At least 155 states recognize their citizens have the right to live in a healthy environment, either through national legislation or international accords, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite those protections, the World Health Organization estimates that 23 per cent of all…

Land, and its various bio-physical complexities, is an essential life-supporting system, critical for human survival and wellbeing. Unfortunately, a substantial amount of land and associated resources have undergone degradation mainly due to human activities such as urbanization, industrialization…

COP23 adopted gender action plan that co-opts women in climate change fight. Women’s roles to include decision making in adaptation, mitigation processes. But impact of gender-sensitive projects is unclear and traditional values could be barrier

“The challenge is: how do we enable refugees not to be perceived as a burden, but as a benefit and an opportunity for the host country?” . Almost all of Syria’s neighbours have high youth unemployment rates and limited public funds, so relaxing labour laws for refugees is a hard sell.

African governments need to integrate entrepreneurship more fully into their industrialisation strategies, according to the African Economic Outlook (AEO) 2017 released Monday, May 22 at the African Development Bank Group’s 52nd Annual Meetings. In 2016, Africa’s economic growth slowed down to 2.2%…

Desertification is a form of land degradation in drylands. It results from unsustainable land management practices and climatic factors. Thirteen EU Member States, not only in the Mediterranean region, but also in Central and Eastern Europe, have declared that they are affected by desertification…

This article summarizes the relevant experiences garnered in “offsetting” regulatory schemes in the areas of wetland preservation, biodiversity, forestry, greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, real estate zoning, and conventional air pollution control. While many of these initiatives take place in…

The map of potential natural vegetation of eastern Africa, gives the distribution of potential natural vegetation in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Zambia. The map distinguishes 48 vegetation types, divided in four main vegetation groups: 16 forest types, 15 woodland…

FAO recognizes the potential of rural women and men in achieving food security and nutrition and is committed to overcoming gender inequality, in line with the pledge to “leave no one behind”, which is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. The publication…

Four widespread forms of SLM have been examined in the new publication "SLM in Asia: Introducing the Landscape Approach" by William Critchley and Frank Radstake in collaboration with Asian Development Bank - ADB. It is referring to specific WOCAT case studies and the WOCAT database. Have a look at…

Spotlights inequalities and challenges faced by women; identifies gaps and opportunities for gender equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

As much as half of the world’s work is unpaid. And most of it is done by women. This imbalance not only robs women of economic opportunities. It is also costly to society in the form of lower productivity and forgone economic growth. It follows that a fairer allocation of unpaid work would not only…