The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
Along with defining the measures needed to achieve ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA), solid governance components are imperative to make it effective. Such governance must be flexible, participatory, multidimensional and include ecosystem-based approaches (maintain ecosystem structure and function to guarantee human well-being). The aim of this book is to reflect upon and …
Forests and trees play a vital role in meeting the world's increasing demand for water and need to be managed for water-related ecosystem services, according to a new guide co-published by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), the Joint Research Centre …
Unlocking Nature-Smart Development: An Approach Paper on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is part of a series of papers by the World Bank Group that outlines the development challenges and opportunities associated with blue and green biodiversity and ecosystem services. The paper makes the case that the rapid global decline in …
Agriculture is the largest single source of environmental degradation, responsible for over 30% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 70% of freshwater use and 80% of land conversion: it is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss (Foley et al. 2011, 2005; IPBES 2019; Willett et al. 2019). Agriculture also …
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can help cities address urgent and fundamental environmental challenges by bringing ecosystems services back into cities and rebalancing cities’ relationships with their surrounding areas. By accelerating the implementation of NbS, decision-makers can help cities adapt to effects of climate change, reduce urban heat island effects and cooling …
Shifting cultivation is commonly perceived as a primitive agricultural practice, economically unviable and a cause of tropical deforestation and environmental degradation. Despite growing scientific evidence to the contrary and a revision of this position by several countries and international agencies, policies based on this misconception replace the practice with settled …
The Economic Case for Nature is part of a series of papers by the World Bank that lays out the economic rationale for investing in nature and recognizes how economies rely on nature for services that are largely underpriced. This report presents a first-of-its-kind integrated ecosystem-economy modelling exercise to assess …
This report provides an overview of financial transaction mechanisms and related enabling frameworks that aim to protect and restore nature. The true value of the benefits that humans gain from nature is usually not reflected in economic transactions. Attaching a monetised value to these benefits is a necessary step towards …
Arctic wetlands play a number of crucial environmental roles, but they continue to be degraded and lost, with potentially dire global consequences. This report offers insights and identifies knowledge gaps, with the aim of supporting sustainable development and resilience in these areas. Arctic wetlands store an enormous amount of global …
Nature underpins all economic activities and human well-being. It is the world’s most important asset. Yet humanity is destroying biodiversity at an unprecedented rate, posing significant but often overlooked risks to the economy, the financial sector and the well-being of current and future generations. This report provides the latest findings …
To the world’s efforts to restore and regenerate nature, they add the single-biggest missing piece: Natural Resource Management. The picture that emerges is a one-off opportunity: for biodiversity-rich nations to be recognized for the value of their natural wealth and be rewarded for maintaining ecosystem services, and for countries with …
The UNEP report is the final “report card” on the goal of protecting at least 17 per cent of land and inland waters, and 10 per cent of the marine environment, by 2020. Progress currently stands at 16.6 per cent on the first target, while the marine target stands at …
New global research, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and commissioned by WWF, shows that public interest in, and concern for nature has risen markedly (16%) in the past five years (2016-2020) and continues to grow during the COVID-19 pandemic. The figures come ahead of International Day for Biodiversity …
As humanity’s demand on natural resources is increasingly exceeding Earth’s biological rate of regeneration, environmental deterioration such as greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere, ocean acidification and groundwater depletion is accelerating. As a result, the capacity of ecosystems to renew biomass, herein referred to as ‘biocapacity’, is becoming the material …
The 2021 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report, titled “Valuing Water” assesses the current status of and challenges to the valuation of water across different sectors and perspectives, and identifies ways in which valuation can be promoted as a tool to help improve its management and achieve …
The purpose of the supplement is to: Clarify the entry points and financial instruments to enhance access to coastal and marine NbS opportunities in the GCF; and, Provide a specifically coastal EbA and NbS lens that take into account the GCF’s requirements and priorities, as defined in the GCF Programming …
Achieving a climate-resilient future requires rapid, sustained and far-reaching transformations in energy, land-use, infrastructure and industrial systems. Large-scale expansion of renewable energy can play a critical role in meeting the world’s growing energy demands and in the fight against climate change. However, even ‘clean’ energy sources can have significant unintended …
This paper explores the role of the global food system as the principal driver of accelerating biodiversity loss. It explains how food production is degrading or destroying natural habitats and contributing to species extinction. The paper outlines the challenges and trade-offs involved in redesigning food systems to restore biodiversity and/or …
The paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the changes witnessed in the forest sector in China during the last three decades and the key drivers that have contributed to the country’s forest transition. Clearly, such a transition is an outcome of the convergence of several factors, including the emergence of …
Despite efforts, marine and coastal pollution from land-based sources increases. The experience of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities shows the double-edged nature of multi-stakeholder partnerships: they can increase the effectiveness of action, but also inhibit action due to self-interest.
