Blog

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

Half the world’s total mangrove deforestation since 2000 has taken place in Indonesia, where the main driver is conversion for shrimp ponds. A new cost-benefit analysis by the USAID-funded Climate Economic Analysis Development, Investment, and Resilience (CEADIR) Activity sheds light on the financial and economic value of mangrove conservation, including impacts on near-shore fishing and greenhouse gas emissions.

• 08/11/2020
• Dr. Eric Hyman

To enable scaling of climate programs, development assistance organizations can help partner countries leverage new sources of financing, including institutional investors, impact investors, and international and domestic capital markets. However, new approaches are necessary to achieve impacts on a much larger scale.

• 07/29/2020
• Eric Hyman

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

Biodiversity conservation is essential to development––across multiple sectors, geographies, and contexts. Geospatial analysis can support integration of biodiversity conservation with a range of sectors at USAID, including climate change, and a new guide, developed by USAID’s Office of Forestry and Biodiversity and the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, explains how.

• 04/23/2020
• Mark Higgins

Half of the world’s total mangrove deforestation since 2000 has been in Indonesia, where the main driver has been conversion for shrimp ponds. A new cost-benefit analysis by the USAID-funded Climate Economic Analysis Development, Investment, and Resilience (CEADIR) Activity sheds light on the financial and economic value of mangrove conservation. Income losses from mangrove-supported activities eventually outweigh shrimp revenues in the converted areas.

• 04/15/2020
• Gordon Smith, Eric Hyman

The impacts of climate change on crop yields, as projected by a slew of impact assessments carried out since the 1980s, have brought the issue of future food insecurity to the fore. A meta-analysis of ~27,000 data points from studies published over the last four decades reveals that at country level, average impacts of climate change on crop yields up to the 2050s are generally small (but negative) for rice and wheat, and modest for maize, provided farmers adopt practices and technologies such as improved varieties, planting at optimal times, and improved water and fertilizer management.

• 02/26/2020
• Climatelinks

USAID’s Urban Team is pleased to announce the launch of the new and improved UrbanLinks website. As USAID’s central hub for information about urban topics and programs, UrbanLinks provides valuable tools, resources, and insights from across the Agency and from our partners.

• 02/07/2020
• Urbanlinks

This October, Climatelinks is focusing on games for development, and we would like to hear from you! Games can take a variety of forms, from in-person tabletop games to web-based or mobile applications.

• 10/08/2019
• Climatelinks

The CLIFF-GRADS program invites applications for short-term (4-6 month) scientific training and research on the measurement and management of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage in agricultural systems.

• 08/30/2019
• Climatelinks

USAID's Office of Gender Equality & Women's Empowerment is thrilled to announce Resilient, Inclusive, & Sustainable Environments (RISE): A Challenge to Address Gender-Based Violence in the Environment.

• 08/22/2019
• Climatelinks

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

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

The new Financing the Climate-Health Nexus Tool from the Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessment (ATLAS) project summarizes available sources of funding that are the most relevant and feasible for financing initiatives addressing climate risks to human health.

• 06/28/2019
• ATLAS