Blog

To help farmers better manage risk, Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation partnered with four organizations and private sector businesses — Farm Africa and Root Capital, Neumann Gruppe GmbH, and Oikocredit — to launch innovative risk management initiatives that enable smallholder coffee farmers to reap more rewards and face less risk as they cultivate this high-value crop.

• 12/21/2021
• Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation

USAID established the Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Program to mobilize enterprise-driven solutions that increase trade and investment and contribute to job creation in Africa.  USAID/Kenya East Africa is currently inviting concepts covering specific priority sectors identified below engaging one or more countries in the region including Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

• 12/16/2021
• USAID

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. Climatelinks blogs share USAID’s work on climate and development while also offering the global network of climate and development practitioners a platform to share their own work. Blogs highlight the vast range of work achieved by past and ongoing programs and activities and often connect to monthly themes such as climate finance, air pollution, health, youth climate action, and climate and gender. 

• 12/09/2021
• Sophie Schrader

Between 2014 and 2015, Jamaica experienced one of the worst seasons of drought in recent history. The impact on the Jamaican economy, especially rural livelihoods, was devastating. According to reports, the annual agricultural production declined by 30 percent from 2013 to 2014. This, along with brush fires, resulted in a $J1 billion ($6.5 million) loss for the economy.

• 11/11/2021
• Kimberly Weller

In November 2020, two back-to-back category 4 hurricanes, Eta and Iota, struck Central America, making landfall on the coast of Nicaragua, near its border with Honduras, and also affecting El Salvador and Guatemala. Altogether, they caused an estimated one billion US dollars in damage. Despite such impacts, the region was better able to prepare for and respond to Eta and Iota using space-based technologies.

• 10/26/2021
• Betzy Hernandez Sandoval, Emil Cherrington, Kel Markert, Eric Anderson, Daniel E. Irwin, Ashutosh Limaye, Peter Epanchin, Bathsheba F. Bryant-Tarpeh

March marks the onset of the dry and hot season in Thailand. In the region, dry vegetation coupled with small human-made fires often result in uncontrolled forest fires. Agricultural burning and forest fires, including transboundary haze, contribute to high levels of pollution.

• 07/22/2021
• Ankit Joshi

When the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu were threatened by forest fires last September, firefighter Jessica Morón and her wildland firefighting team battled the flames to protect the historic sanctuary and its surrounding biodiversity.

• 05/06/2021
• USAID Publications

In December 2019, Typhoon Kammuri flooded parts of Legazpi City, one of the biggest natural hazard hotspots in the country. Earlier that year, USAID had helped the local water district develop an emergency preparedness plan for maintaining and restoring water services when disasters strike.

• 04/08/2021
• Tedi Rabold

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

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

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

“Myanmar’s location and physical diversity means climate change takes many forms. In the dry zone, temperatures are increasing, and droughts are becoming more prevalent, while the coastal zone remains at constant risk of intensifying cyclones. Extreme flooding in the current wet season has seen over 190,000 people seek emergency shelter, with the damage to homes, schools, and farms compounding the impact of last year’s floods and those from the year before.”

• 04/21/2020
• Timothy D. May

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

Typhoon Maysak crossed Chuuk and Yap States in Micronesia between March 29 and April 1, 2015, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. As USAID’s implementing partner under the Disaster Preparedness for Effective Response project, the International Organization for Migration mobilized to implement USAID’s Typhoon Maysak Reconstruction Project (TMRP).

• 03/26/2020
• Climatelinks

Located in Indonesia’s East Java Province, Kalikatir Village is prone to flash flooding caused by the Klorak River. The river runs through three villages: Dilem and Begaganlimo in the upstream, and Kalikatir in the downstream. A major flash flood that hit Kalikatir in 2017 was a warning for the 1,500 people that live there. Even though there were no casualties due to the flood, the physical damage was substantial, and had a big impact on people’s lives.

• 03/18/2020
• Yovianus Toni Sakera, Nyoman Prayoga, Stella Yovita Arya Puteri