Blogs

On June 27, African and European agriculture ministers will gather in Rome for the 6th AU-EU Agriculture Ministerial Conference. This comes against a backdrop of a worsening climate crisis, soaring inequalities, and rising hunger. Nearly one in five people in Africa - close to 300 million - now face food insecurity. The stakes could not be higher. The decisions made in Rome could lay the foundations for food systems that are just, sustainable and deeply rooted in communities. A far cry from the current emphasis on an industrial, export-led agricultural system dominated by large corporations.

Mega rich oil, gas and coal companies are driving humanity to the edge of destruction and earning billions in doing so. 

Gambella is one of the largest refugee settlements in Ethiopia. The remote western region is home to nearly 400,000 people who fled conflict and flooding in neighboring South Sudan. 

Today, European Parliamentarians will cast their vote on the EU’s next long-term budget – a vote that will send a powerful political signal to the European Commission ahead of its proposal due out in July. But behind these numbers lies a key question: will the EU maintain its role as a credible donor, or will it quietly shift towards a transactional approach shaped by short-term political interests? 

This month, the European Court of Human Rights' (ECtHR) issued a seismic ruling in the case of A.R.E. v. Greece, condemning, for the first time ever, Greece for its “systematic practice of pushbacks”. This landmark verdict exposes not only Greece’s, but also Europe’s failure to handle migration fairly at its borders.The case in question centres on A.R.E., a woman who entered Greece to seek asylum in 2019. Instead of examining her asylum application as required by international and European law, the Greek authorities forcibly returned her to Turkey after holding her in a police station where her phone, shoes, and money were taken from her. 

Women and girls across Ukraine are suffering the impacts of the war. With the escalated attacks on civilian infrastructure including energy infrastructure, access to essential services has become more difficult.

This month, development and humanitarian NGOs faced a significant challenge when the Dutch government announced substantial funding cuts of 70%. These cuts are not an isolated incident: earlier this year, Germany announced further cuts in official development aid (ODA), with Belgium and France seeming to follow suit with announced cuts ranging from 15 to 40%. 

Recently, more and more news about the appearance and danger of pesticides has been spotlighted by the media in Europe. Not only that it's affecting consumers’ health, but also nature. Europe plays a key role in the pesticides industry.

In October 2024, Oxfam published “Climate Finance Unchecked,” a report diving into a significant oversight in the World Bank’s climate finance record-keeping. Specifically, the Bank’s method estimates climate finance only at the time projects are approved, with no assessment of climate finance when projects close. This might not seem like a big deal, but it’s common for projects to change during implementation —for example, adjustments to budgets, timelines and objectives. We’ve put together a short FAQ to explain what we found and why it matters.

The UN Summit of the Future was billed as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ‘forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future’, a recommitment to the Sustainable Development Goals; at the Summit, States adopted the Pact for the Future.