Publication

The veneer of good governance that successfully conceals the hollowness of Liberia's state structures has long-term implications, and leaves states vulnerable to organised crime. The current system is characterised by widespread corruption in the context of enhanced state capacity and absent meaningful oversight mechanisms, occupying an illicit economy sweet spot.

Born in the chaotic days after the disputed election of 2010, violent youth gangs, dubbed microbes by the local population, terrorised the streets of the poorest areas of Côte d’Ivoire’s capital. Marginalised and deprived of hope, these microbes are easy prey for the vié pères who run the criminal economy of the city, especially its drug markets. They are also used by politicians to intimidate opposition supporters.

Child labour is a serious problem in the cocoa industry in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, with children often trafficked from neighbouring countries to work in the cocoa fields. This paper delves into the cocoa industry in the two countries and its challenges. It argues that multinational corporations operating in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana should be held criminally responsible for their role in cocoa production when it involves illicit activities and explores how national and regional laws can be used as a tool to do so.

Technology offers a critical avenue for nimble, innovative and proactive responses to wildlife crime. Harnessing these opportunities is essential, as wildlife crime is driving the rapid, unsustainable and increasingly irreversible depletion of animal and plant populations. Wildlife crime also poses risks to human security and undermines development and governance.

In its most comprehensive finding to date, this edition shows an average 69% decline in the relative abundance of monitored wildlife populations around the world between 1970 and 2018. Latin America shows the greatest regional decline in average population abundance (94%), while freshwater species populations have seen the greatest overall global decline (83%).

With the world in the midst of the first global energy crisis – triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine – the present report provides indispensable analysis and insights on the implications of this profound and ongoing shock to energy systems across the globe. Based on the latest energy data and market developments, it explores key questions about the crisis: Will it be a setback for clean energy transitions or a catalyst for greater action? How might government responses shape energy markets? Which energy security risks lie ahead on the path to net zero emissions?

Based on needs assessments carried out in the nine affected states, flooding had affected more than 900,000 people as at 11 October. Floods have damaged or destroyed buildings and transport infrastructure. There have been crop and livestock losses, which could worsen food insecurity.

The mental health of the elderly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is a largely neglected subject, both by policy and research. We combine data from the health and retirement family of surveys in seven LMICs (plus the US) to document that depressive symptoms among those aged 55 and above are more prevalent in those countries and increase sharply with age

This paper reports the results of a horizon-scanning exercise to source opportunities for global health research and development investment — that is, high-value potential biomedical innovations which are currently underfunded but which could be transformative for health, quality of life, and health security in low- and middle-income countries and around the world.

Several outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics have raised alarms about the lack of capacity to deal with these health crises at national and global levels. The Ebola and Zika outbreaks, and now monkeypox, highlight the lack of investment in research and development (R&D) for diseases endemic in the South. They also proved that the existing international system for R&D is not adequate for effective pandemic preparedness and response.

Ethiopia has a long history of land restoration and watershed management; however, land and watershed degradation persist, threatening agricultural productivity, water supplies, and livelihoods.

Africa lies at the centre of the international community’s peacebuilding interventions, and the continent’s rich multitude of actors, ideas, relationships, practices, experiences, locations, and contexts in turn shapes the possibilities and practices of contemporary peacebuilding. This handbook surveys and analyses peacebuilding as it operates in this specifically African context. It begins by outlining the evolution and the various ideologies, conceptualizations, institutions, and practices of African peacebuilding. Then, it considers how different actors sustain, construct, and use African infrastructure to identify and analyse converging, differing, or competing mandates, approaches, and interests. Finally, it analyses specific thematic issues such as gender, justice, development, democracy, and the politics of knowledge before ending with in-depth analyses of case studies drawn from across the continent.

This book is about the individual and collective struggles of the religiously marginalised to be recognised and their inequalities, religious or otherwise, redressed. It is also about the efforts of civil society, governments, multilateral actors, and scholars to promote freedom of religion or belief whatever shape they take. The actors and contexts that feature in this book are as diverse as local education authorities in Nigeria, indigenous movements in India, Uganda, or South Africa, and multilateral actors such as the Islamic Development Bank in Sudan and the World Bank in Pakistan.

The authors of this paper present the findings of a bespoke sociological and political survey of more than 1,000 residents of the Baghdad closed district known as Sadr City, and analyse the shifting trajectory of the Sadrist movement and its implications for Iraq.

The report presents a snapshot – but by no means a comprehensive picture – of the damage inflicted on Ukraine’s environment and the potential environmental and public health impacts, informing priorities for field-level verification work. Initial information shows that Ukraine, already burdened by a host of legacy environmental challenges, is now facing a compounded, multi-dimensional environmental crisis that has either exacerbated existing issues or added new ones.

Despite its fragmented competences on labour migration, the EU still has room to play to increase the attractiveness of its Member States’ labour markets and to facilitate the involvement of the private sector in recruiting candidates internationally. This policy brief seeks to provide insights into the role of the EU to improve private sector engagement and develop a sustainable and competitive ecosystem for future labour mobility schemes.

In low-income communities, pressure to share income with others may disincentivize work, distorting labor supply. This paper documents that across countries, social groups that undertake more interpersonal transfers work fewer hours. Using a field experiment, it enables piece-rate factory workers in Côte d’Ivoire to shield income using blocked savings accounts over 3-9 months.

As growing climate change impacts are experienced across the globe, the message that greenhouse gas emissions must fall is unambiguous. Yet this report finds that the international community is falling far short of the Paris goals, with no credible pathway to 1.5°C in place. Only an urgent system-wide transformation can avoid climate disaster.

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.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has great potential to contribute to the realisation of structural transformation on the continent. Our assessment of the initial tariff offers under the AfCFTA agreement suggests that there is real value in the market access that will result from the implementation of the agreement. The impact of trade facilitation and a reduction in non-tariff barriers (NTBs) would be even more significant.