Article11 May

Disaster related to natural events is up but governance lags

Sergio Abranches

Over the last seven years disasters related to extreme natural events have hit all regions of the world. There was not a single year without a major disaster. A significant amount has been related to extreme weather events. Still a majority of the vulnerable countries in the developed and emerging world are not adequately investing in disaster prevention and reduction. More »

Article11 May

Can local sustainable development save the Amazon?

Sergio Abranches

Local sustainable development 2.0, that’s how we should call what is happening in 80 municipalities of the Brazilian giant state of Pará, in the Amazon region. Pará is 1.8 times the size of Texas. These 80 towns are basically dominated by cattle-ranching and some timber production. Beef, timber, and soybean have been the main culprits for a long history of illegal logging, that has claimed about 20% of the Amazon rainforest, and 27% of Pará’s forest cover. More »

Article04 May

An African looking at Africa and China

Sergio Abranches

Manuel is an investment banker from Mozambique. He runs an investment and private equity company with stakes in pratically all sectors of almost all African countries. He moved from Mozambique to Namibia, where he lives. So far all his company’s investment were financed with its own capital. No leveraging. He is in a strategic position that gives him a broader and yet deep view of what is going on in Africa. We’ve met recently at an event on global sustainable logistics and had a long conversation about China’s involvement in the region. He asked me to have our talk off the records, for understandable reasons, that’s why I don’t write his full name. Our chat was in Portuguese our common language. More »