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257 results
Risk-related resettlement and relocation in urban areas
The document argues that while resettlement and relocation can reduce hazard exposure, they often leave populations worse off socially and economically. It recommends that such measures be a last resort, preceded by exhaustive exploration of on-site upgrading and consensus-building with affected communities. The text highlights the risk of forced evictions under the guise of safety and calls for strengthened legal frameworks and adherence to international covenants to protect the rights of low-income urban populations.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Preserving Scientific Integrity in Federal Policymaking
The Union of Concerned Scientists outlines a framework for preserving scientific integrity in the US federal government. It recommends establishing a dedicated scientific integrity coordinator within the White House OSTP, strengthening whistleblower protections via the WPEA, and reforming the OIRA regulatory review process to prioritize statutory standards over economic tests. The report also advocates for greater transparency through FOIA reforms, open data initiatives, and the removal of barriers to public participation in rulemaking, particularly regarding environmental justice.
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Document type: Report
Building a Climate-Resilient City: Transformational adaptation
The document distinguishes between incremental adaptation, which improves existing practices, and transformational adaptation, which involves systemic structural changes to address the root causes of vulnerability. It argues that as climate risks in Alberta increase—including rising temperatures and more variable precipitation—cities like Calgary and Edmonton may need to adopt transformational approaches to avoid unsustainable development paths. The text outlines qualities of a resilient city, such as flexibility and integration, and uses the Netherlands' Delta Programme as a case study of a proactive, systems-based approach to flood management. It concludes with strategic, regulatory, and community recommendations to enable transformational change.
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Document type: Briefing
How to address fossil fuel production under the UNFCCC
The document asserts that meeting the Paris Agreement's goals of keeping warming "well below 2°C" requires a phase-down of coal, oil, and natural gas production. It identifies six primary mechanisms within the UNFCCC framework to achieve this: incorporating supply-side targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), planning managed declines in long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LTSs), tracking extraction via the global stocktake, providing technical capacity-building support, redirecting finance away from fossil fuel infrastructure, and providing developed-country assistance to developing nations for economic transitions.
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Document type: Policy brief
Carbon Market Watch at COP22 in Marrakech
Carbon Market Watch provides a set of recommendations for the rules of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to be discussed at COP22. The organization argues that carbon markets must increase global ambition by delivering actual emission reductions beyond NDC levels, ensure environmental integrity through a robust accounting framework to prevent double counting, and protect human rights and sustainable development through monitoring, stakeholder consultation, and grievance processes.
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Document type: Statement
How Small Businesses Can Support Climate-Resilient Value Chains: Lessons from Uganda
The briefing highlights how small businesses, specifically domestic seed companies, support climate risk management (CRM) in developing countries. It recommends that these companies improve decision-making regarding seed choices, increase knowledge of climate-resilient varieties, and strengthen distribution and quality control systems. Additionally, it suggests that development practitioners support these efforts through infrastructure improvements, capacity building on climate risk integration, and facilitating access to climate finance, while researchers should investigate small businesses as climate knowledge brokers.
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Document type: Briefing
Strengthening Federal Science for the Public Good
The report argues that political, ideological, and financial interests have undermined science in US federal decision making, harming public health and environmental protections. It defines scientific integrity as the practice where independent science, free from undue influence, informs policy transparently. To address persisting issues such as political interference and barriers to information flow, the document proposes a comprehensive blueprint for the next administration. Key recommendations include appointing a respected science advisor with direct access to the president, establishing a dedicated assistant director for scientific integrity within the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and requiring agencies to appoint scientific integrity officials who report publicly on violations. The report also calls for strengthening whistleblower protections, reforming the federal scientific advisory committee system to increase transparency, and ensuring that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) does not override agency scientific expertise. Additionally, it suggests enhancing public participation in rulemaking through better technology and strengthening environmental justice requirements by making scientific analysis of equity consequences mandatory for significant rules.
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Document type: Report
Civic Approaches to Confronting Violent Extremism
The report argues that the traditional 'Countering Violent Extremism' (CVE) framework is flawed and 'toxic' because it relies on discredited theories of a linear path to radicalization. Instead, it advocates for a 'resilience' model led by civil society organizations (CSOs) and social services, with law enforcement acting only as a supporting partner focused on criminal behavior. Key findings emphasize that there is no causal link between religious ideology and violence, and that effective interventions require 'alternative narratives' that acknowledge the 'kernel of truth' in grievances. The document also highlights a significant 'trust gap' between governments and CSOs, suggesting that transparency and the protection of civil liberties are essential for effective collaboration.
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Document type: Report
Planeación Urbana Sustentable para la Ciudad de México
The report proposes eight strategic policy axes for Mexico City to transition toward a sustainable urban model: Transit-Oriented Development, territorial delimitation, public transport integration, mixed land use, small blocks, non-motorized mobility, automobile use control, and recreational public spaces. It establishes quantitative benchmarks for 2018, 2024, and 2030 to reduce car dependency and improve air quality and public health. Key recommendations include implementing a single payment card for integrated transport, establishing strict urban growth boundaries, and promoting 'urban recycling' to create walkable neighborhoods.
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Document type: Report
THE 2016 SAIIA YOUNG LEADERS DECLARATION
The 2016 SAIIA Young Leaders Declaration outlines specific demands from South African youth to integrate global sustainability goals into national governance. It calls for increased accountability, educational reform, improved basic services, and economic opportunities, with a strong emphasis on renewable energy, climate adaptation, and social equity.
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Document type: Statement
Human Migration and Ecosystems: Insights from the Great Lakes Region of East and Central Africa
The report examines the relationship between human migration and ecosystem degradation in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, focusing on case studies in Uganda, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It argues that while migration is not the primary cause of environmental pressure, it acts as an exacerbating factor that increases habitat destruction and unsustainable resource use. The document provides a framework for conservationists to integrate migration trends into land-use planning and natural resource governance.
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Document type: Report
Designing review processes under the Paris Agreement
The document argues that non-state actors—including cities, companies, and non-profits—can provide independent expertise and accountability to strengthen the Paris Agreement's review mechanisms. It specifically examines the enhanced transparency framework, the implementation and compliance mechanism, and the global stocktake, suggesting that formalizing the role of non-state actors through public access, written submissions, and oral interventions would improve the effectiveness of these processes.
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Document type: Policy brief
From Lessons to Practice and Impact: Scaling up pathways in peoples’ biodiversity management
The document outlines a framework of six interconnected pathways—participatory toolkits, Farmer Field Schools, resource access, policy influencing, climate change response, and gender inclusion—designed to scale up the capacity of smallholder farmers and indigenous peoples to manage biodiversity for food security. It highlights the importance of farmer-managed seed systems and provides policy recommendations to enhance the rights and decision-making capacity of these groups.
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Document type: Briefing
Transforming Asia: Scaling up the Solutions
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific presents a series of community-driven projects—such as solar cooperatives in South Korea and community forest management in Indonesia—as scalable models for a just transition. The report argues that Asia faces entwined crises of extreme poverty and climate change, necessitating a shift away from 'business as usual' toward economic systems that prioritize people and the planet. It concludes with ten specific policy demands for Asian leaders, including the end of fossil fuel subsidies, the adoption of a UN Treaty on multinational business accountability, and the implementation of regional plans for a 100% renewable energy transformation.
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Document type: Report
Climate finance: lessons from Rwanda
The document argues that developing countries can increase their accessibility to climate finance by demonstrating fund management capabilities and project impact. Using Rwanda as a case study, it highlights the importance of cross-institutional learning, local inclusivity, and the establishment of dedicated climate funds to strengthen project development capacity.
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Document type: Briefing
Measuring Local Food Systems’ Resilience: Lessons learned from Honduras and Nicaragua
The document outlines a systems-based approach to measuring food system resilience, moving beyond narrow food availability metrics to include supporting infrastructure and governance. Using the CRiSTAL Food Security tool across 20 communities in Honduras and Nicaragua, the authors identify key resilience drivers such as storage, energy, transport, and water management. It argues that participatory, iterative processes for developing indicators are essential for community buy-in and that these broad indicators should complement existing food security monitoring schemes.
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Document type: Briefing
5 Do’s and Don’ts for the Green Climate Fund
The World Resources Institute (WRI) outlines five 'do's and don'ts' for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board to ensure the fund effectively delivers resources for climate mitigation and adaptation. These recommendations cover investment criteria, financial risk management, accreditation of entities, results management, and the proposal approval process, emphasizing the need for a high risk appetite and a balance between top-down and bottom-up proposals to support international climate action ahead of COP 21.
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Document type: Briefing
The 2014 SAIIA Young Leaders Declaration
The 2014 SAIIA Young Leaders Declaration outlines youth-led recommendations for the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on economic inclusivity, environmental protection, and social equity in South Africa and globally.
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Document type: Statement
Supporting climate negotiations - examining the evidence
The document reviews negotiation support projects aimed at helping vulnerable countries represent their interests in international climate negotiations. It identifies three drivers of influence—strengthening delegations, developing strategies, and shaping negotiations—and notes a shift from providing basic financial aid for attendance toward technical position development and alliance building. The report outlines core principles for future projects, emphasizing demand-led activities, sustainable capacity building, and the need for formal processes to capture lessons learned.
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Document type: Executive summary
june-2013-nudging-toward-a-healthy-natural-environment-how-behavioral-change-research-can-inform-conservation-11baa7ff683cafc7.pdf
The report argues that traditional conservation policies relying on regulation and financial incentives are often insufficient because they ignore the psychological and social drivers of human behavior. It proposes a 'soft policy' approach using 'nudges'—small changes in the decision-making context—to encourage voluntary pro-environmental actions. The authors identify five primary 'areas of influence' for behavior change: attitudes, personal agency, emotions, social norms, and the environmental/decision context. To improve conservation outcomes, the report recommends that practitioners explicitly use social science evidence, track social indicators alongside ecological ones, and employ experimental or quasi-experimental designs to identify causal relationships between interventions and behavioral changes.
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Document type: Report