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235 results
Poverty and the Environment
The document argues that existing poverty-environment initiatives by the World Bank and UNDP-EU treat the environment primarily as a commodity for income generation, neglecting critical life-supporting services. It proposes a new framework for UNEP based on 'elementary functionings' and 'safe minimum standards' (SMS) to protect non-market ecological services like water purification and air quality, which the poor depend on more heavily than the rich. The author introduces the PASIR (Pressure, Activity, State, Impact, Response) methodological framework and a five-stage road map to operationalize these concepts into national policy, emphasizing the need for participatory institutions and stewardship by the poor.
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Document type: Report
Open Science Protocol
The author argues for a nuanced approach to scientific openness, proposing an 'Open Science Protocol' that allows a small fraction of projects to be conducted with total transparency. This protocol would make all stages—from funding applications to peer review—open to public scrutiny, contrasting with 'Secret', 'Restricted', and 'Circumspect' science. The author suggests that information technology enables this level of openness and argues that such transparency prevents the 'fenced' nature of institutional science from shielding flawed claims from external criticism.
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Document type: Research paper
SEEING CHANGE THROUGH THE LENS OF SUSTAINABILITY
The document argues that traditional economic measures like GDP are insufficient for tracking sustainability and advocates for a systems-thinking approach. It proposes a 'Performance Measurement and Progress Assessment' (PMPA) cycle that integrates quantitative data, qualitative narratives, and interdisciplinary judgment to inform policy. The text outlines various existing measurement frameworks—ranging from ecological footprints to the Triple Bottom Line—and identifies key technical challenges such as aggregation, weighting, and the tension between scientific transparency and policy communication.
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Document type: Briefing
A Framework for Assessing the Relationship between Trade Liberalization and Biodiversity Conservation
The report establishes a framework for analyzing how trade liberalization affects biodiversity through indirect economic effects, independent direct effects, and public policy changes. It identifies ten types of trade effects and tests the framework using case studies of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, highlighting significant data gaps and the complexity of quantifying these linkages.
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Document type: Report
Approaches to Knowledge-Brokering
The briefing explores 'knowledge-brokering' as a strategic tool for Canada to exert influence and support developing countries. It proposes three frameworks—knowledge system, transactional, and social change—to categorize activities and discusses the organizational capabilities required to move from knowledge creation to user-focused delivery. The authors suggest that Canada could leverage expertise in health policy, fuel-cell energy, and educational software, while recommending collaborative or 'virtual' organizational models to implement these strategies.
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Document type: Briefing
Sustainable Design Guide of the Japan Institute of Architects
Amory Lovins advocates for 'green design' that integrates biologically informed human comfort, high-performance technology, and community-rooted architecture. He argues that combining Japanese sensibilities regarding dynamic environments with Western innovations—such as 'superwindows' and advanced daylighting—can reduce building energy use by 80-90% while improving productivity and well-being. The text highlights several case studies, including the ING bank headquarters in Amsterdam and DeMontfort University in England, to demonstrate that sustainable design can enhance financial performance and human health without increasing capital costs.
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Document type: Guide
Natural Resource Subsidies, Trade and Environment: The Cases of Forests and Fisheries
The paper argues that natural resource subsidies—direct, indirect, and implicit—lead to overcapitalization, technological inefficiency, and overconsumption, resulting in severe environmental damage. Using forests and fisheries as case studies, it demonstrates how low rent capture and fleet modernization subsidies drive deforestation and stock depletion. The author suggests that international bodies, particularly APEC's Economic Committee, should adopt 'full-cost pricing' and the 'User-Pays Principle' to internalize environmental externalities and ensure sustainable resource management.
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Document type: Research paper
TRANSIÇÃO ENERGÉTICA JUSTA
The document presents a framework for a just energy transition, detailing how moving away from fossil fuels improves public health, urban living, and energy access. It highlights benefits such as reduced respiratory diseases, improved mental health, and the creation of decent work in renewable energy.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Just Transition Planning Masterclass Webinar 1 Pre-read: Introducing Just Transitions
The document defines a 'Just Transition' as a framework to ensure that the shift toward a green economy is fair and inclusive, preventing vulnerable populations from bearing disproportionate costs. It traces the concept's evolution from 1980s US trade union concerns over pollution regulations to a broader global framework integrated into the UNFCCC and the 2015 Paris Agreement. The text emphasizes three types of justice—procedural, distributional, and restorative—and argues that transition planning must be participatory and cross-governmental. Using Malawi's agricultural mechanization as an example, it illustrates how top-down transitions can marginalize smallholder farmers despite overall GDP growth. While historically focused on the energy sector and fossil fuel phase-outs, the document asserts that Just Transition principles are equally critical for sectors like agriculture, transport, waste, and forestry, especially regarding adaptation priorities in the global south.
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Document type: Briefing
Evaluating peace and reconciliation to address historical responsibility within international climate negotiations
The briefing examines the applicability of transitional justice mechanisms—prosecution, lustration, amnesties, truth commissions, reparations, and institutional changes—to the climate context. It argues that while direct legal prosecution or truth commissions are unlikely, the logic of these tools can inform the UNFCCC's approach to loss and damage, historical emissions reporting, and the creation of a more legitimate, forward-oriented climate regime.
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Document type: Briefing
What a reliable clean power system looks like
The document identifies nine clean flexibility tools categorized by their function: optimizing supply, storing energy, sharing electricity, and shifting demand. These tools include pumped hydro, batteries, long duration energy storage (LDES), green hydrogen, grids and interconnectors, peak shaving, and smart electrification. It argues that while the Azerbaijani delegation at COP29 proposed targets for storage, grid expansion, and green hydrogen, a comprehensive approach must also include demand-shifting and supply-flexibility tools to fully unlock renewable energy potential.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Our environment, our rights
The document argues that current global models of production and consumption driven by neoliberal economic globalisation lead to increasing human and environmental rights violations. It advocates for the recognition of specific new rights, including the right to a sustainable livelihood, a clean and healthy environment, and the right to resist unwanted developments. It emphasizes that collective rights are essential for the survival and cultural preservation of indigenous peoples and minorities, noting that some legal recognition exists in Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Additionally, it highlights the necessity of the 'right to know' to counter corporate and government secrecy and the 'right to resist' as a fundamental democratic right, despite the risks faced by activists worldwide.
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Document type: Report
BREVE FICHA INFORMATIVA DE AMIGOS DE LA TIERRA INTERNACIONAL REPASO DEL CONCEPTO DE EQUIDAD
The document argues that climate equity requires developed nations to take the lead in reducing emissions and providing financial and technological support to developing nations due to their historical responsibility. It advocates for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C through a carbon budget based on responsibility, capacity, and the right to sustainable societies. The text calls for a systemic economic transformation away from neoliberalism and fossil fuels toward community-led renewable energy and agroecology.
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Document type: Fact sheet
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF CONTINGENT LIABILITIES AND GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING LOAN GUARANTEES AND ON-LENDING IN THE MEFMI REGION
The guidelines establish a comprehensive approach to managing fiscal risks arising from contingent liabilities in the MEFMI region. It distinguishes between explicit liabilities (such as loan guarantees and PPP commitments) and implicit liabilities (such as non-guaranteed SOE debt and natural disaster relief). The document details the legal and institutional frameworks required for oversight, the application and issuance processes for guarantees and on-lending, and a risk management framework centered on credit scoring and expected loss calculations. It further outlines requirements for data recording, monitoring cash flows, and adhering to international statistical and accounting standards for reporting.
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Document type: Guide
The Sustainable Development Goals, integrated thinking and the integrated report
The document argues that the International <IR> Framework's multi-capital approach and emphasis on integrated thinking can help businesses identify and manage the risks and opportunities associated with the SDGs. It proposes a five-step process—understanding the external environment, identifying material issues, developing strategy, enhancing governance, and preparing an integrated report—to ensure that corporate value creation is aligned with sustainable development. The report emphasizes that the SDGs are interdependent and that businesses must manage trade-offs between different capitals to contribute effectively to the 2030 Agenda.
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Document type: Report
Empowering marginalized communities in biosphere reserves through a metacoupling approach
The document introduces the metacoupling approach as a framework for managing biosphere reserves, specifically within the context of South Africa's ten UNESCO biosphere reserves. It explains that metacoupling helps identify how resource use in one area affects distant communities and ecosystems, thereby highlighting equity issues. The text describes the three-pillar structure of biosphere reserves—conservation, sustainable economic development, and logistic support—and the three zoning areas: core areas, buffer zones, and transition areas. It asserts that applying this approach allows stakeholders to understand who benefits or suffers from natural resource decisions, facilitating collective governance across jurisdictional and sectoral levels.
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Document type: Case study
Resilience Science Must-Knows
The document outlines nine fundamental principles of resilience science, emphasizing that resilience involves the capacity to cope, adapt, and transform rather than simply 'bouncing back'. It highlights the importance of diversity, relationship-building, agency, and the need to address power imbalances and social inequalities to ensure equitable resilience. The principles argue that investing in resilience reduces future costs and requires a continuous cycle of learning and innovation to navigate accelerating risks within planetary boundaries.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Resilience Science Must-Knows
The document outlines nine core principles of resilience science, defining resilience as the capacity to cope, adapt, and transform amidst uncertainty. It emphasizes that resilience is a cyclical process of learning and innovation that requires diversity, strong social and ecological relationships, and the active management of trade-offs. The text argues that investing in resilience reduces future costs and requires addressing power imbalances and historical injustices to ensure equitable outcomes.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Indicadores: puentes entre la ciencia y la toma de decisiones en conservación de la biodiversidad ante el cambio climático
The report addresses the disconnect between scientific research and policy implementation regarding biodiversity conservation in the Andean region. It argues that the primary obstacle is not a lack of data, but a failure in communication and the translation of complex science into actionable knowledge. The authors propose a six-stage knowledge management process to develop indicators that are technically valid yet simple and useful for both technical advisors and political decision-makers, supporting both proactive planning and reactive crisis management.
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Document type: Report
SIBHEKE EZINHLELWENI ZOKUDLA EZINOBULUNGISWA NEZIKWAZI UKUMELANA NESIMO SEZULU: I-AGROECOLOGY YOKUZIMELA NGOKWEZOKUDLA KANYE NOBULUNGISWA NGOKWESIMO SEZULU
The fact sheet advocates for agroecology as a holistic approach to building climate-resilient and just food systems in South Africa. It contrasts agroecology—which integrates traditional knowledge and ecological science to empower small-scale producers—with 'false solutions' such as GMOs and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) that it claims reinforce industrial control and inequality. The document outlines how agroecology enhances resilience through local production, biodiversity, and soil health, and aligns these goals with the 13 HLPE principles for food system transformation.
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Document type: Fact sheet