Enabling SME Adaptation to Climate Change
Ismail Faisov tends a farm in the mountainous Dashtijum Jamoat region in Tajikistan. Dashtijum Jamoat is rich with indigenous fruits and legumes that have become naturally resilient to drought, cold weather, diseases, and other environmental stresses. For a number of reasons though, Ismail did not cultivate these traditional species, choosing instead to sell imported cultivars […]
Why I’m Optimistic About Climate Change
Only a few days into the UN climate summit, and it is already time to sing the Paris blues. The path to Paris was, unfortunately, paved with pessimism and imperfect accords: Rio, Kyoto, Copenhagen. In the meantime, carbon dioxide in the air has increased, raising the world’s average temperature by one degree Celsius relative to […]
Innovative Insurance Models for Risk Reducing Behaviour
Source: CCAFS and CGIAR Losses and damages of weather-related disasters are increasing In the face of climate change, BoP communities in many developing countries are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the risks posed by extreme weather and climatic events. Climate change-related impacts affect agricultural productivity, weaken water and food security, increase the incidences of diseases, and […]
Making Smallholder Farmers Climate Proof
Training of smallholder farmers by BASF in India (Credit: BASF) An estimated 1.5 billion people directly depend on agriculture for their income with smallholder farmers responsible for almost 80% of all food consumed in the developing world. Agriculture is the biggest industry sector in the world – and one that is highly sensitive to changing […]
Responsibility Does Not Stop at Company Gates
adelphi has been working with private sector actors on climate change adaptation around the world for more than 5 years now. In our projects, which we conduct for various partners, we often observe advances in the field of adaptation that are surprising to development practitioners. For example, for the Private Sector Adaptation to Climate Change […]
Market of Climate Resilience: Protection & Conservation
Members of the Wansari Fishermen’s Association in Indonesia use enviornmentally friendly bamboo pens for crab cultivation in the mangroves (Credit: Kampoeng Kepiting) The tourism sector grows fast, especially in developing countries Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide. In 2012 alone, 1 billion tourists travelled across borders compared to 25 million in 1950. […]
Market of Climate Resilience: Protection & Conservation
Members of the Wansari Fishermen’s Association in Indonesia use enviornmentally friendly bamboo pens for crab cultivation in the mangroves (Credit: Kampoeng Kepiting) The tourism sector grows fast, especially in developing countries Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide. In 2012 alone, 1 billion tourists travelled across borders compared to 25 million in 1950. […]
Increasing Climate Resilience of BoP Communities
Since Monday, November 30th, 2015, representatives from over 190 countries gather at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP 21) with the imposing goal of developing a legally binding and universal agreement on climate to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. While the agreement to limiting the global temperature increase to less than 2°C […]
Cashless Africa: The Barriers to Mobile Inclusion
Interoperability and innovation in mobile wallets are likely to drive the next wave of financial inclusion in Africa. Africa runs on cash. An estimated eight out of 10 transactions on the continent takes place in paper currency; only 34 per cent of adults have a bank account, and only 16 per cent have any formal […]
In Praise of Low Bono
I work for EY, running Enterprise Growth Services (EGS) – a programme which sends our consultants, both local and international, to help promising social impact enterprises grow. We help solar companies understand their customers better, WASH businesses build scalable franchises, and ag enterprises improve their cashflow. Our projects are full time, hands-on, mostly in sub-Saharan […]
Addressing the Sanitation Crisis One Toilet at a Time
It’s hard to imagine what life would be like without a clean and safe toilet, but this is the reality for 1 in 3 people globally. World Toilet Day, celebrated annually on 19th November, has been a UN recognised day since 2013. It was set up to raise awareness of the health, emotional and psychological […]
The UN, Business and the Sustainable Development Goals
On 25 September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to shift the world onto a path of inclusive, sustainable and […]
Making Solar Power Affordable
Author: John Converse Townsend, Ashoka Mexico’s solar energy market is booming. And that means more and more people, even those living on less than $7 per day, can afford clean electricity. The second-most populated country in the Americas is home to the fastest-growing regional solar market in the world. About 97 percent of Mexico’s population […]
Investing in Smart Technology
Luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover invests in smart technologies and innovations which are key to its long term success and this focus extends far beyond building better-performing vehicles. The company recently won a Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development for reducing the environmental impact of its vehicles and operations and has set an ambitious target […]
Partnerships for 21st Century Development in Africa
This year, the United Nations (UN) officially adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Rory More O’Ferrall FRSA describes how governments, civil society and industry are working together to address a complex social and development challenge. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs come into effect on January 1, 2016 and run through to the end of […]
Radical Partnerships to Give Newborns a Healthier Start
The first month of life can be dangerous. In 2013, almost three million babies worldwide lost their lives during those initial four weeks – a quarter due to infection. Many of these deaths could be prevented if the appropriate healthcare was within reach at the right time, in the right place. Newborn babies, wherever they […]
Do Companies Have Obligation to Help Syrian Refugees?
“When we can’t afford both medicine and food, I tie scarves around my boys’ bellies at night so they don’t wake up crying from stomach aches because they are hungry.” —Fatmeh, a Syrian refugee in Lebanon The Syrian refugee crisis in the Middle East is a daily heartbreak that eludes simple solutions. Thousands are dying […]
Turbo Charging Development: Making the SDGs a Reality
By Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever and Mark Gunton, CEO, Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership In New York last week global leaders adopted a set of ambitious goals and targets to set the world on a new course. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have committed us to eradicating extreme poverty, fighting injustice and inequality, and taking urgent […]
Hygiene as a Frontier for Good Health
It seems we are often on the brink of something historic or being given the opportunity of a lifetime but in the case of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in New York this weekend it may actually be true. If the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals are fully implemented by their deadline of 2030 […]
B2B Collaboration that Drives Growth and Impact
A significant shift is happening in the way global corporations and mission-driven organizations see poverty, food security, water scarcity, climate change, and other sustainable development challenges—a convergence around the view, expressed so well by management guru Peter Drucker, that “every single social and global issue of our day is a business opportunity in disguise.” At […]