge, and impose enforcement standards that exceed TRIPS requirements and the administrative capacities of ACP nations.

The document argues that the IFC's proposed Approach to Responsible Exit fails to establish remedial responsibilities for the IFC or the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), effectively allowing the institutions to exit projects without addressing harms caused by their investments. The authors contend that remedy should be a prerequisite for exit, as divestment removes the financial leverage necessary to drive corrective action. They propose four core principles: ensuring exits do not undermine ongoing Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) processes, conducting pre-divestment due diligence verified by communities, implementing meaningful consultation at least 12 months prior to divestment, and establishing protocols to prevent and manage reprisals against affected populations. The submission includes a table of projects in China, Egypt, Chile, Colombia, Nicaragua, and elsewhere where the IFC allegedly exited without providing remedy for documented harms such as forced labor, environmental damage, and human rights violations.

ClientEarth advocates for a mandatory due diligence framework for all companies placing forest-risk commodities on the EU market, arguing that such a measure would be more effective than voluntary schemes or certification. The organization emphasizes that due diligence must extend beyond mere compliance with producer-country laws to include the protection of indigenous peoples' land rights and other natural ecosystems. Additionally, ClientEarth calls for the inclusion of the financial sector in the legislation, the strengthening of forest partnerships with producer countries, and the reform of Free Trade Agreements to ensure binding environmental and social standards.

The document describes a project to bridge the gap in the practical application of just transition concepts within developing countries. By analyzing South America, Southeast Asia, and West Africa—with case studies on Colombia, Indonesia, and Ghana—the project identifies that these nations often lack the regulatory and institutional capacity to support just transitions. Key findings highlight a high prevalence of informal labor markets (often 50% to 80% of the workforce) that are currently overlooked in climate and pandemic responses. The project seeks to develop recommendations for revised NDCs ahead of COP26 and facilitate links between governments, investors, and donors to provide the necessary technical and financial support.

The document examines the 'hunger-climate-conflict nexus,' where food insecurity acts as a 'threat multiplier' for instability. It argues that while military forces have historically played ad-hoc support roles in humanitarian aid, the increasing frequency of climate-driven food crises necessitates a shift in military training, doctrine, and interagency coordination. The author highlights barriers to this transition, including the risk of 'over-securitisation' and existing institutional silos between defence and development agencies, while specifically noting the implications for the Irish Defence Forces regarding peacekeeping and domestic disaster response.

Global Witness reveals that the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), largely funded by UK aid, committed $749.8 million to fossil fuel projects between 2002 and 2018. The report highlights the use of highly polluting heavy fuel oil (HFO) in West Africa and the continued funding of gas plants in Togo and Cote D'Ivoire in 2019. It further criticizes PIDG's investments in diesel-powered telecommunications towers and high-carbon industrial projects, while noting that 43% of its renewable energy spending went to biomass and hydropower. The document calls for an immediate end to all UK overseas fossil fuel investments across all government departments and agencies.