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Tracking Goats and Bleach, Artificial Intelligence Helps Out in Crises
From knowing if it's safe to rebuild a damaged home to readying aid for displaced people, technology that harnesses AI is proving handy before and when disasters hit.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Cash is replacing other forms of aid, even in conflict zones
Giving cash to poor people is not a new idea. The UN sends money direct to bank accounts it sets up for Syrian refugees in Jordan; many countries use cash transfers as part of their social safety nets. What is new is donors’ willingness to give out cash in war zones.
- Categories
- Finance
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Running Out of Gas: Can This Innovative Solar and Battery Electric Generator Fight Energy Poverty – And Climate Change?
The electric generator market is predicted to grow to US $27 billion by 2023. But as the industry grows, so too will the need for fuel to power it – a major challenge in a world struggling to reduce carbon emissions and climate change. Portable Electric believes it has found a solution: a portable generator that can be powered by solar and wind to provide completely renewable, mobile energy – at three times the efficiency of traditional generators. The company's founder, Mark Rabin discusses the technology, and its uses in everything from micro-grids to disaster relief.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
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Report: New Earth imagery platform aims to tackle global challenges including disasters
“As global threats like climate change rapidly grow, observation systems and analytical technologies such as machine learning allow us to analyse landscapes and communities at a scale that was previously impractical and inaccessible to global development practitioners,” said Anne Hale Miglarese, founder and CEO of Radiant Earth Foundation.
- Categories
- Technology
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Press release: Largest Non-Governmental Climate Insurance Program Launches for African & Asian Smallholder Farmers
Over 690,000 families totalling up to four million people living in six low-income countries stand to benefit from a new climate insurance programme launched today by VisionFund International, World Vision’s microfinance arm and Global Parametrics, a new venture funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and by the InsuResilience Investment Fund, set up by German development bank KfW and managed by Swiss-based impact investment manager BlueOrchard Finance. Financing for the initial preparation and assessment required to implement the programme came from the Rockefeller Foundation and FMO, the Dutch development bank.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press release: IPA and J-PAL announce US$16 million grant from UK government to fund new research on solutions to challenges in governance, crime and conflict, and peace and recovery
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), two research centers working to support evidence-informed policymaking, were jointly awarded a grant of GBP£12 million (US$16 million) from the UK Department for International Development to generate new research on effective policies to promote peace and good governance, reduce crime, and support individuals and communities recovering from conflict.
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SkyAlert: Millions of Mexicans turn to earthquake early warning app after deadly quakes kill 460
Since two massive earthquakes hit Mexico in September and claimed more than 460 lives, an early warning start-up called SkyAlert has doubled its users to 5.8 million, making it one of the country’s most downloaded apps.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Flirting with disaster? World Bank’s push for climate insurance questioned
The program marks one example of the Bank’s promotion of climate insurance over the past decade, as part of a wider approach focused on leveraging private insurance and investor markets to increase ‘pre-arranged’ disaster risk financing.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
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