News Overview

By James Allen IV, Daniel Gilligan, Sikandra Kurdi, and Basma Yassa December 18, 2024 In 186 countries worldwide, cash transfer programs are the cornerstone of social protection, outnumbering social security or pension plans. These offer critical financial lifelines to vulnerable households, aiming to alleviate poverty by providing steady cash support. However, these programs can become long-term fiscal burdens for governments due to limited

By James Allen IV December 16, 2024 The annual school and agricultural calendars exercise near-universal influence on life in the developing world, yet until recently there was little research on the interaction between the two. In the United States, it’s a widely held belief that the typical school calendar developed around the already existing farming calendar. While some debate this

By Emily Myers, Katrina Kosec, Jordan Kyle, Agnes Quisumbing, Teresa Gonzales, Ana Madero, Caitlin Mittrick, and Amica Rapadas December 12, 2024 As the planet warms, climate-driven disasters are becoming more frequent and severe worldwide. These events pose increased risks to vulnerable communities and groups, particularly women and girls, who face disproportionate challenges in their aftermath. Disasters often exacerbate existing gender inequalities—limiting women’s access to food and essential

By Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Bryan Bruns December 11, 2024 Groundwater is a vital common pool resource that supplies nearly half of all water for domestic use, one-quarter of irrigation water, and one-third of industrial water supply globally. Groundwater reserves can buffer against variable rainfall, drought, and mounting climate change impacts. However, many groundwater systems are threatened by problems including depletion, contamination, and waterlogging. Existing institutions

By Andrew Comstock, Olivier Ecker, and Eleanor Jones December 10, 2024 Recent crises and shocks have eroded food security in many countries. These crises take many forms. Some are global shocks, such as a sharp rise in food commodity prices in world markets. Some are local shocks—for instance, flooding from an extreme weather event, or another from the ever-increasing list of climate

By Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Bryan Bruns December 6, 2024 Groundwater is a vital common pool resource for water supply, irrigation, and ecosystems—but is difficult to govern due to its invisibility, stakeholders’ conflicting interests, and the limitations of available institutions. These issues have created an array of problems around the world that threaten ecosystems, food production, and drinking water supplies—including aquifer depletion, waterlogging, salinity,

By Thomas Falk, Richu Sanil, and Ruth Meinzen-Dick December 2, 2024 Over-extraction of groundwater is a prominent challenge in India, which withdraws more of this key resource each year than the United States and China combined. At least one-third of India’s districts have problems with groundwater overexploitation or contamination. This has profound implications for food security, livelihoods, and economic development. As groundwater is

By Samyuktha Kannan and Berber Kramer November 22, 2024 Climate change is increasing the frequency of adverse weather events and reducing agricultural productivity, particularly in warmer regions of the world (Ortiz-Bobea et al 2021). Smallholder farming households in developing countries depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and spend a larger proportion of their income on food,  making them the most