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 recent Global Assessment released by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) supplied clear indicators of the loss of nature and the decline of ecosystem services—valued in the hundreds of trillions of dollars—which provide the basic building blocks of the global economy, from water to energy, …
Environmental Accounting for a mega-diverse country like India is packed with challenges – from requirements of huge datasets and several microscopic studies to synchronising all of these so that they speak to each other and can yield consistent estimates. An implementation plan for environment accounting was drawn by the Expert …
Does financial compensation for providing environmental conservation, improve the food security of the rural poor in the drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa? This paper explores this question using data from a randomized controlled trial of a large scale reforestation implemented by the Government of Burkina Faso. Members of communities located around …
Africa's lions are facing a catastrophic decline, a wildlife conservationist said in a new report. The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) said the lion which is one of the world's most iconic animal species is facing a catastrophic decline, with Africa's population dropping 50 percent in only 20 years. Lions will …
Tackling biodiversity loss is a growing priority for human survival. Introducing incentives for positive actions could play a key role in helping to reverse this loss. This paper explores the potential of using a novel approach to promote biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity credits or ‘biocredits’ are coherent units of measurement that …
Enhanced rainfed agriculture is particularly important in Africa, where 95% of agricultural production depends on rainwater and crop yields are amongst the lowest in the world. The main barrier to accelerating enhanced rainfed agriculture is investment. Financing for enhanced rainfed agriculture in Africa is relatively unexplored and access to credits …
Forests and landscapes in the Asia-Pacific region are under increasing pressure from economic development, climate change, demographic shifts, conflicts over tenure and land use, and other stressors. This, the third Asia-Pacific Forest Sector Outlook Study, presents scenarios and a strategic analysis to help policymakers and other actors understand the implications …
Maintaining 'natural capital', i.e. ecosystems and the services they provide, is fundamental to human economic activity and well-being. The need to conserve and enhance natural capital is therefore an explicit policy target in the EU's Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and its Seventh Environment Action Programme. Approaches to measuring the stocks …
The coastal and sub-montane forest of Eastern Africa is ranked as one of the world's most endangered biodiversity hotspots. The East Usambara landscape represents one of the larger forest blocks within this hotspot, and contains species such as the critically-endangered long-billed tailorbird and the endangered Usambara weaver. Approximately 135,000 people …
A recently launched report from World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy demonstrates how the renewable energy revolution can help address the world’s climate and energy challenge without affecting rivers and the diverse benefits they provide to people and nature. The report Connected and Flowing: a renewable future for …
Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history — and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts on people around the world now likely, warns a landmark new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the summary of which was …
The Convention on Biological Diversity’s 15th Conference of the Parties (CBD COP15) in 2020 marks a critical juncture for one of the defining global challenges of our time: the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, which underpin nearly all of the Sustainable Development Goals. Transformative changes are needed to ensure …
The increasing demand for water, energy and food, and the interdependence of these systems could lead to potential human conflict in the future. This was seen in the food crisis of 2008, which stirred a renewed interest in taking a “systems” approach to managing resources. The initial flurry of activities …
Biodiversity of insects is threatened worldwide. Here, we present a comprehensive review of 73 historical reports of insect declines from across the globe, and systematically assess the underlying drivers. Our work reveals dramatic rates of decline that may lead to the extinction of 40% of the world's insect species over …
This report presents findings from a study conducted to explore the synergies and trade-offs between built (i.e., engineered) and natural (i.e., ecological systems) infrastructure in the Tana River Basin, Kenya. The study considered hydrological, ecological and economic processes in order to value flow-related ecosystem services. It provides quantitative insights into …
This report makes a contribution to enhancing implementation and showcasing the effectiveness of ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.
The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 calls on Member States to carry out a mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services. As such, an EU-wide ecosystem assessment was launched to provide harmonised information on the condition of ecosystems and biodiversity, and their capacity to provide ecosystem services. The assessment …
The future of food supplies is under "severe threat" because of the number of animal and plant species disappearing warns this new global report on the state of biodiversity for food and agriculture The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture presents the first global assessment of biodiversity …
Identifying the species that are at risk of local extinction in highly diverse ecosystems is a big challenge for conservation science. Assessments of species status are costly and difficult to implement in developing countries with diverse ecosystems due to a lack of species-specific surveys, species-specific data, and other resources. Numerous …
Wherever a new sports venue is built, or the refurbishment of an existing venue is undertaken, it is likely that biodiversity will be affected by that development, although the significance of impacts on biodiversity – both negative and positive – will vary enormously from sport to sport and location to …
