Blog

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

This is the first of three blogs examining the lessons and implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for sustainable landscapes programs. At a time when everyone is focused on the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) some might think that ongoing efforts to support programming in sustainable landscapes have little to offer at the current moment.

• 10/19/2020
• Eric Haxthausen

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

Residents of Guatemala’s dry corridor are hungry. In 2018, drought-related crop failures directly affected one in 10 Guatemalans and caused extreme food shortage for upwards of 840,000 people according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Thousands of Guatemalans support and feed their families with subsistence farming and the alarming climate trends of the dry corridor are making each year harder to survive.

• 10/06/2020
• Agrilinks

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

Reliable electricity can mean life or death for a patient. Healthcare facilities need electricity to power lifesaving medical equipment and preserve perishable supplies, such as vaccines. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the stakes are even higher, as more people around the world need treatment and services.

• 08/20/2020
• Kristen Madler, Janice M. Laurente

Postcards from the field feature submissions to the Climatelinks photo gallery. This photo was submitted to the “Planning a food-secure future” category of the 2019 Climatelinks photo contest.

• 08/18/2020
• Climatelinks

As we all know too well, the coronavirus pandemic has left no one untouched, fundamentally altering billions of people’s daily lives, disrupting the global economy, and most notably, with millions contracting the virus and the resulting strain of severe illness, hospitalizations and the tragic loss of human life. The crisis has also laid bare many of society’s weaknesses, including economic inequalities, institutional shortcomings, and inadequate health care delivery systems, leaving vulnerable populations to bear the brunt of the effects of the pandemic.

• 07/30/2020
• Emily Chen

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have provided clear guidance on the most critical measure we can all take to protect human health and reduce the spread of COVID-19: “Hands should be washed with soap and water.” While clear and simple, this directive is far from attainable for the 3 billion people around the world who lack access to soap and safe water at home.

• 07/17/2020
• Evan Thomas, Doris Kaberia

Long-term changes in climate and wildlife habitat can pose significant effects on human health and increase the risk of infectious diseases like the coronavirus (COVID-19). Several of the roots of climate change can increase the risk of pandemics; for example, deforestation increasingly places humans and animals in contact, which enables pathogens from animals to spillover to humans.

• 07/08/2020
• Isabela Barriga

The USAID-funded Kathmandu Vehicle Alliance (KEVA) program, implemented by Winrock International from 2001 to 2006, continues to benefit the environment and people of Nepal due to its role in expanding the electric vehicle market, which has reduced GHG emissions that lower air quality and contribute to climate change.

• 06/22/2020
• Anne Cassidy

Climate impacts social and economic development across sectors, in numerous ways. Each sector also has unique opportunities to contribute to climate solutions. USAID integrates climate change in development programming across a variety of technical fields.

• 06/18/2020
• Isabela Barriga

Do you have great photos of climate and development? Do you want to promote your work on Climatelinks? Now is your chance! Submit your photos so we can share your work or your organization’s work with our global community of climate practitioners. Our 2020 Photo Contest theme is Healthy Forests for a Healthy Future.

• 06/17/2020
• Climatelinks

The current global pandemic from COVID-19 is a potent, pressing example of why the international community must focus more on preparedness and risk analysis for a multitude of disasters. Disasters, from floods to droughts to heightened risks of conflict, are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change, environmental degradation, and social tensions.

• 04/22/2020
• Sarah Henly-Shepard, Ali Blumenstock

Climate adaptation and disaster risk management (DRM) are connected by the common goal of reducing the impacts of disasters, minimizing the consequences of extreme events, and increasing resilience. Valuable knowledge sharing and partnership opportunities exist for those willing to bridge climate adaptation and DRM. Climate change can increase the risk of disaster by increasing hydrometeorological hazards -- such as storms, flooding or drought -- that result in damage or loss of life.

• 04/01/2020
• Isabela Barriga