Blog

Their summits often soaring to more than 20,000 feet, the great intersecting mountain ranges of Central and South Asia collectively stretch thousands of miles across the continent. Within this vast, often impenetrable, and sparsely inhabited wilderness, snowfields and glaciers store water that has fallen as precipitation and accumulated over the course of years, decades, or in some cases, even centuries.

• 08/06/2019
• Russell Sticklor

Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation builds agribusiness’ capacity in myriad ways – from organizational strengthening to business plan design to investor relations – all with the aim of improving their ability to respond to the specific needs of smallholder farmers. Our approach pairs investments in new technologies with targeted services that help agribusinesses accelerate their growth so they can quickly and successfully enter new markets, increase profits, and expand their customer bases.

• 08/06/2019
• Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation

USAID’s Resilient Waters Program presented alongside the Global Analysis and Assessment for Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLAAS) team, at the 2019 SIWI World Water Week, held in Stockholm.

• 08/02/2019
• USAID Resilient Waters

Measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) are essential for transparency between countries as they track their greenhouse gas emissions. By emphasizing common standards, MRV ensures that countries are on the same page when it comes to the methodologies they use.

• 08/01/2019
• Stephan Hardeman

Changes in the frequency, location, and severity of climate impacts are placing more people at risk from health-related hazards such as reduced air quality, extreme heat, exposure to extreme weather events, and shifts in vector borne diseases. The World Health Organization predicts that between 2030-2050, climate change will cause an additional 250,000 deaths annually worldwide due to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.

• 07/31/2019
• Fernanda Zermoglio

Many countries have committed to establishing national forest monitoring and measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems, but lack the technical capacity to achieve their goals. As the science of forest monitoring and MRV advances, these countries face challenges identifying and implementing cost-effective tools and methods that suit their long-term needs.

• 07/30/2019
• Moses Jackson

Using firewood more efficiently and promoting alternative energy in Nepal improves women’s health, changes their lives, and reduces climate vulnerability. Building on a foundation of work at the intersection between environment and health in Nepal, the second phase of the USAID’s Hariyo Ban (Green Forests) Program is scaling up approaches to reduce climate change vulnerability and increase community resilience.

• 07/26/2019
• Judy Oglethorpe, Shant Raj Jnawali

Do you have great photos of climate and development? Do you want to showcase your photos and promote your work on Climatelinks? Now is your chance!

• 07/24/2019
• Stephan Hardeman

As part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, member countries must submit national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories, estimating how much carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases they are producing each year.

• 07/23/2019
• Christine Chumbler

Rivers are the world’s main source of clean drinking water, and their economic and environmental value are fundamental to the health of people and ecosystems. However, river basins face interrelated challenges — population growth, industrialization, urbanization, land use changes (including deforestation and land degradation), and changes in water quantity and quality.

• 07/17/2019
• Owen Scott, Fernanda Zermoglio

The Dominican Republic is one of the world’s ten most climate-vulnerable countries and experiences significant gender inequality in the Latin America and Caribbean region. The combination of these issues can threaten the health, safety, and livelihood of women and girls, who are often directly on the frontlines of impacts.

• 07/10/2019
• Jamie Wen-Besson

Many countries around the world have set ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a result, those countries are now pursuing a breadth of mitigation actions across sectors and at all scales, from local projects to national policies.

• 07/09/2019
• Marian Van Pelt

Countries in Asia are steadily addressing the need to reduce emissions through the deployment of market-based mechanisms (MBMs), such as carbon taxes, cap and trade programs, baseline and credit programs, and the development of renewable electricity and energy efficiency standards.

• 07/08/2019
• Emily Kent, Megha Kedia, Deborah Harris

Climate change and variability have impacts on human health, especially in developing countries. Extreme weather events, increased temperatures, as well as changes in precipitation and sea level rise can all combine in a variety of ways to undermine development gains and impede progress.

• 07/03/2019
• Stephan Hardeman

USAID’s Resilient Waters Program supported the South Africa Department of Water, Sanitation and Human Settlements’ river clean up event to raise awareness about the importance of healthy rivers.

• 07/02/2019
• USAID Resilient Waters