In a recent review, FAO identified that 41 out of 54 countries in Africa included at least one policy or measure on more sustainable use of bioenergy in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). Considering the critical role of sustainable bioenergy in sub-Saharan Africa, FAO’s…

Twenty-seven policy briefs were authored for the Global Preparatory Meeting for Review of SDG 7. IRENA released two reports, on renewable energy market analysis for Southeast Asia and prospects for the EU. A joint report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Facebook looks at options for bridging the…

This infographic shows the interactions and key questions around the relationship triangle of water, energy and food security, like: What are energy efficient water-treatment technologies? How does watershed management help hydropower? What technologies make irrigation more water efficient? et al.

The cultivation of bioenergy plants at fertile, arable lands increasingly results in new land use conflicts with food production and cannot be considered as sustainable, therefore. Marginal lands have been frequently considered as potential alternative for producing bioenergy from biomass. However,…

The report — Mechanized: Transforming Africa’s Agriculture Value Chains—summarizes the findings of a systematic analysis of what countries at the forefront of progress in mechanization have done right. It analyzes which policy decisions were taken and which interventions were implemented to…

Sustainable Energy for All’s Energizing Finance series is the first and only in-depth attempt to capture multiple years of data on investment for the two key areas of energy access: electrification and clean cooking. It focuses on public and private finance commitments in 20 developing countries –…

Reorienting land degradation towards sustainable land management: Linking sustainable livelihoods with ecosystem services in rangeland systems

Almost four years ago, CIFOR organized a side event on the tropical dry forests of Africa at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in Durban, South Africa. At that event, we identified the major issues affecting dry forests in Africa and…

This paper identifies new ways of moving from land degradation towards sustainable land management through the development of economic mechanisms.

Soil damage, climate change, water and energy availability are all challenges for farming.

"Europe is now generating four times more wind power and 70 times more solar power as in 2005. This is good news, but a clear, forward-looking investment strategy is also necessary across the fossil fuel power sector to meet our long-term challenge to cut CO2 emissions. Europe is committed to…

Biodiversity’s contribution to ecosystem services in grasslands — at different levels of the food chain (known as trophic levels1) — has been assessed in a new study. Higher species diversity across trophic levels — particularly for plants, insects and soil microbial decomposers — is important for…

FAO is helping to reorient food and agricultural systems in countries most exposed to climate risks, with a clear focus on supporting smallholders. This booklet provides a summary of FAO’s holistic approach to the adaptation of agriculture.

The report begins by reviewing the evidence to date focussing on the magnitude and geographical distribution of food losses. In the next sections the role of energy in post-harvest losses is discussed. Thereafter, the main entry points within the food value chain where lack of access to energy is…

The International Day of Forests is observed on 21 March every year. This year, a special event to observe the Day was held at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters in Rome under the theme, “Forests and energy”. The observance was held in conjunction with the…

Charcoal has been an important source of energy for centuries and remains so today; projections indicate that demand will continue to increase, especially in Africa. In many countries, however, a lack of regulation means that the charcoal sector is inefficient and can have locally and nationally…

How much do you know about forests and energy? International Day of Forests 2017 quiz

he third edition of the GTF provides an evidence-based look at progress at the regional, country, and international level toward ensuring universal access to modern energy services, doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and doubling the global rate of improvement in energy…

Are we headed for a green revolution in food and water?

Global Policy is an innovative and interdisciplinary journal bringing together world class academics and leading practitioners to analyse both public and private solutions to global problems and issues. It focuses on understanding globally relevant risks and collective action problems; policy…

This special issue of Global Policy brings together leading experts from Asia, Europe and North America to examine the international institutions, national governance mechanisms, financing systems, devastating corruption and human rights abuses that together will determine the future of the energy…

The EUEI PDF is a multi-donor facility that contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular on energy. As a flexible instrument of the European Union, the EUEI PDF promotes sustainable energy for equitable development in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

In 2013, 232 million people worldwide were living outside their country of origin and, according to estimates by experts on internal migration, one billion people permanently moved to another place of residence within their country of birth. According to UNHCR, 65.3 million people worldwide were…

Africa’s urban population is projected to rise from 400 million to 1.34 billion between 2010 and 2050 which represents nearly half of the projected rise in numbers of urban dwellers globally. To date urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa has not, for the most part, been matched with improvement in…

The Global Tracking Framework 2017 (GTF) aims to provide the international community with a global dashboard to register progress on energy access, energy efficiency and renewable energy. It assesses the progress made by each country on these three pillars and provides a snapshot of how far we are…