Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals requires drylands sustainability.Treating drylands as global environmental commons enables better tailored governance responses. Key nested governance elements for drylands involve setting goals, monitoring and delivering sanctions across scales. The present…

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

Enduring a decade of drought: Patterns and drivers of vegetation change in a semi-arid grassland Publication date: January 2017 Source:Journal of Arid Environments, Volume 136 Author(s): Gitanjali S. Bodner, Marcos D. Robles This study evaluated patterns and drivers of vegetation change in a semi…

Doing business with nature: opportunities from natural capital aims to lay out the challenges and opportunities of companies whose future growth depends on a healthy and sustained supply of nature’s goods and its services (natural capital).

The Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP) Beta is a central hub of information, data and reports about climate change around the world. Here you can query, map, compare, chart and summarize key climate and climate-related information.

Worsening land degradation caused by human activities is undermining the well-being of two fifths of humanity, driving species extinctions and intensifying climate change. It is also a major contributor to mass human migration and increased conflict, according to the world’s first comprehensive…

The European Commission (EC), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS) have launched a new report consisting of 99 stories from European public authorities that showcases how they benefit from Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth…

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 goals aimed to be the roadmap for society to move from the exploitation to the sustainable use of our planet’s resources and from inequality, poverty, and hunger to a proper education and good life for all. A…

Almost all European countries have conducted national climate change vulnerability and risk assessments as part of their adaptation plans to better deal with the impacts of climate-related hazards, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today.

Understanding of the processes governing soil organic carbon turnover is confounded by the fact that C feedbacks driven by soil erosion have not yet been fully explored at large scale. However, in a changing climate, variation in rainfall erosivity (and hence soil erosion) may change the amount of C…

Bottom–up estimates from long-term field experiments and modelling are the most commonly used approaches to estimate the carbon (C) sequestration potential of the agricultural sector. However, when data are required at European level, important margins of uncertainty still exist due to the…

In Africa, significant amounts of soil nutrients are lost every year due to inappropriate or unsustainable soil management practices. The Montpellier Panel has estimated that the economic loss in Africa due to poverty, climate change, population pressures and inadequate farming techniques is about…

The World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) is the definitive report of the United Nations on the state of the world economy. One of the most highly anticipated economic reports from the United Nations, it is jointly produced by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations…

2020 was one of three warmest years on record, despite cooling La Niña. Extreme weather and COVID-19 combined in a double blow

Soil, a natural four‐dimensional body at the atmosphere–lithosphere interface, is organic‐carbon‐mediated realm in which solid, liquid, and gaseous phases interact at a range of scales and generate numerous ecosystem goods and services. Soil organic carbon (SOC) strongly impacts soil quality…

Today, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released a new in-depth guide for policymakers on carbon pricing. The organization and its members believe that carbon pricing is one of the most efficient means of driving the transition to a low-carbon world. Strong business…

This synthesis report provides an overview of where Africa, as a region, stands in terms of transitioning to an inclusive green economy. It draws on studies to summarise the prospective gains and challenges associated with investing in a green economy and outlines a way forward to prioritise policy…

Large parts of Southern Europe have suffered from drought this summer as a result of ruthless heat and low rainfall. A new near-real-time soil moisture data set developed as part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) uses space-derived information to support drought…

Annual report on acute food insecurity and malnutrition published today