Nepal: A lesson in the risks climate change poses to disaster-prone countries

30 Apr 2015 by Daniel Buckley, Climate Change Policy and Finance Analyst, UNDP Sustainable Development Group

As relief assistance rushes to Nepal after the earthquake, those efforts are being hampered by a number of factors. Weak existing infrastructure means many critical roads have been damaged. Remote mountain villages perched on hillsides require helicopters to distribute aid. Inadequate communications networks complicate the ability to understand and prioritise where relief is most needed. … Read more

Nepal: Why we must work together to reduce the risk of disasters in vulnerable countries

29 Apr 2015 by Helen Clark, Administrator, UNDP

In 2011, I went on an official tour of downtown Kathmandu called the “Earthquake Walk.” This tour, led by the government and other partners on disaster preparedness, was intended to demonstrate the vulnerabilities of residential and other buildings, including those of heritage and religious significance, to the next large earthquake that would strike the region one day. What I learned on the tour was alarming. … Read more

Indigenous youth and the post-2015 development agenda

28 Apr 2015 by Laurence Klein, Programme Specialist for Indigenous Participation, UNDP Latin America and the Caribbean

Imagine that instead of excluding marginalized groups, we include them in the new international post-2015 development agenda. Now, imagine the future development agenda built on the enormous potential of indigenous peoples with their ancestral knowledge. Now combine this knowledge with the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit and the mobilizing and transforming capacity of indigenous youth. Wouldn’t you listen to these voices? … Read more

Breaking new ground: UNDP’s electoral lexicon

27 Apr 2015

With close to 500 entries in Arabic, English and French, the lexicon documents the most widely accepted electoral terms in Arabic accounting for regional language variations in the eight participating countries: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen. From the responses it received, it seems that the Lexicon is destined to grow and become a living work of reference and an important knowledge tool. … Read more

It is time to focus on the real drivers of malaria

24 Apr 2015 by Dudley Tarlton, Programme Specialist, Health and Development

Eliminating malaria seems like a straightforward issue. The virus is transmitted to people through bites from infected mosquitoes. So if we prevent the mosquito bites, we can eliminate the virus. But decades of malaria control efforts show there is more to the story. Much of our vulnerability to malaria, it turns out, is determined by human actions. The conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age define to a great extent who is vulnerable to malaria and who is not. … Read more