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The document advocates for Sustainable Land Management (SLM) as an integrated approach to combat land degradation, desertification, and climate change, with a specific focus on the Mediterranean Basin. It identifies four primary barriers to SLM implementation—economic, educational, institutional, and monitoring—and suggests that mainstreaming SLM into broader policy frameworks can overcome these obstacles. In the Mediterranean Basin, where water availability is the most critical limiting factor, the brief proposes specific SLM actions such as reforestation, improving irrigation efficiency, and preserving traditional extensive systems to manage the water budget. The authors highlight the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) 2016-2025 and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) as key institutional frameworks that can facilitate the scaling of local SLM successes to a regional level.

The document examines the reciprocal relationship between climate and land in Africa, highlighting how desertification and land degradation exacerbate food insecurity and poverty. It identifies specific risks for arid zones, the disproportionate impact on women and marginalized groups, and proposes integrated governance and sustainable land management practices to build resilience.

The document examines how climate change and unsustainable land management drive desertification and food insecurity in Africa, while highlighting sustainable land management practices and the necessity of integrated governance and gender-inclusive policies to build resilience.

The document examines the reciprocal relationship between climate change and land in Latin America, highlighting how land degradation and desertification threaten livelihoods and food security. It advocates for sustainable land management, integrated governance, and gender-equitable policies to enhance resilience and achieve climate goals.

The document examines the reciprocal relationship between climate change and land in South Asia, highlighting the region's high vulnerability to desertification and land degradation. It details how these processes act as 'threat multipliers' for poverty and food insecurity, specifically citing crop yield declines in India and Pakistan. The guide proposes integrated governance, sustainable land management (SLM), and gender-responsive policies as essential strategies for resilience. It emphasizes that while land-based mitigation (like afforestation) is valuable, it must be balanced with emissions reductions in other sectors to avoid increasing competition for land and jeopardizing food security.

The document examines the reciprocal relationship between climate change and land in Latin America, highlighting how land degradation and desertification threaten food security and livelihoods. It advocates for sustainable land management, gender-inclusive policies, and integrated governance to mitigate climate risks and enhance regional resilience.

The project aims to promote integrated landscape management (ILM) to conserve globally significant forests and wildlife in Nepal's Terai Arc Landscape (TAL). It addresses barriers such as inadequate cross-sectoral coordination, lack of technical capacity for forest and land management, and increasing human-wildlife conflict. The strategy involves four components: strengthening national and state-level coordination, improving participatory planning for buffer zones and corridors, implementing sustainable forest management and HWC mitigation in the Banke-Bardia complex, and establishing knowledge management and monitoring systems. The project targets the restoration of 4,050 hectares of land and the mitigation of 1,270,919 metric tons of CO2e.

The research identifies that simple SLM practices like manuring and intercropping provide high benefit-to-cost ratios and positive net present value through 2030, whereas high-cost practices like terraces and agroforestry have lower ratios and longer break-even periods. The study recommends prioritising simple practices in policy while using subsidies and economic measures to support high-cost practices that offer broader societal benefits.

Amigos de la Tierra de América Latina y el Caribe (ATALC) condemns armed attacks against COPINH members, including Berta Zuñiga, in the Department of La Paz, Honduras. The organization links these threats to a broader context of territorial defense against an extractivist model and warns that USAID-funded development projects may be fostering community divisions to facilitate the privatization and financialization of water sources.

Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) expresses solidarity with COPINH and its coordinator, Berta Zuñiga, following armed attacks on members in the department of La Paz. The statement links these threats to 'development' projects funded by USAID and warns against the privatization, commodification, and financialization of water reserves in Honduras.

The Bhutan for Life (BFL) project is a 14-year initiative designed to provide a financial bridge for the sustainable management of Bhutan's protected areas (PAs) and biological corridors (BCs), covering approximately 51% of the country's territory. The project is categorized as 'Category B' by WWF, meaning potential adverse impacts are site-specific and reversible. The ESMF provides a structured process for screening, impact assessment, and the development of activity-specific Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs). Key project components include forestry and land use climate mitigation, community-based adaptation, climate-smart conservation, and institutional capacity building. The framework emphasizes Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) for affected communities and establishes a multi-tiered Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) ranging from local negotiation to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF).

The SLMCRN project, implemented by WWF GEF Agency and executed by WWF Nepal with five Government of Nepal ministries, aimed to reduce degradation in 2,500 ha of agro-pastoral lands and 5,000 ha of forests. The terminal evaluation rated the project as 'Overall Satisfactory', noting strong output delivery but weaker outcome integration. Key successes included the establishment of 'open grazing free zones', the introduction of income-generating activities like Sal leaf plate making and milk chilling centers, and the use of bio-engineering for riverbank protection. However, the evaluation identified significant gaps in district-level coordination, a 'top-heavy' governance structure, and the failure of certain technologies like Sloping Agriculture Land Technology (SALT) due to insecure land tenure. The report recommends transitioning to longer project cycles (at least 5 years), integrating climate resilience into all activities, and reforming the National Land Use Policy 2012 to ensure nationwide implementability.

The Better Life Alliance (BLA) project in Zambia's Luangwa valley reduced greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 902,531 tCO2e/yr, primarily through the prevention of savanna degradation and conversion. The project utilized a business model linking conservation to market incentives and promoted agro-ecological soil management and reduced postharvest losses for crops including groundnuts, maize, rice, and soybeans.

The report examines the application of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in Nepal's Terai, mid-hills, and high hills regions, emphasizing the need for interventions tailored to local contexts and socially disaggregated vulnerabilities. Key findings highlight that farmers are more likely to adopt technologies with multiple benefits—such as improved cattle sheds for manure management or rice-and-duck farming—when they are delivered as integrated packages rather than in isolation. The report argues that sustainability is enhanced through local ownership, mandatory community contributions, and strategic partnerships between NGOs, the private sector, and government extension offices. It specifically notes the differing priorities between dalit households, who focus on food and nutrition security, and janajati households, who prioritize market-driven commercial production.

Ethiopia has established a comprehensive framework for a climate-resilient green economy, led by the Prime Minister's Office and integrated into national development plans. The country has invested significantly from its own budget—approximately 14.5% between 2008 and 2012—and established the Climate Resilient Green Economy Facility to attract international finance, securing US$40 million from bilateral partners by 2015. Key achievements include the 2015 submission of an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution and the development of green infrastructure like the Addis Ababa light rail. However, barriers remain, including the need for deeper integration into operational budgeting, technical capacity gaps, and the challenge of replicating federal success at the regional level.

The mid-term review of the Sustainable Land Management Project in Churia, Nepal, rates the project as 'Moderately Satisfactory'. While output-level performance in livestock husbandry, bio-engineering, and community forestry is good, the report identifies significant failures in the implementation of Sloping Land Agriculture Technology (SALT) and the establishment of Open Grazing Free Zones (OGFZ). Key challenges include a top-down project design, weak inter-sectoral coordination at the operational level, and disruptions caused by the 2015 Nepal earthquake and political unrest (Madhesh Band). The review recommends a no-cost extension, a revision of the 2016 work plan to prioritize successful interventions, and a shift toward Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) to replace the outdated SALT approach.

The Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program is a multi-country initiative involving Brazil, Colombia, and Peru to combat deforestation and biodiversity loss. With a total program cost of $796,664,455 (including $113,684,455 from the GEF Trust Fund and $682,980,000 in co-financing), the program focuses on four components: expanding and managing protected areas, implementing integrated landscape management, aligning sectoral policies to reduce deforestation, and fostering regional cooperation. The program targets the mitigation of 300 million metric tons of CO2e and the improved management of 73,117,000 hectares of landscapes.

The report addresses the challenge of transitioning to low-carbon, productive land use by identifying gaps in the understanding of current financial flows. It argues that while hundreds of billions are invested in agriculture and forestry, most support non-sustainable practices. To remedy this, the authors introduce three tools: a financial flow mapping tool to visualize investments and actors, a financial viability analysis tool to identify and bridge the gap between 'green' and business-as-usual costs, and a public incentive mapping tool to ensure policy coherence and maximize private investment.

The program targets the global supply chains of palm oil, soy, and beef, which are identified as primary drivers of approximately 80% of worldwide deforestation. It employs a 'whole of supply chain' theory of change, arguing that deforestation can be eliminated if production is localized in the right areas (avoiding natural forests) and follows sustainable practices. The program is structured into four child projects: Support to Production, Generating Responsible Demand, Enable Transactions, and Adaptive Management and Learning. Key geographic focuses include the Amazon and Cerrado in Brazil, the Chaco in Paraguay, and palm oil production in Indonesia and Liberia. The program seeks to leverage a total cost of $443.2 million, including $40.3 million from the GEF Trust Fund, to shift the market from voluntary niche sustainability to a mainstream norm.

The report details two workshops held in 2014 to map dairy livestock systems and their environmental context in Tanzania's Morogoro region. It identifies a range of production systems from nomadic to zero-grazing and highlights critical environmental pressures, including water scarcity in the dry season and land conflicts between crop farmers and pastoralists. The document explores scenarios for increasing milk yields, concluding that improvements can be achieved through better education and resource efficiency rather than increased resource consumption, provided that water catchments are protected and fodder markets are developed.