Dryland forests in the Sahel are remarkable ecosystems that embody resilience and adaptability. Stretching across the arid landscape, iconic tree species such as Acacia, Baobab, and Shea trees stand as symbols of endurance, providing vital resources like food, medicine, and shade for both communities and livestock. These tenacious forests are not only lifelines for biodiversity but also cornerstones of local livelihoods.
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Forests and food are interconnected. As the world accelerates towards a food transition that delivers better, more sustainable outcomes for people and the planet, we must recognize that forests, woodlands, and landscapes are critical to this transition, but also to wider sustainable development goals. Investments in forests are investments in local communities, national economies, and our planet. We spoke to two of our forestry and agriculture experts on the topic.
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Across Sub-Saharan Africa, a quiet revolution is underway. Smallholder farmers are increasingly leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), once a futuristic concept, to transform agriculture. AI now plays a crucial role in addressing the region’s most pressing challenges: food insecurity, environmental degradation, and economic inequality.
Continue reading“Every time disaster strikes, you rush to bring relief. Why don’t you do more to prevent it?”
The words came from a teenage girl standing amid the devastation of the Odisha Super Cyclone in Eastern India in 1999. At the time, I was a member of the Indian Administrative Service, coordinating relief efforts 48 hours after the storm. Her question cut through the chaos and would shape my life’s work. Relief was necessary, but the real solution lies in building strong, adaptive water systems.
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Over the next decade, an unprecedented 1.2 billion young people in the Global South will become working-age adults. However, the job market in these countries is projected to create only 420 million jobs, leaving nearly 800 million people without a clear path to prosperity.
That’s why the World Bank is doubling down on job creation and employment as not just the byproduct of our projects, but the explicit aim of them. Looking to the future, it is clear that urban development will play a key role in that process.
Continue readingAcross the globe, I’ve met countless men and women driven by the conviction that when policies work for women, societies move forward. Here is a world tour of policies that are opening the gates to greater economic empowerment of women. For the benefit of all.
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World Bank Group staff are invited to the Global Digital Summit 2025, our second annual gathering of top tech leaders and digital pioneers from government, the private sector, academia, and the development community. Under the theme “Digital Pathways for All,” the Summit will explore cutting-edge topics like AI and emerging technologies, showcasing how digitalization can bridge gaps, drive innovation, and create economic opportunities worldwide.
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The most pressing global risks over the next decade are environmental—and all closely linked to water. Extreme weather, biodiversity loss, critical changes to Earth’s systems, and natural resource shortages top the list of concerns, according to the World Economic Forum Global Risk Report 2025. These risks underscore the need for long-term strategies to safeguard ecosystems, secure resources, and build resilience.
Yet, these risks do not exist in isolation. Misinformation and disinformation rank among the most pressing short-term risks, eroding trust in governance and complicating efforts to address shared crises. Water management is no exception—securing water is not just about scarcity, pollution, or infrastructure, but about governance and cooperation. The challenge lies not only in ensuring water access but in aligning efforts across users, providers, and regulators, to manage it effectively.
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Artificial intelligence is transforming the global workforce, but its impact may not affect all regions equally. Much of the conversation about AI and jobs focuses on high-income countries—where the technology threatens to reshape entire industries. But what will AI mean for workers in developing nations, who constitute 80 percent of the global workforce?
To better understand AI’s labor market impact in the developing world, in a recent paper we analyzed data from 25 countries, covering a population of 3.5 billion people. For workers in those countries, we assessed the level of AI exposure, which captures to what extent their jobs could be performed using AI. Our findings suggest that AI’s effects on jobs will be more gradual in the Global South, particularly in low-income countries.
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Netherlands for the World Bank 
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