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The document argues that while India's current internal security challenges—such as terrorism in Kashmir and Maoist insurgencies—are primarily driven by non-climate factors, future climate change will likely act as a risk multiplier. By 2050, increased temperature volatility, erratic monsoon patterns, and sea-level rise are projected to heighten human vulnerability. The authors identify three primary security pathways: rural unrest driven by agricultural distress and crop failure; tensions within India's federal structure caused by inter-state migration and river water disputes; and urban violence magnified by heat-induced aggression and food price hikes. The report emphasizes that at a 1.5°C global temperature rise, large portions of India enter a high-risk zone, potentially translating environmental stress into state security threats.

The briefing outlines how the Court of Justice of the EU has consistently upheld ECHA's decisions regarding the identification of substances of very high concern (SVHC) under Article 57 of the REACH Regulation. It emphasizes that SVHC identification is based on intrinsic hazardous properties rather than substance use, and that ECHA possesses broad discretion in evaluating evidence, including the use of non-guideline studies and the assessment of 'equivalent level of concern'.

The document details efforts to enhance coastal resilience in the Great Lakes region through nature-based solutions, such as wetland restoration and climate-smart agriculture. It highlights the role of the Coastal Assembly in coordinating bi-national wetland restoration and the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission's (GLIFWC) use of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to assess species vulnerability. The briefing also emphasizes the importance of soil health in carbon sequestration and the need for federal policy modernization, including updates to the Stafford Act and expanded funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The document argues that for fragile states, climate change and conflict often share drivers and mutually reinforce each other, making the integration of adaptation planning and peacebuilding essential. It highlights how the NAP process, through its long-term, holistic, and participatory nature, can serve as a platform for conflict prevention and trust-building. The text provides examples from countries like Sudan, Burkina Faso, and Palestine where climate adaptation is used to mitigate resource-based conflicts or where active conflict severely hinders adaptation capacity. It concludes by identifying key challenges, including the need for transboundary planning and the inclusion of marginalized populations like refugees.

The document examines the intersection of gender, corruption, and natural resource management (NRM), asserting that corruption disproportionately affects marginalized groups and that gender-informed strategies can enhance accountability. It provides evidence that women's participation in forestry and fisheries management in India and Nepal leads to better conservation results. The briefing highlights gendered differences in corruption, noting that while men often dominate high-level grand corruption, women are more vulnerable to sexual extortion and bribery for public services. It presents practical examples of gender mainstreaming, such as the Akashinga all-female anti-poaching units in Zimbabwe and the Hariyo Ban Program in Nepal, and provides a framework of core questions and principles for practitioners to integrate gender analysis into policy design.

The document argues that the absence of a dedicated EU-level legislative framework for soil protection has left soil governance fragmented and disconnected from land policies. It analyzes the failure of a 2006 proposal for a Soil Framework Directive and suggests several legal pathways to address this gap, including the adoption of a new Directive based on Article 191 or 192 TFEU, strengthening soil standards within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and integrating soil management into the 8th Environment Action Programme and the EU Biodiversity Strategy.

The briefing identifies four key priorities for COP25: increasing national climate ambition (NDCs), finalizing rules for international carbon markets and common time frames, reviewing the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, and advancing climate finance and capacity-building. It emphasizes the need for environmentally sound rules for carbon trading and the importance of integrating social equity into climate policy to ensure a just transition.

The briefing discusses the risks of top-down rural electrification, citing a failed $100,000 project in India as an example of stranded assets. It proposes that community-led minigrids—designed in partnership with local leadership structures like cooperatives—can lower system costs and electricity prices by 60% from 2018 levels. RMI's Africa Energy Program is implementing the 'Sharing the Power' project over three years in sub-Saharan Africa, with potential testing sites in Nigeria and Ethiopia, to demonstrate how community involvement in planning and operation enhances financial and social sustainability.

The document advocates for enhancing public participation in climate policies by leveraging international legal instruments like the Aarhus Convention and the Escazú Agreement. It identifies specific entry points at COP-25—including Article 6 market mechanisms, the Lima Work Programme on Gender, and the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform—where procedural rights and safeguards for environmental defenders should be strengthened. It further suggests using the transparency framework's interactive dialogues to review how public participation improves national climate ambition.

The briefing advocates for net-zero energy districts, highlighting how urban-scale planning enables energy balancing across diverse building types, economies of scale for thermal systems, and reduced transportation emissions. It provides examples of smart developments in the US and India that integrate solar microgrids and battery storage to provide grid services and avoid infrastructure costs.

The 'Building a Resilient Future' event, involving over 50 organizations and 900 delegates, emphasized that incremental change is insufficient to address climate change. The document argues for the urgent scaling of proactive resilience building to protect vulnerable communities and ensure the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.

Nigeria aims to produce nuclear energy by 2025 and reach 4,800 megawatts of capacity by 2035, primarily through a 'build-own-operate' model with potential partners like Russia and China. However, the document warns that these plans are complicated by severe climate risks—including desertification in the north and sea-level rise in Lagos—and persistent security threats from groups like Boko Haram and ISWAP. While Nigeria has successfully removed highly enriched uranium from its research reactor with international help, the briefing argues that the government must better integrate climate and security risks into the design and transport of future nuclear facilities to avoid vulnerabilities.

The briefing introduces 'hours-of-safety' to measure how long a home remains at a comfortable temperature after power is lost during extreme weather. It highlights the life-threatening risks of heat waves and polar vortexes, particularly for vulnerable populations in poorly insulated housing. The author advocates for passive design strategies—such as improved insulation, tighter envelopes, and cool roofs—combined with islandable solar PV and battery storage to increase passive survivability and community resilience.

The briefing identifies that agriculture accounts for 70 percent of annual freshwater withdrawals and proposes five interventions: reducing food loss and waste, shifting diets toward less water-intensive foods, investing in nature-based solutions like agroforestry, optimizing crop placement and water management, and adopting efficient technologies such as drip irrigation.

The briefing analyzes community land tenure in 14 countries, finding that while 57% of total national land in these countries is held by communities, levels of legal recognition and formal documentation vary significantly by nation. It highlights that 'not-recognized' land held under customary tenure is more vulnerable to seizure, and notes that while some countries like Tanzania and Kenya recognize all held community land, others like DRC and Cambodia have very low rates of legal recognition.

The document challenges the assumption that peace is inherently good for all businesses, arguing that many companies operating in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) may actually benefit from the status quo or face severe reprisals for engaging in peacebuilding. It contends that policies focusing solely on GDP growth or 'de-risking' investment without considering conflict dynamics can exacerbate fragility. The author urges 'systems shapers'—those who finance and regulate the private sector—to adopt conflict-sensitive approaches and ensure corporate accountability to prevent the private sector from becoming a vector for instability.

The document outlines the legal requirements for public participation in the development of national long-term strategies (LTS) for greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2050. It asserts that the EU Governance Regulation (GR) is insufficiently clear and may not fully comply with the Aarhus Convention, which mandates early public involvement when all options are open. ClientEarth provides a consolidated procedure for compliant participation, including open access to all interested parties, active dissemination of relevant documents, and specific timeframes for consultation. The briefing notes that previous strategies submitted under the Paris Agreement are insufficient to meet current GR requirements and urges that public participation for the 2020 deadline should have commenced by September 2019.

The briefing identifies three specific water-quality hotspots in Manitoba based on 2016 Census of Agriculture data: the Southwest Red River Valley (high fertilizer application), Southwestern Manitoba (high conservation tillage), and the Southeast Red River Valley (high non-incorporated manure application). It argues that spatial targeting of natural infrastructure, such as engineered wetlands, and beneficial management practices can maximize the efficiency of public investments to reduce nutrient runoff into Lake Winnipeg.

The Stockholm Environment Institute's SDG Synergies approach provides a systemic framework for planning sustainable development by analyzing how progress toward specific SDG targets influences others. The method involves a three-step process: customizing a subset of 20 to 40 relevant targets, scoring their direct interactions in a cross-impact matrix, and using network analysis to identify indirect 'ripple effects' and clusters of targets. This approach aims to improve priority-setting, resource allocation, and cross-sectoral collaboration by identifying targets with high positive influence and mitigating potential trade-offs.

The document argues that the global food system is experiencing unprecedented power concentration driven by mega-mergers and the financial sector, now further accelerated by Big Data technologies. This consolidation allows a small group of agri-food giants to control the value chain from seeds and chemicals to retail, squeezing small-scale farmers' incomes and reducing their autonomy. The author warns that the 'Big Data platform'—utilizing AI, sensors, and blockchain—shifts commercial advantages to those with the most data, potentially marginalizing peasant food webs. The briefing advocates for agroecology and the protection of small-scale producers' rights as a sustainable alternative to the industrial model.