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Final water governance learning workshop Sassari, Italy 14-16 October 2015
The CADWAGO final workshop in Sassari, Italy, brought together 35 researchers and practitioners to discuss systemic water governance and climate adaptation. The event featured project findings on governance praxis and co-learning, external perspectives on catchment management in the UK and disaster management in Australia, and a field visit to Arborea, Sardinia. A central highlight was 'La Rasgioni' (the water court), a traditional conflict resolution process used to facilitate dialogue between dairy farmers and institutional authorities regarding nitrate pollution. Participants concluded that effective water governance requires moving beyond traditional stakeholder participation toward conscious co-learning and systemic designs that reconcile conflicting interests.
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Document type: Report
NEXT-GENERATION ENERGY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR THE NEXT LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE IN CORPORATE REAL ESTATE
The document outlines eleven strategic solutions to help companies achieve net-zero energy in corporate real estate. It categorizes these into 'organize' (securing C-suite support and multi-disciplinary teams), 'capitalize' (investing in smart building management, health-focused design, and external financing), and 'optimize' (using value-based approaches and portfolio-wide investment allocation). The report emphasizes that energy efficiency should be the first priority due to its cost-effectiveness and potential to improve employee productivity.
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Document type: Report
WORKSHOP: CLIMATE FINANCE AND BANKS IN BRAZIL
The workshop focused on leveraging international funds like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) to drive low-carbon investment in Brazil. Key discussions highlighted that a lack of long-term governmental strategic vision and internal organizational cultures in banks act as barriers to green investment. The event presented innovative financial instruments and case studies from Colombia and Mexico to demonstrate how blending concessional finance with private resources and risk mitigation tools can unlock climate-relevant investments.
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Document type: Report
Financing Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs): Leveraging private investment
The report examines the financing of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), emphasizing the need to move beyond reliance on international public funding toward leveraging private capital. It defines 'bankability' as the attractiveness of a project to investors based on its revenue-generating potential and provides a framework for designing such projects. Through eight case studies from countries including Morocco, Tunisia, and the Philippines, the document illustrates the roles of public-private partnerships (PPPs), the importance of implementing bodies (such as Special Purpose Vehicles), and the necessity of risk mitigation tools like partial credit guarantees and power purchase agreements. The report concludes with recommendations for NAMA developers to engage the private sector early in the design process and for international stakeholders to disseminate best practices in private funding.
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Document type: Report
GovernAbilities: The nexus of sustainability, accountability and adaptability
The report introduces 'governAbilities' as the nexus of sustainability, accountability, and adaptability, arguing that these three operational areas are essential for governments to maintain a 'social licence to operate' in a complex, uncertain century. It identifies four common principles—outcome-based, multistakeholder, forward-looking, and multi-dimensional—that link these abilities. To operationalize these, the authors propose a toolkit including Budgeting for Outcomes, Indicator Information Systems, Multistakeholder Councils, Scenario Planning, and Integrated Strategies. The report provides global case studies, such as Germany's sustainability reporting and Washington State's budgeting process, to demonstrate how these tools can be implemented to improve public management and policy resilience.
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Document type: Report
Close to home: subnational strategies for climate compatible development
The document argues that climate compatible development is won or lost at the subnational level, where local actors face intense pressure from climate extremes but possess unique advantages in local knowledge and cross-sectoral coordination. It identifies key barriers, such as scientific uncertainty at local scales and a gap between public expectations and available resources. To overcome these, the paper recommends strategies including the cultivation of local political 'champions', the creation of 'knowledge partnerships' to translate climate science for communities, and the use of participatory planning to mobilise in-kind resources. It emphasizes that for these local successes to contribute to global transformational change, they must be 'scaled out' to other localities and 'scaled up' into national policy frameworks.
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Document type: Research paper
How should the new international disaster risk framework address gender equality?
The document argues that while international policies have increasingly adopted gender mainstreaming, a significant gap remains in national and local implementation of disaster risk reduction (DRR). It highlights that women are often incorrectly viewed as a homogenous vulnerable group, overlooking their specific capacities and leadership in disaster recovery. The brief provides evidence of gender-differentiated impacts from events like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, and recommends that the next international framework include independent monitoring and the systematic collection of gender-disaggregated data.
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Document type: Policy brief
Participatory Scenario Development and Future Visioning in Adaptation Planning: Lessons from experience
The document outlines a qualitative participatory scenario development (PSD) approach used to help stakeholders in developing countries anticipate climate change consequences and identify robust adaptation pathways. By combining backcasting—working backward from a desired future—with the introduction of climate and socioeconomic boundary conditions, the process identifies integrated 'hard' (infrastructure) and 'soft' (governance and training) adaptation measures. Key findings emphasize that place-based discussions bridge the gap between abstract global climate models and local policy needs, and that adaptation must be integrated with broader socioeconomic development to be credible and pro-poor. The authors highlight challenges including the cognitive difficulty of imagining long-term futures and the necessity of local collaboration to ensure ownership and relevance.
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Document type: Research paper
Low-carbon innovation for industrial sectors in developing countries
The document argues that developing countries can avoid high-carbon lock-in by adopting strategic industrial policies to build technological capabilities. It examines energy efficiency in the sub-Saharan African cement sector and the growth of renewable energy manufacturing in China and India, recommending a mix of targeted protectionism, best available technology regulations, and international support to transition toward climate-compatible development.
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Document type: Policy brief
Performance Based Contracts for Reducing Non-Revenue Water: Selected Lessons from International Experience
The document examines the use of performance-based contracts (PBCs) to reduce non-revenue water (NRW), contrasting them with traditional contracts. It highlights the benefits of PBCs, such as harnessing private sector technical expertise and aligning incentives through results-based payment. The author identifies key implementation challenges, including the need for accurate baseline data, the risk of 'cherrypicking' easy gains, and the difficulty of sustaining improvements after a contract ends. Drawing on examples from Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand, and Ireland, the paper provides guidance on scoping, risk-reward balancing, and procurement to support the implementation of similar frameworks in South African municipalities.
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Document type: Research paper
A framework for mainstreaming climate resilience into development planning
The paper introduces the Climate Resilience Mainstreaming Building Block (CRMBB) framework, which guides government planners in integrating climate resilience into policy objectives, spatial scales, and temporal planning cycles. It identifies three primary policy responses: climate-proofing, climate-first, and development-first. The CRMBB framework consists of three building blocks: an enabling environment (political will and information services), policy and planning (policy frameworks, institutional arrangements, and financial frameworks), and projects and programmes. Case studies from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Kenya, The Gambia, and Rwanda demonstrate a trend toward country-led, programmatic approaches over externally driven, project-based initiatives.
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Document type: Research paper
Resilience in Action: Lessons from Public-Private Collaborations Around the World
The report argues that public-private collaborations (PPCs) are a strong model for leveraging the resources of both government and business to meet the growing need for climate and disaster resilience investments. It identifies six key success factors for policy-makers: building on local trust, starting small for scalability, integrating skill building, strengthening livelihoods, creating value-chain partnerships, and finding innovative infrastructure alternatives. Through nine case studies across sectors like agriculture, water, and energy, the document demonstrates that PPCs can engage a diverse range of actors—from multinationals to micro-enterprises—to deliver place-specific adaptation and disaster risk management solutions.
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Document type: Report
Using Data Tools to Optimize Indonesia’s Land Resources
The briefing explores how natural capital assessment (NCA) can help Indonesia resolve tensions between short-term economic gains and long-term environmental and social health. It highlights a 'window of opportunity' created by legal developments, such as Law No. 32/2009 and Constitutional Court ruling MK45, and the need for low-carbon development. The text details the principles of NCA—relevance, credibility, and legitimacy—and reviews technical tools like WRI's Suitability Mapper, which identified 3.3 million hectares of potentially suitable degraded land for oil palm in Central Kalimantan. It concludes that technical data alone is insufficient without the political will and commitment of local decision-makers to integrate these findings into spatial planning.
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Document type: Briefing
Resilience in AcƟon: Lessons from Public‐Private CollaboraƟons Around the World
The document outlines how public-private collaborations (PPCs) can overcome market barriers to deliver climate adaptation and disaster risk solutions. Through nine case studies across various sectors—including agriculture, energy, and water—it argues that successful resilience-building requires local engagement, scalable design, and the strengthening of micro-enterprises to create sustainable livelihoods. Key strategies highlighted include leveraging existing relationships, creating synergistic value chains, and utilizing innovative alternatives to traditional infrastructure, such as mobile technology and off-grid energy.
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Document type: Policy brief
Cooperation for a Water Wise World – Partnerships for Sustainable Development
The document advocates for a multi-scale analysis of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus to improve cooperative governance and resource management. It presents a continuum of assessment tools, ranging from qualitative index building and opportunity analysis to quantitative hydro-economic and integrated modelling (such as WEAP and LEAP). These tools are designed to identify trade-offs, mitigate supply bottlenecks, and support sustainable infrastructure planning in transboundary macro-regions and at the local level.
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Document type: Research paper
Arctic Resilience Interim Report 2013
The Arctic Resilience Interim Report 2013 provides a framework for understanding the interdependence of Arctic social and ecological systems. It identifies biophysical thresholds—such as sea-ice loss and permafrost degradation—and social thresholds that threaten the well-being of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. The report emphasizes that resilience is not merely the ability to maintain a state but includes the capacity for adaptation and transformation. It highlights the critical role of traditional knowledge and the need for adaptive governance to manage the cumulative impacts of climate change, industrial development, and geopolitical shifts.
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Document type: Report
DEALING WITH DISCLOSURE: IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY IN DECISION-MAKING OVER LARGE-SCALE LAND ACQUISITIONS, ALLOCATIONS AND INVESTMENTS
The report argues that secrecy in large-scale land deals drives bad governance and human rights abuses. It proposes a precautionary principle of "if in doubt, disclose" and identifies four critical entry points for transparency: participatory land use planning, free prior and informed consent (FPIC), public disclosure of all contracts, and independent multi-stakeholder oversight.
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Document type: Report
Water-Energy-Food Security: New Challenges and New Solutions for Water Management
The conference proceedings highlight the critical interdependence of water, energy, and food security, arguing that traditional centralized governance is insufficient for managing these risks. The document advocates for polycentric governance models, the use of NASA's Earth Observation data to monitor soil moisture and evapotranspiration, and the adoption of a 'bioeconomy' framework to create sustainable, renewable resource cycles. It specifically references the Lake Winnipeg bioeconomy project as a model for linking nutrient cycles with energy production. The report also notes that while Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a useful framework, its implementation at the basin scale is often hindered by political instability and a lack of intersectoral integration, particularly in developing countries.
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Document type: Report
Governing climate finance
The report investigates the governance of climate finance in the Global South, arguing that current mechanisms often prioritize mitigation over adaptation and corporate profit over local needs. Through case studies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, it highlights systemic issues including the 'greenwashing' of industrial activities, the marginalization of indigenous land rights, and a lack of transparency in fund disbursement. The authors advocate for a normative framework based on democratic governance, downward accountability to vulnerable communities, and the separation of public and private funding sources to ensure climate finance addresses actual developmental and environmental needs.
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Document type: Report
ÖKOSÜSTEEMITEENUSED ÜLEVAADE LOODUSE PAKUTAVATEST HÜVEDEST JA NENDE RAHALISEST VÄÄRTUSEST
The document provides a comprehensive overview of ecosystem services, categorizing them into supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural services. It discusses the economic valuation of these services, contrasting market-based and non-market valuation methods, and argues that assigning monetary value is essential for sustainable policy-making and corporate risk management. The report also introduces 'ecosystem disservices'—negative impacts of nature on human well-being—and provides practical frameworks for local governments and businesses to integrate natural capital into their strategic planning.
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Document type: Report