Latest New Publication and Resource

New Africa Water Atlas

(UNEP, 2010)

The Atlas, which was compiled at the request of the African Ministers' Council on Water, was prepared by UNEP in collaboration with the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), the US Department of State and the US Geological Survey. The publication features over 224 maps and 104 satellite images, as well as 500 graphics and hundreds of photos from 53 countries, showing the challenges facing Africa's water supplies. [The Atlas]

(FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department; November 2010)

These technical guidelines on the ecosystem approach to aquaculture (EEA) were developed to support mainly Articles 9 and 10 of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF). Their main objective is to assist countries, institutions and policy makers in the development and implementation of a strategy to ensure the sustainability of the aquaculture sector, integration of aquaculture with other sectors and its contribution to social and economic development. [The guidelines]

(FAO, November 2010)

This summary document of the FAO e-mail conference entitled "Learning from the past: Successes and failures with agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries over the last 20 years" provides a summary of the main issues discussed during a moderated e-mail conference, hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum from 8 June-8 July 2009, based on the messages posted by the participants, 74% of which came from people in developing countries. Participants in the e-mail conference shared experiences regarding the use of agricultural biotechnologies across the different food and agricultural sectors in developing countries, and provided concrete examples where agricultural biotechnologies were benefiting smallholders. They also discussed several cases where specific applications of agricultural biotechnologies had not succeeded, and offered suggestions to increase their success in the future. [The summary document]

(World Bank, United Nations, 2010)

The report by the United Nations and World Bank, stresses the need for prevention to reduce countries' vulnerability to natural hazards in order to enable their sustainable and cost-effective development. It outlines a number of measures to prevent death and destruction from natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding and estimates annual global losses from natural disasters could triple to US$185 billion by the end of this century, without calculating the impact of climate change. One area in which the report calls for more spending is early warning systems, particularly weather forecasting. It also urges governments to ensure that new infrastructure does not introduce new risk, including by locating infrastructure out of harm's way. [The report]

(UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Seas, October 2010)

This publication provides the first systematic overview at a sub-global scale of the state of knowledge of marine biodiversity, the pressures it currently faces and the management frameworks in place for addressing those pressures. It highlights that marine biodiversity faces increasing pressures in all regions from land sourced pollution, ship sourced pollution and impacts of fishing. The report further shows that these pressures are serious and generally increasing despite measures in place to address them, and that they are amplified by predicted impacts of ocean warming, acidification and habitat change arising from climate and atmospheric change. The report warns that, without significant management intervention, marine biological diversity is likely to deteriorate substantially in the next 20 years, with growing consequences for resources and physical security of coastal nations. [Report website]

(The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), October 2010)

Compiling and summarizing two years of work carried out by over 500 researchers, the TEEB synthesis report calls for wider recognition of nature's contribution to human livelihoods, health, security, and culture by decision makers. It documents the multi-trillion dollar annual contribution of the natural world to the global economy, and formulates recommendations for policies and mechanisms that can help better account for, and protect, this contribution. The report approaches the challenge of bringing biodiversity to the political fore by focusing on making nature's values visible, and approaches this in three steps: recognizing ecosystems' value so as to understand what is at stake; demonstrating natural value in economic terms to support decision making; and capturing value by introducing mechanisms to incorporate this value into decision making at all political and non-political levels. [The report]

(UNEP and World Fish Centre, October 2010)

This report aims to help inform future approaches to conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems by reviewing the importance of inland fisheries as an ecosystem service, the pressures upon them, and management approaches to sustain them. The report identifies the various drivers of change in inland fisheries, including climate change. In particular, it spotlights changes in runoff patterns from increases in temperature and changes in rain fall, leading to changes in flow regimes, as well as in breeding and feeding habitats.

The report recommends five investments: improving understanding of inland fisheries' vulnerability to environmental change; developing viable options for addressing the threats posed to inland fisheries by environmental change; building adaptive capacity among key stakeholder groups to increase resilience of inland fisheries at local, national and regional scales; improving governance of inland fisheries and their ecosystems; and developing capacity to sustain and enhance social benefits from these resources. [The report]

(UNEP, September 2010) This UN Environment Programme (UNEP) publication explores the notion and the benefits of greening water law by presenting and assessing a variety of legal, procedural and policy mechanisms, for both national and international arenas, that can help to elevate the status and importance of environmental concerns in relation to other societal interests and harmonize the water needs of both people and the natural environment. It recommends that governments take environmental issues into consideration when drafting laws on the use of water to avert an impending water crisis. [The paper]

(UNEP/TEEB, September 2010) Planned as a useful advisory tool for local and regional policy makers, administrators and managers, this report explores and gives practical guidance on how to deal with the challenge of biodiversity loss at the local and regional level. The report calls on local policy makers to understand the value of natural capital and the services it provides and apply a focus on nature's benefits in local policy areas such as urban management, spatial planning and protected areas management. It calls for local authorities to take a stepwise approach to assessing options that factor nature's benefits into local policy action, including: assessing ecosystem services and expected changes in their availability and distribution; identifying which ecosystem services are most relevant to particular policy issues; and assessing impacts of policy options on different groups in the community. [The report] [UNEP press release]

(UNEP, July 2010)

This UNEP report focuses on global trends in sustainable energy investment, covering the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. It was released along with REN21's Renewables 2010 Global Status Report. The REN21 report provides a broad look at the status of renewable energy worldwide, covering power regeneration, heating and cooling and transport fuels. It describes the landscape of policies and targets introduced around the world to promote renewable energy. The reports show that countries with policies encouraging renewable energy have approximately doubled from 55, in 2005, to more than 100 today, with half of them in the developing world. [UNEP press release] [IEA press release] [Reports web site]

(UNEP, June 2010)

UNEP and the European Commission have released a newsletter on the

Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs) in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries (ACP MEAs) Project. The newsletter contains an article by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) describing the FAO's efforts to strengthen capacities of participating ACP country stakeholders to dispose of obsolete stocks, and to prevent accumulation of further stocks. It also contains information on upcoming activities in the African, Caribbean and Pacific project hubs [The newsletter].

(UNWTO, June 2010)

This report, published by the UN World Tourism Organization, indicates the UNWTO is firmly committed to fostering the tourism sector's contribution to development. Tourism accounts for 45% of the exports of services of least developed countries and is a major job generator for many of the world's most vulnerable populations. The report notes that, in 2009, emerging economies received 410 million international tourism arrivals, a 47% share of the global total, and US$306 billion in international tourism receipts, 36% of the global total. The report argues that the tourism industry can play a significant role in the achievement of the MDGs, in particular eradication of poverty, gender equality, environmental sustainability, and global partnerships for development. [The report]

(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), June 2010)

This sixth issue of Agriculture Outlook projects the global markets of key agricultural commodities in order to build consensus on how global agriculture may evolve in the coming decade and the key issues impacting its course. The report highlights an improved macroeconomic environment for commodity projections from 2009, with growth expected to be stronger and faster in large developing countries than in developed countries. It notes that global agricultural production is anticipated to grow more slowly in the coming decade than in the previous decade, and that production growth in the least developed countries is struggling to keep up with population growth. It describes the need for governments to create policies that increase confidence in access to food and notes the potential volatility created by uncoordinated policy actions among governments internationally. Agriculture Outlook 2010-2019 web site.

TRANSLATING ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE FACTORS INTO SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS VALUE: KEY INSIGHTS FOR COMPANIES AND INVESTORS

(World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), March 2010)

This report is based on a series of UNEP FI-WBCSD workshops held in 2008 and 2009. These workshops provided a platform for companies and investors to collectively address barriers within capital market valuation processes that inhibit the proper disclosure and assessment of corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance—underpinning the materiality of ESG factors to long-term, sustainable business value and to the performance of investment portfolios. The resource.

METAL STOCKS IN SOCIETY: SCIENTIFIC SYNTHESIS

(UNEP, 2010)

This report, by the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, hosted by UNEP, focuses on the stocks of metals in society and the recycling rates. It provides information on the quantity of metal stocks in the world. The resource.

FISHSTAT PLUS

(FAO, March 2010)

This universal software for fishery statistical time-series of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been updated with the most recent global production statistics. Users can consult individual datasets on Global Fishery Production, Capture and Aquaculture Production from 1950 to 2008. FishStatPlus and Online query panel.

SICK WATER

(UNEP Grid Arendal, March 2010)

This e-book of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Grid Arendal identifies the transformation of wastewater from a major health and environmental hazard into a clean, safe and economically-attractive resource as a key challenge in the 21st century. The e-book.

ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK FOR THE ARAB REGION: ENVIRONMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN WELL-BEING

(UNEP, 2010)

This UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report outlines the multiple challenges facing the Arab region, from climate change and food insecurity to decreasing water availability and unemployment. It provides a comprehensive and integrated assessment of the state of environment in the region, and was compiled at the request of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE). The report emphasizes that: the region is one of the most water-scarce in the world; biofuels and food security are among a suite of emerging and intertwined challenges facing the region; and the region is predicted to be among the hardest hit by the potential of direct and indirect climate change impacts. Report website.

SUBMARINE CABLES AND THE OCEANS: CONNECTING THE WORLD

(UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series No. 31, January 2010)

Published by UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the International Cable Protection Committee Ltd, this report provides a factual description of the submarine cable industry and the interaction of submarine telecommunications (which route 95% of all international communications traffic) with the marine environment. It seeks to focus and guide deliberations and decision making on the wise conservation and protection of the oceans in concert with their sustainable management and use. The report.

COMMERCIAL PRESSURES ON LAND BLOG

(ILC, 2010)

This blog is part of a wider global initiative on Commercial Pressures on Land led by the International Land Coalition (ILC). The blog highlights press reports, research papers, case studies and other information about "commercial pressures on land." The blog.

REDUCING EMISSIONS FROM PRIVATE CARS: INCENTIVE MEASURES FOR BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE
(UNEP, 2009)
This publication includes a summary of experiences in reducing car use and emissions reduction and is intended for policy-makers, automobile manufacturers, fuel industry executives and city officials. It includes sections on: increase in private car use: increase in private car use as a policy failure; lessons from global experiences in reducing emissions from private cars; and suggested ingredients in policy designing for motivating changes. The resource.

CATALYSING CHANGE: THE UNECE RESPONSE TO THE CLIMATE COUNTDOWN

(UNECE, December 2009)

This report, by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), presents major current and projected climate changes in the UNECE region, which spans North America, Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia, and Israel. The changes include increased or decreased precipitation, forest fires, changes in ecosystems, sea-level rise, malaria risks and impacts on agriculture. The report.

CLIMATE CHANGE IN MOLDOVA: SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT AND POLICY OPTIONS FOR ADAPTATION

(UNDP, 2009)

The report looks into the impacts that climate change is having on Moldova's environment, society and economy. According to the report, developing countries are more vulnerable to these impacts, have fewer resources with which to adapt and to recover losses caused by extreme weather events and are in general more dependent upon the environment for their citizens' livelihoods. As a result, climate change poses a serious threat to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to which Moldova has committed. The report.