This year, the UN World Water Day explores how water and climate change are inextricably linked. Water stocks are under increased pressure as the global population grows and natural resources are depleted; climate change only serves to exacerbate this situation. To mark this day, Springer Nature is…

In order to ensure that Nature-based Solutions (NbS) reach their potential to address societal challenges, IUCN has developed the Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions for use by governments, businesses, investors, communities and NGOs

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.

Representing nearly 41% of the land above sea level, arid zones are home to more than two billion people who suffer from the ongoing degradation of the land and soil that provide them sustenance. Owing to desertification and droughts, nearly twelve million hectares of land are no longer arable each…

Today, the New Climate Economy launches its 2018 report, Unlocking the Inclusive Growth Story of the 21st Century: Accelerating Climate Action in Urgent Times. It demonstrates the benefits of a new low-carbon growth model and outlines how we can urgently accelerate efforts to achieve it. Bold action…

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 15.3 commits countries to strive towards land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030. LDN requires reductions in land quality to be balanced by efforts to restore or rehabilitate degraded areas. However, decisions need to be made as to where to invest given…

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report that shares insights from a regional stocktake on SDG implementation in the region. The report also aims to present a compendium of tools to help developing countries implement the environmental dimensions of…

The last great hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change may lie in a substance so commonplace that we typically ignore it or else walk all over it: the soil beneath our feet. The earth possesses five major pools of carbon. Of those pools, the atmosphere is already overloaded with the stuff; the…

A new report released 11 November by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) reveals that drylands, which cover some 40 per cent of the earth’s land surface, are critical in order to buffer the negative impacts of climate change, land degradation, and drought.…

Africa’s soils hold the key to its food production and economic future, with agriculture accounting for 30 to 40 percent of the continent’s GDP. Food productivity on the continent is, however, plagued by soil degradation. As much as two-thirds of Africa’s arable lands could be lost by 2025 from the…

This year’s report will examine the five greatest priorities facing the world in 2017, their interconnections and the actions necessary to avoid their harshest fall-out. Read about the ten most likely global risks.

Rethinking land use - the way we exploit, manage and neglect the land - could achieve about a third of the carbon cuts needed in the next decade.

This book provides a unique perspective on the multidimensional aspects of the health impacts of climate change and air pollution, which include the science, impacts, solutions, and advocacy of the solutions. The book is intended to add a new approach to climate change by focusing on its health…

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…

The Forest Europe Expert Group on Human Health and Well-being published a book that summarizes current knowledge on the health benefits of forests and integration of social aspects of forests into sustainable forest management (SFM). The publication presents evidence on the health benefits of…

Better stewardship of land is needed to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goal of holding warming to below 2 °C; however, confusion persists about the specific set of land stewardship options available and their mitigation potential. To address this, we identify and quantify “natural climate…

The environment provides the very foundation of sustainable development, our health, food security and our economies. Ecosystems provide clean water supply, clean air and secure food and ultimately both physical and mental wellbeing. Natural resources also provide livelihoods, jobs and revenues to…

A definitive new global synthesis of the state of nature, ecosystems and nature's contributions to people — the first such report since the landmark Millennium Ecosystem Assessment published in 2005, and the first ever that is inter-governmental — will be presented to representatives of 132…

Strategic foresight will play a key role in helping future-proof EU policymaking by ensuring that short-term initiatives are grounded in a longer term perspective. To make the most of its potential, this Commission has a strong mandate to put strategic foresight at the heart of EU policymaking…

This piece is by Dr William Stiles from Aberystwyth University, and was originally published by Farming Connect, Welsh Government project that forms part of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, aiming to support the development of a more professional, profitable and resilient land based sector…

An EEA briefing published today proposes an analytical framework that aims at developing a strategy for monitoring and integrated assessment of the state of land and its key resources

The European Commission calls for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. On 28 November 2018, the Commission presented its strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy by 2050. The strategy shows how Europe can lead the way to climate neutrality by…

Soil pollution implies the presence of chemicals and materials in soil that have a significant adverse effect on any organisms or soil functions. Soil pollutants include inorganic and organic compounds, some organic wastes and the so-called “chemicals of emerging concern” in amendments added to…

Fertile soils and productive land are limited—finite—resources. But there is an ever-growing demand for fertile land to feed a growing global population. Meeting this demand is becoming a massive global challenge due to two major factors. There is competition for productive land for other uses, such…

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is stepping up its work on mapping zoonotic threat and protecting the environment to reduce the risk of future pandemics, such as the COVID-19 crisis currently sweeping the globe. In Working With the Environment to Protect People, released today, UNEP…