Debt for climate swaps: supporting a sustainable recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the debt vulnerabilities of many low- and medium-income sovereigns. Debt levels were already high for many even prior to COVID outbreak, but are now exacerbated because government revenues have declined as a result of limited economic activity – while the timing and the quantum of …

Debt for climate swaps: supporting a sustainable recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the debt vulnerabilities of many low- and medium-income sovereigns. Debt levels were already high for many even prior to COVID outbreak, but are now exacerbated because government revenues have declined as a result of limited economic activity – while the timing and the quantum of …

Strengthening capacity for advocacy in food systems of the poor

Effective and progressive civil society movements are critical for tackling poverty and protecting the environment in low-income countries. Strengthening the capacity of citizens and advocacy organisations can therefore be a meaningful contribution to local, national and international efforts to shape development sector policy. But agency is rarely talked about in …

Socio-legal empowerment and agency of small-scale farmers in informal markets

Producers trading in informal agricultural markets in low- and middle-income countries make daily choices concerning their livelihood and marketing strategies. Different contexts present varying degrees of market power and knowledge asymmetries across value chains and trading relations. In general, however, producers face the greatest risks and downstream players reap the …

Sustainable diets in the informal economy

Informal food systems contribute to the food and nutrition security of hundreds of millions of people around the world, particularly in the global South. But the concept of sustainable diets – which brings together global priorities around food and nutrition security, environmental protection and economic affordability – is built around …

SDSN Networks in Action 2020

SDSN’s National and Regional Networks promote the localization and implementation of the SDGs, develop long-term transformation pathways, provide education for sustainable development, and launch Solutions Initiatives to address challenges. Each network focuses on distinct projects and priorities in line with their local contexts and challenges. The 2020 Networks in Action …

Food systems and climate change

Climate change is both a negative outcome of environmentally damaging food systems, and a threat to the future of food production and the livelihoods that depend on it. The Sustainable Diets for All (SD4All) programme has been informed by the linkages between food systems and climate change, as well as …

Multi-actor initiatives in action: Lessons from the Sustainable Diets for All programme

Sustainable Diets for All (SD4All) is an advocacy programme, coordinated by IIED and Hivos, which is designed to improve access to healthy and sustainable diets for low-income communities, while highlighting the important link between food and climate. This paper documents the results of three multi-stakeholder initiatives (MAIs) that have come …

Degradation and forgone removals increase the carbon impact of intact forest loss by 626%

Intact tropical forests, free from substantial anthropogenic influence, store and sequester large amounts of atmospheric carbon but are currently neglected in international climate policy. We show that between 2000 and 2013, direct clearance of intact tropical forest areas accounted for 3.2% of gross carbon emissions from all deforestation across the …

Future of oil and gas development in the western Amazon

The western Amazon is one of the world's last high-biodiversity wilderness areas, characterized by extraordinary species richness and large tracts of roadless humid tropical forest. It is also home to an active hydrocarbon (oil and gas) sector, characterized by operations in extremely remote areas that require new access routes. Here, …

Disaster risk reduction at farm level: multiple benefits, no regrets

This report assesses and identifies solutions with special relevance for smallholder farmers: DRR good practices that work at farm-level and which, with small investments, can have a significant positive impact on the resilience of their livelihoods. It evaluates the cost-effectiveness and socio-ecological suitability of different specific DRR interventions, with the …

Disaster risk reduction at farm level: multiple benefits, no regrets

This report assesses and identifies solutions with special relevance for smallholder farmers: DRR good practices that work at farm-level and which, with small investments, can have a significant positive impact on the resilience of their livelihoods. It evaluates the cost-effectiveness and socio-ecological suitability of different specific DRR interventions, with the …

The spice of life: the fundamental role of diversity on the farm and on the plate

The world is witnessing major shifts in dietary patterns and – in parallel – the threat to agricultural biodiversity. The implications for human health and the resilience of our food systems are significant. Agricultural landscapes are becoming increasingly simplified as the number of crops and crop varieties grown on farms …

Wastewater : from waste to resource - the case of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

A set of case studies was prepared as part of the World Bank’s Water Global Practice initiative 'Wastewater. Shifting paradigms: from waste to resource' to document existing experiences in the water sector on the topic. The case studies highlight innovative financing and contractual arrangements, innovative regulations and legislation and innovative …

Oxygen isotopes in tree rings are a good proxy for Amazon precipitation and El Niño-Southern Oscillation variability

We present a unique proxy for the reconstruction of variation in precipitation over the Amazon: oxygen isotope ratios in annual rings in tropical cedar (Cedrela odorata). A century-long record from northern Bolivia shows that tree rings preserve the signal of oxygen isotopes in precipitation during the wet season, with weaker …

Crop ecology, cultivation and uses of cactus pear

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges the world must meet today and in the future. Prolonged droughts and desertification are among the issues faced by many countries, especially in Africa and Asia, where the rural poor and smallholders are most heavily affected. If people are to survive in …

The nutrition advantage: harnessing nutrition co-benefits of climate-resilient agriculture

Investing in climate-resilient agriculture not only improves food security but contributes to eradicating malnutrition, according to the findings of a new report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The Nutrition Advantage – Harnessing the Nutrition Co-Benefits of Climate Resilient Agriculture, a study of IFAD’s experience in improving nutrition …

Amazon deforestation linked to McDonald’s and British retail giants

British fast food restaurants and grocery chains, including Tesco, Morrisons and McDonald’s, buy their chicken from Cargill, which feeds its poultry with imported soy, much of it apparently coming from the Bolivian Amazon and Brazilian Cerrado — areas rapidly being deforested for new soy plantations. A decade ago, Cargill and …

Pollution levels in Bolivia plummet on nationwide car-free day

Air pollution levels have plunged in cities across Bolivia as the country marked a nationwide car-free day in which all non-emergency vehicles were banned from city streets. As Bolivia’s middle-class population has increased over the past 10 years so has the number of cars clogging city streets. The car-free event …

Bolivia approves highway through Amazon biodiversity hotspot

Bolivia has given the go ahead to a controversial highway which would cut through an Amazon biodiversity hotspot almost the size of Jamaica and home to 14,000 mostly indigenous people. President Evo Morales enacted the new law opening the way for the 190-mile (300km) road through the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous …

Amazon's billion dollar gold rush leaves trail of toxins

Holding a plastic bottle of toxic mercury with his bare hands on an illegal gold mining barge in the Amazon basin, the 22-year-old miner says he is well aware of the dangers of the job. In shorts and sandals, he lights a blow torch, training a blue flame on a …

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