Publication

The present book offers a new explanation for the decline in agricultural productivity in developing countries. Transcending the conventional approaches to understanding productivity using agricultural inputs and factors of production, this work brings in the role of formal and informal institutions that govern transactions, property rights, and accumulation.

This book provides a developing country perspective on the internationalization of science and the role of Science, Technology and Innovation Diplomacy (STID) in leveraging scientific cooperation for sustainable development. In articles by individuals from government departments and academic & research institutions in nine developing countries, it provides a conceptual understanding of the subject and reveals the prevailing perceptions on its praxis/practices. The articles highlight the significance of international cooperation at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels and the need for strengthening the role of STID in foreign policy and strategies of governments.

mirar el del mes. Este es de enero 2022: https://en.unesco.org/news/tracker-culture-public-policy-issue-16

At 8 November 2022, a total of 12,103,931 COVID-19 cases and 256,066 deaths (CFR: 2.1%) have been reported by the 55 African Union (AU) Member States (MS). This represents 2% of all cases and 4% of all deaths reported globally. Since the detection of COVID-19 on the African continent (in February 2020), 53 (96%) AU MS have experienced three distinct COVID-19 waves, 48 (87%) MS have experienced four waves, 28 MS have experienced five waves, and five MS (Algeria, Burundi, Kenya, Mauritius and Tunisia) have experienced a sixth wave.

Globally, the number of new weekly cases decreased by 15% during the week of 31 October to 6 November 2022, as compared to the previous week, with over 2.1 million new cases reported. The number of new weekly deaths decreased by 10%, as compared to the previous week, with about 9400 fatalities reported. As of 6 November 2022, 629 million confirmed cases and 6.5 million deaths have been reported globally.

Despite some outmigration from the largest cities during the COVID-19 pandemic, urbanization will continue, and by 2035, 62.5% of the world’s population is expected to reside in urban areas. However, given the need to retrofit, replace and upgrade deteriorating urban infrastructure, and to meet the challenges of climate change, including the urban heat island effect, droughts and more intense flooding, many experts and policymakers see in these demands an opportunity to reinvent cities as greener, less prone to pandemics, and more liveable.

More robust measures on transport decarbonization are needed by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, including reducing vehicle kilometers travelled and electrifying vehicles. Sustainable modes of travel, such as public transport, can and must play a crucial role in reducing the growth of private motor vehicle use, while at the same time bus fleets must be electrified.

This paper takes stock of the unfolding debt crisis across developing low- and middle-income countries and discusses how to break with the inertia in debt restructurings under the Common Framework for Debt Treatments. Using data on credit ratings, debt sustainability ratings, and sovereign bond spreads the paper identifies 54 developing economies with severe debt problems.

This study, consisting of research, data analysis, interviews and case studies, reviews trends in development finance since 2015 and finds that little has changed within pre-existing development banks since the Sustainable Development Goals were agreed upon and the Addis Ababa commitments made. Its purpose is to ask why there is such a lack of progress and share five key actions development banks and their policy advisors can take now to achieve the Addis Ababa Action Plan on Financing for Development.

Les pays en développement (PED) ont des problèmes structurels de financement de leurs économies. La dégradation des finances publiques depuis la crise économique de 2008 y a engendré des déséquilibres budgétaires importants avec pour corollaire un endettement très élevé faisant redouter l'insoutenabilité de la dette publique et des finances publiques. Le déficit structurel et le risque d'insoutenabilité de la dette sont un problème récurrent pour les pays en développement et marchés émergents. L'intervention des partenaires techniques et financiers à travers différents programmes de réformes, notamment d'ajustement structurel, n'a pas produit les effets escomptés. C'est pourquoi les grandes puissances ont décidé de restructurer de façon coordonnée les dettes des PED, à l'occasion du G20.

This report synthesizes information from the 166 latest available nationally determined contributions communicated by 193 Parties to the Paris Agreement and recorded in the registry of nationally determined contributions as of 23 September 2022.

Although least developed countries (LDCs) have barely contributed to climate change, they are on the front lines of the climate crisis. Over the last 50 years, 69% of worldwide deaths caused by climate-related disasters occurred in LDCs. Building resilience via a green structural transformation, and making growth sustainable by generating decent jobs, domestic savings, diversification of the economy and exports, and a shift away from dependence on primary commodities, is moving to the forefront of the national development agenda in LDCs.

This report notes that in the coming decades, heatwaves are predicted to meet and exceed human physiological and social limits in regions such as the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and South and South-West Asia. Extreme heatwaves in these regions would result in large-scale suffering and loss of life, population movements and further entrenched inequality.

The present report provides a comprehensive assessment of the global gap in climate action across the world’s highest-emitting systems, highlighting where recent progress made in reducing GHG emissions, scaling up carbon removal, and increasing climate finance must accelerate over the next decade to keep the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit warming to 1.5°C within reach.

This study investigates the extent to which lockdowns and school closures affected households and low-cost private schools in four urban informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. Its findings indicate that measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 significantly reduced household incomes, and among the coping strategies adopted by some households was to transfer learners from private schools to public schools, especially for learners in primary schools, because public primary schools do not charge tuition and enjoy government-paid teachers.

This comprehensive analysis of Convention on Biological Diversity policy documents seeks to better understand trends in the use spatial data and tools for biodiversity policymaking among developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and to evaluate the impact that spatial data use may have on policy outcomes.

This report looks closely at sustainable production and consumption trends in the coffee sector, focusing on how voluntary sustainability standards can make a difference in producers’ livelihoods by, for example, raising farm gate prices or supporting climate resilience and soil and water conservation.

The world is paying a high price for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The high humanitarian cost continues to grow and the global economic outlook has darkened further. This Interim Report focuses on the effects of the war on the world economy and the energy crisis.

Designing cities that work for women creates wider social, economic, and environmental benefits, along with safer, healthier, and more inclusive spaces, not just for women but for entire households and communities and is integral to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development across urban areas around the world.

It is crucial to prioritize women’s and girl’s empowerment when addressing protection risks, including gender-based violence, in the context of displacement and climate change. Adopting a gender lens helps to identify and respond to specific risks and needs, and it highlights the essential roles women can take on in leading sustainable transformations.