Policy and planning blogs
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How to green Africa from the grassroots
4 January 2021As COVID-19 prompts rethinks, investing in renewable energy, regenerative agriculture and skills could help Africa handle future crises
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What does the Biden win mean for climate action?
12 November 2020On climate finance, faster emissions cuts and setting the climate action traffic signal for business from red to green, a Biden administration could produce big shifts
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Are India’s social protection schemes ‘future fit’?
9 October 2020COVID-19 has highlighted the value of India’s social protection schemes for the extreme poor. With some tweaking, these schemes can be true game changers
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Local must lead action to tackle world’s multiple interconnected challenges
8 October 2020Sam Greene distils key messages drawn from lively online dialogue with the 500-plus participants from over 70 countries who joined the 14th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to climate change
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The politics at play in Vietnam’s food system
16 September 2020Guest blogger Christophe Béné discusses how perception, personal beliefs and values can overrule science and evidence in policymaking – and how this is influencing policies and crisis narratives around food safety in Vietnam
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New narratives for a 'new normal'
22 July 2020Sheela Patel and Suranjana Gupta say the effective responses to coronavirus being generated by women at the grassroots emphasises the importance of including them in climate change planning
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Can the impact of COVID-19 unite coalitions of young and old?
21 July 2020Guest blogger Michelle Winthrop discusses whether acute global challenges can drive intergenerational solidarity, helping to get the needs and rights of the young and old met
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Why we need to plug the climate information gap in social protection schemes
15 July 2020Being prepared to respond to hazards can dramatically reduce risks of livelihood loss for India’s rural poor
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The UK’s backward step on global development
17 June 2020The UK government’s decision to merge DFID with the Foreign Office is a clear sign that tackling poverty in developing countries is no longer a priority. But there is still time to show that its interests benefit from working internationally in partnership to tackle inequality, fragility, climate and nature loss
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Cities’ development trajectories
16 June 2020David Satterthwaite examines the factors driving the development of cities
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How to get the most out of dialogue
3 June 2020A new IIED-commissioned review seeks to deepen understanding of what makes effective dialogue and why
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Facing a COVID-19 future: listening and learning to inform the ‘new normal’
28 May 2020Like many organisations, IIED has spent the last few weeks thinking about how COVID-19 will have an impact on its work in the short and longer term. Here, we reflect on some key issues
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Internal and international influences on urban change
27 May 2020David Satterthwaite takes a closer look at drivers and influences of urban change
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COVID-19 in Guayaquil: from global notoriety to family responses
20 May 2020From the virus-ravaged Ecuadorian city come personal accounts of struggles to survive
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Business with purpose in the era of COVID-19
18 May 2020The coronavirus pandemic has delivered a profound shock to the world economy. IIED's Laura Kelly argues that businesses must commit to more responsible and inclusive practices as part of their efforts to build recovery
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Karachi, informal settlements and COVID-19
6 May 2020How our Karachi's informal settlements managing the COVID-19 lockdown and how can existing government structures support the city’s settlements during the COVID-19 recovery, and beyond
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What drives the world’s changing urban geographies?
23 April 2020David Satterthwaite discusses how evolving economies and new technologies have changed the shape of urban centres
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Is SDG evaluation just business as usual?
21 April 2020Stefano D'Errico outlines four steps that should be considered in the design of an effective evaluative process for the Sustainable Development Goals
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Developing a vision for The Gambia’s future
20 April 2020The Paris Agreement invites all countries to submit mid-century low-carbon, climate-resilient development strategies by 2020. Gabrielle Swaby chronicles The Gambia’s progress towards fulfilling this commitment
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An urbanising world
9 April 2020David Satterthwaite examines global trends in the size, growth and distribution of the world’s urban population. He also considers climate change and COVID-19
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The world’s fastest growing cities
24 March 2020Which factors determine whether a city makes it onto the list of the world’s fastest growing cities? In the latest in a series focusing on the transition to a predominantly urban world, David Satterthwaite takes a closer look
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Coronavirus and climate change are two crises that need humanity to unite
13 March 2020IIED director Andrew Norton looks at some of the emerging impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, and discusses the possible longer-term effects of the pandemic
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Alternative data sources for cities and communities
12 March 2020In the latest in our series of blogs and interviews focusing on the transition to a predominantly urban world, David Satterthwaite looks at community-driven data collection and mapping
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Is Davos signalling the end of business as usual?
21 January 2020As world leaders in politics and business gather in Davos, IIED director Andrew Norton considers progress on the event’s ‘business with purpose’ agenda and asks how a progressive sustainability manifesto can omit climate change
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Climate action: let’s be bold in Bonn
14 June 2019As the UN climate change conference kicks off in Bonn on Monday (17 June), Subhi Barakat calls for negotiators to be bolder and braver with an emphasis on action