KEY MESSAGES

In recent years, there has been growing attention and effort towards securing the formal, legal recognition of land rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Communities and Indigenous Peoples are estimated to hold as much as 65 percent of the world’s land area under customary systems, yet many governments formally recognize their rights to only a fraction of those lands. This gap—between what is held by communities and what is recognized by governments—is a major driver of conflict, disrupted investments, environmental degradation, climate change, and cultural extinction.

This is the draft report of a scoping study for the Forestry Commission on forests and climate change. The report discusses the role that sustainable forest management can play in mitigating climate change.

India is home to incredible diversity in plant and animal species and is ranked among the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. Unfortunately, much of this diversity is being eroded at an alarming rate, largely due to habitat destruction and invasion by alien species. In the hilly regions of southern India, known

Conflicts over control of and access to natural resources are common among pastoral communities living in arid and semi-arid environments of Kenya. This study investigates conflicts and conflict resolution strategies in West Pokot County, Kenya. The objectives were to: identify the sources of conflict; examine conflict resolution initiatives; and evaluate the effectiveness of peacebuilding initiatives.

Over the past century South Africa has become increasingly reliant on the manufacturing and services industries for its economic development and growth. However, the natural environment continues to play an important role in the livelihoods of particularly the poor, those in rural areas and the agriculture sector – the latter being essential for urban living.

Achieving sustainable food security (i.e., the basic right of people to produce and/or purchase the food they need, without harming the social and biophysical environment) is a major challenge in a world of rapid human population growth, large-scale changes in economic development and in the face of climate change.

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), production on smallholder farms is critical to the food security of the rural poor and contributes the majority of food production at the national level.

Since 2007, it has been hoped that REDD+ would deliver on the 3E+ criteria (effectiveness, efficiency, equity, social and environmental co?benefits) for strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This report highlights that the early enthusiasm for REDD+ has dissipated among some stakeholders – this is largely attributed to the failure to attain an international climate change agreement.

This paper discusses the possible implications of climate change in Latin America.

This background note, published by the Overseas Development Institute, provides an overview of the potential risks and vulnerabilities that face the water sector due to climate change. It also summarises of some of the adaptive strategies, targeting both supply and demand of water, being employed across various sectors in the developing world and offers suggestions going forward. It concludes by assessing how current knowledge of climate change can help inform future planning of water sector interventions.

This article explores the issues and concerns of grassroots stakeholders with regards to REDD+ policy and program development.

Land degradation is a serious problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, where up to two-thirds of the productive land area is reported to be degraded to some extent.  Local communities suffer the most from the degradation of their land and they are therefore fundamental to the widespread adoption of sustainable land management (SLM) techniques.