Two Sudanese inventors use a drone to take on desertification and their rivals in a TV competition for entrepreneurs.

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…

Promoting inclusive and sustainable economic and social development whilst simultaneously adapting to climate change impacts and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions – Climate Compatible Development (CCD) – requires coherent policy approaches that span multiple sectors. This paper develops and…

FuturePolicy.org is an online database designed for forward-thinking policy-makers, to simplify the sharing of existing and proven policy solutions to tackle the world’s most fundamental and urgent problems. Grown from the conviction that solutions exist for the most essential challenges to humanity…

Dryland areas are being seriously affected by degradation processes. The use of organic amendments in ecosystem restoration is an effective technique for accelerating soil regeneration processes in degraded drylands. This recovery is a result of the rapid increment of organic matter and clay…

Publication to present project BRIDGES under the FAO-Turkish Forestry Partnership programme in support of efforts to combat land degradation and desertification in Eritrea, Mauritania and Sudan, contributing to Africa's Great Green Wall initiative.

Using the framework of the National Adaptation Plans (NAP)process, this brief provides an overview of the key issues to consider and main entry points for gender mainstreaming in the development of NAPs for the agriculture sectors.

A lone grain of sand, on its own, is completely harmless. It travels on its journey carried by the wind, by water, or even hitchhikes on a living being, barely noticed as it meanders through the landscape. When a grain of sand joins up with others to become a sand dune, it can become a force that…

The LDN Country Profiles provide evidence-based arguments that contribute to making the case for investing in measures to avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation. These profiles demonstrate the importance and multiple benefits of taking actions to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality. The country…

This latest edition of the World Investment Report is being issued as the world embarks on the crucial work of implementing the landmark 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change. The key findings and policy recommendations of the Report are far reaching and…

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) released data showing that 71% of migrants on Mediterranean routes to Europe experience “exploitation and practices which may amount to human trafficking.” IOM’s data analyze the scale of abuse, exploitation and trafficking experienced by migrants…

WRI worked with experts at Mars to analyze the company’s footprint and develop sustainability targets for land, water and climate. These targets, currently under review with the company’s leadership, take into account the latest science on the global carbon budget, water stress and other ecological…

Around the world, 26.7 million hectares of agricultural land have been transferred into the hands of foreign investors since the year 2000. This means that these investors possess approximately 2 per cent of the arable land worldwide, or roughly the equivalent to the total area covered by United…

The report explores the environmental footprints of everyday products, using a footprinting approach to measure the amount of land and water needed across the product’s supply chain

The benefits of pulses to soil mean that they can also help combat land degradation. Healthy soil not only makes food more nutritious it also helps keep carbon out of the atmosphere by storing it underground. Pulses include peas, beans, chickpeas and lentils. They are particularly popular in South…

Impact investing refers to investments that intend to generate measurable social and/or environmental impacts, as well as a financial return. It is often described as ‘doing good while doing well’ and is part of a wider strategy to shift finance towards more sustainable projects. This Future Brief…

Large sand and dust storms, which result from a combination of strong winds and loose dry soil surfaces in arid and semiarid areas, are detrimental to human health, agricultural land, infrastructure, and transport. Every year, an estimated 2,000 million tons of dust is emitted into the atmosphere.…

This online report analyses the relationship between irregular migration and conflict and stability in Mali, Niger and Libya. Studying the human smuggling networks that operate within and across these three countries provides insights into the transnational dynamics of irregular migration as well as…

Land Degradation Neutrality: Will Africa Achieve It? Institutional Solutions to Land Degradation and Restoration in Africa, chapter 5 from the recently published: "Climate Change and Multi-Dimensional Sustainability in African Agriculture"

The publication was launched at the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon (GSOC) held at FAO headquarters (Rome, 21-23 March 2017). It provides an overview to decision-makers and practitioners of the main scientific facts and information regarding the current knowledge and knowledge gaps on Soil…

This year’s UN World Day to Combat Desertification will be celebrated on 17 June and the UN has launched a programme to combat land degradation to help create jobs and boost food security. Africa has some of the most degraded lands in the world, and is only second to Asia in land degradation…

It took hundreds of thousands of years for the global population to surpass one billion, but only a further 200 for it to top seven billion. Along with a sevenfold increase in Earth’s inhabitants comes a multitude of challenges for the environment, natural resources and ultimately society. What is…

Throughout the past 40 years, the Earth has lost a third of its arable land to erosion and degradation. China’s efforts to fight the problem have seen mixed results. Currently, 27.4 percent of China is desertified land, affecting about 400 million people.

As a partner in phase 1 of the ACP MEAs programme the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Global Mechanism (UNCCDGM) was in charge of the sub-component “Combating desertification”. UNCCD-GM streamlines and prioritizes action to build scientific evidence and public awareness;…

Land is the wellspring of life. Investing in this most precious asset will place us on the development path that will lead us towards our shared global vision of prosperity, health and dignity for all the world’s citizens. Today, many people living in developed countries and in large urban centers…