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The 'One Food' toolkit by WWF South Africa promotes a holistic approach to farming that integrates human, animal, and environmental health. It identifies risks such as invasive alien plants, livestock diseases, and climate-driven hazards like heat waves and floods. The guide provides specific actionable advice for livestock and crop farmers, emphasizing agroecology, rotational grazing, and natural pest control to enhance biodiversity and climate resilience.

The Umkhomazi catchment is a critical strategic water source area in KwaZulu-Natal, supporting 1.5 to 2 million people and high biodiversity. Despite producing 1,078 million m3 of water annually, only 15% is used due to seasonal flow patterns. The area faces threats from invasive alien plants, overgrazing, and abandoned farming. To address these, the Umkhomazi Catchment Working Group (UCWG) coordinates restoration efforts, including invasive species management, erosion control, and regenerative agriculture. Additionally, the Umkhomazi Water Project plans to construct two large dams, including the Smithfield Dam, to enhance water security for Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) aims to reduce the EU's role in global deforestation by requiring sustainable sourcing of commodities like cattle, cocoa, and wood. However, the regulation has faced strong opposition from producer nations in the Global South, who describe it as 'regulatory imperialism' and a 'discriminatory and punitive unilateral benchmarking system'. These countries argue that the EUDR ignores national laws and shifts the financial burden of compliance onto producers, with Brazil estimating risks to exports worth 15 billion dollars and Indonesia facing potential losses of seven billion dollars. Internal EU political pressure has led to the regulation's postponement to the end of 2025 and the introduction of a 'no-risk' category, which critics warn could create loopholes for deforestation-linked products. The document further notes that some countries are redirecting exports to markets with less stringent requirements, such as China and Africa. It concludes that the EU must involve affected nations in policy drafting and prioritize reducing domestic consumption of high-impact products to achieve genuine sustainability.

Friends of the Earth US evaluates the Biden-Harris administration's 6-point framework to reduce US imports of deforestation-linked commodities. The analysis highlights the role of seven forest risk commodities—palm oil, beef, soy, coffee, cocoa, rubber, and corn—and argues that the US must adopt a holistic approach to combat illegal deforestation, which is often linked to human rights abuses and land grabbing. The organization recommends the creation of a public, transparent federal due diligence procedure independent of third-party certification, the use of Earth-observation data, and coordination with the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). It also advocates for the passage of the federal FOREST Act and contributions to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) have signed a five-year agreement to collaborate on global change research in the Americas. The partnership focuses on biodiversity, health, and sustainable development, emphasizing data sharing, capacity building, and science diplomacy. The MOU provides a non-binding framework for future specific project agreements and joint funding proposals without creating immediate financial obligations.

The document argues that financial institutions shape the future economy and must implement ambitious, robust climate transition plans to avoid continuing destructive climate patterns. Reclaim Finance provides a framework of essential criteria for these plans, covering decarbonization goals, reporting, governance, biodiversity, and just transition, while identifying 'red lines' that signal major deficiencies in current financial transition planning.

The document argues that financial institutions shape the future economy and must use robust climate transition plans to avoid maintaining the current climate-wrecking status quo. It outlines essential criteria for these plans, including decarbonization targets, strategies, engagement, reporting, governance, biodiversity, and the just transition, while identifying 'red lines' that signify major gaps in existing plans.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) asserts that there is no climate justice without a free Palestine, condemning the 'genocide and an ecocide' in Gaza. The organization reports solidarity actions from its member groups across Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Africa, while calling for international mobilization and donations to provide green energy and water purification systems to refugee camps in Gaza.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on December 10, 2024, formalizes the association of the Center for Climate and Resilience Science (CR2) with the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI). The agreement focuses on enhancing regional cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean across several key domains, including climate science, resilience, biodiversity, and the science-policy interface. The parties commit to exchanging scientific data, developing joint funding proposals, and creating capacity-building programs to address global environmental change.

The Center for Climate and Security (CCS) has submitted comments on the Zero Order Draft of the First National Nature Assessment (NNA1), prepared by the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). CCS supports the draft's inclusion of anthropogenic ecosystems, biotic eruptions, and the link between global nature loss and U.S. security. However, CCS recommends that the NNA1 expand its analysis to include unprotected, privately owned nature as a source of hazard aversion and incorporate benefit-cost analyses comparing nature-based solutions with synthetic alternatives. Additionally, CCS urges the inclusion of maladaptation risks to human and national security, citing examples from São Tomé and Príncipe and Vanuatu where climate finance projects failed to account for social inequalities and power dynamics.

An open letter from over 30 environmental civil society organisations to the European Commission defending the role and funding of EU LIFE operating grants. The authors assert that civil society engagement is a legal requirement under the EU Treaties and the Aarhus Convention, essential for a balanced democratic dialogue against resource-rich corporate actors. They highlight that LIFE operating grants for environmental NGOs represent only EUR 15.5 million per year (0.006% of the EU budget) but provide critical support for climate action, nature conservation, and the energy transition. The letter emphasizes that these grants are awarded through competitive processes and subject to strict accountability and transparency standards.

The paper examines India's agricultural subsidy regime, focusing on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and input subsidies for fertilizer, power, and irrigation. It highlights their role in achieving self-sufficiency in rice and wheat and protecting 650 million beneficiaries through the Public Distribution System. While acknowledging criticisms regarding inequity, budget pressure, and environmental degradation, the author argues that these subsidies are critical for small farmers and rural poverty alleviation, especially given global market volatility and trade pressures from developed-country subsidies.

Earthjustice reports a series of legal victories in 2024, including a landmark settlement to decarbonize Hawaii's transportation system by 2045, the cessation of coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, and a historic Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling requiring Peru to remediate lead pollution in La Oroya. The organization also secured wins against cryptomining operations in New York, fossil fuel infrastructure expansion in New Jersey, and the loss of wetlands protections following the U.S. Supreme Court's Sackett v. EPA decision, notably helping Colorado pass legislation to reinstate wetland protections in May 2024. Additionally, the report highlights efforts to regulate PFAS in plastic containers, limit lead wheel weights, and protect endangered species such as the Cook Inlet beluga whale and Pacific sardine.

The document provides a detailed analysis of the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which aims to secure the EU's supply of 17 strategic raw materials by 2030. It highlights the risks of fast-tracked permitting for 'Strategic Projects', the potential for 'greenwashing' through private certification schemes, and the challenges facing Indigenous Peoples and local communities in exercising their rights to participation and consent. The guide also examines the interaction between the CRMA and existing EU environmental directives, such as the Habitats and Birds Directives, and outlines the limited access to justice available to stakeholders.

The policy brief, resulting from the CO2ol Down co-creation project, argues for a clear distinction between temporary biogenic sequestration and permanent carbon dioxide removals (CDR). It recommends that the EU set legally binding, transparent targets for permanent removals in addition to emissions reduction targets, aiming for net-negative GHG emissions by 2055. The brief proposes a governance framework involving EU-level oversight of CO2 transport and storage, member state-level procurement via reverse auctions or contracts for difference, and a financing model based on the 'Polluter Pays' principle. It emphasizes a portfolio approach to diversify removal methods and strict sustainability criteria, including the requirement that CDR activities be powered by additional renewable energy sources.

The paper analyzes India's agricultural subsidy regime, focusing on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and input subsidies for fertilizers, electricity, and irrigation. It highlights their role in ensuring food security and supporting small farmers while acknowledging criticisms regarding inefficiency, market distortion, and environmental degradation. The author argues that while rationalization is needed, abrupt removal of these subsidies—which represent 21% of agricultural income—could exacerbate rural poverty.

The document discusses the need for lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) and low-income countries (LICs) to optimize their limited public spending on food and agriculture. It highlights that many sub-Saharan African nations fail to meet the Maputo goal of allocating 10% of national budgets to these sectors and often employ trade policies that implicitly penalize farmers to protect poor consumers. To address this, the FAO's Policy Monitoring and Analysis of Food and Agriculture (SAPAA) program uses a Pareto-optimality tool to help governments reallocate budgets across measures such as irrigation, seed subsidies, and rural electrification. A study of six sub-Saharan African countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda) suggests that optimizing budgets for 2025-2030 could create nearly one million non-farm rural jobs, lift 2.8 million people out of poverty, and enable 16 million more people to afford a healthy diet by 2030 without increasing total spending.

The paper examines India's agricultural subsidy regime, highlighting the role of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the Public Distribution System (PDS) in ensuring food security for millions. It details the growth of input subsidies for fertilizers, electricity, and irrigation, which reached USD 48 billion in 2022-2023. While acknowledging criticisms regarding market distortion, budget pressure, and environmental degradation, the author argues that these subsidies are vital for small farmers and rural stability, especially given the pressures of global trade and the limitations of current banking infrastructure for direct income transfers.

The document assesses the gap between Colombia's robust policy frameworks for the 2030 Agenda and climate goals and their actual implementation, which is hindered by conflicting priorities and institutional weaknesses. It highlights that while most land-use policies are synergistic, specific conflicts—particularly within mining legislation—and the criminalization of peasant farmers through military operations like Operation Artemisa undermine conservation efforts. The authors argue that overcoming this incoherence requires better inter-agency coordination, community engagement, and regional cooperation within the Amazon biome.

The First Amendment to the Agreement for Scientific or Technological Cooperation between FAPESP and IAI extends the original agreement's duration by ten years, setting a new termination date of 7 January 2035. It also establishes new areas for information exchange and collaboration, including equity and diversity in science, traditional knowledge for climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation, scientific diplomacy via the IAI Regional Center for Scientific Diplomacy, open data and open science, and transdisciplinary science for public policy development.