Library

  • November 30, 2016
    UNEP

    The Rise Of Environmental Crime: A Growing Threat To Natural Resources, Peace, Development and Security

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    The growth rate of these crimes is astonishing. The reportthat follows reveals for the first time that this new area ofcriminality has diversified and skyrocketed to become theworld’s fourth largest crime sector in a few decades, growingat 2-3 times the pace of the global economy. INTERPOL andUNEP now estimate that natural resources worth as much asUSD 91 billion to USD 258 billion annually are being stolenby criminals, depriving countries of future revenues anddevelopment opportunities.

    The​_rise​_of​_environmental​_crime​_​_A​_growing​_threat​_to​_natural​_resources​_peace,​_development​_and​_security​-2016environmental​_crimes.pdf.pdf (9 MB)
  • November 30, 2016
    FAO

    The State of Food and Agriculture 2016 (SOFA): Climate change, agriculture and food security

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    The 2016 SOFA report presents evidence on today and tomorrow’s impact of climate change on agriculture and food systems. The report assesses the options to make agriculture and food systems resilient to climate change impacts, while minimizing environmental impacts. It shows that making agriculture and food systems sustainable is both economically and technically feasible. However barriers to the adoption of appropriate technologies and management practices will have to be lowered, especially for smallholder farmers and women farmers amongst them. Likewise, an overhaul is needed of agricultural and food policies to shift incentives in favour of investments, worldwide, in sustainable technologies and practices.

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    a​-i6030e​_3.pdf (6 MB)
  • November 30, 2016
    Bioversity International

    Tropical Fruit Tree Diversity: Good Practices for Insitu and On-Farm Conservation

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    Farmers have developed a range of agricultural practices to sustainably use and maintain a wide diversity of crop species in many parts of the world. This book documents good practices innovated by farmers and collects key reviews on good practices from global experts, not only from the case study countries but also from Brazil, China and other parts of Asia and Latin America.

    A good practice for diversity is defined as a system, organization or process that, over time and space, maintains, enhances and creates crop genetic diversity, and ensures its availability to and from farmers and other users. Drawing on experiences from a UNEP-GEF project on "Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wild and Cultivated Tropical Fruit Tree Diversity for Promoting Livelihoods, Food Security and Ecosystem Services", with case studies from India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the authors show how methods for identifying good practices are still evolving and challenges in scaling-up remain. They identify key principles effective as a strategy for mainstreaming good practice into development efforts. Few books draw principles and lessons learned from good practices. This book fills this gap by combining good practices from the research project on tropical fruit trees with chapters from external experts to broaden its scope and relevance.

    Tropical​_Fruit​_Tree​_Diversity.pdf (8 MB)
  • November 27, 2016
    UNDP

    Guidance Note | Municipal Solid Waste Management in Crisis and Post-Crisis Setting

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    This guidance note aims to support Government counterparts and strengthen UNDP Country Offices’ and implementing partners’ capacities to plan, design and implement projects for municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in crisis or post-crisis settings, as part of UNDP’s early recovery response.

    The Guidance Note focuses in particular on livelihoods recovery and local government service delivery. It is assumed that readers do not have extensive experience in the area of MSWM. The guidance note is intended to inform UNDP Country Offices and implementing partners on the type of programmes UNDP could support in the area of MSWM in an early recovery setting, and provide information on how to plan, design and implement such projects.

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    GuidanceNote​_Solid​_Waste​_Management.pdf (2 MB)
  • November 14, 2016
    UNDP

    From MDGs to Sustainable Development For All: Lessons from 15 Years of Practice

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    In 2015, world leaders set out to defy the odds, committing themselves to achieve 17 ambitious and far-reaching Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. This was not the first time the world had attempted to raise the trajectory of human progress by employing Global Goals. In 2000, world leaders blazed a trail by adopting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs were the first attempt to use Global Goals to capture and advance the shared interest we all have, in a more just, peaceful and prosperous world.

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    From the MDGs to SD4All.pdf (3 MB)
  • November 10, 2016
    WWF

    The Mekong River in the Economy Report

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    The Mekong River in the Economy report aims to reframe the debate around development and river resources management, guiding policy makers towards increased sustainability as well as continued growth.

    The two are not incompatible, but interdependent. The report lays out the benefits of integrating planning in a series of short narratives, highlighting the major risks and opportunities for different sectors within each Lower Mekong Basin country and illustrating how one actor’s development decisions are felt through the entire river system.

    WWF 2016​-Mekong River in the Economy.pdf (6 MB)
  • November 08, 2016
    UNDP

    Transitioning from the MDGs to the SDGs

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    This UNDP-World Bank Report pulls together the main lessons learned from the MDG Reviews for the UN system and for its engagement at the country level, which took place at the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB). The Reviews, which brought together UN and World Bank Group staff, systematically identified the country situation, the bottlenecks to MDG attainment, and potential solutions to be implemented. Since many MDGs have been absorbed into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many of the observations and solutions provided could prove useful to the implementation of the SDGs.

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    Transitioning from the MDGs to the SDGs.pdf (3 MB)
  • November 01, 2016
    UNDP

    Adaptive Farms, Resilient Tables: Building secure food systems and celebrating distinct culinary traditions in a world of climate uncertainty

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    As the world gets hotter and rainfall more erratic, the type and availability of ingredients for daily meals are changing. 

    With support from the Government of Canada and the Global Environment Facility’s Least Developed Countries Fund, the Canada-UNDP Climate Change Adaptation Facility (CCAF) has been supporting six least developed countries and small island developing states (Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Haiti, Mali, Niger and Sudan) to strengthen climate resilience and enhance food security. 

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    CCAF​-Cookbook ​-FinalDraft​-29Oct.pdf (10 MB)
  • October 31, 2016
    GIZ

    Advancing nationally determined contributions (NDCs) through climate-friendly refrigeration and air-conditioning

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     At the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol (MP) in October 2016 in Kigali, parties agreed to phase down hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions over the next three decades, thereby building a fundamental pillar to achieving the ultimate goal set out in the Paris Agreement about a year earlier. According to an analysis by G. Velders et al (2016), the Kigali Amendment will avoid nearly 90 per cent of the temperature increase that HFCs could have caused.

    The following guidance assists policymakers to design national mitigation strategies for their refrigeration, air conditioning and foam (RAC&F) sector to meet the increasing ambition levels expected in revised NDCs. By aligning efforts taken under the two relevant international regimes, the UNFCCC and the Montreal Protocol, the RAC&F sector can make a significant contribution towards reaching the 2°C target, or even better, the enhanced 1,5°C target.

    giz​_2016​_advancing​_ndcs​_through​_climate​_friendly​_refrigeration.pdf (2 MB)
  • October 31, 2016
    German Development Institute (DIE)

    Green Finance: Actors, challenges and policy recommendations

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    Green finance represents a positive shift in the global economy’s transition to sustainability through the financing of public and private green investments and public policies that support green initiatives. Two main tasks of green finance are to internalise environmental externalities and to reduce risk perceptions in order to encourage investments that provide environmental benefits.

    The major actors driving the development of green finance include banks, institutional investors and international financial institutions as well as central banks and financial regulators. Some of these actors implement policy and regulatory measures for different asset classes to support the greening of the financial system, such as priority-lending requirements, below-market-rate finance via interest-rate subsidies or preferential central bank refinancing opportunities. Although estimations of the actual financing needs for green investments vary significantly between different sources, public budgets will fall far short of the required funding. For this reason, a large amount of private capital is needed.

    However, mobilising capital for green investments has been limited due to several microeconomic challenges such as problems in internalising environmental externalities, information asymmetry, inadequate analytical capacity and lack of clarity in the definition of “green”. There are maturity mismatches between long-term green investments and the relatively short-term time horizons of savers and – even more important – investors. In addition, financial and environmental policy approaches have often not been coordinated. Moreover, many governments do not clearly signal how and to what extent they promote the green transition.

    In order to increase the flow of private capital for green investment, the following measures are crucial. First, it is necessary to design an enabling environment facilitating green finance, including the business climate, rule of law and investment regime. Second, the definition of green finance needs to be more transparent. Third, standards and rules for disclosure would promote developing green finance assets. For all asset classes – bank credits, bonds and secured assets – voluntary principles and guidelines for green finance need to be implemented and monitored. Fourth, because voluntary guidelines may not be sufficient, they need to be complemented by financial and regulatory incentives. Fifth, financial and environmental policies as well as regulatory policies should be better coordinated, as has happened in China.

    DIE​_Green Finance​_Actors, Challenges, Policy Recommendations.pdf (1 MB)