By 2030, nearly 60% of the world’s population will live in cities. Mayors and city governments are now collaborating at a transnational level to deal with challenges such as climate change and poverty, and are carving out a new role for themselves as independent global actors.
Reporting from the World Science Forum, Hanns Neubert senses a sea change in attitudes towards the role of science in reducing poverty. Governments are spending more; young people are choosing science careers. Yet poor people will not benefit with...
Norway is a generous donor and enjoys high visibility as a peace broker. Public support is high, despite criticism from some quarters. It now wants to rejuvenate the UN and work more closely with the EU.
Humans have transformed the planet beyond recognition, and the institutions and governance mechanisms regulating our relationship with the natural environment cannot cope. New, integrated systems of governance, from local to global levels, are nee...
Nationalist tendencies make one fear that the supposedly progressive influence of the European Union internationally will come to nothing. We asked Otto Homan to reflect on The Broker’s recent blogs on Europe’s future.
With the World Food Summit in Rome in November and the Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in early December 2009, climate change and hunger are once again hot topics. Agriculture is at the heart of both. Official delegations, civil society...
A lucrative oil industry means Angola’s economy is booming. Yet poor rural areas receive little funding. Sergio Calundungo, director of ADRA, a large NGO, wants research to investigate how high-level decisions are made concerning rural livelihoods.
We all know what happens in times of disaster. The mask of civility and morality constraining our selfish, animal instincts falls away. People panic, mobs form and there’s looting, arson and mayhem. Think of T...
It is time to recognize cities as global actors. City networks are reaching across the globe and city governments are collaborating on crucial environmental issues. Coordinating policy at a local level, they are increasingly taking the lead in tac...
Reuters/ Rebecca Cook A city with clout. ‘Fist’ of Boxer, Joe Louis, New York. The alternative climate summit for mayors in Copenhagen in December 2009 aims to put cities at the top of the climate change a...
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Described as a ‘pocket-sized medium power’, the Netherlands has always struggled with its size. It has never felt satisfied, like a teenager in front of a mirror. Within NATO, the Netherlands has for years wanted to be the biggest of the small. Wh...
In this second report on The Broker thesis project we highlight the work of two researchers who examined water management systems in Africa. Their theses have been reviewed by Meine Pieter van Dijk of the UNESCO–IHE Institute for Water Education,...
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Cities are taking the lead in tackling global environmental problems locally. They form international networks to try to influence global politics and collaborate to share information and best practices.