Category: IDDRI

Towards a sustainable European food system: for a successful operationalisation of the "Farm to Fork" strategy
Covid-19 / IDDRI

Towards a sustainable European food system: for a successful operationalisation of the “Farm to Fork” strategy

European Commission published its Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system, one of the Green Deal’s 11 components. In its general principles, the strategy sets an ambitious course for the transformation of the entire sector, in line with recent scientific findings modelling sustainable food systems. Achieving the drafted objectives will, however, require going a step further by making this strategy the reference framework for the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the deployment of industrial strategies in the food sector (particularly in the context of the negotiations of the post-Covid-19 crisis recovery plans) and the (re)negotiation of international trade agreements.

Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A necessary horizon for the post-crisis recovery, but how to do it?
Covid-19 / IDDRI

Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A necessary horizon for the post-crisis recovery, but how to do it?

The current health crisis has shown, both in its emergence and in its impacts, multifaceted and interconnected risks and vulnerabilities, both in humanitarian and social, economic and environmental terms. Most of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are concerned, individually and above all in their indivisibility, which constitutes the core and added value of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the context of post-crisis reconstruction, more than ever, the implementation of this universal agenda is a necessity, particularly to reduce vulnerabilities to crises by optimising the interactions between the SDGs. This post proposes some avenues.

Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: prerequisites, and opportunities for the post-Covid-19 crisis
Covid-19 / IDDRI

Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: prerequisites, and opportunities for the post-Covid-19 crisis

With a view to supporting international discussions currently taking place within the United Nations’ SDG monitoring process, and to drawing attention to the aspects of the 2030 Agenda most relevant to the global crisis response (health, food, livelihoods, etc), this Issue Brief from IDDRI intends to provide professionals in the fields of development, diplomacy and finance with a strategic in-depth understanding of the complexity and challenges embedded in the issue of financing the 2030 Agenda; it also suggests avenues for more efficient financing processes in terms of principles, instruments and partnerships.

Under what conditions can the Covid-19 pandemic be a catalyst towards more sustainable lifestyles?
Covid-19 / IDDRI

Under what conditions can the Covid-19 pandemic be a catalyst towards more sustainable lifestyles?

The measures taken to fight the Covid-19 pandemic are changing our daily lives. Many see this as an opportunity to initiate more sustainable behaviours, and even hope that this experience of imposed sobriety will be transformed into a real awareness in favour of more virtuous lifestyles for the environment.

What the Covid-19 economic crisis could change to the development finance agenda
Covid-19 / IDDRI

What the Covid-19 economic crisis could change to the development finance agenda

For the second time over the last ten years, low-income economies are confronted with the challenge of overcoming a macro crisis they did not spark and for which they have disproportionally poor capacity to cope with compared to high-income countries. In this context, development finance institutions (DFIs) have an important role to play, both during the crisis and for the recovery.

The urgency of the crisis and a time to reflect together
Covid-19 / IDDRI

The urgency of the crisis and a time to reflect together

The crisis linked to the CoVid-19 epidemic now plunges all societies in the world into a state of exception and a strange war made of both a sanitary emergency and a suspended time, for an indefinite period. Each individual and each organisation is now making arrangements until further notice, with the shared feeling of a long period of uncertainty and deep questioning about the very foundations of our societies, our economies, and our ways of living together: our view of the world will necessarily be profoundly modified.

A shock that shakes our certainties about the resilience of our societies: what international responses?
Covid-19 / IDDRI

A shock that shakes our certainties about the resilience of our societies: what international responses?

Right in the middle of the crisis, Europe is in a state of shock. Italy, Spain and France, in particular, are experiencing an extremely deep sadness and a sense of powerlessness to help the most vulnerable, especially the elderly in our societies, despite health and social protection systems that could generally be considered better endowed and better organised than in other parts of the world. This deep moral distress goes beyond the question of how effectively different Governments have managed the crisis, and beyond questioning the policies that have undermined these social systems, although both questions will remain legitimate when it comes to learning the lessons of the crisis. The extreme vulnerability of the most fragile is bursting into our lives and into the public debate in industrialised countries.

The health crisis is shifting the lines between science, politics and society: getting a clearer picture
Covid-19 / IDDRI

The health crisis is shifting the lines between science, politics and society: getting a clearer picture

Scientists are particularly exposed in the current health crisis, where governments are using their advice to consolidate their decisions. Thus summoned as experts, also by the media, they find themselves both placed in collective responsibility, as is the case with the scientific council mobilised around the French government, and exposed individually. They also constitute a reference point, to which one can refer in order to gradually build up, as a citizen, an understanding of the situation. The role of science within society and in relation to the major political decisions that have to be made is thus extremely active, in various configurations, and subject to multiple pressures.

MFF Workshop in Paris - Report
IDDRI / Blogs / EU MFF

MFF Workshop in Paris – Report

The multi-annual financial framework report was based on a previous physical workshop event which took place in Paris on January 2020 and which brought together key players in France to agree on the conditions allowing to secure an ambitious budget dedicated to external action (“Heading 6”), particularly for the challenges of sustainable development in southern countries. The workshop and the report was also an opportunity to reflect on the role of the European Union’s external action policy.