Blog

In order for USAID to have maximum impact in confronting the most urgent demands of the climate crisis, improved participation at all levels is key. Thus, an increased emphasis on working with Indigenous Peoples and local communities is critical to USAID’s climate efforts.

• 03/03/2022
• Sophie Schrader

Building on more than 120 years of combined experience of its two parent agencies – USAID and NASA – SERVIR joined the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow to highlight work that betters both scientific understanding and human well-being.

• 01/26/2022
• SERVIR Global

Over the course of 2021, the Climatelinks community contributed over 140 blogs on topics from youth climate action to a new wave of private investment for climate solutions.

• 12/09/2021
• Sophie Schrader

During November, we highlighted USAID’s work leading up to and during COP26, as well as updates regarding the new USAID draft Climate Strategy. Gillian Caldwell, the Agency’s Climate Change Coordinator, produced a blog on confronting the climate crisis, released alongside the draft Climate Strategy. Additional blogs highlighted how USAID and other development partners can support national adaptation plans and the need for immediate climate action in the Caribbean.

• 12/03/2021
• Sophie Schrader

As an Agency that stares down the world’s toughest challenges, none pose a greater threat than climate change. The science is clear: we have a narrow window remaining to dramatically reduce global emissions or we all face catastrophic consequences — with the most vulnerable populations continuing to get hit the hardest.

• 11/03/2021
• Gillian Caldwell

The United States and the world face a profound climate crisis. Climate change is not just a looming existential threat, it is currently threatening development progress and exacerbating global inequities; increasing humanitarian needs, food and water insecurity, and displacement; and contributing to conflict.

• 05/04/2021
• USAID

Earth Day 2021’s theme is “Restore Our Earth,” focusing on the central role that nature can play in combating the climate crisis. It’s a timely theme: on Earth Day, President Biden is hosting a Leaders’ Summit on Climate to increase global ambition to address the climate crisis and galvanize efforts to keep the vital goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.

• 04/22/2021

The majority of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and they continue to grow by more than 75 million people per year. Cities, especially rapidly growing cities, are likely to be the driving economic force in many countries, even more so than they are now.

• 12/01/2020
• Stephan Hardeman, Colin Quinn

Originating in Turkey, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers traditionally have met the vast majority of Iraq’s water needs. The rivers are used to pump water into millions of homes and irrigate the historic Mesopotamia agricultural fields.

• 11/17/2020
• Owen Scott

According to USAID’s Southern Africa’s Climate Change Risk Profile, “Changes in water quality and availability will be the dominant changes seen under a new climate.” The sensitivity of livelihoods and economies to these changes, together with a lack of access to drinking water (and contamination of existing supply), threatens water security and resilience in a region where water demands are rising in response to an increasing population.

• 11/10/2020
• Suvritha Rampha, Steve Collins

Armenia’s Ararat Valley, a 1,177 square-kilometer swath of land located to the east of Mount Ararat, is home to critical artesian aquifers and central to the country’s economic stability. The aquifers are a frequently tapped resource for public services, agriculture, and fish farming, as well as cooling of Armenia’s nuclear power plant.

• 10/27/2020
• Jamie Carson, Elizabeth Hutchison

Natural disasters don’t discriminate based on age. Everyone in a community is affected when a typhoon hits, from the youngest to the oldest. Given that climate change is driving an increase in the number and severity of storms, floods, and drought, even young children need to learn to be prepared.

• 10/14/2020
• Christine Chumbler

Complex relationships between the climate, population growth, land cover change, and other interactions make decisions on land use planning, water permitting, and donor investments in natural resources management challenging. Decision-making on how and where to make investments is improving in Tanzania due to development partners becoming more proficient in using sophisticated environmental analysis tools such as composite index mapping.

• 10/08/2020
• Leif Kindberg, John Whiting

The ways we use land—for instance, agriculture, forestry, urban development, or ecosystem protection—has long-term impacts on global climate change. Approximately one quarter of net global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come directly from land use (like agriculture) and land use change (like deforestation).

• 09/22/2020
• Noel Gurwick, Isabela Barriga, Julia Bradley-Cook

Los bosques cubren 69 millones de hectáreas en Perú, y representan casi un 60% del país (MINAM 2014). Las Regiones Loreto y Ucayali son las dos regiones amazónicas más grandes del Perú y están tradicionalmente ocupadas y protegidas por Pueblos Indígenas, asentados en comunidades nativas.

• 09/09/2020
• Isabela Barriga