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The paper examines the 2006 campaign to save the Mabira Forest in Uganda, where the government proposed giving 7,100 hectares of the reserve to the Mehta Group for sugarcane cultivation. It details how a coalition of civil society, religious institutions, and legal experts used environmental laws and public mobilization to stop the proposal. The author argues that the campaign succeeded by framing the environmental issue as a broader failure of governance and accountability, leveraging the 1995 Constitution's recognition of the right to a healthy environment and the 2005 Access to Information Act.

The document requests that the International Joint Commission (IJC) evaluate the continued applicability of its 1988 recommendations against the proposed Lodgepole coal mine in the Flathead River Basin. The signatories argue that the new proposal by Cline Mining Corporation poses similar or greater risks to transboundary water quality and fish populations—specifically bull trout—than the Sage Creek mine analyzed in 1988, while noting a persistent lack of baseline environmental data.

The IAI is requesting a core budget of US$1,163,462 for FY 2008/2009, a 14.6% increase over the previous year, primarily driven by the devaluation of the US dollar against the Brazilian real and increased operational costs. The budget supports the management of the CRN II and SGP-HD programs, capacity building through training institutes, and strategic planning to strengthen links between science and policy. Key initiatives include a project on the hydroclimate of the La Plata Basin and a MacArthur Foundation-funded study on Andean biodiversity. Funding is sourced from member country contributions, with the United States providing the largest share.

The report analyzes the global commodity chain of forest products where China acts as the central processing hub, importing raw materials from developing nations and exporting finished goods to Western markets. It highlights a systemic failure in governance and sustainability, particularly in Mozambique and Russia, where weak tenure rights and corruption lead to illegal logging and forest degradation. Conversely, it notes that trade with New Zealand demonstrates a positive model where strong governance ensures sustainable plantation management. The document argues that China's own self-interest—specifically the need for secure, long-term fibre supply—should drive it to lead international efforts in sustainable forest management, improve its procurement policies, and support capacity-building in supplier countries.

The authors argue that 'deep' system-wide coordination of all international organizations is an impossible challenge due to the diversity of mandates. Instead, they propose 'targeted coherence'—coordination between specific agencies for specific tasks. The paper outlines four practical steps: elevating environmental issues on the UN System Chief Executives Board (CEB) agenda, establishing an annual retreat for environmental leaders, creating issue-specific task forces for regional and national implementation, and developing a GEG Project Database Portal to aggregate information. These measures aim to replace the current annual EMG meeting, which is described as a 'fruitless exercise'.

The document presents a vision of "applied hope," which Lovins defines as a deliberate choice to act on the conviction that practical, scalable solutions can improve the world. He argues against passive optimism and pervasive dread, advocating instead for "integrative design" and "advanced resource efficiency" to phase out fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Lovins envisions a future where carbon emissions decline profitably, biodiversity recovers, and global stability is achieved by treating the world's problems as interconnected systems rather than isolated issues.

The report analyzes how global trends in climate change, energy, and biotechnology affect the competitiveness, social priorities, and risk management of Canadian agriculture. It finds that while warming trends may increase yields and competitive advantage, these gains are offset by increased vulnerability to extreme weather and emerging social demands for sustainable and healthy food systems.

The report proposes the Natural Capital Approach (NCA) as a method to quantify and value ecosystem services to reconcile economic and environmental imperatives. It evaluates the NCA against other management styles, reviews international and domestic initiatives, and suggests a spatially based informatics architecture. The authors recommend that Environment Canada lead a pilot study in the Red and Assiniboine River system in Manitoba to demonstrate the utility of the Canadian System of Environmental and Resource Accounts (CSERA) and ecosystem service valuation for policy design.

The document examines the challenges faced by conservationists in the Albertine Rift, where high biodiversity coincides with intense social and political upheaval. It proposes the use of adaptive, conflict-sensitive approaches and analyzes seven specific conflict assessment tools to help practitioners understand conflict dynamics and minimize risks. The report also includes case studies on fishery restoration in Virunga National Park, community conservation in Kahuzi Biega National Park, and conservation management in Sierra Leone and the Peruvian Amazon.

The document assesses the bio-diesel sector in Lao PDR as a means to reduce oil import dependency and create economic opportunities. While the government views biofuels as a tool for climate change mitigation and energy security, the report warns of significant environmental risks, including deforestation, biodiversity loss, and water pollution. It notes the absence of a cohesive national biofuel policy and recommends integrating strategic environmental assessments into policy development and private sector operations.

The document examines the tension between the economic potential of exporting medicinal plants and spices in Lao PDR and the resulting environmental pressures. It identifies systemic failures in harvesting and regulation while proposing a framework for sustainable management and legal enforcement.

The report argues that GM crops, primarily herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant varieties of soya, maize, cotton, and canola, have not increased yields and have instead driven a rise in pesticide use due to the emergence of resistant weeds. It highlights the monopolization of the seed supply by a few corporations, specifically Monsanto, and documents the negative socio-economic impacts on small farmers in the US, India, and South America, including increased debt and rural poverty.

The document analyzes the global forest product commodity chain, where developing nations act as raw material bases, China serves as the primary processing center, and Western nations are the final consumers. It highlights a critical failure in the 'funding loop' for countries like Mozambique and Russia, where timber revenues do not return to forest regeneration, leading to over-logging and illegal activities. Conversely, New Zealand is presented as a success story of sustainable forest management (SFM) and integrated industry. The report argues that China's trade policies—specifically zero tariffs on raw logs and high export rebates for finished goods—have historically incentivized unsustainable imports and low-value production. To mitigate these risks, the report recommends that China improve its 'ecological footprint' monitoring, support forest governance in supplier nations, encourage sustainable overseas investment, and reform fiscal policies to shift toward high-value, certified sustainable wood products.

South Africa operates as a decentralized development partner in Africa, primarily through peacekeeping, education, and research for development. While it lacks a centralized agency and systematic tracking, it utilizes the African Renaissance Fund and various government departments to support African renewal. The country increasingly employs trilateral partnerships with traditional donors to enhance its continental influence while managing costs and perceptions.

The document examines the critical role of ecosystem services in buffering human populations against environmental disturbances and the risks posed by their decline. It highlights how the combination of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land-use change creates 'vulnerability complexes' that disproportionately affect poor and marginalised groups. The brief warns of 'tipping points' that could lead to catastrophic ecological shifts and massive population displacement, estimating that between 24 million and 700 million people could be environmentally displaced in coming decades. It calls for international climate policy to move beyond mitigation to include the monitoring of ecosystem health and the building of resilience to prevent humanitarian crises.

The briefing defines community rights as ancestral, collective, and sovereign rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples, rooted in their sustainable management of nature and customary law. It positions these rights as 'Third Generation human rights' that serve as a defense mechanism for biological and cultural diversity, specifically opposing the monopolistic intellectual property framework of the WTO TRIPS agreement. The document emphasizes that these rights should be defined from a gender perspective to acknowledge women's roles in conservation and argues against the codification of these rights into formal laws to avoid rendering cultural practices static or imposing a hegemonic legal order.

The 'Choose the Future' conference report details a three-day event in Winnipeg focused on integrating sustainable development into education, business, and government. It highlights keynote addresses on global sustainability, corporate strategies for 'triple bottom line' success, and various concurrent sessions on Arctic climate change, Indigenous perspectives, and K-12 curriculum integration in Manitoba and other Canadian provinces.

The report analyzes the failure of regional integration in Central Africa, linking it to the 'personalisation of power' and the 'resource curse' (specifically oil). It argues that regional organisations like ECCAS and CEMAC are often used to enhance regime security rather than human security. The document examines case studies of collapsed personalised regimes (Zaire, CAR, Equatorial Guinea) and surviving ones (Cameroon, Gabon), while assessing the operational weaknesses of regional security architectures and the impact of oil booms on institutional governance.

The report argues that humanity has depleted natural capital to achieve short-term gains, leading to a decline in 15 of 24 evaluated ecosystem services. It proposes a five-part action agenda: developing ecosystem service information, strengthening local community rights, managing across multiple scales, improving accountability, and aligning economic incentives. To implement this, the authors suggest creating new institutions such as Ecosystem Service Districts, Biome Stewardship Councils, a Commission on Macroeconomics and Ecosystem Services for Poverty Reduction, and a global Leaders' Forum.

Earthjustice successfully challenged a 2006 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule that diminished the critical habitat of the California red legged frog. The lawsuit alleged that political pressure from D.C. officials, including former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Julie MacDonald, led field scientists to ignore the species' Recovery Plan and exclude essential habitat areas. The case concluded after the FWS proposed a new rule in September 2008 to significantly increase the frog's critical habitat.