This book covers a much longer period (1995–2014) with better data and country coverage than previous reports. The focus of the book is on natural capital and human capital since information for produced capital and net foreign assets has been well established by other institutions. For the first…

The new UNCCD reporting process has been launched. To accommodate the highly technical nature of the new reporting process and enhance national capacity to generate, analyze, interpret and use Earth observation data, UNCCD has developed a series of online tutorials on how to use the available…

Mineral dust aerosols are an essential component of climate over West Africa, however, little work has been performed to investigate their contributions to potential climate change. A set of regional climate model experiments with and without mineral dust processes and land cover changes is…

Today, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released a new in-depth guide for policymakers on carbon pricing. The organization and its members believe that carbon pricing is one of the most efficient means of driving the transition to a low-carbon world. Strong business…

Tourism 's climate footprint is formidable. The industry is not just big business, but a big carbon emitter as well, new research finds.

Researchers have proposed a global roadmap for decarbonisation over the coming decades. The roadmap is based on the idea of a simple heuristic, described by the researchers as ‘carbon law’, of halving carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions every decade from 2020 to 2050. The researchers say that, if…

This paper proposes a selective review of the classical economics-based literature on climate change and migration, focusing on the extent to which agriculture might be considered a key mediating channel linking climate change to migration. Overall, climate change is expected to have large and…

This report provides a new perspective to the nature of urban sprawl and its causes and environmental, social and economic consequences. This perspective, which is based on the multi-dimensionality of urban sprawl, sets the foundations for the construction of new indicators to measure the various…

FAO report calls for a more pro-active and long-term planning to become more resilient against droughts

Highlights Perceived livelihood impacts were distributed unevenly between social groups. The majority of respondents perceived negative livelihood outcomes. Respondents reporting negative outcomes lived in remote villages, were poorer or more reliant on forest resources. Main drivers of negative…

A new report analyses how the transition to a low-carbon economy – and the minerals and metals required to make that shift – could affect fragility, conflict, and violence dynamics in mineral-rich states. Could the pursuit of one Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) jeopardize the success of another…

Launched during IRENA’s Innovation Week, the agency’s latest technology outlook ‘Hydrogen from Renewable Power’ outlines the potentially pivotal role hydrogen may play in a deeper energy transition. And, while hydrogen is already widely used in facilities such as chemicals plants and refineries, by…

The biannual Living Planet Report published this week shows a 60% decline in wildlife populations over the past 40 years driven largely by the pressure placed on habitats by the food system and in particular western diets high in meat and processed foods. The report, produced for WWF by the…

In recent decades there have been numerous global and regional targets and initiatives to halt and reverse land degradation. The land degradation neutrality (LDN) target, embedded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), provides a framework for countries to avoid or reduce…

This new OECD platform for environmental indicators gives access to recent data through interactive graphics and provides trends on major environmental issues. The indicators help track environmental performance and compare country progress.

This commentary explores the social and economic benefits that climate action can deliver and uses real world examples to show how these benefits can be used to further equity and ensure a just transition to a new climate economy.

The official launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 ushered in a period of remarkable transformations in Central Asia. The development of new regional transit corridors linking north to south and east to west and the modernization of telecommunications networks are connecting the people in…

The Global Ecological Land Unit map is the most detailed look ever at Earth’s ecosystems. Basically, it partitions the planet into squares 250 meters on a side—roughly the size of a couple of football fields. An ecosystem looks at lithology (that’s rocks and dirt), climate, topography, and land…

The detrimental impacts of these processes on land resources, which are widely recognized as environmental problems of global concern become really dramatic in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions (drylands), where land degradation is more properly defined as desertification.

Land degradation and desertification are important issues to both ecological and social research. The need for a quantitative, repeatable methodology to assess land degradation and desertification reliably is more pressing than ever before.

Food Tank has compiled a list of indigenous fruits, vegetables, and grains from many regions that are nutritious, delicious, and contribute to sustainable livelihoods in rural communities across the globe.

The declining number of bee and wasp species in England has been linked to historic changes in land-use in a recent study. Researchers say that policies which promote diverse landscapes offer more opportunities for bees and wasps to nest and forage and are best for conserving these insect…

"Supporting regional cooperation and integration in Africa- What works and why?" A new study by Fredrik Soderbaum and Therese Brolin looks at “What works and why?” in supporting regional cooperation and integration in Africa. Quoting several papers by ECDPM, the study recommends donors to expand…

Ecosystems provide essential services to society, from pollination and filtering of pollution to climate and water regulation.

The World Bank Group has released the report 'Results-Based Climate Finance in Practice'. The report reviews 74 results-based climate financing (RBCF) programs implemented in developing countries with an objective to: assess the characteristics and overall volume of funding flowing through RBCF…