Dear newsletter subscriber,
It’s a day in early March in Nairobi. A storm is brewing. Within half an hour, the sky has turned dark as night. And then the rain begins. Water cascades down from the sky. Within ten minutes, it is seeping in under the front door, dripping from the ceiling and forcing its way through our window panes. An hour later, it’s all over. At least 108 people lost their lives that night and in the days of flooding that followed. Two years earlier, when Kenya was hit by similar storms that lasted nearly three weeks, the death toll was estimated at 294.
It’s a day in mid-August. I’m back in my German home region of the Palatinate Forest. In the afternoon, the air starts getting hazier and there’s a pervasive smell of burning. A little while later, a fire engine appears through a wall of smoke, instructing local residents through a loudhailer to keep their doors and windows closed. Soon afterwards, the local mayor gives the all-clear on Instagram – explaining that it’s not our forest that’s burning; the smoke is coming from the wildfires in Belgium and the neighbouring federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland.
Devastating forest fires in Spanish and French holiday regions, more than 12,000 heat-related deaths in Germany alone, and water levels in the Rhine and Danube so low that companies are scaling back production due to increased shipping costs – calls for crisis summits are now being heard across the board. But who is calling for an admission that things need not have come to this if climate action had been taken in a timely and consistent manner?
Humanity has turned our planet into the backdrop for a disaster movie. It’s too late to stop this film from playing, but we can still rewrite the screenplay. Contributors to the latest D+C edition report on people on the coasts of Bangladesh, in the wetlands of Zimbabwe and in the dunes of the Sahara who have already found ways of coping in an increasingly hot world. They should be on the guest list – along with the many others who have already been living on the front line of the climate crisis for years – when the crisis summits are convened.
Please feel free to share your opinions, criticisms and suggestions by emailing us at euz.editor@dandc.eu. |
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Kind regards,
Katharina Otieno
editor at D+C |
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Our latest Digital Monthly:
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| How are we going to survive the climate crisis? |
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© picture alliance/BMZ/photothek.de/Felix Zahn
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An investment in water is an investment in security
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In her exclusive article, Reem Alabali Radovan, Germany’s federal minister for economic cooperation and development, explains how water scarcity is exacerbating crises and conflicts worldwide – and what German development cooperation is doing, for example in Iraq and Jordan, to ensure people have secure access to water.
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© picture alliance / Hans Lucas / Martin Bertrand
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© picture alliance / robertharding / Michael Runkel
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Learning climate resilience from the Tuareg
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The nomadic Tuareg have lived for centuries in one of the most inhospitable climates on Earth: the Sahara. Their way of life continues to thrive today thanks to traditional well laws, diversified livelihoods and digitised oral networks. When it comes to the survival of humanity in a heating world, we should learn from them, writes researcher Rachid Bouajila.
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of the global population faced hunger in 2025, according to a recent report on the state of food security and nutrition by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). More specifically, this figure represents the share of the global population whose usual kilocalorie intake falls below the minimum required to maintain a normal, active and healthy life. The 2025 figure not only marks a decrease from 2024 (8.1%) and 2022 (8.6%), but also falls below the pre-pandemic level of 8.0% recorded in 2019.
FAO Chief Economist Máximo Torero, however, stresses that these figures only cover 2025 and therefore do not account for potential setbacks caused by the Iran war and the subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Projections that consider the effects of the conflict estimate that around 510 to 520 million people could still face hunger in 2030, compared with 503 million in a scenario without the conflict. Other factors, including extreme weather events such as El Niño in 2026 and 2027, are not reflected in these estimates and could further slow progress.
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Chile has become the first country in the Americas to eliminate leprosy. In March, it became only the second country in the world – after Jordan – to be officially recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as free of leprosy. Leprosy is a chronic bacterial infectious disease that primarily affects the skin, mucous membranes and peripheral nervous system. The affected areas of skin lose their sensitivity to pain, touch or temperature, which can lead to unnoticed and repeated injuries, among other complications.
In countries with good healthcare and high standards of hygiene, particularly in North America and Europe, leprosy has been virtually eradicated. However, countries in tropical and subtropical regions continue to be severely affected. In addition to early-detection programmes, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised the importance of universal access to healthcare in order to “consign diseases from ancient times to history.” |
| What has also caught our interest |
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Roofs as water tanks in Mexico City
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In Mexico City’s informal settlements, many homes are not connected to the water network at all, and even in “better” neighbourhoods, the supply fails during periods of drought. This report in The Guardian shows just how simple and effective an alternative can be: collecting, filtering and storing rainwater from the roof.
For Ana Aparicio Bahena in the Cristo Rey settlement, such a system (2500 litres plus an additional tank for watering) has transformed her daily life: instead of queuing for water at water lorries and lugging buckets home, the family can once again wash, clean and bathe without any problems – and today, prickly pears, avocados, lemons and vegetables grow in their garden. Behind many of these systems is the organisation Isla Urbana, which since 2009 has primarily been supplying low-income households, whilst also equipping schools and sharing knowledge. State-guaranteed, permanent access to clean water remains crucial – yet the principle turns roofs into small, decentralised lifelines.
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Who is paying the price for Uganda’s oil boom?
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Twenty years ago, oil was discovered in Uganda’s Buliisa District. Oil production is set to begin at the end of this year – and is expected to bring in billions for the country. The Balaalo, a group of pastoralists, have been waiting for 16 years for compensation for having to give up their homeland to make way for the oil infrastructure. They were forcibly evicted from their land in 2010 during a military operation. An estimated 640 families lost their grazing land, homes and livestock.
This article by Musinguzi Blanshe and Romain Gras in The Africa Report paints a complex picture of controversial land acquisitions, conflicts with local farmers, political propaganda and oil interests. In 2013, a court ruled that the eviction was unlawful and constituted a serious violation of the law. The authorities and the companies involved – first and foremost TotalEnergies – point to separate legal proceedings and areas of responsibility. For those who were displaced, the link between the loss of their homes and the oil boom could not be clearer. |
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| Combating radicalisation through religious knowledge and patience |
When people talk about terrorism in the Sahel, the discussion usually centres on military operations, coups and drones. In this article, Al Jazeera draws attention to a different approach: preventive work carried out by women. More specifically, it focuses on Mauritania’s mourchidates – state-trained Islamic counsellors who work in schools, mosques, hospitals and prisons.
These women are not merely pastoral carers; they are theologically trained. They speak with at-risk young people and with prisoners who use religion to justify violence, and dismantle such arguments verse by verse. This may sound unspectacular – and that is precisely why it is remarkable. Meaningful preventative work does not have to be defined by men in negotiation rooms; and relationships, dialogue and humanity can be more effective than the heavy-handed approach of security policy.
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The fifth Africa Facts Summit will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, on 21–22 October, bringing together fact-checkers, journalists, researchers, policymakers, technologists and civil-society representatives. Organised by Africa Check, the programme will include panels, workshops, presentations and interactive sessions on AI, disinformation networks, platform accountability, elections, foreign influence, media literacy and the information-integrity sector. Tickets are on sale until 30 September. |
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Imprint
Publisher information: ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL gGmbH Service für Entwicklungsinitiativen
Publisher: Fazit Communication GmbH, Pariser Straße 1, D-60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Telephone: +49 (0)69 7591-3110 | Email: euz.editor@dandc.eu
Webseite: www.fazit.de | Managing Directors: Jonas Grashey, Hannes Ludwig |
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