In 2019, the illegal wildlife trade reached staggering levels. Pangolin scales and ivory were being trafficked in massive quantities from Africa to Asia, exposing a network of crime syndicates operating at an industrial scale. The sheer volume of these shipments marked a disturbing milestone, one that revealed the global reach …
What has the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic been on poverty in Zambia, and how can social protection programs mitigate these effects? This paper estimates the pre-pandemic poverty level in Zambia and then simulates the distributional impact of COVID-19 in the country. The paper also estimates the impact of a …
This rapid review looks at areas and population groups in Pakistan most exposed to the combined effects of climate change and natural disasters, food insecurity and malnutrition, and COVID-19. There are strong interlinkages between the effects of climate change and natural disasters in Pakistan, food insecurity, and exposure to COVID-19. …
A new report evaluates the state of human rights among Indigenous peoples in five tropical forest countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia. One of the key findings is that governments in these countries are prioritizing the expansion of the energy sector, infrastructure, mining and logging, …
Order of the Supreme Court of India in the matter of Dr. Ashwani Kumar Vs Union of India & Others dated 04/03/2021. The matter related to admission of elderly people on a priority basis in private hospitals besides government hospitals amid the COVID-19 scenario. The bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan …
Schools for more than 168 million children globally have been completely closed for almost an entire year due to COVID-19 lockdowns, according to new data released by UNICEF. Furthermore, around 214 million children globally – or 1 in 7 – have missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning. The …
Impunity still reigns when it comes to the murders of human rights defenders around the world, according to the Front Line Defenders organization, in its global analysis of 2020. The analysis examined 331 homicides of leaders who fight for the defense of the land, the environment, Indigenous peoples, women and …
The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social effects on households have created an urgent need for timely data to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis and protect the welfare of the least well-off Ethiopians. To track how the pandemic is affecting Ethiopia’s economy …
This report was developed with the technical leadership and financial support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as part of the advocacy efforts of the wider United Nations System led by the Resident Coordinator to support the socio-economic response and recovery efforts to the Covid-19 pandemic. UNDP wishes to …
The paper provides evidence on the evolving socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic among households in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda. The data allow estimating the immediate economic impacts of the pandemic, beginning in April 2020, and tracking how the situation evolved through September 2020. Although households have started to …
This publication is the first of two to explore the findings and insights from an online global consultation, held in July 2020, exploring young Africans’ use of digital technologies in different areas in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. More specifically, this paper discusses the topics of the …
A reason COVID-19 has had such far-reaching impacts is it stems from multiple interconnected risks. The difficulties that policymakers face in managing related risks not only deepen vulnerabilities to COVID-19 but other planetary crises. Explicitly recognizing and acting to achieve the co-benefits of integrated air pollution, climate change, and health …
This First Report of the WMO Research Board COVID-19 Task Team, provides an assessment of the state of knowledge of meteorological and air quality (MAQ) factors influencing the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report critically appraises peer reviewed studies on the role of MAQ factors (Temperature, Humidity, Solar …
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a double shock - health and economic. As of March 1, 2021, COVID-19 has cost more than 2.5 million lives and triggered an economic recession surpassing any economic downturn since World War II. Part I of this paper explores the impact of this current …
Adopted in 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were intended to motivate governments and the international community to address the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. However, most countries are not on pace to achieve the SDGs. The economic and human …
An ADB contribution to this report highlights the potential of using innovative data such as satellite imagery and computer vision techniques to help improve the targeting of interventions to reduce poverty. The granularity of poverty statistics—the scale or level of detail in the data—can have a significant impact on the …
This report examines how trade policy can help governments anticipate and respond to food system shocks while avoiding harm to producers and consumers in other countries. It also makes the case that major importing and exporting nations have a particular responsibility to help safeguard the stability of global food markets.
Africa is in the eye of a triple storm. The last half decade has been extremely challenging from a climate perspective: from Cyclone Idai in Mozambique to heavy snowfalls in North Africa, and from desert locusts and fall armyworm ravaging crops across East and Southern Africa to floods in Ghana …
Open global trade has had positive effects for African industrialization and development. This report looks at efforts to help African countries strengthen their trading capacity and take fuller advantage of the benefits that trade brings. The report looks into the effects of COVID-19 on Africa, the latest trends in African …
COVID-19 has severely affected Ethiopia, weakening its economic performance. Ethiopia has experienced a collapse in external demand since April 2020 due to COVID-19. While merchandise exports, excluding gold, increased by 5.8 percent overall in FY20, they declined by 4.1 percent during July-December 2020 (year-on-year). Exports of garments, textiles, and fruits …
This study provides an analysis of the linkages between multi-hazard exposure, lack of resilience, resulting disaster risk with related loss and damage, sovereign debt risks, and the lack of investment into resilience building. The COVID-19 pandemic has come on top of the climate crisis, the existential threat of our time. …
