News
Defying Desertification: Feeding Populations without Plundering the Planet
In the quest to feed a rapidly global population, certain modes of farming and food production are damaging the environment and stripping the earth of valuable nutrients and minerals. For the opening...
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Africa’s Great Green Wall: a COP16 Priority against Desertification
To mark the opening of COP16 in Riyadh by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, we look at the Great Green Wall (GGW), the flagship initiative by the African Union and supported by AFD. Led by...
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Digital Energy Challenge: innovative projects paving the way for Africa’s energy transition
With 600 million Africans lacking access to electricity, the continent’s energy transition is a critical issue. To help tackle this problem, in 2020, AFD launched the Digital Energy Challenge in partn...
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AFD: Championing Feminist Development - for Societal Advancement
With hard-won victories for women's rights being reversed and gender discrimination afflicting sectors ranging from education and employment to health and wealth, AFD has redoubled its efforts to move...
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Strengthening Disaster Resilience for a Safer Future
To effectively mitigate or avoid the impacts of extreme weather events, careful planning and preparation are essential. Following the 2024 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13,...
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How to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without reducing growth? AFD has solutions
The 30th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP30), taking place in Belém, Brazil, from November 10 to 21, 2025, is a fresh opportunity for countries to step up their climate commitments. Es...
Three Measures to Step Up Biodiversity Mainstreaming in Finance
Increase pro-nature finance. This is one of the issues on the table at COP16 on Biodiversity, which is being held from 21 October to 1 November in Cali, in Colombia. Several measures can already be ta...
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Colombia: a Key Tool for the Energy Transition
With more than 50% of its exports concentrated in oil and coal, the Colombian economy is highly vulnerable to the energy transition. This highlights an apparent tension between the climate and biodive...
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Generating Good Governance as part of the Long Path to More Open Societies
Even the noblest of government policies make little headway if the administrative rules, regulations and functionality are brittle. Governance is key in ensuring that the rule of law prevails, it help...
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Preserving Mangroves: a Natural Rampart against the ravages of Climate Change
Mangroves are essential for storing carbon, protecting coastlines, and providing food and jobs for millions of coastal communities. But they are imperiled by the ravages of climate change and rapid ur...
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Sports and Development: the Key to Success
Since 2012, AFD Group has financed nearly 200 sports projects, supporting more than 80 athletes and reaching around 10 million young people. Recent evaluations of such initiatives confirm that, under...
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6 Things to Know about Civil Society Organizations and AFD
Civil society organizations (CSOs) act as mediators between public authorities and communities. This empowers them to push forward social action and support sustainable and inclusive development pathw...
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AFD Launches New Program to Protect Marine Ecosystems
AFD recently launched the “Blue Carbon Facility”, a new financial tool to ensure the long-term preservation of marine ecosystems based on improving knowledge, integrating this issue into public policy...
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5 lesser-known benefits of sport
Sport is good for our health, but not only! It is also a tremendous tool for peace, social inclusion and gender equality. Here's an overview.
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The Degradation of Ecosystems in Africa
A recent study by experts from AFD and the Sahel and Sahara Observatory confirms that several countries in Africa are suffering from severe ecological degradation. The findings are detailed in the fi...
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Artificial Intelligence: Threat or Opportunity?
With an estimated four billion people voting in elections in more than 60 countries this year, observers fear the increasing use of artificial intelligence will pose problems for the political process...
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The Commons: Unleashing its Potential Across Africa
“The Commons” are shared resources managed independently by a community. To what extent do they contribute to objectives of general interest? How can public bodies safeguard these resources? The co-au...
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African Economies 2024: Light at the end of the Tunnel?
Over the past year, economic growth across the African continent remained higher than global growth rates, but it was slower than in 2022. What explains the slowdown of some, and the advance of others...
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[VIDEO]: Developing Countries' Daunting Debt-Climate Dilemma
Many countries are caught in a spiral of climate disasters, reconstruction costs and the impossibility of investing in the climate in the long term. A new AFD tool makes it possible to measure the dua...
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Reducing Reliance on Carbon in Vietnam, and making it More Resilient to Climate Change
Vietnam is amplifying its efforts to cope with climate change and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. Last December, it became the third country to enter into a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JE...
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