The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) is an international conference on central issues of agricultural and food policies held each year in Berlin. Hosted by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the event welcomes 3,000 international visitors from politics, industry, science, and civil society to discuss what actions can be taken to achieve a transformation of food systems.
Greenhouse-gas emissions south of the Sahara are tiny
A window seat in a helicopter flying south-west from Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, offers an otherworldly diorama. The landscape shifts from earthly desert to Mars-red dunes, then to moonscape as the chopper nears Luderitz. In the early 1900s this tiny port was the hub for a diamond boom that brought the art-nouveau mansions that perch on the town’s slopes. More than a century on, Namibia hopes that the area will again bring riches, this time from sun, wind and land, by hosting one of Africa’s largest renewable-energy projects.
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More can be found: Netherlands International Development Pulse
As investment into developing nations drops, MIGA innovates. 
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development recently reported that global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows dropped by almost a third in the second quarter of 2022, with flows to several emerging regions down significantly and flows to Africa near zero. The outlook for FDI next year is gloomy at best.
Another 1.9 million babies were tragically stillborn during the same period, according to a separate UN report.
NEW YORK/GENEVA/WASHINGTON D.C., 10 January 2023 – An estimated 5 million children died before their fifth birthday and another 2.1 million children and youth aged between 5–24 years lost their lives in 2021, according to the latest estimates released by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).
We recently published our biannual newsletter:
More can be found: Netherlands International Development Pulse
In a world characterized by high country income differentials, rising food insecurity, and the
proliferation of conflicts, international migration is viewed by many as the path to a (better) life. Unsurprisingly, concerns are also rising in destination countries about an undue influx of migrants, especially economic migrants, fuelling antimigrant sentiment and policies.
A paradoxical narrative is further taking hold that development, and by extension development assistance, would increase (as opposed to reduce) migratory pressures, at least in first instance, and that the effect of development aid on migratory pressures has been small at best.
Domestic food price inflation remains high around the world. Information between August to November 2022 shows high inflation in almost all low-income and middle-income countries; 88.2% of low-income countries, 90.7% of lower-middle-income countries, and 93% of upper-middle-income countries have seen inflation levels above 5%, with many experiencing double-digit inflation. The share of high-income countries with high food price inflation has risen to 81.8%. The countries affected most are in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.
Download the latest brief on rising food insecurity and World Bank responses
One clear message from my dozen meetings last week with African leaders who were in
Washington for a summit with the U.S. government was that fertilizer prices are out of reach for most farmers, putting the crop cycle and rural stability at risk. One key obstacle to food production in many developing countries is access to fertilizers, which enrich the soil with the nutrients needed for healthy crops. Sufficient primary raw materials – nitrogen, potash, phosphate, and natural gas – and fertilizer production facilities are essential to farmers across the developing world, but high fertilizer prices are blocking the 2023 and 2024 crop cycle.
Netherlands for the World Bank 