ThismiaFocus

The Sahel region – the strip of land extending coast to coast from west to east Africa – has long-established patterns of human mobility, largely characterised by internal movement within countries or between countries. This mobility has acted as an important resilience strategy for people’s survival and a way to create new economic opportunities during times of both crisis and stability. Existing research suggests that climate-related changes and risks might...

This synthesis report explores whether and how climate adaptation programmes have been conflict-sensitive in fragile and conflict-affected situations. It also examines the barriers and enablers to increasing adaptation finance to these contexts and refers to these two issues as the ‘conflict blind spots’ in climate adaptation finance.

The analysis is based on an analysis of donors’ approaches to conflict...

Sustainable investments make good business sense. Investing in sustainable production reduces the risk of supply chain disruptions. Incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment decisions contributes to improved corporate financial performance and risk-adjusted returns on medium to long term.

 

• Pioneering companies and financial institutions are taking a lead in sustainable agriculture and forestry investment, yet progress has been slow and...

The developing world is urbanizing rapidly. However, this urban growth is leading to increased inequity and vulnerability, particularly for the marginalized poor. Climate change further compounds these problems.

Asia showcases these challenges and highlights warnings to be heeded elsewhere.

Urbanization is causing unprecedented and rapid change of ecological landscapes, social values and economic relations. Cities, in particular smaller cities with populations under 500,000, are...

An advisory released this August by the US National Weather Service warned this year’s El Niño could be among the strongest ever recorded, lasting well into the first few months of 2016.

Facing an El Niño of this scale, urbanised regions risk exposure to pollution from lit forests and plantations, droughts and overexploitation of freshwaterresources, environmental degradation and heat waves. All of these will undoubtedly have costs that disproportionately fall upon the poor and most...

On an ordinary morning in January 1995, the city of Kobe, Japan shook for less than a minute. By the time the tremors subsided, one of the most powerful earthquakes in recent history had already destroyed bridges, expressways and buildings, and within several hours, claimed over 6,400 lives. The quake’s magnitude and the fact that it occurred in close proximity to a highly populous urban center were a deadly combination.

Twenty years later, the international community is meeting in...

The capacity of actors and institutions to learn and reorganize is central to the resilience of complex systems, particularly in the context of rapidly urbanizing cities. A process of qualitative, reflective research among practitioners within the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) showed that development projects and programmes can contribute meaningfully to this capacity when they introduce projects as “experiments”. While projects did provide desired tangible...

Jakarta’s latest flood struck in January 2013. Across the capital, 15,000 people were displaced. Transportation, power and other essential services were disrupted. Damage to infrastructure and property was substantial.

Normally it is the poor that is hit the hardest, but this time the rich felt it too. This flood brought this fully into focus, as it was the first to inundate and close the...

Read this Jakarta Post op-ed written with Ratri Sutarto and Intan Asmara here.

Tourism is highly vulnerable to external, non‐controllable events. A natural disaster can affect the local tourism industry in numerous ways, and such events are particularly devastating for small communities whose local economy is heavily dependent on the sector. Loss of infrastructure plus negative media stories can have long‐term ramifications for the destination. In spite of the economic importance of tourism, post‐disaster recovery efforts in this sector are often overlooked by...