Blog

Synthia Ontita, Research and Project Management Associate of The Youth Cafe, discusses the importance of youth involvement in Africa’s sustainable development.

• 02/03/2021
• Kate Minden

“For me, hope is the feeling that keeps you going, even though all odds may be against you. For me hope comes from action not just words.” Greta Thunberg, World Economic Forum 2021. Greta Thunberg, 18 year-old climate and environmental activist, addressed the World Economic Forum on January 25, 2021 with a call for action to address the climate and ecological crisis

• 02/02/2021
• Isabela Barriga

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

• 01/28/2021
• Mponda Malozo

In low- and middle-income countries, persisting gender discrimination and harmful gender norms mean adolescent girls living in poverty are often the most vulnerable to the least visible impacts of climate change. This includes disruptions to their education, increasing their time poverty, and increasing their risk of early and forced child marriage.

• 01/28/2021
• Dr. Christina Kwauk

Congratulations to the 13 winners of the 2020 Climatelinks Photo Contest!

This year’s theme, “Healthy Forests for a Healthy Future,” focuses on nature-based solutions to climate change such as active reforestation, plantations, agroforestry, and natural regeneration. The winning photos tell the stories of individual and community change agents for sustainable development, forest protection, and a climate-secure future.

• 01/25/2021
• Steve Hardeman

Natural river shifting and human changes to the landscape can drastically redirect floodwaters from year to year, making anticipating flood paths extremely tricky. Because rising sea surface temperatures are fueling more frequent and severe rainfall extremes, faster flood mapping is in high demand.

• 01/14/2021
• Jake Ramthun

Ninety percent of youth live in developing countries, where climate change poses a threat to their future. USAID recognizes that collaborating with this growing population can help build a more resilient future. That is why, this January, Climatelinks is focusing on youth climate action.

• 01/14/2021
• Isabela Barriga

My passion for entrepreneurship started when I was pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Clothing Textiles at Egerton University. I started a shop to sell soft furnishing for fabrics such as bed covers, curtains, baby sets etc. This business however did not go as smooth as I had earlier imagined.

• 01/14/2021
• Stella Sigana

In mid-2020, Climatelinks added sector pages to its website. The 14 pages, accessible by hovering your mouse over “What We Do” in the website’s top navigation menu, showcase sector-specific work on climate change that USAID is undertaking in a variety of contexts. Each sector page houses an introductory overview detailing related climate impacts and stressors, as well as potential solutions.

• 12/30/2020
• Stephan Hardeman

Photos are a great way to not only capture climate programming in action, but to tell one’s story. The Climatelinks photo gallery has more than 230 photos depicting climate and development, from gender and inclusion to natural resource management.
Below are the five most popular photos of 2020. Let us know if you have a favorite photo.

• 12/29/2020
• Isabela Barriga

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

The end of USAID’s five-year LESTARI project (2015-2020) in Indonesia is an opportunity to recognize USAID’s collective achievements with the Government of Indonesia in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from land use in both biodiverse and carbon-rich landscapes.

• 11/02/2020
• Tedi Rabold

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