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© Joe Penney / Reuters
©Peter Treanor/Alamy Stock Photo
TOP STORIES
Urban pollution: Clearing the air
Africa’s urbanisation and structural transformation
Clara Young
It’s hard to breathe in Onitsha, a major river port in Nigeria. The air is dark with car fumes. Old freighters on the River Niger expel smoke. Burning rubbish dumps outside the city’s many sprawling markets thicken the air even further.
Patrick Love
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Integrating the local and global urban agendas
An e-world apart
We don’t know the name, or the place and exact date of birth, of the baby who changed world history. My guess is that she was born somewhere in Africa in 2007.
Lyndon Thompson
In October, world leaders will gather in Quito for the Habitat III summit to launch the New Urban Agenda. This is on top of the start this year of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
©Tom Gilks / Alamy
Developing the Internet in poor countries can be a difficult business.
David Simon, Director, Mistra Urban Futures, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
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Africa’s blue economy
How China’s rebalancing affects Africa’s development finance … and more
Carlos Lopes, UN Under-Secretary-General & Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa
Helmut Reisen, Shifting Wealth Consulting and former Head of Research, OECD Development Centre
2015 has been a challenging year for Africa. Average growth of African economies weakened in 2015 to 3.6%, down from an average annual 5% enjoyed since 2000.
The world’s oceans, seas and rivers are a major source of wealth, creating trillions of dollars’ worth in goods and services as well as employing billions of people. […] Yet Africa’s blue potential remains untapped.
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Africa.radio
Africa’s choice: Business-as-usual or a green agenda?
Roman Rollnick, former Chief Editor, Advocacy, Outreach and Communications, UN-Habitat
Belynda Petrie, CEO and Co-Founder, OneWorld Sustainable Investments
The Paris Agreement on climate change signals the end of business as usual for energy industries. For the first time in history more than 150 developed and developing countries have promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But how binding are these agreements? And do they provide impetus for local action in Africa?
Though mobile technology is making waves in Africa, airwaves still count.
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Korean-African trade techs up
Korea’s trade flows with Africa, 1996-2014 US$ billion
20 Korea, Exports to Africa
Korea, Imports from Africa
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Korean trade with Africa has more than quadrupled since the late 1990s. With imports and exports totalling US$26.5 in 2014, Korea is one of the fastest emerging trade partners of the continent over the last decade. Three-quarters of Korea’s exports are composed of electronic equipment and appliances, phones and transport equipment, compared with less than half in the case of China, for instance.
Source: OECD Development Centre (calculations based on Comtrade data)
m.oecdobserver.org