Comprehensive yet concise report outlining the key challenges and projected demands in the global agricultural sector, from an energy-water-food nexus perspective.

The domestic water sector has focused for many years on benefiting health by improving supply. Can more and better water improve people’s health? Does improved water supply by government and agencies really meet the basic needs of the poor? Or should water be treated as an economic good?

Joint report from Forest Watch Indonesia, World Resources Institute and Global Forest Watch. It provides a detailed analysis of the scale and pace of change affecting Indonesia’s forests. The report concludes that the doubling of deforestation rates in Indonesia is largely the result of a corrupt political and economic system that regards natural resources as a source of revenue to be exploited for political ends and personal gain.

Overproduction of coffee and low coffee prices have resulted in a global crisis affecting the people and biodiversity of many tropical countries. The authors, from the Wildlife Conservation Society in Indonesia, describe expanding production of low-quality robusta coffee, which contributes to low prices and lowland deforestation, but is not improving the livelihood of local farmers.

This report documents the environmental and social impacts of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), assesses the role of international financial institutions in fuelling APP’s unsustainable and damaging operations and examines the link between this unsustainable practice and APP's financial crisis.Financial institutions should acknowledge that it is far more than the financial failure of APP that proves that they seriously underestimated the risk in financing the company.

Forests potentially contribute to global climate change through their influence on the global carbon (C) cycle. They store large quantities of C in vegetation and soil, exchange C with the atmosphere through photosynthesis and respiration, are sources of atmospheric C when they are disturbed, become atmospheric C sinks during abandonment and regrowth after disturbance, and can be managed to alter their role in the C cycle. The world's forest contain about 830 Pg C (1015 g) in their vegetation and soil, with about 1.5 times as much in soil as in vegetation.

The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill of 2013 (MPRD-AB) has generated fresh debate regarding the appropriate system for allocating mineral prospecting and mining rights in South Africa. The draft bill no longer specifies that mining rights are to be allocated according to the first-in, first-assessed (FIFA) principle.

What factors motivate developing countries to prevent deforestation, which can cause serious environmental damage, such as flooding? Do democratic states take action more effectively than authoritarian states?

Forests play an important role in the water cycle, stimulating rainfall, protecting soils from erosion and regulating the flow of water. It is therefore important to preserve forests for water management. Previous efforts to protect forests in Ecuador have relied on controlling land use and excluding local people. These methods often have limited success, because of problems such as corruption and a lack of enforcement. A new approach is to pay people to protect the forests.

This report cautions against an overly rigid approach to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which it argues could limit development options for poor countries, particularly in how they are able to manage critical water resources. It identifies key challenges such as setting realistic targets, carefully considering the local context to address the needs of the poor, and promoting sustainable water resources development in a way that values healthy ecosystems.