Ethiopian refugees, who fled fighting in Tigray, receive snacks at a Sudanese border reception centre in November 2020.
Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP via Getty Images
The Trump White House questioned the value of foreign aid and neglected policies related to helping low-income countries. But US aid had already needed improvement.
Around 25,000 Ethiopians fleeing conflict in the Tigray region have crossed into neighbouring Sudan.
Photo by EBRAHIM HAMID/AFP via Getty Images
For the second time this century, crises have led to calls to transform our global food system. We can start with restructuring the global food trade so that it complements local food systems.
Home garden with two bags of soil and young green plants.
IFPRI
Predictions suggest that Africa will suffer dramatic losses of crops and productive land as the climate warms. Perhaps adopting GM crops designed to tolerate stress can save the continent from famine.
South Sudan can be stabilised, but great effort is needed from numerous players.
Shutterstock
Images of famine or poverty are often used by human rights groups to galvanize support. And they often do. The ethics of these images is a more complex story.
GMO crops have been rejected by many countries and consumers. Now, an international team of researchers are creating better crops using DNA editing–without inserting foreign genes into the plant.
Somalia is a case of subtle connections between drought, food insecurity and conflict.
Oxfam East Africa
It’s wrong to blame climate change for famine and conflict. These can either be prevented, or the impact minimised, if institutions and mechanisms of good governance are in place.
In 2011 famine spread to six out of eight regions in southern Somalia.
REUTERS/Feisal Omar
The distinction between food insecurity and famine is artificial and unhelpful. Hungry people are suffering however their situation falls below the radar.
A controversial article in a respected academic journal recently made the argument for colonialism. Here, a man is carried by Congolese men in a photo from the early 20th centiry.
An academic article that asserted the benefits of colonialism caused an outcry and resulted in calls for its removal. A post-colonial expert explains why.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses G20 health ministers in Berlin in May.
Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch
If the G20 is to remain relevant in the quest for more inclusive and fair global governance, Africa offers an historic opportunity for collective action, despite the absence of the US under Trump.
Rules imposed after 9/11 and still on the books are getting in the way of delivering aid to conflict zones. In countries like Yemen and Syria, it could mean the difference between life and death.
Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations University