“If you woke up one morning and found the taps in your house were dry, the first thing many of us here would do is pick up our phone and call the utility,” said Gordon Mumbo, Team Leader for Sustainable Water for the Mara River Basin, Winrock International. But for people living in the Mara River Basin, if their taps run dry, there is no utility to call, said Mumbo. Their only choice is to grab the water container and head down to the river where water quality may be poor. Mumbo spoke at the September 30^th event, “Hidden Forces: The Role of Water in Economic Prosperity,” part of the “Water Security for a More Resilient World” series co-hosted by the Wilson Center, Winrock International, and the Sustainable Water Partnership.

Even though it has always been said that young people are the future of society, it is important to note that we are very much present. We are ready to thrive and become productive adults. Unfortunately, many adolescents and young people are robbed of their potential. We still face a high risk of unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, teenage pregnancy, early child bearing, unsafe abortions, and dropping out of school. 

Oil has played a pivotal role in shaping geopolitics for more than a century. But the rise of electric vehicles and shift toward cleaner fuels means that the world’s dependence on oil could begin to shrink, with both expected and unexpected consequences.

“Globally, women face obstacles to entering, advancing in, and remaining in the workforce as a result of gender discrimination, harassment, and a lack of supportive, gender-sensitive policies.” – Healthy Women, Healthy Economies: A Look at Brazil

In Healthy Women, Healthy Economies: A Look at Brazil, Sarah B. Barnes, Project Director of the Maternal Health Initiative, and Elizabeth Wang, Maternal Health Initiative Intern, discuss the intersections of women’s health and well-being and their economic empowerment. The report also takes a look at current progress and remaining barriers to female participation in Brazil’s workforce.

As we move past another Earth Day, environmentalists may be forgiven for assuming that little has changed. The best available evidence points to a rapidly changing climate, declining biodiversity, and fisheries on the verge of collapse. To further complicate matters, the political will to reverse these trends is being stymied by a surge of anti-environmental populism in America, Brazil and elsewhere. When coupled with the continued harvesting of natural resources by big multinational corporations, it is easy to see why environmentalists are crying into their organic kale and quinoa bowls.  

A high degree of political will is one of several pre-conditions needed for good environmental management, said Kim DeRidder, Regional Director for Environmental Programs at the Asia Foundation. He spoke at a round-table on Advancing Environmental Governance Across Asia hosted by the Asia Foundation. While he emphasized the need to promote political will within Asia, he questioned whether the bold pledges that some Asian countries made in the Paris Agreement, such as the Philippines’ pledge to reduce emissions by 70 percent by 2030 and Indonesia by 26 percent, were realistic given the significant disconnect between what a country claims it is going to do and what it can actually do.

While the U.S. has been fixated on President Trump’s contentious border wall project, another more ominous threat facing Guatemalans is building internally. In a swift reversal, many politicians and scholars who have previously argued for directing increased U.S. aid to communities in Central America’s Northern Triangle—Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras—as a humanitarian alternative to the border wall, are now calling on Congress to suspend some forms of aid to Guatemala, which they now see as the more humane option.