News Overview

CGIAR Executive Managing Director, Ismahane Elouafi, named as one of the continent's top change makers.

Irrigation is a potentially transformative technology for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that can address many of the region’s food system challenges, including growing food import dependence and stagnating rural employment—both linked to low agricultural productivity growth, poor market access, and weak financial systems—as well as climate change, characterized by unpredictable rainfall, prolonged dry spells, and floods.

The high-level meeting at UNEA-7 brought together policymakers, scientists, farmers, pastoralists, and private-sector leaders to discuss how to turn innovation into real impact for climate-resilient land, water, and food systems.

This post captures key insights from regional training sessions on climate, peace, and resilience conducted with civil society organizations in MENA. It focuses on how integrating social dimensions into climate work, combined with peer-to-peer learning, can strengthen advocacy, collaboration, and community-level resilience in complex contexts.

Climate change is worsening food insecurity and gender inequality in Chimanimani, increasing the risk of gender-based violence. As climate shocks strain households, women face rising domestic abuse but often remain silent to preserve marriages shaped by patriarchal norms. This blog explores how climate stress and cultural expectations sustain GBV during crises.

Climate adaptation can unintentionally deepen tensions in fragile settings. This blog introduces the Conflict Sensitivity Wheel, a practical framework for assessing how adaptation policies interact with power, participation, and inequality, and how they can be redesigned to reduce conflict and support sustainable peace.

CGIAR research is helping UNHCR embed climate and environmental data into humanitarian operations worldwide. By strengthening anticipatory, climate-informed planning, this collaboration supports safer, more resilient refugee settlements and protection outcomes in displacement settings increasingly shaped by climate risk.

CGIAR and AGNES are strengthening climate–security capacity across Africa by embedding conflict-sensitive analysis into climate governance training. Through applied courses and tools, the partnership equips policymakers and practitioners to anticipate climate risks, reduce tensions, and design more resilient, peace-supporting climate actions.