In Paris delegates convened at the ‘future of development cooperation’ conference organised by the OECD's DCD which supports the work of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the leading traditional donors' aid club.
This policy brief analyses how the EU may strengthen its role and advance its legitimacy in the Arctic when redesigning its priorities and partnerships, and how, in the process, it may contribute to the redesigning of established institutions and policies to fill the vacuum left by the Arctic Council. We will first provide a brief overview of the tensions inherent in different
types of cooperation approaches, the role that the EU wishes to play in the Arctic and external expectations that concern the EU’s priorities in the Arctic. Second, we discuss how these tensions affect the EU’s legitimacy as a cooperation partner and assess factors that strengthen and weaken the EU’s perception as an actor that needs to engage in the Arctic to avoid being excluded from policy negotiations of great relevance for the EU’s short-term, mid-term and long-term priorities. Third, we conclude with how EU ambitions have
changed and how it can strengthen its legitimacy as a cooperation partner by emphasizing the human dimension of security in the Arctic.
Vast amounts of valuable materials buried inside old batteries, electronic waste, and end-of-life vehicles should be collected for critical materials. Credit: FutuRaM
By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, India, May 27 2026 (IPS)
Europe’s growing mountain of waste could become one of its most important sources of critical raw materials, according to a major new report that warns of rising geopolitical risks and growing global competition for minerals needed in the green and digital economy.
The report, released by the Horizon Europe-funded FutuRaM project, says Europe’s “urban mine” now contains vast amounts of valuable materials buried inside old batteries, electronic waste, end-of-life vehicles, construction debris and dismantled wind turbines.
Researchers behind the project say Europe must urgently improve recycling, recovery and tracking systems if it wants to reduce dependence on imported critical raw materials, many of which are dominated by a handful of countries.
“The FutuRaM project represents a substantial step forward in strengthening the knowledge base on secondary raw materials and CRMs within Europe’s urban mine,” the report states.
Kees Baldé, Senior Scientific Specialist, Sustainable Cycles at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), told Inter Press Service (IPS) in an exclusive interview that the research mapped 42 Carbon-based Conductive Materials [CMS] in seven waste streams. It shows that the current substitution potential for primary materials in the final consumption of CRMs is a maximum of 27% overall.
“By 2050, the substitution potential could increase to over 50%. At the same time, 10 more than now (so, up to 24 different CRMs) could be sourced from the analysed waste streams. The new ones include rare earth elements found for instance in permanent magnets, such as Nd, Dy, Tb, Sm and Pr, but also Li, Co and Ce in batteries,” Baldé said.
The study comes at a time when European governments are racing to secure supplies of lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements used in electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, solar panels and digital technologies.
Researchers said the project was developed amid “increasing geopolitical uncertainty, accelerating energy and digital transitions, and growing concerns regarding the security of supply of critical raw materials.”
When asked how vulnerable Europe is today when it comes to materials like lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements, Baldé said that most of them are sourced outside of the EU and supplied from single or only a few countries.
“Yet, they are critical for digitisation, renewable energy technology, and the military. Hence, they are on the critical raw material lists from the EU, and make the EU vulnerable.”
The report covers seven major waste streams, including waste batteries, construction and demolition waste, end-of-life vehicles, mining waste, slags and ashes, waste electrical and electronic equipment, and dismantled wind turbines.
One of the project’s key findings is that Europe still loses significant amounts of valuable materials because of weak collection systems, fragmented reporting rules and illegal waste flows.
“Persistent fragmentation of waste classifications, reporting systems and end-of-waste criteria across EU Member States undermines the functioning of the single market for secondary raw materials,” the report warns.
According to Baldé, the best sectors in terms of highest recovery rates and lowest tonnages of losses in tonnages are end-of-life vehicles and construction and demolition waste.
“Both have high collection rates and separate collection for some CRM rich components, such as Al and Cu. Despite this, there are still losses for several CRMs, such as rare earth metals, as indicated above. Biggest weaknesses in terms of tonnages of losses are industrial residues, such as slags and ashes,” Baldé said.
Using long-term modelling up to 2050, the project examined how different policies and recycling systems could affect future material recovery. Researchers developed three scenarios called business as usual, recovery, and circularity.
The report says improved recovery systems could significantly increase the amount of usable materials extracted from waste streams. Researchers also created a new recovery model that distinguishes between raw materials hidden inside waste and the materials that can actually be recovered after treatment.
Waste electrical and electronic equipment, commonly known as ‘e-waste’, has emerged as one of the most important future sources of valuable minerals. The study examined critical materials, including silver, gold, cobalt, gallium, neodymium, palladium and tungsten, found in electronic products.
Construction and demolition waste has one of the highest rates of waste recovery. Credit: FutuRaM
The project also studied batteries in detail, focusing on materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and copper. Researchers looked at both current recycling technologies and future recovery systems.
At the same time, the report acknowledged major data gaps and uncertainty surrounding Europe’s waste streams.
“A comprehensive assessment of data quality is essential for ensuring that the conclusions and recommendations developed in FutuRaM are scientifically sound and fit for policymaking,” the report said.
Researchers noted that many datasets remain incomplete, commercially sensitive or inconsistent between countries. In some cases, industry data could only be used after anonymisation due to confidentiality concerns.
To improve transparency, the project developed a data quality framework based on six factors, including validity, accuracy, consistency, timeliness and completeness.
The project’s influence has already reached European policymakers. According to the report, FutuRaM worked closely with the European Commission and the Joint Research Centre to support implementation of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act.
“FutuRaM has provided data and intelligence to assist Member States in complying with this Article by identifying products, components and waste streams containing relevant CRMs,” the report states.
Researchers also carried out 20 case studies using a United Nations-based classification framework known as UNFC to assess the viability of recovery projects.
The project has drawn global attention beyond Europe. According to the report, FutuRaM findings were presented at 132 external events and conferences in countries including Singapore, Brazil, Thailand, Canada, Japan, Kenya and Panama.
A related report published for International E-Waste Day 2025 was picked up by almost 900 online news outlets across 55 countries and published in 27 languages.
“All actors that have access to and handle e-waste should report their activities for tracing purposes, while enforcement mechanisms and the role of authorities should be enhanced,” Pascal Leroy, Director General of the WEEE Forum, an international association representing global electronic waste producer responsibility organisations, told IPS News in an exclusive interview.
He said that we should also improve the infrastructure for e-waste management, along with making greater investments in relevant technologies.
“Additionally, awareness campaigns and proper funding are essential, and the Urban Mine Platform should be institutionalised. Finally, adherence to treatment standards must be made legally binding,” he said.
The researchers argue that Europe now needs stronger laws, standardised reporting systems and better recycling infrastructure to turn waste into a reliable strategic resource.
Among its recommendations, the report has pitched for a “harmonised European framework for classification, reporting, and life cycle tracking of secondary raw materials”.
It also urges European governments to strengthen enforcement against illegal waste exports, improve market surveillance and invest in recycling capacity and digital reporting systems.
“Supply from EU-recycling and demand from the EU-manufacturing industry need to be matched together,” Baldé said.
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Elongo, 12, washes her hands at Epo‑Ville Primary School in Bunia, Ituri Province, DR Congo, on 22 May 2026. She had just taken part in a handwashing demonstration led by UNICEF WASH Officer Ciza Nyalundja. Credit: UNICEF/Carmel Ndomba Mbikayi
By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, May 26 2026 (IPS)
Since May 16, there has been a significant increase in the number of laboratory-confirmed and suspected Ebola cases reported across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), primarily in Ituri Province, with additional unrelated cases identified in Kampala, Uganda. Although the outbreak has remained largely confined to that region, it has been heavily linked to areas affected by insecurity, civilian displacement, and mining-related migration, raising concerns among global health experts that the outbreak could spread without effective monitoring and response efforts.
As of May 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the DRC and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued health alerts to healthcare workers and travelers regarding the spread in the region. Current projections of the virus spreading to other continents remain low at this time, with WHO stating that the outbreak does not meet the criteria of a pandemic, as defined in the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR).
“We are now revising our risk assessment to very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, on May 22 at a United Nations (UN) press briefing in Geneva, noting that there have been 82 confirmed Ebola cases and seven deaths in the DRC. However, these figures are expected to be far higher, with nearly 750 suspected cases and 177 reported suspected deaths.
Two additional confirmed cases linked with travel from the DRC have also been reported in Uganda, one of which ended in death. Furthermore, two American nationals have been transferred to Europe for treatment after being suspected of contracting the virus following prolonged “high-risk contact.”
Response efforts have been largely limited as a result of widespread civilian displacement and prolonged conflict. On May 21, the UN reported that a hospital in the Ituri province was set on fire by angry relatives after the local police refused to release the body of an infected individual to the family due to concerns of contamination.
Additionally, the outbreak has been most pronounced in the Ituri and North Kivu provinces, which have historically been the center of armed conflict and humanitarian suffering in the DRC. Over the past few months alone, there have been more than 100,000 civilians displaced in this region as a direct result of violence, which has severely constrained humanitarian response efforts.
“These are some of the most difficult operating environments in the world for our life-saving work,” said Tom Fletcher, UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a statement shared to X. “We face conflict and high population movement. We are working to secure safe and sustained access for frontline responders, including to areas controlled by armed groups. It is essential that there is no obstruction to our response. We must have access to all routes — air, land, and water — across the affected areas.”
According to Ghebreyesus, approximately four million people are in dire need of humanitarian intervention, two million are displaced, and ten million are facing acute food insecurity. Women will be disproportionately affected, as they often serve in caregiving roles, domestic labour, and frontline services, all of which increase their risk of infection. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable, while quarantine measures have been linked with rising rates of gender based violence.
These risks have been exacerbated by the collapse of health systems in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces, where needs are most dire. In 2025, WHO recorded more than 1.5 million people across these provinces who lost access to primary healthcare facilities. Approximately 85 percent of healthcare centers face critical drug shortages.
“Even if people are sick, they may be suspected cases, they cannot access health services, and therefore they cannot be detected, they cannot be diagnosed,” said Teresa Zakaria, WHO’s Unit Head of Humanitarian Operations. “Within the outbreak response as well, we need to really make sure that essential health services for everyone in the two provinces are safeguarded, especially for those who have been forcibly displaced and extremely vulnerable.”
Humanitarian experts have stressed that restoring the public’s confidence in agencies’ capability to contain the outbreak will be crucial moving forward. Following the 2013-2016 Western Africa Ebola epidemic, many communities are still carrying trauma and have harbored a deep distrust in the humanitarian response.
Many residents across the region continue to seek treatment, while others believe that Ebola is “fabricated,” according to Gabriela Arenas of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
“They remember the fear. They remember the rumours spreading to villages. They remember neighbours disappearing into treatment centres,” said Arenas. “During an Ebola outbreak, trust and community acceptance can mean the difference between containment and wider transmission.”
Supplies handed over by UNICEF Chief Field Office Ibrahim Abdi Shire hands over supplies to the Provincial Health Directorate in Bukavu, South Kivu Province, DR Congo, on 20 May 2026. Credit: UNICEF/Christian Kalengera
On May 22, Fletcher announced that up to $60 million USD from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund will be allocated to support containment, treatment, and monitoring efforts in DRC and surrounding countries. WHO also announced that it has deployed 22 international staff to provide direct frontline assistance and released $3.9 million USD from its contingency fund. The agency, in collaboration with Africa’s CDC, has established a continental incident management team to support frontline responders and protect vulnerable communities.
“We are applying lessons from previous outbreaks,” said Fletcher. “Containment depends on fast, coordinated action at the community level. We need strong communication with governments and effective early warning and detection systems across affected countries. Community trust is essential: we will continue delivering wider humanitarian support to people affected, engage closely with them to understand their needs, preposition supplies where possible, and avoid militarised delivery of support.”
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Anup Jagwani, Global Director for Farming and Agribusiness at the World Bank Group, addresses the World Seed Congress. Credit: Supplied
By Friday Phiri
LISBON, May 26 2026 (IPS)
It is often said that the quality of seed determines the quality of the produce and, consequently, the sustainability of the entire agricultural value chain, influencing everything from crop yields to nutritional value.
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) emphasises that “we cannot have good crops if we do not have quality seeds”, a principle that underpins global efforts to improve food and nutritional security. It may thus be safe to conclude that seed is the foundation of good health.
The week of 18 to 23 May 2026 witnessed two related but parallel global events: one on global health, the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the other on the importance of seeds to global agriculture and food security, the World Seed Congress, organised by the International Seed Federation (ISF).
With a record attendance of more than 1,700 delegates and guests representing over 900 companies and organisations in Lisbon and held under the theme “Joint Actions, Resilient Futures”, the seed congress called for a collective commitment and action at a moment when the multilateral frameworks underpinning global food and nutritional security are under unprecedented strain.
The Congress took place amid mounting pressure on global agri-food systems, sparked by conflicts and worsened by climate change. In 2025, two famines were declared in a single year for the first time. This year, recent geopolitical tensions continue to threaten global trade and economic stability, while an estimated 700 million people worldwide, primarily in Africa and Western Asia, still face hunger each year.
And experts have warned that climate change, including a predicted El Niño event in mid-2026, could push an additional 132 million people in vulnerable contexts into food and nutrition insecurity within five years due to rising temperatures’ impacts on crop yields.
Michael Keller, Secretary General of the International Seed Federation. Credit: Supplied
“It would be easy to look at the state of the world and conclude that international cooperation is in retreat. But the seed industry tells a different story,” says Michael Keller, Secretary General of ISF. “We are here in Lisbon in record numbers in this critical year because we know that collaboration, innovation, and joint actions are practical and appropriate responses to the scale of the truly global challenges we face now and in the future. Unfortunately, in Africa, non-flexible legal and regulatory frameworks still hamper innovation by private seed companies.
And about 2,000 km away in Geneva, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivered a similar message, focused on the theme “Reshaping global health: a shared responsibility”, strongly reinforcing the interconnected nature of global health and climate change resilience with several important social determinants of health, including food systems and nutrition.
Ghebreyesus highlighted the importance of not treating health as a standalone sector but rather ensuring that all social determinants of health are well-functioning in support of resilience, sovereignty, and protection of communities from crises.
The chain is simple: climate change threatens agricultural production, food systems, and access to nutritious food, leading to malnutrition, and malnutrition in turn increases vulnerability to infectious diseases and public health emergencies.
Role of Seed Breeding Innovations for Health
Seed innovations alone account for 74 percent of the yield gains observed in crops in the European Union, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. However, the global system of crop variety development depends heavily on cross-border trade, with the typical novel varieties bred, tested, produced, and distributed across multiple countries before they reach a farmer’s hands.
“Seed companies invest up to 30 percent of their turnover in research and development because we believe that innovation is key to solving problems at scale and for generations to come,” said Arthur Santosh Attavar, ISF President and Managing Chair of the international seed company Indo-American Hybrid Seeds. “ISF continues to work with national and regional seed associations, as well as governments, to create enabling policy environments that help ensure innovations reach farmers quickly and without unnecessary delays or restrictions.”
In the wake of increased climate-induced extreme weather events, one of the key innovations in seed breeding has been ‘climate-resilient seed’ to withstand not only intensified droughts but also the increased prevalence of pests and diseases related to drought conditions.
But the World Bank believes breeding seed that could go beyond being drought tolerant to high nutritional value could be a game changer.
“Until now, we have been dealing with climate resilience largely from the drought and sometimes excess rainfall perspective, but can we also start looking at developing seed varieties by building in additional nutritional aspects such as high protein content? At the World Bank, we are looking at different ways of how to build food systems resilience in a holistic way—covering the entire value chain from seed, infrastructure, markets and all the in-between, with a clear focus on sustainability,” said Anup Jangwani, Global Director of Farming and Agribusiness at the World Bank Group.
Sustained Awareness is Key for Sustainability
Environmental sustainability has, in recent years, become a buzzword in the wake of increasing climate impacts. Unfortunately, there have been some cases of greenwashing linked to environmental sustainability – the promotion of false solutions to the climate crisis that distract from and delay concrete and credible action.
However, at Companhia das Lezírias the largest agricultural and forestry holding in Portugal, “environmental sustainability is a lived reality,” says Sandra Alcobia, who serves as a biologist and is responsible for tourism and visitation.
“Here we live and practice environmental sustainability in reality; our production is organic in every sense. In 2015, the drought conditions that we suffered provided us with an awakening to make a drastic change, and we have not looked back. We are proud to be a certified carbon-neutral establishment.”
Established in 1836, the farm boasts 20,000 hectares of land for crop farming, animal rearing and forestry – all premised on the principles of sustainability, emphasising organic practices.
But Antonio Farrim, Veterinarian and Director of Agriculture Production at Companhia das Lezírias, believes public awareness is key to the climate-resilient and sustainable agenda.
“Governments must take full responsibility for sensitising the public on the health benefits of sustainably grown food,” he says. “For example, in beef production, the colour of meat produced organically is not usually appealing to the eye; it is slightly dark with yellow fat. In terms of nutrition, however, this is the most healthy beef one can get, and yet most consumers don’t understand this fact. It is, therefore, incumbent upon governments to undertake sustained awareness for both environmental sustainability and good health. For us here at Companihia, we don’t only produce for sustainability but also for the good health of the consumers.”
Head of External Communication at Syngenta, one of the world’s biggest agricultural innovation companies, Dimitri Houtart agrees with the importance of the public awareness narrative.
Houtart says the growing global population poses a challenge as the global community races to produce enough for everyone, sustainably, with limited land. This, he states, can only be achieved through innovation and sustained public awareness for uptake of innovative technologies that support high productivity.
However, he notes, “misinformation on catalytic research and innovations to improve productivity while preserving environmental integrity is one of the drawbacks.”
“The need for a well-informed cadre of agricultural journalists cannot be over-emphasised. For me, Agricultural journalism is the most important branch of this profession because the agricultural information needs of the public, especially in this era of social media, are immense.”
Breeding Innovations for Africa’s Unique Challenges
A quick search on post‑harvest losses in Africa reveals that it ranges between 20 and 40%, especially in crops such as maize, cassava, cowpea, and bananas, some of the continent’s staple crops
Losses are largely attributed to pests, diseases, poor storage and climate stress. While technological advancement is a critical means of enhancing agricultural productivity and improving food and nutrition security in many low- and middle-income countries, it has been slow to gain traction in Africa.
Thus, one of the innovations being tried is to breed crops that resist the noted stresses and reduce losses before they happen.
Professor Mohammed Ishiyaku of the Institute for Agricultural Research in Nigeria is one of the lead scientists behind Pod Borer Resistant cowpea – a variety developed by Nigerian scientists over three decades, now approved and growing commercially in Nigeria, with regulatory approvals advancing across the region.
“Legume Pod Borer (Maruca vitrata) is one of the most damaging insect pests limiting cowpea production,” says Prof. Ishiyaku. “The damage caused by the pod borer to cowpea plants reduces the size and quality of the cowpea harvest. It can reduce grain yield by up to 80%. Farmers typically spray pesticides up to 6 – 10 times within a planting season in an attempt to control this insect pest, but this is often not effective because the chemicals do not reach the pest larvae inside the plant tissues. The chemicals are also expensive, their availability to farmers is limited, and inadequate training in their use often leads to unintended dangerous human health and safety impacts. Therefore, a Cowpea product that can protect itself from Legume Pod borer damage makes it easier and cheaper for farmers to produce cowpeas in areas where this pest is a problem.”
An international public-private partnership, managed and coordinated by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), is developing Pod-Borer Resistant Cowpeas.
Sticking with innovation, Bruce Knight of Legume Technology, based in the United Kingdom, has been conducting trials on how to support smallholder farmers in Africa with affordable means of accessing inoculants for legume seeds.
With limited resources, most smallholder farmers on the continent still use untreated seeds, usually kept from the previous harvest. To help boost productivity, Dr Bruce Knight has, through support from the Gates Foundation, developed an affordable and tailor-made small-packaged inoculant solution that is able to treat at least a hectare of legume seeds.
“After 10 years of trials, we have finally got it right; we have developed an affordable inoculant solution for smallholder farmers in Africa,” says Knight. “So far, our product has outperformed other inoculant producers on the continent, and we are geared to roll out and support smallholder farmers with this tailor-made solution.”
A well-known health phrase, “You are what you eat”, implies that food is the foundation of good health. What you eat dictates your general well-being. Seed, from which most food is cultivated, is therefore the foundation of optimal health.
The author is the Climate Change and Health Advocacy Lead at Amref Health Africa.
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