Afrique

This chapter describes science-policy interfaces (SPIs) as an opportunity to support sustainable development by bridging the knowledge-action gap and fostering evidence-based policies. The biggest challenges of sustainable development presented and discussed in previous chapters, including climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental injustice, and pandemics, are growing increasingly complex and uncertain. It has long been argued that for public interventions, such as policies, to more effectively address such problems and enhance sustainable development, structured evidence-based advice is needed.
Based on examples and theoretical knowledge from the literature, the chapter demonstrates how SPIs have the potential to fill knowledge gaps and foster concerted action on complex sustainability problems, specifically related to the environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Examples of prominent SPIs at the global scale are the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which we explore in depth later in the chapter.
The chapter also presents the scholarly discourse on the effectiveness of SPIs in brief, emphasising the importance of being aware of the benefits and limitations of SPIs and different models of formalised knowledge co-production. While many scholars advocate for a co-production model over a linear model, the literature agrees that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for facilitating interactions and coordination between knowledge holders, policymakers, and other stakeholders to effectively enhance sustainable development and synergies between interventions. When talking about sustainable development, social-political contexts need to be considered because sustainability issues are inherently interlinked and political, as reiterated in previous chapters. This chapter emphasises that effective science-policy engagement requires a two-way, iterative knowledge exchange. This approach is essential for operationalising a co-production model that incorporates diverse perspectives and knowledge systems—an indispensable factor in addressing the complex, interlinked challenges of sustainable development. Building on the previous chapter’s exploration of the growing significance of science-policy interactions in sustainable development, we want to offer a behind-the-scenes perspective on the dynamics of major intergovernmental organisations shaping the science-policy interface.

From 25 to 27 May, a delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) of six MEPs led by the Committee Chair David McAllister (EPP, Germany) visited Cape Town, Pretoria, and Johannesburg, South Africa.
The delegation met South African political leaders and partners to discuss deepening EU-South Africa cooperation. Key topics included international relations in a changing geopolitical landscape, security, political ties, and the Global Gateway, the EU's strategy for global infrastructure investment.
Press release
Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Moderation: Michaela Kolster

Extraordinary meeting of the International Trade Committee and joint meeting with the Internal Market Committee and the Industry Committee. Both on Tuesday 2 June
Committee on International Trade

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Les grands personnages de l'histoire politique ou littéraire offrent parfois l'occasion à leurs biographes de prendre la pose. D'inspecter leur modèle, d'asséner leurs leçons. De sélectionner les références et les faits qui favorisent leurs extrapolations. Michel Onfray vient ainsi de jeter son (…) / Idées, Intellectuels, Extrême droite, Médias, Anarchisme, Marxisme

Un gauche-droite en accéléré, une petite foulée, des esquives, une rotation du bassin, un premier round et un dernier, jusqu'au poing levé de la victoire… Les gestes de la boxe s'enchaînent dans Combats de filles, le premier roman à la prose incisive de Rita Bullwinkel, née en 1988 et éditrice (…) / États-Unis, Femmes, Littérature, Sport

Il est des hommages moins chaleureux : dans son essai Épouvante et surnaturel en littérature, publié en 1927, l'Américain Howard Phillips Lovecraft, une référence en matière de littérature horrifique, saluait son confrère britannique Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) comme l'un des quatre (…) / Littérature, Fiction, États-Unis

D'abord il fallait défendre l'Ukraine agressée par la Russie. L'armer, la financer par centaines de milliards d'euros. L'appuyer en lui ouvrant les portes de l'Union européenne. Accélérer son accession afin d'éviter que la Russie ne tente à nouveau de l'attaquer. Nul n'ignorait que (…) / Ukraine, Russie, États-Unis, Armement, Défense

Pour complaire à M. Trump, le président serbe Aleksandar Vučić a pu compter sur la proximité de certains de ses conseillers avec M. Benyamin Netanyahou. En dépit des crimes commis à Gaza, les exportations d'armes serbes vers Israël sont passées de 3 millions à 114 millions d'euros en deux ans. / (…) / États-Unis, Kosovo, Serbie, Balkans, Israël

Joachim Klement, l'économiste allemand qui a prédit avec justesse les vainqueurs des trois dernières Coupes du monde, a publié ses pronostics pour la Coupe du monde de cette année.

Bei einer Wirtschaftskrise vermutlich nicht. Sonst dürfte es knapp werden, wie Zahlen des Bundes zeigen.

Vendredi 29 mai 2026 à 18 heures à l'amphithéâtre 117 du campus Malesherbes (108, boulevard Malesherbes 75017 Paris).

- Agenda / Région parisienne, Roumanie

Agent secret, un métier comme un autre ? Dans l'enseignement supérieur, de coûteuses formations permettent désormais de se familiariser avec le monde du renseignement. Associant chercheurs et praticiens, elles procèdent d'un étrange mélange des genres. L'université et les « services » convolent (…) / Éducation, Sécurité, Police, État, Services secrets

À la frontière entre l'Inde et le Bangladesh, deux géants se jettent dans l'océan : le Gange et le Brahmapoutre. Alors que leurs bras se divisent, ces fleuves forment le plus grand delta du monde, qui s'étend sur plusieurs milliers de kilomètres carrés. Longtemps en conflit, grands félins et (…) / Inde, Bangladesh, Eau, Mer, Environnement, Tourisme, Animal

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Drawing on interviews with Zambian officials, bureaucrats, and both Chinese and Zambian professionals in the digital sector, this policy brief examines how Zambian actors have engaged with Chinese-financed digital projects across two administrations: the Patriotic Front (PF) government under Edgar Lungu (2015–2021) and the United Party for National Development (UPND) government under Hakainde Hichilema (2021–present). It argues that the transition from the PF to the UPND widened bureaucratic room for manoeuvre in managing Chinese digital projects, yet these gains remained limited and sometimes fragile, as they were partly offset by personnel reshuffling and relatively weak institutional continuity.

The 2026 US–Israel–Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have triggered one of the largest oil supply disruptions in modern history. Brent crude prices rose sharply, producing a major external shock for oil-importing developing economies at a moment when the international development system was already under severe strain. Petrochemical products shipped through the strait are also vital for agriculture, medicine and industry. The largest contraction on record of official development assistance (ODA) had already been recorded in 2025, while geopolitical tensions and rising defence expenditures are reshaping ODA spending priorities and development policy directions.
This brief examines how the oil shock will impact development cooperation. The significance of the oil shock lies not only in the price increase itself but also in its timing, and it arrives amid an ongoing reconfiguration of development cooperation. The analysis is organised around two postulates that underpin the post–Cold War development architecture. The first is the existence of states in the Global South with sufficient authority and developmental aspirations and capacity to pursue broad-based development goals. The second is the existence of donor countries willing and able to support those states’ aspirations.
The oil shock weakens both postulates through different mechanisms. For many oil-importing developing countries, rising fuel, food and transport costs intensify fiscal stress, debt vulnerabilities and pressures on state capacity. Fragile states without strategic importance are especially exposed. At the same time, donor countries face mounting pressures
from fiscal tightening, defence spending, domestic cost-of-living politics and growing scepticism towards multilateralism. These dynamics risk reinforcing one another in the sense that weakening state capacity can intensify instability, while rising instability may further reduce political support for development co-operation in donor countries.
The brief argues that alternative financing sources such as Gulf finance, South–South cooperation and climate finance are unlikely to compensate for the scale of OECD donors’ retrenchment. The likely result is a more fragmented, transactional and geographically selective development cooperation system, in which the countries most in need are increasingly among the least likely to receive sustained support unless they hold geopolitical importance.
Three policy implications follow from the war. First, the multilateral development financing architecture requires urgent bolstering. Instruments such as the World Bank’s International Development Association and the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust face growing pressure precisely as low-income countries (LICs) confront simultaneous food, fuel, debt and financing shocks. Second, the increasing concentration of concessional finance to strategically prioritised states should not be treated as inevitable. Fragile states risk declining concessional finance and multilateral reach despite acute humanitarian need. Third, European donors must decide whether development cooperation remains anchored in poverty reduction or becomes subordinated to defence, migration and geopolitical priorities.

Professor Andy Sumner is a professor of International Development at King’s College London and President of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes.

Wenn die Schweizer die SVP-Initiative annehmen, gefährdet das mittelfristig die Personenfreizügigkeit. Die EU betrachtet die Abstimmung mit Sorge, dürfte bei einem Ja aber strategisch reagieren.

1700 Zuschauer kommen an den «Kompass-Kongress» in Dübendorf, um sich auf eine autonome Schweiz einzuschwören.

Financial constraints are one of the most severe obstacles for the operation and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Yet women and women-led enterprises are disproportionally affected, which leads to a gender gap in access to finance. This paper uses panel estimation techniques, namely a correlated random effects model, for 1,655 financial institutions from 109 mostly LMICs for the years 2000 to 2019 to examine empirically whether there are purely economic incentives for financial institutions to scale up their lending activities towards women and women-led enterprises. Going beyond the microfinance sector, this study provides – to the best of my knowledge – the first empirical evidence on this question for banks and bank-like financial institutions that serve higher credit market segments. I find positive and significant effects on the quality of the loan portfolio (lower portfolio at risk), income streams (higher portfolio yield) and the overall financial performance (captured by return on assets or profit margin). Since economic incentives and profitability considerations are crucial in steering the decisions of financial institutions with regard to credit allocations, the banks’ self-interest could lead to management decisions and internal directives to favor female loan applicants, which could contribute to closing the gender gap in access to finance. Furthermore, the findings on the positive effects on banks’ financial performance give policymakers and regulators leeway to push financial institutions through more restrictive policy measures and regulatory requirements to direct more loans to women and women-led firms.