Understanding the challenges faced by LDCs in COVID-19 recovery

Webinar

This online event on Tuesday, 27 July examined the range of issues LDCs have to deal with in their efforts to build back better.

Online
Last updated 27 July, 2021
Women sit on the floor with lettuce on tables. Other women stand in front of them.

Youth volunteers mobilising against COVID-19 in a food market in Ethiopia (Photo: UNICEF Ethiopia via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

COVID-19 has spread quickly across the globe, shaking the world to its core. The world economy has been severely impacted, forcing governments to reconsider short- and long-term responses – both domestic and international – to the impacts. Governments are urgently looking into fiscal stimulus measures to get virus-struck economies on stable ground.  

The full extent of the long-term impact on the economy is yet to unfold in the coming months and years, but the least developed countries (LDCs) will be the least able to cope with the impact. They are already challenged by multiple urgent priorities that require undivided financial and technical resources. 

    LDCs are dealing with multiple shocks from climate and COVID-19-related impacts, responses for which would be strengthened if aligned with preparations and approaches for a successful COP26 in Glasgow, November 2021. Indeed, as the Paris Agreement moves into post-2020 implementation, harnessing the levers of both national implementation and global decision-making will be important to build back better from COVID-19.

    There are opportunities to build back better with climate-friendly policies that could deliver a better result both for economies and the environment. As a result, IIED has been undertaking in-depth research to explore policy responses to build back better from COVID-19 from the LDCs’ perspective. The research focuses mainly on four workstreams: 

    • Mobilising resources for equitable, green and resilient recovery through debt relief and debt swaps 
    • Delivering rapid support for a green and resilient COVID-19 recovery  
    • Renewable energy access for jobs and livelihoods, and
    • Local nature-based solutions for COVID-19 recovery and resilience.

      This webinar on Tuesday, 27 July 2021 explored a breadth of issues the LDCs have to deal with in their efforts to build back better, highlighting areas of interventions that could be deployed in a COVID-19 recovery.

      The panel of experts also discussed multifaceted responses to climate impacts which are exacerbated by COVID-19, exploring questions and identifying options that can inform both policymaking and grassroots action.

      Event coverage

      Watch a full recording of the webinar on IIED's YouTube channel.

      About the speakers

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      Contact

      Elaine Harty (elaine.harty@iied.org) is senior project manager in IIED's Climate Change research group

      Binyam Yakob Gebreyes (binyam.gebreyes@iied.org) is a researcher in IIED's Climate Change research group