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Adaptation projects meant to reduce risk from climate change can sometimes create new sources of vulnerability in developing countries, finds a new study led by the University of Oxford and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). Unless adaptation is rethought, the findings show, new projects are likely to repeat the same patterns that worsen vulnerability to climate change.
The findings indicated that beyond unintended negative consequences, internationally-funded adaptation interventions risk becoming tools for marginalization and even tools for power abuse.
Despite good intentions and benefits to some groups, adaptation interventions examined often had negative consequences for already marginalized communities. The study identifies four key issues which are responsible for unintended negative consequences of climate change adaptation projects:
21-Jan-2021
Lack of access to electricity is a key factor holding back the development of rural areas in low-income countries and, while solar power could be a big catalyst for change, counterfeit panels are holding back its rollout.
That’s the conclusion of a study published in the journal
Energy for Sustainable Development that looked at solar photovoltaic (PV) system use in rural households in Ethiopia, which traditionally have relied on kerosene for power.
Ethiopia has launched a major drive to provide electricity across the country, but even when that is completed – scheduled for 2025 – only around two-thirds of the population will be connected to the grid.
Sudan Loses US Terror Tag
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January 07, 2021
When Sudan agreed last fall to pay $335 million to compensate families of US citizens killed in 1998 during al-Qaida bombings of American embassies in East Africa, it aimed to secure its delisting from the US government’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list. On December 14, the nation was officially delisted after 27 years.
It also assumed a significant financial burden for a developing country. “Most of that money was bought in the unofficial currency market, among many reasons for the severe depreciation of the currency over the past months,” says Magdi el-Gizouli, fellow at the Rift Valley Institute. “In essence, the government printed cheap Sudanese currency to buy increasingly expensive US dollars. That transferred the cost into people’s pockets, who had to watch as the value of their money eroded by the day.”
Scientific American
The Surprising Complexity of Nurturing a Healthy Gut
Efforts to fertilize healthy gut bacteria, in pigs, were successful–but they appeared to come with unintended consequences.
This article was produced in partnership with the author by Scientific American Custom Media, a commercial division separate from the magazine’s board of editors. February 18, 2021
Adapted from Springer Nature 2020, Nat Commun 11, 5773
The bewildering array of probiotic drinks in supermarkets these days is testament to the diverse and sometimes surprising health benefits of nurturing specific gut microbes. Consumption of probiotics directly supplies beneficial bacteria to the gut. A more subtle approach is to fertilize the gut with foods that contain components known to encourage the growth of good bacteria. A new study on pigs has shown that this strategy is not as straightforward as it at first might appear.