Items tagged:
Coronavirus
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Seeking cheaper, better quality rice: the cooperative rice distribution project in Jakarta
A network of large informal communities and street vendors cooperatives in Jakarta found a way to get better cheaper rice to communities during the COVID-19 pandemic
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A just recovery from COVID-19: young people from eight African cities speak out
As cities across Africa start to lift pandemic restrictions, young people are hoping for a more equitable future. We report on a project that captured the perspectives of young people living in informal settlements in eight African cities
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Q&A: Two years on, blog series maintains its focus – in changing and challenging times
After two years writing and curating 50 blogs on the transition to a predominantly urban world – including the coronavirus pandemic – David Satterthwaite reflects on the key lessons and issues
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Guide for linking sovereign debt to climate and nature action supports decision-makers to restructure debt in response to COVID-19 and the Ukraine war
A recent ‘how-to’ guide on debt instruments for debt managers and environmental decision-makers in developing countries has now been made more widely available in Arabic and Mandarin
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Applying the lessons of COVID-19 to the climate crisis
Many European countries are beginning to ease COVID-19 restrictions in the hope that the most lethal phase of the pandemic is ending. As we begin to think about a post-pandemic world, Andrew Norton looks at the lessons from COVID-19 that can be applied to climate change
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Digital tools amplify the voice of women in Peruvian communities
Perú’s ollas comunes or community-led soup kitchens – a community response to COVID-19 based on solidarity, tradition and resilience that is breaking gender norms – have embraced a hybrid way of working to ensure women’s voices are heard
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COVID-19 and forest communities
IIED and partners are exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community forest organisations and the lessons that can be learnt through the resilience they have demonstrated and their contributions to building back better
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Building resilience and greening the COVID-19 recovery in least developed countries
Least developed countries (LDCs) are currently dealing with multiple shocks from both climate and COVID-19-related impacts. IIED and country partners have been undertaking in-depth research to explore policy responses to build forward better from COVID-19 from the LDCs’ perspective
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Addressing the ‘triple crisis’ COVID-19, climate change and nature loss: a catalyst for business to increase its sustainability?
The role played by businesses will be critical in helping the world to tackle current crises and 'build back better' – and there is lots of evidence that companies that prioritise sustainability can outperform the market
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Integrating gender and intersectionality in social protection programmes
Reflecting on recent IIED research examining the impact of COVID-19 on women in India, Tracy Kajumba and Ritu Bharadwaj explain why gender and intersectionality must be embedded in social protection programmes
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Indigenous food systems prove highly resilient during COVID-19
Indigenous Peoples’ local agroecological food systems bring valuable lessons of resilience for policymakers heading to next month’s UN Food Systems Summit
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Community-led COVID-19 response: an update from the Philippines
One year on, Ruby Papeleras and Migo Gaddi provide an update on the action of the Homeless People’s Federation of the Philippines in its fight against COVID-19, including case studies of what has been done in the cities of Davao and Talisay
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How India’s civil society rose up in the face of COVID-19
As the pandemic overwhelmed India’s public systems and cut off the livelihoods of millions, civil society organisations offered a lifeline to the cities’ poorest and most vulnerable residents
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Feeding all city inhabitants
Cecilia Tacoli explores how food and nutrition security in urban areas is often overlooked by policymakers and city governments
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Wanted: an inclusive vision of urban recovery from COVID-19: Make Change Happen podcast episode 12
In this episode of Make Change Happen, expert practitioners discuss the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in urban areas, and they share a range of inclusive, locally led responses from the global South
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COVID-19 in cities: pathways towards a transformative urban recovery
COVID19-is asymmetrical and will impact differently as poorer countries battle to gain access to vaccines. At a time of diminished budgets and resources, their needs are the highest. We can only respond if we do our work more inclusively and strategically
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Getting the politics right to grow the trees right
IIED and partners are aiming to identify the conditions under which high-profile tree-planting campaigns might work – resulting in the right trees in the right places, with the right incentives for the right people to take care of them – in the context of post-COVID-19 recovery
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Community-led housing: a pathway for more caring and just urban futures
With the loss of livelihoods and income due to COVID-19 having increased housing insecurity across the world, this online event explored the role of community-led initiatives in solving the global housing crisis
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Q&A: How COVID-19 is impacting rural Africans in the Sahel
Sidiki Diarra and Camilla Toulmin interview a group of young men, in Bamako, Mali, who have migrated from the village, to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at the local level
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A framework for a transformative urban recovery
COVID-19 has created a critical juncture in the evolution of cities, but there has been limited focus on its urban dimensions in the global South. Drawing on the experiences of grassroots organisations, international agencies and other key urban stakeholders, IIED has co-created a framework that provides a unifying urban vision to inform and resource a transformative urban recovery process
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Challenges for climate diplomacy during a pandemic
International decisions taken this year will shape outcomes for climate, nature and people. COVID-19 challenges the processes for making these decisions, with virtual engagement presenting fundamental barriers to vulnerable countries’ abilities to participate
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A triple win: managing debt, climate and nature in the pandemic recovery
The pressure of growing debt on emerging economies has severely impacted efforts to tackle the climate crises and biodiversity loss. The pandemic has made the situation even more urgent. This event on Tuesday, 30 March explored emerging research into sustainable and innovative post-pandemic debt management with outcomes for nature and climate
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Fish Night 7: Gender equality in the seafood value chain
This online event on International Women's Day heard about the importance of women in the seafood industry, the impacts of challenges such as COVID-19 and climate change on women, and how gender equality can be championed in the sustainable blue recovery
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CBA15: Can adaptation be a superhero in the 'super year' for climate and nature?
Innovation will be key in bouncing forward from COVID-19 and delivering on the ambitions of the 'super year' – to protect nature, tackle poverty and accelerate climate action. The CBA community will be ready to hold decision-makers accountable on the commitments they make this year
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IIED and the ‘super year’
2021 was a crucial year for dealing with the climate emergency, unprecedented biodiversity loss, rising inequalities and the COVID-19 pandemic – and the work continues into 2022. This page sets out how IIED is working with partners at key opportunities to highlight and address these interconnected crises
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Climate justice needs vaccine justice
Andrew Norton reflects on the inequalities faced by developing countries in accessing vaccines and says the world needs fair and inclusive responses to the pandemic in order to effectively respond to climate change and achieve a green recovery
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Bridging the gap: how women-led federations are strengthening communities in Patna's informal settlements
Following devastation from COVID-19 and monsoon rains, women collectives have been instrumental in securing crucial infrastructure provisions and service delivery
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City residents and urban refugees: from shared living to shared futures
Tools used to document the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in one of Nairobi's largest informal settlements are also being used to chart how the lockdowns disproportionately affected displaced people
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Debt swaps for climate and nature: innovation for resilience? Make Change Happen podcast episode 8
Debt swaps for climate and nature could offer great gains for the wellbeing of the planet and help to relieve debt pressure on developing countries. What is their potential and challenges?
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Choosing a sustainable way out of the pandemic’s economic chaos
With debt swaps governments and finance institutions can address the triple crises of debt, climate change and the destruction of nature
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Community solutions for a nature-based, resilient future beyond COVID-19
Globally, COVID-19 has claimed more than one million lives and disrupted even more. At the same time, locust swarms have ravaged farms in Africa, forest fires are devastating the west coast of the United States and floods have affected many people in Asia. It’s a stern reminder that we must work better with nature to avoid greater spread of disease and natural disasters
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Getting housing back onto the development agenda in the time of COVID-19
Ahead 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
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Addressing gendered and other inequalities will be central to COVID-19 recovery
In the latest in our series on lessons from the coronavirus pandemic, we look at how COVID-19 has increased gender inequality and the need to tackle multiple forms of disadvantage in the global South
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COVID-19 highlights three pathways to achieve urban health and environmental justice
The pandemic is an opportunity for cities to dramatically rethink use of housing, transport and public spaces in ways that would serve all citizens, especially the socially vulnerable
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Displacement and the pandemic
In our fifth report on emerging lessons from COVID-19, we look at how the pandemic is affecting displaced people
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COVID-19, debt relief, and the climate and biodiversity crises
On Wednesday, 9 September, IIED hosted an online discussion on how debt relief can be addressed through climate and nature programme swaps
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Lima's community-organised soup kitchens are a lifeline during COVID-19
In Lima’s informal settlements, ollas comunes – community-led soup kitchens – are reviving strong traditions of self-organised crisis response and resilience among the urban poor.
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How COVID-19 is impacting and changing East Africa’s agri-food systems
In this fourth report on emerging lessons from COVID-19, we look at the pandemic's complex impacts on East African food systems and highlight the need for an inclusive policy response working closely with informal providers.
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CBA14 preview event uses climate cartoons to trigger discussions
More than 300 participants from 50 countries participated in an innovative digital meeting previewing this September’s International Conference on Community-based Adaptation (CBA14)
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Sustaining coffee producers’ agency in the context of COVID-19
Vava Coffee is social enterprise seeking to create positive social and economic change in Kenya’s coffee industry, the implications of COVID-19 and possible solutions for sustaining progress
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‘Building back better’ means ‘building back fairer’ after COVID-19
Karen Wong and Shahrin Mannan draw together insights from grassroots networks on moving towards a fairer world post-COVID-19
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Alada Ghor: working with low-income communities to design a rapid response to COVID-19
A group of young architects in Bangladesh have worked alongside low-income communities to develop a practical, hands-on guidebook to help residents manage the impacts of the virus
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Cities: where public health and climate experts must meet
In this third report in our series on lessons from the coronavirus pandemic, we discuss the importance of greater interaction between people working on public health crises in cities and those managing the risks of climate change and disasters
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New narratives for a 'new normal'
Sheela Patel and Suranjana Gupta say the effective responses to coronavirus being generated by women at the grassroots emphasises the importance of including them in climate change planning
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Can the impact of COVID-19 unite coalitions of young and old?
Guest blogger Michelle Winthrop discusses whether acute global challenges can drive intergenerational solidarity, helping to get the needs and rights of the young and old met
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Working with informality for more resilient, equitable responses to COVID-19
In this second report in our series setting out key lessons from the coronavirus pandemic, we highlight the need for COVID-19 responses that work with the informal sector
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Ministers, NGOs, academia and grassroots discuss resilience beyond COVID-19
COP26 President-designate Alok Sharma last week said the world does "not have the luxury of time" to take urgent action to address the climate crisis
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How can farmers in Ethiopia work safe and smart during COVID-19 lockdown?
What does farming under lockdown look like – and what are the options for keeping farmers safe while work goes on?
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How Dhaka's urban poor are dealing with COVID-19
COVID-19 presents not only a health crisis, but a food crisis for Dhaka’s poorest. Guest blogger John Taylor describes how urban poor communities have risen to the challenge
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New series: Beyond COVID-19: grassroots visions of change
IIED is launching a new series of online articles that will synthesise global responses to the coronavirus pandemic and aim to set a holistic, cross-sector agenda for the future.
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Emerging lessons from community-led COVID-19 responses in urban areas
In the first of a new IIED series setting out key lessons from the coronavirus epidemic, we look at how community organisations in urban areas mobilised to respond to the crisis
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Three things climate funds can learn from the COVID-19 response
COVID-19 relief packages have used social protection programmes as vehicles for getting finance directly to those in greatest need; the big climate funders could do the same by investing in these programmes that reach out to the extreme poor
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IIED at London Climate Action Week
IIED and partners participated in London Climate Action Week, a three-day digital event from 1-3 July, 2020
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Tackling the debt, climate and nature crises together
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, urgent debt relief is needed. This is an opportunity to change how debt relief is addressed and delivered. Over the next two years, IIED will be working to have creditors and receiving countries take up climate and nature programme swaps – a system that makes it possible to tackle the debt, climate change and nature emergencies together, in order to reduce poverty and ensure an inclusive and sustainable post-COVID recovery.
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Working with nature to build back better from COVID-19: inspirations from farmers in China
Yufen Chuang and Xiaoting Hou Jones reflect on why working with nature to adapt to climate change can offer valuable lessons on how to build back better from COVID-19
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Cities’ development trajectories
David Satterthwaite examines the factors driving the development of cities
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Inequality in the face of COVID-19: how grassroots communities are taking action
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the inequalities for groups that are particularly vulnerable to disasters, such as female-headed households, children, people with disabilities, indigenous and
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Uganda’s hungry food vendors: counting the cost of COVID-19
Interviews as part of a new study show how lockdown restrictions are leaving Uganda’s food vendors hungry and vulnerable
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Community-led COVID-19 response: the work of the Philippines Homeless People’s Federation
Based on member interviews and accounts, the Philippines Homeless People’s Federation describes how community organisations have rallied to support vulnerable groups, hit hardest by the pandemic
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Climate, COVID-19, and the collaboration we need
The coronavirus crisis has triggered unparalleled global action and exposed stark social and economic inequalities and system weaknesses.
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Resilient food systems and COVID-19: lessons for a Just Transition
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed huge vulnerabilities and inequalities in food systems. They are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change: to droughts, floods, typhoons, sea-level rise – the current locust outbreak in East Africa. But they are also part of the problem, contributing about one third of global greenhouse gas emissions and being highly inequitable too. Krystyna Swiderska spells out what needs to change
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COVID-19 in Guayaquil: from global notoriety to family responses
From the virus-ravaged Ecuadorian city come personal accounts of struggles to survive
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Business with purpose in the era of COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic has delivered a profound shock to the world economy. IIED's Laura Kelly argues that businesses must commit to more responsible and inclusive practices as part of their efforts to build recovery
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Responding to COVID-19 in a high-density low-income district in Mumbai
A representative from a grassroots federation in Mumbai describes how the community is self-organising for an effective COVID-19 response
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Curbing the impacts of COVID-19 on Nepal’s small-scale farmers and seizing opportunities for food system reform
Guest blogger Jagat Deuja puts forward practical measures for minimising damage to Nepal’s small-scale farming sector and ways to build resilient food systems in the longer term
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Climate activism in the time of COVID-19
In 2019, we saw people mobilise to demand climate action at an unprecedented scale.
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Karachi, informal settlements and COVID-19
How our Karachi's informal settlements managing the COVID-19 lockdown and how can existing government structures support the city’s settlements during the COVID-19 recovery, and beyond
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Coming through the pandemic the right way up
COVID-19 risks exacerbating inequality and ecological destruction, but it may also bring lessons of environmental and social justice that shift values, strengthen solidarity and encourage people to mobilise for change
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Will COVID-19 leave fuel-rich African countries gasping for breath?
As coronavirus takes its toll on Africa’s oil and gas-reliant economies, Dr Fatima Denton asks if recovery could herald an era of bold new thinking on economic diversification to reduce reliance on natural resources
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COVID-19 and global economic ordering: radical shift or more of the same?
The fallout from COVID-19 has triggered narratives about profound changes to economic ordering. A closer look provides a more complex picture, particularly for countries in the global South.
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Transitioning to a better global ‘new normal’
COVID-19 has changed our world. To mark Earth Day 2020, and the global call to act on climate change, we ask: what lessons can we apply from the pandemic response to help tackle other global crises, including the climate emergency?
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Developing a vision for The Gambia’s future
The Paris Agreement invites all countries to submit mid-century low-carbon, climate-resilient development strategies by 2020. Gabrielle Swaby chronicles The Gambia’s progress towards fulfilling this commitment
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COVID-19: IIED in the media
This page highlights the analysis and expertise IIED's researchers are providing to the media on issues related to the coronavirus outbreak
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An urbanising world
David Satterthwaite examines global trends in the size, growth and distribution of the world’s urban population. He also considers climate change and COVID-19
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The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the diets of Hanoi’s urban poor
The urban poor in Vietnam depend heavily on informal food systems. How will COVID-19 lockdown measures impact their food security and what will be the knock-on effects for daily life?
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Despite COVID-19, using wild species may still be the best way to save them
As the content of the post-2020 biodiversity framework is being developed, Dilys Roe discusses the role of sustainable use in reducing biodiversity loss and saving wild species, and some of the potential implications of COVID-19
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Dealing with COVID-19 in the towns and cities of the global South
Diana Mitlin looks at the particular challenges the COVID-19 outbreak will pose to people living in informal settlements, what steps can be taken to reach the populations in need, and how community organisation networks can be supported to scale up their efforts
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Coronavirus and climate change are two crises that need humanity to unite
IIED director Andrew Norton looks at some of the emerging impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, and discusses the possible longer-term effects of the pandemic
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Coronavirus threat looms large for low-income cities
Weak infrastructure would leave urban settlements in low-income countries highly vulnerable, should the rapid spread of COVID-19 continue