“Building strong and inclusive partnerships for maternal, newborn, child health, and family planning programs is not future work,” said Dr. Koki Agarwal, Director of USAID’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership at a recent Wilson Center event. “It’s urgent and it’s ‘right now’ work.”

This exploration of country perspectives and expertise on improving maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and family planning programs was the third event in a series that placed regional experiences and voices in the foreground.

In Iraq, climate change is adding stress to an already precarious situation. Weak public services,  growing unemployment, fossil fuel-related environmental and health hazards, and other factors have generated high levels of social vulnerability and contributed to recent protests. In the top post for May, Dylan O’Driscoll and Shivan Fazil write about how, against this fragile backdrop, insecurity is heightened by increasingly deadly flash floods and more frequent dust storms that pose a public health threat.

Cristina Dorador has decided that science is not enough. The Chilean microbiologist’s decades of research have convinced her that the unique ecosystem of her country’s Atacama desert is threatened by ever-expanding lithium mines. She has spent years trying to convince the nation’s leaders to protect the place, with little success.

Now, she’s seizing a historic opportunity: Her election to Chile’s constitutional assembly in 2021 has given Dorador a chance to try to change not only Chile’s lithium industry, but the country’s whole approach to natural resources. But will her endeavor have broader implications for the worldwide shift to renewable energy?

Global risks abound these days, from climate change to the next pandemic, as well as acute supply chain disruptions, energy shortfalls, and cybersecurity threats. These challenges play out in a landscape of immense political instability fomented by the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, Iran and others, as well as dangers looming in the potential state collapse of countries like Afghanistan, Yemen, and Sudan. Taken together, the risk tally of our moment is mounting quickly.

As the world reels from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the pandemic, climate shocks, and other crises, strategic future planning is more important than ever. In April’s most-read article, Steven Gale points to a source of hope in the suite of inclusive, “future-forward” initiatives that are unfolding under UN leadership, from risk reporting to impact assessments and youth engagement. These activities, encompassed by the UN’s Our Common Agenda, represent a global collaborative effort to map future risks and identify policy options in service of long-term well-being for people and the planet.

Global insecurity driven by the conflict in Ukraine and pandemic-induced instability has come powerfully into confluence to increase threats to livelihoods across the world.

What can we do to stem the tide? This Earth Day is an opportunity to rally for action that will help us all face such challenges now and in years to come. One of the most powerful ways to do so is to solidify and expand the reach of sustainable markets. There are a number of ways that this process can begin right now.

The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6^th Assessment Report (AR6) from Working Group II (WG2): Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability presents the stark implications of climate change. At today’s warming level of 1.1°C, a wide range of impacts to people and nature are attributed to human-caused climate change, including hindering progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), damaging infrastructure and economic activities, harming human health and causing excess deaths, and increasing humanitarian needs. Some impacts, like those on sensitive ecosystems, are already irreversible. The more vulnerable are hit harder, due to pre-existing structural conditions that increase their exposure and sensitivity to hazards.

Finance for climate action is growing—however, much of this money is being invested in wealthier nations, while the regions where funds are needed most are often overlooked and underfunded by both public and private institutions. The good news for funders is that there are climate solutions that not only significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also create cascading social and public health benefits for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. For those looking to get the biggest return on their investment—for both people and planet—we offer two particularly promising solutions: ramp up funding for clean cooking and electricity where they matter most.