During a visit to Kananga, capital of the Kasai-Central province of the DRC, we had an opportunity to see the compounding effects of fragility and conflict intersecting with climate change up close – this was dramatically illustrated by deep mega-erosions, damaged road infrastructure, and washed away homes and productive land. Kananga, a city of over […]
A holistic disaster risk management approach starts with a change in the way we refer to disasters The phrase ‘natural disaster’ is used in the news, in social media, and in everyday conversations to describe extreme events like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, or volcanoes. But the term is problematic – if not harmful. Disasters are not […]
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national state of disaster to enable an intensive response to widespread flooding that has affected seven of the country’s nine provinces. Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape have been most affected by the floods, which were brought on by heavy rainfall as a result of the La Nina […]
Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious and deadly disease similar to Ebola, following the deaths of at least nine people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. The small Central African country quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement last week in its Kie-Ntem province after detecting […]
World Statistics Day reminds us that to ensure social and economic growth, support for data-backed policymaking is needed. The economic transformation of developing countries in Asia over the past few generations has been well documented. From a share of 4% of global GDP in 1960 to almost 35% in 2019, the region’s economic growth has […]
With mega trade deals and digitalization, we need to rethink aid for trade with more focus on policy and regulatory support. Aid for trade is based on the idea that trade can be a powerful engine for economic development. It targets trade-related programs and projects – including infrastructure, training and regulatory reform – to help […]
After rising at an almost continuous pace for at least a decade, the share of private sector ownership among China’s largest companies has dropped since 2021. It is tempting to infer that President Xi Jinping’s statist policies have brought an end to the age of private-sector expansion in China. But such a conclusion would be […]
Tragically, a war over borders is again at the centre of Europe. As Ukraine fights against Russia’s invasion, historical events going back to the creation and breakup of the Soviet Union continue to affect the geopolitical debate. Right before the invasion last February, Russian President Vladimir Putin (2022) said that “Lenin’s ideas [of a] confederate […]
Over the past few years, about 40% of the diesel imported by the European Union has come from Russia. This share did not drop after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Throughout 2022, the EU imported around 2 million tonnes of diesel from Russia every month, or half a million barrels per day. However, on 5 February, […]
The Energy Transition needs more women in STEM Having more women in technical and leadership positions in energy is crucial to meet the projected 14 million new jobs that will be needed for clean energy growth by 2030. As Mandakini Kaul, World Bank’s Regional Coordinator for South Asia, emphasized at a recent WePOWER Conference: “Women must be […]
