The scientific evidence reviewed here, and the societal and economic impacts of COVID-19 provide a powerful incentive to adopt these policy options and create the transformative change needed to prevent future pandemics. This will provide benefits to health, biodiversity conservation, our economies…

The State of the Climate in Africa 2019, report provides a snapshot of climate trends, observed high-impact events and associated risks and impacts on key sensitive sectors in Africa. The report also draws lessons on existing gaps in climate change action

More than 4000 young people across 27 West African cities were interviewed to ask How is life in your city?

Leveraging LDN Commitments to Boost Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. The greatest prospects for reversing land degradation, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss lie in transforming how we use and manage human, financial and natural capital to produce, distribute, and…

West Africa experienced severe drought from 1968 to 1993, which was all the more brutal as it followed a very wet period from 1950 to 1967. This drought was both exceptionally long, pronounced (a15–25 percent rainfall deficit compared with the long-term average, and a 25–50 percent deficit compared…

Land restoration is an essential component of any building forward strategy. Without land restoration, we will continue to face global crises. Ensuring food and water security, reducing emissions, and conserving biodiversity will not be possible without concerted efforts to regenerate our natural…

How to be a Hero for All our Children: A People's Climate Toolkit is a guide to personal and political climate action. Gathering climate science from the latest reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), alongside suggested personal actions and questions for politicians, “How…

An urgent reconsideration of rural development is needed for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The current strategies and patterns of rural development are failing to meet either the socioeconomic or the environmental Goals of this Agenda.

There is about a 40% chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily reaching 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level in at least one of the next five years – and these odds are increasing with time, according to a new climate update issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)…

The natural world is under threat. In the Amazon, more than 150 acres of rainforest are lost every minute of every day. Wildlife population sizes have seen an alarming average drop of 68% since 1970. And this isn't just about the natural world - it's about our world as well. We depend on nature for…

Tracking progress towards global targets for protected and conserved areas. Protected Planet Reports are biennial landmark publications that assess the state of protected and conserved areas around the world. The 2020 edition provides the final report on the status of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11…

First session of the International Dialogue on Migration (IDM) 2021. Accelerating integrated action on sustainable development: migration, the environment and climate change 25-27 May 2021, Zoom, 9:00-12:00, New York local time (EST) Climate change and environmental degradation are profoundly…

54 per cent of the world’s terrestrial surface consists of rangelands, but just 10 per cent of national climate plans (as part of the Paris Climate Agreement) include references to rangelands. Despite their importance to climate, nature and people, rangelands are threatened with escalating…

The main purpose of the report is to provide up-to-date information about public and private sector finance that is channelled to activities and assets that can be considered NbS and to present estimates of the future needs. This Report complements the vast array of existing literature and processes…

Land can be our greatest ally in fighting climate change, but first we need to restore it to full health.

Assessments of land degradation vary in methodology and outcome. The objective of this study is to identify the state, extent and patterns of land degradation in Eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania). More recently (2000s), satellite-based imagery and remote sensing have been…

This pilot study zoomed in on the multiple land-use-related challenges faced by Ethiopia and Kenya. This included sharing and discussing data on economic and population growth, land use and land cover changes. It also covers the subjects of land degradation and drought, and the study looked at…

This evaluation assesses how well the World Bank has addressed natural resource degradation to reduce the vulnerabilities of resource-dependent people.

World Bank Group support to developing countries to manage their natural resources is critical for poverty reduction. A recent IEG evaluation assessed how well the World Bank has addressed natural resource degradation to reduce the vulnerabilities of resource-dependent people. On Desertification and…

Economies rely on the flow of goods and services generated by nature (such as food, raw materials, pollination, water filtration and climate regulation), but nature is under unprecedented threat.A new World Bank report, The Economic Case for Nature, uses innovative economic modelling techniques to…