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 …
Public agencies and private enterprises increasingly desire to achieve ecosystem service outcomes in agricultural systems, but are limited by perceived conflicts between economic and ecosystem service goals and a lack of tools enabling effective operational management. Here we use Iowa—an agriculturally homogeneous state representative of the Maize Belt—to demonstrate an …
This guidance note provides review and recommendations for how the protective services of mangroves and coral reefs can be measured and valued in a manner consistent with national economic accounts and included in other decision-making processes to support planning for development, disaster risk, and coastal zone management. It synthesizes evidence …
This brief makes the case for ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) by presenting how it can generate multiple environmental, social and economic benefits. Research shows that benefiting from a wide range of ecosystem services is closely correlated with communities’ degree of resilience to challenges. It presents case studies from Peru, Nepal and …
Efficient use of water resources is gaining priority in global development policy debates due to the increasing demand for water from agriculture, industry, energy production and ecosystem services. This study systematically reviews the recent hydro-economic modeling (HEM) literature to characterize the relevance of HEM tools for analyzing problems of water …
This brief provides an introduction to ecosystem-based adaptation to climatic risks and hazards. It presents the concept and principles of ecosystem-based adaptation, the environmental, social and cultural benefits, as well as case studies from Nepal, Peru and Uganda. Further, it proposes a framework for holistic ecosystem-based adaptation. This guidance document …
Carbon storage is widely acknowledged as one of the most valuable forest ecosystem services. Deforestation, logging, fragmentation, fire, and climate change have significant effects on tropical carbon stocks; however, an elusive and yet undetected decrease in carbon storage may be due to defaunation of large seed dispersers. Many large tropical …
The world's soils are rapidly deteriorating due to soil erosion, nutrient depletion, loss of soil organic carbon, soil sealing and other threats, but this trend can be reversed provided countries take the lead in promoting sustainable management practices and the use of appropriate technologies, according to a new UN report …
Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) is intrinsically a multilevel process that cuts across different land-use based sector ministries. It builds on existing land-use and management policies and legal frameworks. …
This volume deals with land degradation, which is occurring in almost all terrestrial biomes and agro-ecologies, in both low and high income countries and is stretching to about 30% of the total global land area. About three billion people reside in these degraded lands. However, the impact of land degradation …
Over two centuries of economic growth have put undeniable pressure on the ecological systems that underpin human well-being. While it is agreed that these pressures are increasing, views divide on how they may be alleviated. Some suggest technological advances will automatically keep us from transgressing key environmental thresholds; others that …
How much do poor rural households rely on environmental extraction from natural ecosystems? And how does climate variability impact their livelihoods? This paper sheds light on these two questions with household income data from the Poverty and Environment Network pantropical data set, combined with climate data for the past three …
A five-day international symposium on ‘Transforming Mountain Forestry’ was held in Dehradun, India from 18 to 22 January 2015 to explore options for sustainable forest management practices and policies that address the changing conditions in the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH). The symposium was jointly organized by India’s Ministry of Environment, …
Achieving sustainable development is difficult in the Asia-Pacific region without addressing disaster risks says this report released by UNESCAP. It provides an overview of the state of disaster resilience in Asia-Pacific region and identifies emerging new risks in the region and the sectors that are most at risk The Asia …
North East India (NEI) has 17.2 M ha under forest cover, which is ~25% of India’s total forest area. Of the total forest cover, 1.5 M ha is currently managed by shifting cultivation in NEI. Shifting cultivation, an integral part of culture and tradition of tribes of NEI, is presently …
Launched on the occasion of the seventh FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference, held from 20-21 October 2015 in Madrid, Spain, the 'State of Europe's Forests 2015' report shows expansion of Europe's forest area and progress on sustainable forest management. By providing detailed information about the current status of European forests and …
A project aimed at integrating the economic value of ecosystems into government policies has identified almost one billion dollars of benefits in four pilot countries, the importance of ecosystem conservation to the recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Project for Ecosystem Services (ProEcoServ) is UNEP’s flagship project focused …
This report focuses on certain types of extreme events and natural hazards at European scale that will be very likely amplified by ongoing climate change, i.e. landslides, avalanches, floods and storm surges. In addition, the report also touches upon the green infrastructure and ecosystem services contributing to global climate regulation. …
Land degradation is an increasing issue globally, exacerbated by climate change and affecting food security, threatening water resources and ultimately acting as a driver to migration. The ELD study, undertaken over the past 4 years, quantifies the costs of land degradation and sets out a universal approach for quantifying the …
The world's forests continue to shrink as populations increase and forest land is converted to agriculture and other uses, but over the past 25 years the rate of net global deforestation has slowed down by more than 50 percent, FAO said in a report published today. Some 129 million hectares …
