The past year has been full of immense development challenges. Whilst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic continued to exacerbate inequities, conflicts continued in Ethiopia and Yemen and a new war broke out in Ukraine. Extreme weather events caused by climate change caused devastation globally on an alarming scale, and politically we saw multi-lateral cooperation under strain and turbulence at country level – including in the UK.
Yet amongst the crisis and chaos, 2022 has brought some symbols of hope and solidarity. Communities have come together in protest, and to fight for gender, LGBTQI+, environmental and human rights. The election of a new Government in Brazil that has pledged to prioritise international cooperation and better protect the Amazon is a beacon of hope for global deforestation and environmental protection efforts. Also, in an historic breakthrough, key progress was made at COP27 on a loss and damage, though much remains to be negotiated. Below we recap some of these key global events from the year and the impacts they have had on development.
Conflict on the rise
February saw devastation and a tragic loss to both lives and livelihoods in Ukraine as Russian forces invaded. Now in its nineth month, the repercussions of the war continue to be felt deeply particularly on food security within Ukraine and around the world. In Ethiopia, another catastrophic human rights and humanitarian crisis continued, as November marked the two-year anniversary of war in Tigray. IDS research fellow Lyla Mehta and colleagues wrote earlier in the year on how Tigrayan farmers are on the brink of war-induced famine, and made an urgent call for peace in the country.
Tragic though the circumstances continue to be in Ukraine and Tigray, they are not happening in isolation. Data collected by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) , a partner in the IDS-led Covid Collective, reveals how widespread armed conflict is throughout the world.
Intensifying climate disasters
Unprecedented heatwaves hit Europe this summer, causing the spread of wildfires that destroyed both homes and habitats. In Asia, India and Pakistan suffered record-breaking temperatures throughout March, April and May, and monsoon rains in August led to the worst floods in Pakistan’s recent history, as 33 million people were displaced and many lost their lives. Large parts of the country continue to grapple with the aftermath, as Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari described at this year’s IDS Annual Lecture.
Faced with another year of climate induced drought and increasingly unpredictable rainfalls, compounded by blockages on wheat and fertilizer and rocketing food prices, countries in East Africa started to face the worst famine in decades. IDS research shows that previously effective coping strategies now fail to address the extent of damage from unpredictable cyclones, floods, and droughts. The IDS hosted-ANTICIPATE project found that farmers in Northern India now struggle to live between periods of intense heat and drought from May to July, followed by flash floods from August to September.
Political changes
2022 brought significant political changes around the world. In Angola, IDS researcher Edmilson Angelo analysed how young people created new spaces of online resistance and participation during the general election. In May there were intensifying protests in Sri Lanka, where corruption, debt finance dependence, political instability and soaring inflation led to the eventual collapse of the government, in what IDS Fellow Mick Moore labelled a ‘voluntary’ crisis of the Government’s making. Most recently, the election of Luiz Lula de Silva in Brazil has global implications for South-South cooperation, international development, and international climate policy.
Gender rights and backlash
June brought the overturning of the landmark 1973 ‘Roe vs Wade’ supreme court ruling in the US, in a drastic rowing back of women’s reproductive rights. Researchers from the Countering Backlash programme described this as a part of a global backlash driven by right-wing populist forces and their allies, based on the perceived gains of rights of women and LGBTQI+ movements since the 1980s.
In September, large scale women-led protests broke out in Iran after Masha Amini died in police custody. The protests were met by a brutal crackdown by the Iranian authorities leading to multiple deaths. IDS research continued to explore collective action against gender justice, women’s power struggles across South Asia, and how religious inequalities intersect with gender inequalities across the world.
Cooperation on the global stage
Limited progress was made at the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in Geneva this year, as negotiations stalled on key areas such institutional reform and agricultural trade policy. This reinforced calls for a restricted global trading system to focus on inclusivity, and supported a growing body of IDS research on inclusive and sustainable trade policy.
At COP27 in Egypt last month, there was disappointment over the lack of clear progress on strengthening climate and energy transition targets. One major achievement came in negotiations over loss and damage, though the mechanisms for financing and distributing a loss and damage fund are yet to be decided. where parties aim to agree a new global targets to limit biodiversity loss. IDS research stressed the importance of including pastoralists and other marginalised groups and in debates on climate and biodiversity, rather than imposing largescale and often inappropriate adaption and conservation programmes.
UK support for international development
The turbulence of the British Government this year resulted in long periods of uncertainty around the future of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget. Figures released in April showed that the reduction of the UK’s ODA budget from 0.7% of GNI to 0.5% in 2021 resulted in a real terms reduction of £4.6bn. Though spending figures for 2022 are yet to be published, a three-month ODA spending freeze and reallocation have dramatically reduced the UK’s ability to deliver the high-quality aid and interdisciplinary research essential to improving the lives of people around the world.
In July, the FCDO department was downgraded in the Aid Transparency Index, and has been repeatedly criticised for its poor record on transparency. One positive sign came in September as a Minister for International Development was appointed for the first time since 2020. Current post holder Minister Andrew Mitchell MP has been a strong advocate for development, and recently committed to improve scrutiny on ODA spend across all government departments.
A look ahead to 2023
In 2023, we will reach the halfway mark in the path to the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals. Yet the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 painted a bleak picture of progress in almost all areas. Reflecting above on year marked by crisis, a new clarity emerges that it’s time for deep, structural change on a global scale.
At IDS we enter the new year calling for a radical reimagining of what is possible. This includes rethinking economies, re-envisaging humanity-nature connections, engaging critically with digitalisation on a massive scales and elaborating new principles for justice and the valuable of knowledge. Will 2023 be a year in which we make progress on development, or continue to falter?
This year’s Sussex Development Lecture series ‘Global Solidarities for Development’ has explored new thinking around the reform of development banks, solidarities beyond the traditional model of development aid, and commoning and community asset ownership. In the new year January lectures will continue to reimage what global solidarities could look like for a equitable and just world.
