Considerable hype and debate are currently surrounding the potential of biochar (charcoal created through the burning of biomass in low oxygen environments) in climate change mitigation and agriculture. This report attempts to summarise the arguments, assumptions and interests in the biochar debate and offer reflections on its prospects. The report begins by outlining what it calls the triple-win of biochar. The production of biochar can be tuned to release bioenergy or biofuels in the form of syngas and bio-oil, thus providing decarbonised biomass fuel.

The fifth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-5) analyses the state, trends, outlook and responses to environmental change. It assesses progress towards meeting internationally agreed goals and identifies gaps in their achievement.The outlook examines the drivers of environmental change and the overarching socio-economic forces that exert pressure on the environment.

Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model this report identifies the links among economic growth, poverty alleviation, and natural resource degradation in Brazil.

This article provides a review of the past and potential future roles of land tenure reforms and land markets in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as responses to population growth in the process of land use intensification and livelihood transformation.

Greening rural development can stimulate rural economies, create jobs and help maintain critical ecosystem services and strengthen climate resilience of the rural poor. This report by the Ministry of Rural Development, India, with support from the United Nations Development Programme, presents strategies for inclusive rural development embodying the principles of environmental sustainability. It defines ‘green’ outcomes for major rural development schemes, reviews the design and evidence from the field to highlight potential green results and recommends steps to improve green results.

This United Nations flagship publication launched at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012 aims to raise awareness on sustainability and green growth. The objective is to show renewed political commitment for sustainable development, while assessing progress to date. Sustainable development, which is seen as the guiding principle for long-term global development, consists of three pillars: economic development, social development and environmental protection.

This paper employs an historical analysis to consider some of the consequences of conflicting resource use and political friction on resource exploitation within and outside Turkana District during this century. Given this historical context, development alternatives tested to ameliorate food insecurity are reviewed.The article proposes that the stage for political conflicts, environmental degradation and food insecurity within the region was set decades ago.

This paper is part of a set of working papers that resulted from the Resilience Academy 2013-2014. The United Nations University Institute of Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) publishes these papers as part of its UNU-EHS Working Paper series.
It presents several multi-scale case studies from islands around the world to offer a historically informed review of the cultural, environmental, political and economic systems and influences on island resilience.

This article investigates the encroachment on pastoralist grazing land in Sudan (as a result of the mechanised farming in the Sudan).

Introduction and background.

This paper presents the preliminary results of two hypothetical futures for Vietnam, a High Climate Impact and a High Economic Growth Scenario.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conserving and enhancing forest carbon stocks, and sustainably managing forests (REDD+) are emerging as a central policy instrument to halt land-use related emissions from developing countries.