NOTE: When I interned with the Wilson Center, I was not aware of how USAID worked, and was taking the best opportunity I could to work in the environmental field right out of college. As a dedicated anti-imperialist, while I am appreciative of the time spent with my wonderful coworkers, who I learned a lot from, I ask anyone visiting this work to treat it with many grains of salt-- USAID funding has a specific agenda that frequently does not align with my own personal views on environmentalism, economic justice, and America's imperialist intervention in the world. I know youthful ignorance and naivete is no excuse for my involvement, but it is my explanation. I also have nothing but appreciation for my former co-workers there, who were only good to me, and I think were there out of a sincere mission, even if I disagree now as to whether good work can be done with USAID funding. -------- As climate change threatens more extreme weather, it is becoming more important to incorporate disaster risk reduction into poverty-reduction efforts, writes the Overseas Development Institute in a new report. The authors of The Geography of Poverty, Disasters, and Climate Extremes in 2030 argue that the hard-won gains of development are threatened by vulnerability among the poorest to climate change disasters, especially droughts.

"The BALANCED initiative in Tanzania’s Saadani National Park, “the only terrestrial park in the country with a contiguous marine area,” released the results of a 2012 progress survey on its efforts to create community champions for sustainable natural resource management and family planning awareness. Compared to the last survey in 2009, they found increased family planning awareness, higher contraceptive distribution and usage, and improved discussion and acceptance of contraceptive use from male partners. BALANCED-trained community-based distributors provided contraception to “31 percent of all pill users and 21 percent of all condom users.” Survey results also show a greater community awareness of the impact of individual and collective actions on the surrounding biosphere. The report calls for the continued training of community-based distributors and PHE “champions,” along with outreach to the private sector in order to ensure training and distribution can continue without the permanent presence of the BALANCED Project."

"Rising sea levels threaten coastal cities and island nations with natural disasters, rising temperatures spread tropical disease to new regions, and increased migration of populations away from coastal and drought-prone regions results in economic and agricultural displacement – a major issue on a continent struggling with refugees, environmental- and otherwise. High vulnerability regions for these varied threats are often mutually inclusive (see above). The PAI study identified 15 “hotspot” countries that have “high projected population growth, high projected declines in agricultural production, and low resilience to climate change.” These nations also face widespread conditions of water stress or water scarcity (defined, respectively, as below 1,700 cubic meters and 1,000 cubic meters of water per person annually). De Souza singled out Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Malawi, and Somalia as particularly vulnerable."