The 2019 theme for the International Day of Forests is ‘Forests and Education’ and we want the world to know how we educate children and youth about the importance of trees and forests. Today, when more than half the world’s population lives in cities and are increasingly disconnected from nature…

Water use has been increasing worldwide by about 1% per year since the 1980s, driven by a combination of population growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns. Global water demand is expected to continue increasing at a similar rate until 2050, accounting for an increase of…

Degradation processes in living systems often take place gradually by front propagation. An important context of such processes is loss of biological productivity in drylands or desertification.

The report “State of Land in the Mekong Region” was launched 13 March 2019 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The first publication of its kind in the Mekong Region, it brings together key data and information on the current status of, and changes in, land resources, their social distribution, and the…

The International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy is a book series that discusses central questions in law and politics with regard to the protection and sustainable management of soil and land – at the international, national and regional level. Volume 3 of the International Yearbook of Soil Law…

The response hierarchy of “Avoid > reduce > reverse” is increasingly acknowledged as the best strategy for prioritizing actions designed to address land degradation at hectare to national scales. This hierarchy is based on the assumption that the economic return on investment (ROI) will usually be…

Much of the confusion about the definition of reference conditions for land health and degradation assessments is due to differences in policy and management objectives. Selection of a historic reference where it is not necessary, such as in the definition of future land degradation neutrality, can…

This collection of 12 stories from women and men in nine countries in different parts of Africa shines a light on the efforts of communities, some of them decades-long, in restoring degraded forests and landscapes. The stories are not generated through any rigorous scientific process, but are…

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes have been increasingly implemented in developing countries where gender-related inequalities are generally prevalent. A randomized field trial in Kenya revealed the impacts of participants’ gender in conservation auctions and in environmental performance…

Science and technology offer exciting pathways for rural women to tackle the challenges they face daily. Innovative solutions for rural women can, for example, reduce their workload, raise food production and increase their participation in the paid labour market. But even the very best innovative…

Every March, the United States’ National Reading Month encourages children to go on a quest to improve their reading skills and find a love for books. And kids and adults alike can follow Food Tank’s latest reading list to find books that satisfy their curiosity about the food system. The books…

The 20th biennial Australian Rangeland Society (ARS2019) conference will be held in Canberra 2-5 September 2019 at the Kambri Convention Centre. The conference will bring together managers, researchers and policy makers to promote resilient rangeland environments and communities in times of change…

The study examines long-term land use/land cover change (LUCC) at a finer scale in a semi-arid region of India. The objectives were to study and quantify the spatiotemporal LUCC and uncover the major drivers causing the change in the Mula Pravara river basin, which is located in a semi-arid region…

Since the concept of the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) emerged in global policy discourse, a key point of contention has been the development of market-based instruments to promote the LDN agenda. Much of this discussion has focused on the use of LDN-specific offset mechanisms and private-public…

Given the huge challenges the world faces, it is clear that we need to teach, learn and live in a fundamentally different manner. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is increasingly recognised as playing a central role in empowering learners of all ages to positively respond to local and…

Socio-economic activities in the present world have become increasingly interdependent because of rapid technological progress, urbanization, and globalization. Because of these interdependencies between human society and natural ecosystems, climate impacts on one sector may influence other sectors…

Population growth and urbanization have brought people into direct conflict with many aspects of nature. This conflict has elicited important challenges such as climate change, ecosystem degradation, and increasing socioeconomic disasters from major natural hazards. As urban expansion subsumes rural…

UBS Global Wealth Management launched the white paper titled, ‘Awareness, Simplification, and Contribution,’ which sets out ways to ensure that more private capital goes towards addressing the SDGs, in an accelerated manner. The paper was presented by UBS Chair Axel Weber, who argued that the SDGs…

This enlightening book brings together the work of gender and forestry specialists from various backgrounds and fields of research and action to analyse global gender conditions as related to forests. Using a variety of methods and approaches, they build on a spectrum of theoretical perspectives to…

This paper explores the potential of climate finance to support developing country efforts to shift away from unsustainable land use patterns in the context of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. We pursue two research objectives here. Through a meta-analysis of 40 developing country Nationally…

The publication titled, ‘Guidance on Data Integration for Measuring Migration,’ highlights the far-reaching influence of migration on societies, and emphasizes the need for accurate data on migrants to inform policy making. The guide aims to help policy makers, researchers and statisticians produce…

The International Conference on “Successful Transformation toward Land Degradation Neutrality (Future Perspective)” in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the coming into force of the United Nations Conventions to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will take place on, 17-19 June 2019, in Ankara…

Results and tools developed by the Poverty- Environment Initiative (PEI). The Poverty- Environment Initiative (PEI) of the United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment Programme aims to support countries in implementing policies, instruments, plans and budgets that combine the…

While all the Sustainable Development Goals are critical to youth development, this Report focuses primarily on the areas of education and employment, underlining the realization of targets under these Goals as fundamental to overall youth development. Issues related to other Goals—including gender…

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report that shares insights from a regional stocktake on SDG implementation in the region. The report also aims to present a compendium of tools to help developing countries implement the environmental dimensions of…