Blog

With a human-centered perspective rooted in behavior change, climate practitioners can help communities adapt to an uncertain future.

• 10/27/2023
• Alison Howard

In a paper published in Earth’s Future in July 2023, scientists with the Famine Early Warning Systems Network explain how they use climate change-driven insights to predict extreme weather events long before they occur, giving organizations like USAID adequate time to respond.

• 08/07/2023
• Hannah Button

Still reeling from the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, local authorities in Malawi have collaborated with the SERVIR program and its partner organizations to reinforce the country’s flood warning systems.

• 02/02/2023
• Erica Kriner, Dorah Nesoba

In Malawi’s capital Lilongwe, thousands of people hit the nightclubs to party, dance, and eat braai, but Helbert Thondoya is not there to dance.

• 11/29/2022
• Nicholas J. Parkinson

Does research on food security have to end when a study is complete?

• 07/06/2022
• Agrilinks Team

This blog is the second part in an Editor’s Pick Series highlighting USAID’s regional approaches to climate and development. The first part of the series featured Climatelinks blogs that reflect these efforts, and this second part features resources and projects with a regional focus.

• 02/09/2022
• Sophie Schrader

Climate change impacts different regions in different ways and, as such, requires tailored initiatives to meet local development needs. Every region will face challenges brought on by the climate crisis and will integrate programs and systems to adapt.

• 01/20/2022
• Sophie Schrader

To strengthen communities' access to and management of water and pasture, USAID EKISIL—which means “peace” in the local language of Karamoja—initiated climate risk management (CRM) actions in the Abim, Kaabong, Kotido, and Moroto districts

• 10/13/2021
• Lorine Giangola, Leah Quin

It’s not unusual to see stretches of dry land in Niger, West Africa. The Saharan terrain is often baked by the scorching sun. However, for 18 year-old Rimana Issoufou Hassane Mayak, the climate she has known all her life is changing. And, as she makes her way to school, she notices something different almost every day.

• 05/18/2021
• Boubacar Mainassara Abdoul Aziz, Assiya Alhassane Chekaraou

Tremendous progress has been made globally to reduce the burden of malaria. Between 2001 and 2013, the world saw a 47 percent decline in malaria mortality.

• 03/31/2021
• Sophia Dahodwala, Fernanda Zermoglio

Agricultural production in most developing countries is largely dependent on rainfall.

• 01/28/2021
• Mponda Malozo

Deforestation, forest degradation, poaching, and environmental problems caused by climate change pose serious threats to many of West Africa’s already fragile ecosystems, including the region’s biodiversity-rich forests. Award-winning international journalist David Goodman learned about the severity of these threats as he traveled to the countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia to document the work of the USAID-funded West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA BiCC) Program.

• 08/26/2020
• West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change program

Improving access to and use of timely, accurate, and actionable weather and climate information is essential to building resilience to climate change and strengthening livelihoods across Africa. Collaborative partnerships between the public and private sectors can foster innovative, sustainable, and cost-effective approaches to weather and climate services systems.

• 06/04/2020
• Ali Blumenstock

In Ethiopian cuisine, onion rules. Stews, sauces, and salads all rely on onions as a star ingredient, and market stalls are stacked high with fragrant bulbs. Across the country, onions contribute significantly to food security, adding taste and nutrients to diets otherwise mainly made up of cereals. Despite their popularity, onion crops yield much less in Ethiopia than in other African countries. Farmers here, like elsewhere, use irrigation to cultivate onions. In fact, farmers prefer to irrigate onion more than other crops, thanks to the high demand and high prices for onions. But yields remain low.

• 02/27/2020
• Agrilinks Team

The game is simple. On a brown digital grassland with a single tree, tiny goats mill back and forth. When you decide how many of those goats to buy or sell and how many to insure, clouds float across the screen and one of two things happens: the clouds stop and rain falls, roughly doubling the goats and producing milk for sale, or the clouds move steadily across the screen and half your herd is wiped out.

• 01/15/2020
• MRR Innovation Lab, Alex Russell