International cooperation for sustainable land and water management

International, regional, and private cooperation in natural resource management has increased over the past few decades. This trend was driven by the realization that the benefits of natural resource management and the costs of their degradation transcend international borders. Climate change, air and water pollution, globalization, increasing competition over natural resources resulting from population and economic growth and other global changes have also driven cooperation in natural resource management. Despite these significant achievements, international and regional cooperation is still faced with a number of challenges. These include limited compliance with conventions and international laws, limited funding support for regional and international initiatives, and the slow progress in implementing the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness, which supports the implementation of international cooperation on L&W. There are signs of increased non-cooperation and mistrust at the regional and international levels, which is a result of national unilateral actions in response to the food price crisis, the ongoing stalemate of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round, and unilateral biofuel policies and international land leases and purchases by several countries. This article is available at: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/solaw/files/thematic_reports/TR_16_web.pdf

Disaster risk management in post-2015 development goals: Potential targets and indicators

This report analyzes different measures currently taken for disaster risk management (DRM) and the effects of disasters on various sectors in order to assess how DRM could be included in the post-2015 agenda.

This report is available at: http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/8354.pdf

An overview of recent urban climate resilience resources

There is a critical need for a flexible and dynamic approach to building disaster resilience that goes beyond risk mitigation. More than 50% of the world’s population currently lives in cities. By 2050, this figure is expected to increase to 70%, or 6.4 billion people. Climate change impacts, including rising sea level, more frequent and severe storms, coastal erosion and declining freshwater sources will likely exacerbate urban issues, in particular in poor and vulnerable communities that lack adequate infrastructure and services.
Building Urban Resilience: Principles, Tools, and Practice is a practical resource designed to give planners and practitioners an intuitive way to build elements of resilience into urban governance and planning. The report is available at:
 http://www.seachangecop.org/sites/default/files/documents/2013%2002%20WB%20Building%20Urban%20Resilience.pdf

Planet in Peril: An Atlas of Current Threats to People and the Environment

This atlas illustrates through text, graphics and diagrams the interplay between population and the world’s ecosystems and natural resources both in the short and long terms. It brings together a wealth of information from the most up-to-date sources on such key issues as climate change, access to water, exploitation of ocean resources, nuclear energy and waste, renewable energy, weapons of mass destruction, causes of industrial accidents, waste, export, hunger, genetically modified organisms, urban development, access to health care and ecological change.

The atlas is available at: http://www.grida.no/publications/planet-in-peril/

Reducing risk of future disasters: priorities for decision makers

This report offers an overview of the present and future potential of science to inform and enhance disaster risk reduction (DRR) over the next three decades. It considers disasters whose primary causes are natural hazards. Its focus is on disasters that occur in developing countries, but lessons from past disasters in developed countries are also drawn upon. It explores the diversity of impacts, and the extent to which these are, or should be, considered by decision makers but does not review in detail the scale of past and present disasters. Available at: ...http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/foresight/docs/reducing-risk-management/12-1289-reducing-risks-of-future-disasters-report.pdf

Adapting to Climate Change: Assessing World Bank Group Experience

This evaluation report  draws from the World Bank Group experience with adaptation to both current levels of climate variability and ongoing climate change. It reviews the impact of longer-standing efforts to deal with climate variability, for instance throughdrought relief, sustainable land management, and flood control. The evaluation also looks at how, and how well, the World Bank Group has incorporated climate change risks into the design and appraisal of long-lived infrastructure. It assesses early lessons from a new crop of activities that explicitly grapple with climate adaptation at the national level.
This article is available at:

http://ieg.worldbankgroup.org/content/dam/ieg/climate_change3/cc3_full_eval.pdf

The good, the bad and the ugly: disaster risk reduction versus disaster risk creation

Vulnerability accrues as a result of failure to explore links with poverty, risk, and disasters and tends to encourage disaster risk creation.This paper identifies seven examples of on-the-ground realities of long-term vulnerability within two clusters: (i) endangerment, which includes (1) environmental degradation, (2) discrimination and (3) displacement; and (ii) impoverishment, including (4) self-seeking public expenditure, (5) denial of access to resources, (6) corruption and (7) siphoning of public money. This article is available at:

http://currents.plos.org/disasters/article/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-disaster-risk-reduction-drr-versus-disaster-risk-creation-drc/

Shaping strategies: factors and actors in climate change adaptation

The findings presented in this report emanate from  a two-year research project exploring household vulnerability and resilience in the context of climate variability and change. The key concern of the research was to contribute to the understanding of how households are experiencing and responding to climate shocks and stressors, what is supporting or undermining their capacity to respond, and whether or not these livelihood responses move them on a path towards becoming more resilient in the face of a changing climate. The report is available: http://www.trocaire.org/sites/trocaire/files/pdfs/policy/climate_change_research_report_2012.pdf:  

Global alliance to study planetary changes

A global alliance of environmental research agencies, policy organisations and international donors is soon to be launched at the Planet Under Pressure Conference in London, 26–29 March. The 'Future Earth' alliance aims to deliver scientific and social science research in a way that policymakers and grassroots groups would understand to help them meet their sustainable development goals in the coming decades. It will also seek to co-ordinate and focus international scientific research in a wide range of disciplines including ocean acidification, climate change, land use and population growth, and the social impact of these changes.

Ecological sanitation

Much of the pollution in developing countries is caused by inadequate sanitation services. As cities expand and populations increase, the situation will grow worse and the need for safe, sustainable and affordable sanitation systems will be even more critical. Existing approaches to sanitation are neither viable nor affordable to the vast majority of people.
This book is about seeking new solutions in the form of "ecological sanitation". The book discusses what is currently known about ecological sanitation systems, their strengths and weaknesses. Read more at: http://www.ecosanres.org/pdf_files/Ecological_Sanitation_2004.pdf