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Since the establishment of the Climate Convention and its recent Paris Agreement, capacity building has been considered as a fundamental prerequisite for achieving the goals of the climate regime. Various institutional architectures have been explored, while the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) established the Paris Committee on Capacity-Building aiming to address needs and gaps, along with promoting current, emerging, and further capacity-building efforts. Efforts to build capacity have been underway for decades but have largely failed in their objectives as they were not designed from, and rooted in, the local context. Drawing from the author's more than 40 years of personal experience in capacity building in Africa, this paper sheds light on the systemic challenges involved in building capacities. Arrangements that do not entail working on, or being led by, an agenda set by those in capacity needs are not, by definition, capacity mobilization or capacity building efforts. It is argued that capacity is tied to self-reliance and self-determination and thus ability to set and pursue the recipient's own agenda must be at the core of development narratives. Key policy insights Self-reliance and self-determination are at the core of capacity development. Therefore, countries need to set and pursue their own agenda by creating and following a bottom-up and inclusive development narrative. Intellectual, financial, and other important resources need to fall under the control of local leadership. Partnerships and networks of research centres think tanks and similar institutions in the South should be created and maintained to build capacities. Climate change, while a global issue, must be addressed based on a deep understanding of the local and national contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite three decades of political efforts and a wealth of research on the causes and catastrophic impacts of climate change, global carbon dioxide emissions have continued to rise and are 60% higher today than they were in 1990. Exploring this rise through nine thematic lenses—covering issues of climate governance, the fossil fuel industry, geopolitics, economics, mitigation modeling, energy systems, inequity, lifestyles, and social imaginaries—draws out multifaceted reasons for our collective failure to bend the global emissions curve. However, a common thread that emerges across the reviewed literature is the central role of power, manifest in many forms, from a dogmatic political-economic hegemony and influential vested interests to narrow techno-economic mindsets and ideologies of control. Synthesizing the various impediments to mitigation reveals how delivering on the commitments enshrined in the Paris Agreement now requires an urgent and unprecedented transformation away from today's carbon- and energy-intensive development paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, Biodiversity, Population growth, Risk interaction Forum, 1 October 2021 Keywords: Climate change; Biodiversity; Population growth; Risk interaction EN Climate change Biodiversity Population growth Risk interaction 5 7 3 01/24/22 20220101 NES 220101 More details of the RACC and its International Advisory Committee are set out at https://www.stsforum.org/racc/iac.php. [Extracted from the article]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue related to the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs) including the knowledge action networks, the Social Innovation Laboratory and sustainable food systems.

Letter to the Editor [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resource curse haunts countries whose economies have become dangerously specialized in the exploitation of a single resource. This curse threatens countries whose economies are poorly diversified and oriented mainly towards the export of their non-renewable natural resources, such as oil. What about the exploitation of an abundant renewable natural resource such as solar energy? Based on a case study of six solar power plants in six African countries (Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Africa), this paper analyzes the extent to which the impacts of the exploitation of these energy systems contribute to this curse. The research method is qualitative (296 interviews) and quantitative (use of a sustainability index), making it possible to analyze the impacts of solar power plants on four levels (local, regional, national, and international). Our results reveal four findings symptomatic of the resource curse: (i) the emergence of conflict situations, (ii) fragile local development, (iii) latent financial risk, and (iv) limited economic development leverage. In short, the resource curse linked to the use of renewable energies seems to bring another challenge to the landscape of energy transition. • Resource curse haunts countries specialized in the exploitation of a single resource. • Could this unique resource be a renewable resource such as solar energy? • The exploitation of large-scale solar power plants could contribute to the curse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to understand the impacts of climate changes on groundwater resources in the African continent in which groundwater components constitute one of the most indispensable resources for development. Design/methodology/approach – Observed data are used for the first time to illustrate the manifested impacts of climate changes on the groundwater resources either directly or indirectly, this includes the comparison between isoheytal maps as well as water level data versus time. Findings – The results of the analysis suggest that climate change is likely to impact groundwater resources, either directly, e.g. via changing precipitation patterns, or indirectly, e.g. through the interaction of changing precipitation patterns via changing land-use practices and water demand. These changes may concern both groundwater quantity and quality. Climate change will affect groundwater recharge rates, i.e. the renewable groundwater resource, and groundwater levels. Any decrease in groundwater recharge will exacerbate the effect of sea-level rise. In inland aquifers, a decrease in groundwater recharge can lead to saltwater intrusion of neighbouring saline aquifers, and increased evapotranspiration in semi-arid and arid regions may lead to the salinisation of shallow aquifers. Originality/value – In Africa, climate change and variability have the potential to impose additional pressures on water availability, water accessibility and water demands which will directly be impacted on eradicating poverty as a direct consequence of climate changes on sustainable development in Africa. A more refined understanding from specialists should be addressed to raise public and stakeholder awareness in this respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]