The IIED blog
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What's happening to aid to the Least Developed Countries?
18 January 2016New figures show an overall decline in aid to the world's Least Developed Countries, yet commitments made in Paris and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda call for more aid, not less
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Nourishing livelihoods: the food vendors sustaining Nairobi's slums
15 January 2016Selling food in Nairobi's informal settlements can provide cheap meals and create vital livelihoods, especially for women, but these providers are usually ignored and remain invisible
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Comparing approaches to riverbank vulnerability in Indonesia
8 January 2016What lessons can be learned from two markedly different cases of vulnerability among urban riverbank settlements in Indonesia?
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The Paris Agreement, SDGs and simple local monitoring
7 January 2016How can we minimise monitoring costs and make sure that money intended for local "development" ends up with the people who need it?
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2016 – when global meets local in climate action
4 January 2016Building on the historic agreement forged in Paris, IIED's director Andrew Norton looks at the opportunities to ensure global agreements on the need for sustainable development reach the local level
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A quiz-ical look at Christmas content
24 December 2015A Christmas quiz sounded like a fun idea for the holiday period – but there were more challenges than expected in getting last year's quiz online (warning: this blog gets technical)
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REDD+: missionaries, conservation fortresses and the politics of carbon landscapes in Africa
23 December 2015As a new book warns that carbon forestry in Africa is heading for failure, representing little more than "green grabbing", Isilda Nhantumbo argues that we need to urgently learn the lessons about what works and what doesn't when it comes to forest (and carbon) management
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A symbolic victory on 1.5 degrees for LDC Group in Paris
18 December 2015The text of the Paris Agreement, finalised after four years of negotiations culiminating in COP21, represents a significant victory for the Least Developed Countries at the talks – whose specific needs and special situations are often overlooked. How did one of the smallest negotiating groups manage to make their voices heard?
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Tackling deforestation as part of climate action
17 December 2015While world leaders worked towards a new global climate change agreement at COP21 in Paris, 51 practitioners, policymakers and researchers met at a two-day IIED workshop about REDD+ to discuss the key role forests can play in climate change mitigation
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Finding solutions for less poverty and better ecosystems
15 December 2015Policy measures to tackle poverty often overlook environmental impacts, while environmental policies do not always deliver for the poor. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require both – so how can governments combine efforts?
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A historic agreement in Paris
14 December 2015A historic agreement on climate change in Paris must drive ambition for climate action post-2015, says IIED director Andrew Norton
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Making sure Fort Portal's 'modernisation' plan feeds the poor
11 December 2015An innovative research project in Fort Portal, Uganda is seeking to prevent a rise in inequality as the city modernises
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Zero carbon – costs and opportunities for Least Developed Countries
10 December 2015The zero carbon, zero poverty agenda at Development & Climate Days is challenging for all countries. For the Least Developed Countries the costs are high, but the opportunities may be even greater
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Climate finance is vital to secure a future worth having
9 December 2015A key issue dominating the landmark climate summit in Paris is that tricky subject of climate finance: who pays, how much, for what? Some elements of the global discourse on the sums required to tackle the urgent climate change threat seem to think there is a simple distinction to be drawn between choosing to spend money on climate or other development issues. But this simplistic rhetoric is damaging and puts lives at risk
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Mary Robinson: global solidarity needed to confront climate crisis
9 December 2015Development & Climate Days in Paris, France, heard that we are entering a new era in which we must achieve global solidarity for climate justice, CDKN's Mairi Dupar reports
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A new kind of brew: smallholder coffee and carbon
8 December 2015Has shade coffee shed new light on the multiple benefits from improved agricultural systems? Ina Porras blends together a number of thoughts after a side event at the Global Landscape Forum
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Workers in informal economy need say in global environmental agendas
7 December 2015The green economy will benefit from better relations between urban authorities and informal workers and enterprises. Guest blogger Donald Brown examines ways to achieve this
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Participants in Development & Climate Days focus on "bold action needed now"
6 December 2015More than 200 policymakers, scientists and development practitioners urged immediate and bold climate action on the first day of the 2015 Development & Climate Days
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Remembering Maurice Strong, pioneering environmental champion
4 December 2015Former IIED director David Runnalls recalls influential advocate of Southern voices and board member Maurice Strong, and his vital contribution to the founding of our institute
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Barricading Karachi: how private security contributes to dividing the city
1 December 2015Violence in Karachi will not be reduced until more effective and equitable solutions to policing and urban planning are found. Guest blogger Donald Brown examines the ways physical barriers affect space and people.
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But, what is the Africa position?
28 November 2015IIED trustee Fatima Denton reflects on Africa's position ahead of COP21 and sees a mix of threat and opportunity
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REDD+ in Paris – what could be in it for people and forests?
27 November 2015Curbing climate emissions means managing and using existing forests, and land sustainably. An IIED workshop in Paris will look at how the programme to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) can be made more effective, while also supporting local communities
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Driving change by supporting action at the local level
24 November 2015A new mapping project highlights the importance of local action in delivering global change
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What will speed up the micro-grid revolution?
24 November 2015For investors to have greater confidence in micro-grid electricity generation, more attention needs to be paid to ensuring technology operates well in rural communities
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Wanted: more inclusive, resilient, sustainable cities
20 November 2015Eighty per cent of Latin Americans live in urban areas. The result is a complex and challenging urban agenda that needs to be addressed through integrated and inclusive policies. An IIED and IIED- América Latina workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina, looked at examples of Latin American cities that are striving to become more inclusive, resilient and sustainable, from across the region