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 …
The second edition of the ‘State of Biodiversity in Africa’ provides a mid-term review of progress on implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets on the continent. In an assessment that uses global indicators disaggregated to the regional level, …
Global wildlife could plunge to a 67 per cent level of decline in just the fifty-year period ending this decade as a result of human activities, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2016. The report shows how people are overpowering the planet for the first time in Earth’s history and …
The long-term future of species composition in forests depends on regeneration. Many factors can affect regeneration, including human use, environmental conditions, and species' traits. This study examines the influence of these factors in a tropical deciduous forest of Central India, which is heavily used by local, forest-dependent residents for livestock …
A new report offers evidence that the modest investments needed to secure land rights for indigenous communities will generate billions in returns—economically, socially and environmentally—for local communities and the world’s changing climate. The report, Climate Benefits, Tenure Costs: The Economic Case for Securing Indigenous Land Rights, quantifies for the first …
This publication documents thirteen case studies from city regions around the world which are developing City Region Food System (CRFS) projects, programmes, and policies, including those related to the prevention, reduction and management of food waste. The report furthermore provides lessons learned from the case studies for sustainable development of …
This report is a review and synthesis of global experiences on ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation (EbA) and to disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR). The report includes key findings from the CBD technical workshop on EbA and Eco-DRR, held in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, from 28 September to 2 October …
The Amazonian tropical forests have been disappearing at a fast rate in the last 50 y due to deforestation to open areas for agriculture, posing high risks of irreversible changes to biodiversity and ecosystems. Climate change poses additional risks to the stability of the forests. Studies suggest “tipping points” not …
Megaherbivores (>1000 kg) are critical for ecosystem health and function, but face population collapse and extinction globally. The future of these megaherbivore-impoverished ecosystems is difficult to predict, though many studies have demonstrated increasing representation of C3 woody plants. These studies rely on direct observational data, however, and tools for assessing …
Ecological studies identifying a positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services motivate projections that higher plant diversity will increase services from agroecosystems. While this idea is compelling, evidence of generalizable relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem services that could be broadly applied in agricultural systems is lacking. Cover crops grown in …
The Protected Planet Report 2016 has been launched at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii. Part of the successful Protected Planet series, this report assesses how protected areas contribute to achieving the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and relevant targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, two of the most important …
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is the largest agricultural land-retirement program in the United States, providing many environmental benefits, including wildlife habitat and improved air, water, and soil quality. Since 2007, however, CRP area has declined by over 25% nationally with much of this land returning to agriculture. Despite this …
This new book published by UNEP and SEI presents the why, what and how of sustainable sanitation and wastewater management today. Combating disease, Managing resources efficiently, Protecting marine and freshwater environments, Universal energy access, Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Meeting the nutrition and drinking water needs of an ever-growing population. These …
Climate change threatens ecosystems worldwide, yet their potential future resilience remains largely unquantified. In recent years many studies have shown that biodiversity, and in particular functional diversity, can enhance ecosystem resilience by providing a higher response diversity. So far these insights have been mostly neglected in large-scale projections of ecosystem …
Human pressures on the environment are changing spatially and temporally, with profound implications for the planet’s biodiversity and human economies. Here we use recently available data on infrastructure, land cover and human access into natural areas to construct a globally standardized measure of the cumulative human footprint on the terrestrial …
Revegetation of degraded ecosystems provides opportunities for carbon sequestration and bioenergy production. However, vegetation expansion in water-limited areas creates potentially conflicting demands for water between the ecosystem and humans. Current understanding of these competing demands is still limited. Here, we study the semi-arid Loess Plateau in China, where the ‘Grain …
The importance of species richness in maintaining ecosystem function in the field remains unclear. Recent studies however have suggested that in some systems functionality is maintained by a few abundant species. Here we determine this relationship by quantifying the species responsible for a key ecosystem role, carcass removal by scavengers. …
Understanding of the scientific basis for action will be needed to achieve the ambitious and transformative goals of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, according to a new report issued by the United Nations during the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. According to the Global Sustainable Development Report 2016, key …
Understanding of the scientific basis for action will be needed to achieve the ambitious and transformative goals of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, according to a new report issued by the United Nations during the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. According to the Global Sustainable Development Report 2016, key …
Corporations and other multinational institutions are increasingly looking to evaluate their innovation and procurement decisions over a range of environmental criteria, including impacts on ecosystem services according to the spatial configuration of activities on the landscape. We have developed a spatially explicit approach and modeled a hypothetical corporate supply chain …
Mountains offer ideal conditions for the development of hydropower, but the uneven distribution of benefits from project development often create friction and development disputes between communities and project developers. How can hydropower projects be designed and implemented in such a way that affected communities derive benefits beyond mere compensation and …
