FAO offers novel assessment of trees and forests in the world’s drylands Geospatial data and global network of partnerships produces new insights on more than 40 percent of the earth’s surface

Achieving global restoration goals will require increasing enthusiasm and funding, as well as a common understanding of how to design and implement successful restoration projects that proactively and collaboratively engage local communities. SER’s International Standards provide essential tools and…

In the dry stretch between Africa’s Sahara Desert and tropical forests, the landscape has been slowly changing, giving new signs of life in places where there was previously none, or where there once was before the effects of climate change took hold. These are the building blocks of the Great Green…

Today, many countries are at risk of running out of water, especially in the Arab region – the most water scarce region in the world – with water availability now cited as one of the greatest risks to business continuity and growth. We need a new paradigm to achieve water security - one that depends…

A new study, The ecology and economics of restoration: when, what, where, and how to restore ecosystems, surveys the history of land restoration efforts and highlights best practices

Do you want to find out why promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment can help deliver better environmental outcomes, and to figure out how you can do it? The course will help you better understand the linkages between gender and the environment. It will provide you with the knowledge and…

Highlights The authors identify 100 questions that, if answered, would enhance ecological restoration. Questions cover all aspects of landscape restoration in Europe. A wide range of restoration experts identified questions by voting and discussion. The authors hope these will be used by policy…

This publication provides facts, figures and key messages to encourage more investments in forest and landscape restoration, leading to more restoration action. The GPFLR outlines how we can reach the 2020 and 2030 targets, and how we can best collaborate, using regional and global platforms. The…

This handbook contains 30 good practice examples that have been identified within the WATER SUM project. It is a valuable tool for identifying relevant experience in the fields of climate change, drought management, water demand management, and communication and participation. Examples of national…

What is planetary health? And what kind of science will this new journal be seeking? In The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on Planetary Health, planetary health was defined as the health of human civilisations and the natural systems on which they depend. To explain this idea in simpler…

Over the past decade there have been extraordinary advances towards drought risk reduction with the development of new water-conserving technologies, and new tools for planning, vulnerability and impact assessment, mitigation, and policy. Drought and Water Crises: Integrating Science, Management,…

The report " Making Every Drop count" released last week by the High Level Panel on Water (HLPW) indicates that the world may face a 40% shortfall in water availability by 2030. To put it another way, the current water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa, could become reality for other cities and…

Map cultural landscapes and visualise landscapes dynamics and practices

Water insecurity has driven social distress throughout history, from the Mayan Empire to modern-day Syria. But global efforts to avoid crises have been inadequate. There's a better path forward. The Commentary by Charles Iceland Aqueduct Director discusses the state of current water hotspots, and…

A sustainable planet may not be attainable, and a fairer world may require us to temper our dreams. Justice, equity, sanitation and even clean water may be within the reach of all, but only if many of the planet’s seven billion humans give up the dream of high life satisfaction as well. To achieve…

In 2013 and 2014, Jordan updated its Rangeland Strategy to enshrine Hima into law, helping to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 15, Target 3, to stop desertification and restore degraded land and soil. Jordan’s Hima policies have won recognition in the form of a Future Policy Award from the World…

Repeated droughts around the world have shockingly large and often hidden consequences, destroying enough farm produce to feed 81 million people every day for a year, damaging forests, and threating to trap generations of children in poverty, according to a new report from the World Bank Group.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that around 1 billion people in dry regions may face increasing water scarcity in the near future. To address this challenge, plant scientists have developed biotech crops with drought-tolerant and water use efficiency traits.…

This paper represents a contribution to the Global Land Outlook in terms of discussing the complex dimensions of land and water resources management. Per the Terms of Reference for its production, the paper explains complex interactions between land and water resources management. Hot spots of land…

Agriculture is expected to face increasing water risks that will impact production, markets, trade and food security - risks that can be mitigated with targeted policy actions on water hotspots.

An integrated approach to land and water resource management is essential: this entails reducing demand and increasing use efficiency, protecting and restoring wetlands and watersheds in our working landscapes, providing incentives for sustainable use, and designing more sustainable cities

Land is an essential building block of civilization yet its contribution to our quality of life is perceived and valued in starkly different and often incompatible ways. Conflicts about land use are intensifying in many countries. The world has reached a point where we must reconcile these…

“Road to Resilience” is a guide to increasing the resiience of cities, especially in India but also elsewhere in the world. The book is aimed at urban policy makers and planners and provides bottom-up resilience building options for improving urban services through the conservation of local…

Seventy-five percent of EU inhabitants depend on groundwater for their water supply, which makes groundwater management extremely important. To manage groundwater effectively during drought periods like 2015, data about groundwater levels are needed in (near-) real time. However, observations of…

Natural water-retention measures, which ‘keep the rain where it falls’, have great potential to be used as part of flood-risk management plans. But their benefits for downstream urban areas can bring costs to the upstream agricultural areas where they are installed, a recent analysis explains. The…