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 …
Biodiversity within inland water ecosystems in the Eastern Himalaya region is both highly diverse and of great regional importance to livelihoods and economies. However, development activities are not always compatible with the conservation of this diversity, and the ecosystem requirements of biodiversity are frequently not considered in the development planning …
Wetlands contribute in diverse ways to the livelihoods of millions of people. They are often inextricably linked to agricultural production systems. In many places, growing population, in conjunction with efforts to increase food security, is escalating pressure to expand agriculture within wetlands. The environmental impact of wetland agriculture can have …
We undertook an economic valuation of mangrove forests in Balochistan province of Pakistan drawing on primary data from a survey of 80 households depending on mangrove forests. It was found that the direct value of mangroves was USD 1,287 per hectare, while the total value for the village was calculated …
The Asian green revolution trebled grain yields through agrochemical intensification of monocultures. Associated environmental costs have subsequently emerged. A rapidly changing world necessitates sustainability principles be developed to reinvent these technologies and test them at scale. The need is particularly urgent in Africa, where ecosystems are degrading and crop yields …
Expanding croplands to meet the needs of a growing population, changing diets, and biofuel production comes at the cost of reduced carbon stocks in natural vegetation and soils. Here, we present a spatially explicit global analysis of tradeoffs between carbon stocks and current crop yields. The difference among regions is …
Farmland biodiversity is greatly enhanced by the presence of trees. However, farmland trees are declining worldwide, including in North America, Central America, and parts of southern Europe. We show that tree decline and its likely consequences are particularly severe in Australia's temperate agricultural zone, which is a threatened ecoregion.
What do the blue jeans you wear, the hamburger you have for lunch, and the sheet you make your bed with have in common? They all take copious amounts of water to produce. One pair of blue jeans takes 2,900 gallons or about 78 bathtubs of water. Even your morning …
This paper reviews the boundary concepts that have emerged in interdisciplinary irrigation studies in South Asia, particularly India. The focus is concepts that capture the hybridity of irrigation systems as complex systems, and cross the boundaries of the natural and social sciences. Concepts capturing the materialisation of rights, design-management relations …
This report has examined three stress factors that have the potential to decrease the supply of ecosystem services, thus reducing the chances of reaching the Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG 1) in a sustainable way. Air pollution, energy generation and indiscriminate use of pesticides may affect provisioning, regulating, supporting and …
This new UNDP report looks at how changing 21st Century expectations on roles and functions of protected areas are beginning to shape protected area management around the world & identifies emerging best practices under a new paradigm that views protected areas as part of a planetary life support system.
This new TEEB study showcases the economic value of forests, freshwater, soils and coral reefs & calls for wider recognition of nature’s contribution to human livelihoods, health and security by the decision-makers. The economic importance of the world's natural assets is now firmly on the political radar as a result …
This new UNEP report looks at the pressures and the drivers of ecosystems degradation that affect inland fisheries, and reviews opportunities on how to manage inland fisheries sustainably through ecosystem management approaches. Blue Harvest: Inland Fisheries as an Ecosystem Service focuses on the importance of inland fisheries as an ecosystem …
WWF’s 2010 Living Planet Report is the world's leading, science-based analysis on the health of our planet and the impact of human activity on the planet. The biennial report explores the changing state of biodiversity, ecosystems and peoples’ consumption of natural resources. It also explores the implications of these changes …
The draft of Green India Mission submitted to PM's Council on Climate Change aims at addressing climate change by enhancing carbon sinks in sustainably managed forests, adaptation of vulnerable ecosystems and adaptation of forest-dependant communities. This Mission document envisages an approach that is innovative in several ways: First, it proposes …
Humans have altered ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than ever, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for resources along with economic development. These demands have been considered important drivers of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. Are humans becoming less dependent on ecosystem services and biodiversity following economic development? Here, we …
Corporations not only impact ecosystems and the services they provide, but also depend upon them. For instance, freshwater is a critical input for every conceivable major industrial process; the pharmaceutical industry benefits from genetic resources; agribusiness and the food sector depend on ecosystem services like pollination, pest and erosion regulation; …
