Blog archives
-
Getting personal: tailoring support to power up Tanzania’s rural businesses
1 December 2020Drawing on new survey findings, Sarah Best discusses how customising support for small and micro businesses in rural Tanzania could unlock productivity
-
A green recovery from COVID-19? Not without climate, nature and development solutions
26 November 2020COVID-19 has made the world stop and think. What kind of future do we want? And what recovery measures will get us there? An IIED event at London Climate Action Week this month made the case for an inclusive and equitable green recovery that places climate, nature and development at its heart
-
Equipped and productive: better financing for community businesses in Tanzania
26 November 2020Principal researcher Ben Garside provides a taster of the growing opportunities for community businesses in Tanzania to use new energy supplies productively to expand and develop their businesses, while discussing the associated financing challenges
-
How climate change losses could open the Solomon Islands’ old wounds
25 November 2020Forced relocation is on the horizon as communities in the Solomon Islands face loss of freshwater and land. Guest blogger Solomon Yeo fears this could spark fresh tensions between ethnic groups – and lead the country to revisit its dark history
-
Can promotion groups help strengthen women’s access and control over land?
24 November 2020In Senegal, women’s ‘promotion groups’ have traditionally been vehicles for helping women share resources, ideas and experiences to increase income. But they are also – somewhat expectedly – enabling women to access and control land, although with limitations. Guest blogger Ibrahima Dia discusses
-
IIED is on the move
20 November 2020Ahead of IIED’s 50th anniversary in 2021, IIED director Andrew Norton announces plans for a change to the institute's location in London and the establishment of IIED-Europe as a new independent entity in the Netherlands
-
Engulfed by the sea: the loss and damage from climate change
18 November 2020People from the Solomon Islands are experiencing profound loss and damage from climate change every day. Guest blogger Gladys Habu calls on the global community to recognise these losses, and act
-
Outside the large cities
13 November 2020David Satterthwaite looks back on research carried out in small and intermediate urban centres, over nearly five decades
-
What does the Biden win mean for climate action?
12 November 2020On climate finance, faster emissions cuts and setting the climate action traffic signal for business from red to green, a Biden administration could produce big shifts
-
Farmer-herder conflict: open your eyes, change the narrative, find solutions
10 November 2020New research uproots deep-set trend to help understand increasing violence in dryland Africa through the lens of ‘farmer-herder conflict’
-
How is COVID-19 affecting wild meat consumption in rural Cameroon?
2 November 2020A series of interviews with residents from Cameroon’s Dja Faunal Reserve uncover how COVID-19 is influencing the wild meat they hunt, buy, sell and eat
-
Urban flooding: the case of Karachi
27 October 2020Governments are quick to blame devastating floods on climate change. But many reasons for these floods are to do with what governments have not done. Arif Hasan reviews why disastrous floods are taking place in Karachi and what is needed for this to change
-
Indigenous Peoples’ food systems hold the key to feeding humanity
23 October 2020A recent workshop hosted by IIED and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew explored how the way Indigenous Peoples grow and consume food holds answers to the world’s broken food system
-
Can the Adaptation Committee find opportunity in adversity?
21 October 2020The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a pause in climate negotiations, but it need not be time wasted. Binyam Gebreyes and Emilie Beauchamp consider how the Adaptation Committee is seizing the moment to tackle existing challenges, and how it could go further
-
Putting informal food systems at the centre of sustainable diets
16 October 2020A new report from IIED and Hivos calls for a rethink about how sustainable diets can be achieved in low-income countries, with informal food systems central to that goal
-
Blog series probes principles: what works for women’s land rights?
15 October 2020A new blog series featuring voices from East and West Africa will take a closer look at a set of principles we think strengthens women’s land rights. Here, IIED’s Philippine Sutz tells us what to expect
-
Call to international funders: address grassroots organisations’ priorities, not yours
14 October 2020As COVID-19 persists and spreads, urban poor organisations need funding that is flexible enough to meet the evolving needs of their communities
-
Choosing a sustainable way out of the pandemic’s economic chaos
12 October 2020With debt swaps governments and finance institutions can address the triple crises of debt, climate change and the destruction of nature
-
Are India’s social protection schemes ‘future fit’?
9 October 2020COVID-19 has highlighted the value of India’s social protection schemes for the extreme poor. With some tweaking, these schemes can be true game changers
-
Local must lead action to tackle world’s multiple interconnected challenges
8 October 2020Sam Greene distils key messages drawn from lively online dialogue with the 500-plus participants from over 70 countries who joined the 14th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to climate change
-
Getting housing back onto the development agenda in the time of COVID-19
2 October 2020Ahead of this year’s World Habitat Day themed ‘Housing for All’, David Satterthwaite sets out why adequate housing is fundamental for health, safety, inclusion in society, and access to employment and services – and for preventing the spread of COVID-19
-
Disability, inclusion and cities: can COVID-19 trigger change?
1 October 2020COVID-19 has exacerbated the disadvantages experienced by disabled people in low-income communities of the global South. Here, Ignacia Ossul-Vermehren explains how urban community organisations are offering effective short-term support and inspiring inclusive longer-term strategies
-
To address food insecurity in Uganda post COVID-19 the government must act now
24 September 2020In the wake of COVID-19, food insecurity in Uganda is drastically increasing. Food Rights Alliance and Twaweza East Africa call on the government to take specific and urgent action
-
United in a call for higher ambition on the global biodiversity agenda
18 September 2020Ahead of the UN biodiversity summit later this month, a partnership of environment and development organisations – including IIED – are urging world leaders to ramp up ambition on action for nature, climate and development
-
The politics at play in Vietnam’s food system
16 September 2020Guest blogger Christophe Béné discusses how perception, personal beliefs and values can overrule science and evidence in policymaking – and how this is influencing policies and crisis narratives around food safety in Vietnam