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 …
Humans have been cutting Ethiopian forests for fuel and agriculture for centuries. Only about 35,000 fragments remain in the northern highlands, ranging in size from 3 to 300 hectares. These fragments escaped deforestation because of their religious and spiritual importance; they are protected by, and are an integral part of, …
This paper is a synthesis of the key messages from the individual papers written by the Blue Planet Laureates, and discusses the current and projected state of the global and regional environment, and the implications for environmental, social and economic sustainability. It addresses the drivers for change, the implications for …
Preparations for the Rio+20 United Nations conference on sustainable development have begun, but the first round of preparatory meetings did not address important issues such as sustainable resource use, production and consumption.
Pollination of insect pollinated crops has been found to be correlated to pollinator abundance and diversity. Since organic farming has the potential to mitigate negative effects of agricultural intensification on biodiversity, it may also benefit crop pollination, but direct evidence of this is scant. We evaluated the effect of organic …
Wetlands play a big role as the important recreational destinations which contribute to the increase in tourism industry. This paper evaluates the recreational value of Lake Victoria in Musoma Municipality. Primary data were gathered by administering the questionnaire to a sample of 120 recreationists. The socio-economic data were analysed using …
The UNEP Year Book 2012 depicts the status of key environmental indicators, shows that we have been experiencing an exceptional level of ecological extremes and highlights the benefits of soil carbon and decommissioning nuclear power plants. The UNEP has released the UNEP Year Book 2012, which presents important events and …
This publication provides corporate managers with a proactive approach to making the connection between ecosystem change and their business goals. It introduces the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review—a structured methodology to help businesses develop strategies for managing risks and opportunities arising from their dependence and impact on ecosystems. It is a …
It is clear that in all regions of the world there will be continued growth in the demand for reliable supplies of water for climate change adaptation, food security, water security, human and economic development. In an increasingly unpredictable global environment, providing effective options for water storage will be an …
The purpose of this review report is to provide an accessible source of information to help improve understanding of the often complex inter-relationships between wetland ecosystems and human health and well being. The primary audience for this report is intended to be wetland conservation and wise use practitioners, from wetland …
Wetlands are among the most productive and economically valuable ecosystems in the world. However, because of human activities, over half of the wetland ecosystems existing in North America, Europe, Australia, and China in the early 20th century have been lost. Ecological restoration to recover critical ecosystem services has been widely …
Food security is a critical issue for Asia and the Pacific. The region is the world’s key supplier and largest consumer of food yet it is also home to the largest number of the world’s poor and hungry. It presents a stark contrast—a food bowl that is full to the …
Experiments suggest that biodiversity enhances the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions, such as carbon storage, productivity, and the buildup of nutrient pools (multifunctionality). However, the relationship between biodiversity and multifunctionality has never been assessed globally in natural ecosystems. We report here on a global empirical study relating plant …
How is the biodiversity within an ecosystem related to the ecosystem's function? Quantifying and understanding this relationship—the biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) —is important because socio-economic development is almost always accompanied by the loss of natural habitat and species. Short-term economic gains may thus trump longer-term benefits for human society, creating vulnerabilities …
The mainstream paradigm of understanding grass-root environmentalism in India as “environmentalism of the poor” might be challenged by an alternative prototype forest movement in the Bengal Dooars prior to the Chipko movement. It was fought against the exploitative design of ecosystem governance under the taungya method of artificial regeneration as …
Programmes to address global warming and promote green development, such as Payments for Ecosystem Services and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and [forest] Degradation financed by carbon-offset trading, are framed by a world-as-market paradigm that subsumes social goals within a project of globalized eco-economic management. Because market-based strategies reinforce existing property …
This paper focuses on the causes of ecosystem degradation. Historically, poor communities have been identified as among the key degrading agents. The thesis of this paper is that such communities do not voluntarily destroy the resource base which is the source of their livelihoods and provides them sustenance. Therefore, the …
Marianne Fay, chief economist for the World Bank Sustainable Development Network, led a study on green growth, defined as growth that is efficient, clean, and resilient: ecient in its use of natural resources, clean in minimizing pollution and environmental impacts, and resilient in fully accounting for natural hazards. Here, Environment …
Environment Matters interviews Glenn-Marie Lange, program leader, WAVES, and team leader, Policy and Economics, at the World Bank’s Environment Department, on the progress made in establishing global accounting systems that incorporate natural capital.
This article highlights the land tenure implications of payment for environmental services (PES) mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions and enhance carbon sequestration, and offers suggestions for incorporating tenure into PES strategies.
