For the UN, these “green jobs,” play an important role in realising the vision of the future that practically all countries signed up to when they adopted the landmark Paris Agreement in December 2015, an international commitment to combat climate change, and significantly reduce human activity…

A temporary basic income (TBI) given specifically to hundreds of millions of women in the world’s developing countries could prevent rising poverty and widening gender inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Protecting Women's…

A new and most comprehensive scientific assessment presented by the Global Forest Experts Panel (GFEP) on Forests and Poverty reveals critical links between forests, trees and poverty alleviation. The report makes a valuable contribution to achieving the first and foremost of the United Nations‘…

In the report “Towards our common digital future”, the WBGU makes it clear that sustainability strategies and concepts need to be fundamentally further developed in the age of digitalization. Only if digital change and the Transformation towards Sustainability are synchronized can we succeed in…

The G20 Ministers in charge of Energy and Climate met in Naples on July 23rd, 2021, and adopted – for the first time – a joint final communiqué, which gives momentum to the common mission of the G20 Countries to preserve the global climate and ensure a clean and inclusive energy transition.

Soil erosion costs European countries €1.25 billion in annual agricultural productivity loss and €155 million in the gross domestic product (GDP) loss, according to a JRC new study. Soil erosion is the biggest threat to soil fertility and productivity, but the consequences do not stop there. A…

The Global Symposium on Soil Pollution (GSOP18) will take place at FAO headquarters in Rome on 2 - 4 May, 2018. The Symposium aims to provide scientific evidence to support actions and decisions to prevent and reduce soil pollution for increased food safety, security and nutrition, and ecosystem…

Three new studies highlight the value of the world’s unregarded forests – and the dangers they face as the climate changes.

A new study has assessed the vulnerability of 571 European cities to heatwaves, droughts and flooding caused by climate change. The causes of vulnerability differ across Europe and the researchers say the results could be used to design policies to mitigate the impacts.

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…

This publication introduces SLM and its principles and presents how good SLM practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina were documented, evaluated, selected and scaled through participatory land use planning processes. High demand for agricultural products and raw materials produced on land is under…

The 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will also focus to the issue of drought. COP 13 is meeting in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China, from 6-16 September. One of three ministerial round tables at the Conference will address the…

The Global Mechanism of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and private sector asset manager Mirova have launched the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund, co-promoted and structured by the two partners since December 2015. The Fund is described as the first-ever privately managed…

We stand on it. We stamp on it. We call it dirt. Or worse. We treat this fundamental resource like it is infinite. What we do not realize is that fertile soil, which took hundreds of years to develop, could be washed away with just one heavy downpour.

The Land Degradation Neutrality Initiative of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) encourages each of the 123 signatory countries to stabilise or reduce their extent of degraded land. Land degradation is assessed using the methods described in the Good Practice Guidance (GPG) document…

In eastern Niger, 241 hectares of degraded land was converted into productive farms for 10,770 women through the Bio-reclamation of Degraded Lands (BDL) system. This has resulted in a 50% increase in agri-income over non-BDL participants. These impacts are from a mid-term evaluation study conducted…

IFLA’s capacity-building International Advocacy Programme (IAP) is now fully underway. “50 countries have joined IFLA in this journey, and are already making progress towards promoting and supporting the role libraries can play in the planning and implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda and the…

Aqueduct's global water risk mapping tool helps companies, investors, governments, and other users understand where and how water risks and opportunities are emerging worldwide.

GLOBAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOIL ORGANIC CARBON (GSOC17); Co-organized by FAO, GSP/ITPS, IPCC, UNCCD-SPI and WMO 21 – 23 MARCH 2017; FAO HQ, ROME, ITALY

Resilient Cities 2017, the Annual Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation takes place May 4 - 6, 2017 in Bonn, Germany and anticipates more than 400 participants - among which local government representatives, international organizations, private and public sector resilience and climate…

Policy makers recognize that the environment is a very important asset for the production of food and other products, both now and into the future. In Mediterranean Europe, managed ecosystems are easily damaged by a combination of environmental and human factors, for example, through grazing, fire…

The outlook for developing East Asia is expected to remain broadly positive in the next three years, with growth driven by robust domestic demand and a gradual recovery in the global economy and commodity prices. China’s economy will grow 6.5 percent in 2017 and 6.3 percent in 2018, compared with 6…

First operational Meeting of Partners of the Global Framework on Water Scarcity brings together key actors in the fight against water scarcity. If soil is the body of agriculture, then water is its lifeblood. However, we are going to have to get used there not being enough to go around if we…

On Wednesday, Facebook introduced a new disaster maps initiative. The company will share aggregated, de-identified location information on Facebook users who have their location settings enabled with a few select disaster response organizations. Facebook will provide location density maps, movement…

qual rights and opportunities for women are not only matters of women’s justice and dignity. It is well known that when women and girls have equal rights in law and in practice—and equal opportunities to achieve their aspirations—their communities and countries also benefit. Development…