Climate change is already affecting many developing countries. In Africa, over 70 percent of workers rely on small-scale farming dependent on direct rainfall. Even small changes to weather patterns can threaten food security and health. These impacts present a huge challenge to the coordination of aid efforts and the design of development policies.Many experts estimate that Africa will suffer some of the
worst impacts from global warming in terms of loss of life and economic
effects. The situation is made worse by existing problems, including widespread

Six years ago, at the UN Millennium Summit, world leaders set a specific target for realising the right to adequate housing and ‘continuous improvement of living conditions’. However, in Africa climate change is already threatening that goal, causing massive rural-urban migration and bringing chronic flooding to the cities. This paper explores the impact that climate-induced flooding is having on Africa’s urban poor and argues that urgent action is needed at all levels to help poor people cope with these problems.

This guide, aimed at climate change negotiators, gives synopsis of the key elements in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s Biennial Assessment (BA) of climate finance flows. It also provides an overview of recommendations of the UNFCCC’s Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) to the Conference of Parties. The guide also provides some views on how the identified recommendations can support future international negotiations.

Inter-seasonal fluctuation of agricultural prices is widespread throughout the developing world. Prices decrease during the harvest season due to the availability of large quantities of crop, while the prices increase in the lean season. However, small farmers are often unable to benefit from the price increase owing to credit constraints for meeting their immediate cash needs and the lack of storage facilities. They are thus forced to sell at low prices and are unable to make a profit.

This paper is a climate and environment assessment that was conducted as part of the “Business Case” for supporting the “Constitutional Review Process in Sierra Leone”.

Sierra Leone is a country with a population highly vulnerable to climate and environment related challenges. The civil war have intensified environmental challenges such as flooding, landslides, poor air and water quality. Identically, natural resources are causal and consequential factors of instability and conflict.

Published in the Journal of Agricultural Extensions, this paper outlines a study examining the linkages among actors in climate change and food security innovation systems in the west African sub-region. The study involved questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with farming households, 1490 in total, from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia (randomly chosen in a multi-stage process).

This report reviews existing environmental, social and climate safeguard systems developed and adopted by multilateral and bilateral development agencies. The aim of the report is to assess the potential for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to adopt or rely on these systems. This will help guide the application of DFID’s new SMART rules, which include a commitment to ensuring sustainability and resilience, and to avoid doing harm such as creating or exacerbating resource scarcity, climate change and/or environmental damage.

Lack of access to electricity is seen as a major constraint to economic growth and increased welfare in developing countries. In this report, the authors conducted a review of the evidence that investments in electricity-generating capacity have benefits for poor people, and what factors influence that relationship. The review analyzes a large and diverse range of literature dealing with the poverty impacts of increased generation capacity.

Sattherwaite and Dodman’s editorial is an introduction to a special issue of environment and urbanisation which focusses on climate change responses in cities. It usefully summarises the state of debates about the meanings and complexities of the resilience and transformation concepts, pointing to the latest literature. It focuses on the following areas:

The present report was prepared in response to General Assembly resolution 64/205, in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report to it at its sixty-sixth session on the status of sustainable development in mountain regions.