Search Climate Insights Directory

The document highlights the disproportionate risks faced by women environmental and human rights defenders (WEHRDs) in Africa, including gender-based violence, criminalization, and digital attacks. It notes a significant gap in data collection, where official statistics underrepresent the scale of violence against women compared to men. The report identifies the extractive industry, poaching, and state security forces as primary sources of threats, particularly in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Kenya. It argues that WEHRDs face unique intersectional vulnerabilities based on race, class, and disability, and calls for flexible, long-term funding and gender-sensitive legal and psychosocial support to protect these activists.

The document outlines a proposal by TotalEnergies, Shell, and PetroSA to drill up to five exploration wells in Block 5/6/7 off the coast of the Western Cape, South Africa. It argues that the project is unnecessary for energy security, contradicts South Africa's climate commitments to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and poses significant risks to marine biodiversity and local industries like fishing and tourism. The text also highlights the poor environmental and ethical track records of TotalEnergies and Shell in other African nations.

The handbook provides a comprehensive guide for African environmental and land rights defenders (ELRDs), detailing the threats they face—including SLAPP suits and gender-based violence—and the legal avenues available for redress. It outlines the roles of the African Commission and African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, as well as sub-regional courts like the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice. The document emphasizes the vulnerability of women, youth, and Indigenous communities, and provides a directory of emergency funds and support organizations.

The report examines how private equity firms profit from the U.S. education market, which was estimated at $1.1 trillion in 2020. It details the consolidation of curriculum and testing services by firms like Veritas Capital, the rise of outsourced staffing through companies like Education Solutions Services, and the risks associated with student data management by firms such as Vista Equity Partners. The document also analyzes the negative outcomes associated with private equity-owned for-profit colleges, charter schools, and early childhood education centers, arguing that a profit-driven model often conflicts with student interests and public good.

The text outlines the methodological toolkit of human geographers, distinguishing between quantitative and qualitative approaches. It explains the use of text analysis (from social media to archives), quantitative data for causal inference and pattern recognition, GIS for spatial analysis, and qualitative tools such as semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Additionally, it covers the role of visual data (remote sensing and photography) and the importance of field presence through ethnography and observation.

The document examines the African Union's (AU) unprecedented attempt to use military compellence against the government of Burundi in December 2015. After diplomatic efforts and targeted sanctions failed to stop violence against civilians, the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) issued an ultimatum threatening a non-consensual military intervention under Article 4(h) of the AU Constitutive Act. The authors argue that this threat failed to materialise due to the Burundian government's strategic use of its status as a troop-contributing country, a lack of unity among AU member states, and a regional culture of autocracy where neighbouring leaders were reluctant to challenge the extension of presidential term limits.

The research argues that external states often intervene in civil wars to pursue objectives separate from those of internal combatants, which makes conflicts harder to resolve. Using Cox regressions on data from 1945 to 2004, the author finds that 'independent interventions' significantly increase war duration compared to 'non-independent' interventions. This is attributed to the introduction of additional demands that shrink the bargaining range, the difficulty of updating beliefs in multi-party conflicts, and the lower costs of fighting for external states compared to domestic actors.

The research examines the determinants of external state support for rebel groups using a new dataset of 403 organizations. It argues that support is not merely a function of the civil war's general characteristics but depends on the specific attributes of the rebel group and the international relations of the target state. The findings indicate that moderately strong groups with transnational constituencies are most likely to receive aid, particularly when the target state is involved in an international rivalry or receives its own external support. Conversely, very strong or very weak groups, and those in democratic states, are less likely to be supported.

The paper argues that while digital technologies offer opportunities for efficiency in crisis response, they are not neutral and can compromise fundamental humanitarian principles. It identifies key analytical prisms—humanitarian space, public-private partnerships, resource distribution (e.g., digital food/cash), human relations, and data-driven vulnerabilities—to guide future academic inquiry into the 'technological turn' of humanitarian action.

The study argues that while rising food prices create economic grievances, these only translate into urban unrest if societal organizations—such as civil society organizations (CSOs) and political parties—are present to provide mobilization structures and frame grievances. Using data from 41 African countries, the author finds that state repression of these organizations generally decreases the probability of unrest. Interestingly, the highest risk of unrest occurs in moderately repressive regimes that still allow some organizational activity, rather than in completely open societies, where citizens may prefer voting over protesting or where organizations provide alternative coping mechanisms.

The authors contend that African urbanization is a demographic megatrend that reshapes politics in diverse, context-specific ways. They reject a uniform 'urban effect,' proposing instead that political changes—such as shifts in citizen preferences, elite incentives, and forms of mobilization—are the direct result of territorially-situated power struggles and the specific social relations produced within built environments. The paper examines six domains: citizen preferences, elite interests, political mobilization, gender roles, civil society, and contentious collective action, highlighting how these are mediated by the unique histories and physical characteristics of different urban places.

The authors argue that while digital technologies offer opportunities for efficiency in crisis response, they are not neutral and can compromise core humanitarian principles. The paper identifies five analytical prisms for future research: the politics of humanitarian space, the rise of public-private partnerships, new methods of aid distribution (such as e-transfers), the reorganization of relationships between aid providers and recipients, and the emergence of new data-driven vulnerabilities. It concludes that the 'do no harm' imperative requires a more reflective approach to technology to ensure that digital divides do not marginalize the most vulnerable and that data collection does not create new security risks.

The author examines the 'quantitative-qualitative mismatch' in conflict studies, where large-N statistical analyses often find no link between income inequality and violence, while case studies suggest a strong connection. The paper posits that political violence is a group phenomenon and therefore driven by horizontal inequalities (HIs)—systematic disparities between ethnic, religious, or regional groups—rather than vertical inequalities (VI) between individuals. The author proposes a theoretical framework where HIs create both motives (grievances) and opportunities (resources and cohesion) for mobilization. The review concludes that while measuring HIs is challenging, evidence from survey-based data and disaggregated studies supports the link between HIs and various forms of political violence, including civil war and urban disorder.

The research examines the link between horizontal inequalities and civil unrest in the Mtwara and Lindi regions of Tanzania. While these regions have faced long-term objective economic marginalization, the authors find that this structural inequality alone did not trigger conflict. Instead, the discovery of natural gas and subsequent government decisions—specifically the decision to pipe gas to Dar es Salaam instead of developing local industry—created frustrated expectations and perceptions of unfair treatment. Using survey data from 804 respondents and 35 interviews, the study demonstrates that the perception of being treated unfairly by the government is the strongest predictor of both support for and actual participation in protests and political violence.

The authors present the Non-State Actors (NSA) in Civil Wars dataset, covering internal armed conflicts from 1945 to 2011. The dataset shifts the unit of analysis from country-years to state-rebel group dyad spells, allowing researchers to examine the specific characteristics of opposition forces rather than just macro-level state variables. Key indicators include rebel strength relative to the government, territorial control, organizational structure (such as the presence of political wings), and external support from states or non-state actors. Descriptive statistics from the dataset show that while over 85% of rebel groups are weaker than their governments, nearly half are at least equal in their specific capacities to mobilize support, procure arms, and fight. The dataset is designed to be compatible with the Uppsala Conflict Data Project (UCDP) Dyadic Dataset to facilitate data aggregation across different research projects.

The author argues that the Government of Rwanda (GoR) is an active shaper of gender equality norms rather than a passive adopter. By analyzing national policy documents, the paper identifies two primary 'problem representations': gender inequality as a result of women's exclusion from the formal economy and as a consequence of citizens having the 'wrong mindset.' The author concludes that the GoR has repurposed these norms to serve a broader nationalist agenda, framing gender equality as a tool for sustainable economic development and the creation of a modern, loyal Rwandan citizen, thereby shifting the meaning of the norms away from the transformation of gendered power relations.

The research analyzes the geographical evolution of African civil wars using the UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset (GED). It argues that rebel groups with strong ethnic ties or significant military strength tend to maintain stable, localized conflict zones, whereas groups lacking these attributes—or those receiving external military support—are more likely to be 'roving.' The study finds that the greatest mobility occurs when rebels have neither strong local ties nor the strength to compete conventionally with government forces.

The text outlines the methodological evolution of human geography, moving from early regional descriptive studies to the quantitative revolution of the 1960s and 70s, and subsequently to humanist, Marxist, and postmodernist traditions. It details qualitative tools such as semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and discourse analysis, while explaining quantitative techniques including descriptive statistics, regression models, and the challenge of geographic dependency. Additionally, it describes GIS as a tool for spatial analysis, distinguishing between vector and raster data and addressing the 'spatial scale' problem.

The report analyzes how Egypt and Uganda navigate their relationships with Northern and Southern Sudan ahead of the 2011 referendum. Egypt faces waning regional influence and security dilemmas related to the Nile and border stability, while Uganda maintains a strong strategic and economic partnership with the Southern Sudanese leadership to ensure regional stability and expand trade.

The author advocates for treating gun violence as a public health issue rather than a purely legal or security matter, particularly in Africa. The text explains that firearms act as 'violence multipliers' that increase the lethality of both premeditated and impulsive violence. It identifies critical gaps in mortality and possession data across sub-Saharan Africa and outlines how WHO recommendations and international agreements—such as the UN Programme of Action and regional protocols in West, East, and Southern Africa—can be leveraged by public health professionals to secure funding and government cooperation.