We can now predict many climate hazards months in advance, yet international finance still flows mainly after the damage is done. Closing that gap means funding preparedness when credible forecasts warn of danger, not only recovery once disaster hits
The war in Ukraine, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and El Niño are hitting global agrifood systems at once, just as the buffers that absorbed past shocks are running low. Preventing these disruptions from becoming food crises means tackling not only countries’ exposure to shocks but also the fragility that leaves them unable to respond
Ten years on, the New Urban Agenda has shaped national urban policies, but much-anticipated innovations in financing have yet to deliver at scale, and the stakeholders who helped create it have been sidelined. Its halfway point raises a bigger question about whether 20-year global frameworks still make sense in a world of fast-moving, overlapping crises
Cities
Cities face difficult choices about how to invest in resilience as climate
pressures intensify. Valuing health, ecosystems, social inclusion, and reliable services alongside financial costs can help them choose fairer, more effective ways to adapt to climate change
Global governance
Indifference and hostility have created a leadership vacuum in development. But as practitioners do the best they can in challenging circumstances, they create their own forms of thought leadership
The SDGs do not lack science, legitimacy, or vision – they lack an operating system. A global digital commons can help countries move from reporting progress to delivering transformation by bringing together open data, integrated modeling, stakeholder co-design, and sustainable finance
Work can liberate women and transform societies, but employment alone is not enough. As digital, green, and demographic transitions reshape labor markets, the challenge is to ensure that every woman has access to decent work, rights, security, and opportunity
Demographics and climate change are combining to create an impending sanitation crisis in many poorer regions of the world. Averting it means investing now in safe, climate-resilient sanitation as a foundation for health, dignity, and prosperity
Peace deals may be negotiated by leaders, warring parties, and external powers. But to achieve lasting peace, formal agreements must be connected to peacebuilding from the grassroots up
Mothers are encouraged to breastfeed, yet too often expected to do so within work systems built around separation. If we want to improve breastfeeding rates, those systems must change – through stronger legislation on workplace responsibilities, flexible working, and care arrangements that allow mothers and babies to stay together
