As the new Sustainable Development Goals are launched this week, attention will be focused on some of the great global challenges that face our world. They also give us a…
SDGs: time to rethink energy infrastructure?
WSSF 2015: What role can social science play in working towards a just world?
Nearly a thousand delegates from across 84 countries are gathering right now in Durban, South Africa, for the third World Social Science Forum. The first similar forum ‘One Planet –…
Hunger and HIV: have we misread the landscape?
Some of the most important questions we have concern large and extreme events of which we have little experience and few examples. We don’t learn nearly as much as we…
Ebola: identifying the true game-changers
Compared to this time last year, news about Ebola is hugely more encouraging. Although not over, the number of new cases per week tends to be in single figures instead…
Debating Science and Technology for Development in Africa
By Ian Scoones, Director of the STEPS Centre At an event today we will be debating the STISA-2024 (Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa) initiative by the African Union…
Cecil the Lion and Zimbabwe’s conservation carve-up
The huge uproar generated by the shooting of Cecil the lion provides a fascinating lens into Zimbabwe’s new elite land politics and the relationship between humans and “wild” nature. The…
Tackling climate change: the contested politics of forest carbon projects in Africa
Tackling climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our age. And this year is a crucial moment with the Conference of the Parties meeting in Paris in…
STISA-2024: Debating Africa’s “Blueprint” for Science, Technology & Innovation
The desire to enhance the strategic use of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), and public policies in achieving Africa’s socio-economic and development aspirations started decades ago. We know that as…
What Greece can learn from Africa about the effects of austerity after a debt crisis
Ian Scoones, republished from The Conversation Some have asked what can Africa learn from Greece. I argue that Greece (and others) can learn a lot from the African experience….
Could changes in beef market regulations open opportunities in southern Africa?
Last month at the OIE (World Animal Health Organisation) Assembly in Paris, changes to international regulatory standards around Foot and Mouth Disease were adopted. This has long been argued for, and…