Blog archives
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Cooking for our future
20 February 2019Healthy, sustainable and inclusive gastronomy – Carmen Torres reflects on this month’s food systems conference and a new ally in the shift towards sustainable food systems
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Focusing the blue economy future on small-scale fisheries
18 February 2019At the heart of IIED’s fisheries economics and ocean programme are small-scale fisheries and the people linked to those fisheries. Together, they play a large part in the future health and sustainability of the blue economy
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Strengthening women’s voices in land decisions: what works?
31 January 2019Philippine Sutz draws together key lessons from Ghana and Tanzania on how to get women’s voices heard in local land governance
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Food Change Labs tackle complex issues with the whole system in the room
30 January 2019Felia Boerwinkel describes how 'change labs' have successfully brought together diverse stakeholders to find ways to improve local food systems in Uganda, Zambia and Indonesia
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The challenge of finding money to build shelter in Mogadishu’s informal settlements
28 January 2019Housing development in Mogadishu is overlooking and excluding its largest potential customer base: the poor
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CBA13: galvanising locally-based adaptation in a crunch year for climate action
22 January 2019The pressure is on: this year’s flagship event in Ethiopia is a crucial opportunity for getting local adaptation solutions firmly on the global climate policy radar
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Time to turn the PAGE?
17 January 2019The Partnership for Action on Green Economy is an international alliance of UN agencies, partner organisations and governments working together for a transition to a green and sustainable economy. The alliance's third ministerial conference aimed to showcase innovation and experience, but IIED's Laura Kelly felt a key ingredient was missing
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Environment or the economy? How Uganda uses natural capital accounts in policymaking
9 January 2019When half of a country’s wealth is natural capital it is vital this resource is managed well. If people, businesses and government policies put natural capital at risk, then long term sustainable development is jeopardised. A recent meeting in Kampala, Uganda, discussed how natural capital accounts can inform better decision making for a viable future
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2019 – the way forward is a Green Decent Work Guarantee
30 December 2018How can the world achieve a step change in the fight against climate change during 2019? IIED director Andrew Norton looks at the issues and suggests that a radical approach may hold the solution
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Reflections on Katowice – where does the Paris Agreement stand now?
20 December 2018IIED's director Andrew Norton reflects on the outcomes of the UN climate talks in Katowice
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Who should carry the financial risks in large private sector financed hydropower projects?
17 December 2018New research will examine the risks of funding hydropower and how these risks can be addressed to break down the financing barriers
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The sharp learning curve of an LDC negotiator
12 December 2018Fatima Athoumani describes the fast-paced journey to representing her nation of Comoros at the UN climate talks
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Green lessons for the blue economy
11 December 2018Laura Kelly discusses how lessons from the past can help ensure everyone benefits from our ocean, seas and coasts
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Investor-state arbitration: an opportunity for real reform?
7 December 2018An ongoing multilateral process could provide a unique opportunity to reform a contentious area of global economic governance – but only if it properly identifies the key problems
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Sustainable development and artisanal mining: time to broaden the ‘blood diamonds’ conversation?
3 December 2018Millions of people in some of the world’s poorest countries depend on diamond mining for a living. Yet a focus on dealing with so-called ‘blood diamonds’ stops a wider conversation about how to help these people thrive
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Seeing clearly: transitioning to transparency at COP24
1 December 2018As climate envoys prepare to negotiate the ‘rulebook’ that brings the Paris Agreement to life, Illari Aragon argues the importance of its new transparency framework and explores some of the challenges negotiators face in realising it
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Gender and biodiversity conservation – progress and future directions
29 November 2018Gender is fundamental to IIED’s mission, with our research – aiming, as a minimum, to be gender aware and sensitive. But what progress towards achieving gender equality has been made in the area of biodiversity conservation? A recent IIED webinar discussed the question.
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Biodiversity: a women’s business?
29 November 2018Women are among the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the world. What role do their burgeoning forest and farm businesses play in safeguarding biodiversity?
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CBD COP14: a breakthrough on understanding and assessing equity in conservation
27 November 2018A new international decision recognising the importance of equity in conservation could help tackle the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss
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Celebrating 10 years of the UK Climate Change Act: an influential law beyond its borders
26 November 2018IIED director Andrew Norton says the UK's Climate Change Act provides a clear and ambitious framework for addressing climate change, and says it can be a model for other nations for turning the Paris Agreement into national action
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Women, wildlife and the workings of the CBD
20 November 2018Dilys Roe explains why international efforts to manage the world’s wildlife sustainably need input from the ground
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Momentum builds for ambitious agreements at COP24
19 November 2018When COP24 starts next month, the least developed countries will again be in the spotlight. In a special guest blog, LDC Group chair Gebru Jember Endalew outlines the group's hopes for Katowice
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Biodiversity on the brink: local people must shape nature’s new deal
16 November 2018Ahead of the Convention on Biological Diversity on Saturday, which will start shaping the post-2020 agenda on biodiversity, IIED director Andrew Norton calls for a process that truly includes indigenous peoples and local communities
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Building transparency and trust into smallholder commodity trading and contract farming
13 November 2018Smallholder farmers have long had difficulties getting a fair price for their produce. A recent IIED webinar discussed how linking farmers to commodity exchanges and an ‘incentive-based’ contract farming (IBCF) approach can help improve farmer-buyer relations and establish more transparent trading arrangements
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Mining in the deep-sea bed: are we ready?
12 November 2018International law designates the deep seabed as the “common heritage of humankind”, but poorly regulated mining could cause irreparable damage to such a fragile ecosystem. Erika Solimeo and Brendan Schwartz argue that the International Seabed Authority needs a moratorium on mining extraction licences