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The UNEP Regional Seas Programme employs a regionalized approach to ocean governance, coordinating actions across 18 Conventions and Action Plans involving over 146 countries. While it has achieved significant milestones in pollution management and biodiversity conservation, its effectiveness is hindered by political instability, funding gaps, and weak enforcement.

The briefing examines the risks and requirements for corporate financing of Nature Based Solutions (NBS) in the context of net-zero commitments. It proposes a shift from traditional offsetting—where companies might choose to pay for reductions elsewhere rather than reducing their own emissions—to a 'counterbalancing' approach. Under this model, companies must first comply with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to ensure they are on a 1.5°C trajectory across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions before using NBS credits. On the supply side, the document advocates for the 'jurisdictional approach' over project-based credits to better manage risks like leakage, permanence, and additionality, highlighting the ART/TREES standard as a robust framework for ensuring environmental and social integrity.

Natural Justice (NJ) submits that while the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Amendment Bill is necessary to address the unconstitutionality of the 1991 Act—which discriminated against women by automatically converting tenure rights to ownership for men—the proposed mechanisms remain flawed. NJ argues that the reliance on Government Gazette notifications is unrealistic for rural women and that the top-down state-led arbitration process ignores local family-level tenure structures. The submission calls for the permanent adoption of the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act and a shift toward local knowledge-based tenure determination.

The project in Myanmar’s Upper Chindwin Basin aims to protect Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) and support sustainable livelihoods. It addresses threats such as commercial mining, logging, and overfishing through the development of Community Action Plans (CAP) and the implementation of sustainable land and water management practices.

The project aims to establish two connectivity corridors in the Ecuadorian Amazon to combat habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss. It focuses on the Putumayo-Aguarico and Palora-Pastaza landscapes, targeting the creation of 50,000 hectares of new protected areas. The strategy involves promoting Sustainable Land Management (SLM) in agricultural areas, strengthening bioeconomy initiatives for indigenous and local communities, and creating multi-level governance platforms to integrate connectivity into territorial planning. The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with a total cost of $6,423,853 and significant co-financing from the Ecuadorian government and international partners.

The report analyzes the historical and legal framework of rural land ownership in Brazil, highlighting a systemic lack of a unified land registry that fosters legal insecurity and land grabbing (grilagem). It examines the complexities of the current registration and cadastral systems, including the RGI, SNCR, and CAR, and identifies significant barriers to land regularization for traditional and vulnerable populations. The document specifically details the administrative processes and political pressures affecting Indigenous lands, quilombola territories, conservation units, and agrarian reform projects, arguing that recent legislative changes often prioritize large-scale land titling over social and environmental safeguards, thereby risking land reconcentration and increased deforestation.

The document analyzes 'ecological civilisation' as a uniquely Chinese vision for sustainable development that integrates ambitious environmental targets with centralized state power and traditional philosophy. It argues that this framework is central to China's modernization project under President Xi Jinping, shifting from a focus on civil society engagement to a top-down, technocratic approach. While the 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020) saw significant progress in meeting environmental targets and establishing a national carbon market, the report notes a recent rhetorical shift toward 'innovation-driven development' and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and strained US-China relations. Ultimately, it suggests that engaging with China's green transition requires understanding its core priorities of stability, legitimacy, and security.

The project aims to protect and restore Key Biodiversity Areas in the Upper Chindwin Basin, Myanmar, through the development of Community Action Plans (CAP) and integrated land and water management. It addresses threats such as commercial mining, logging, and overfishing that have led to the decline of endangered aquatic species and wetland habitats. The initiative focuses on creating environmentally-sensitive livelihoods, establishing conservation zones, and providing policy recommendations to upscale these community-led conservation efforts nationally.

The document examines the role of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in combating corruption. While these efforts can reduce local-level bribery and increase transparency, they often fail to address 'institutional capture'—where elite interests manipulate state policies for private gain. Using a case study of rosewood logging in Madagascar's Makira Natural Park, the authors demonstrate that high-value resources can drive national-level corruption that overrides local conservation efforts. The briefing recommends a multi-level approach that integrates local social accountability with national-level democratic reforms and political economy analysis.

The study identifies mining, logging, dam construction, and agriculture as the primary threats to biodiversity in the Chindwin River Basin. Using a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Making approach and the InVEST model, the research found that 87% of Key Biodiversity Areas provide a high degree of ecosystem services, with the highest levels occurring in the forested northern region of the basin.

The document outlines a strategic framework for accelerating climate adaptation in Africa, emphasizing the integration of indigenous knowledge with scientific data and the need for decentralized finance. It advocates for investing in a climate-smart workforce, resilient water and energy systems, and nature-based solutions to protect biodiversity and human livelihoods.

The document examines how corruption—including bribery, collusion, nepotism, and favoritism—affects the trade of wild plants and fungi (NTFPs). It identifies key risk points from harvesting and permitting to international export and final product manufacturing. To address these, it recommends improved resource governance, the use of voluntary certification standards like FairWild, and the implementation of traceability technologies such as blockchain.

The report examines urban flooding in five cities across Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya, highlighting the vulnerability of informal settlements to climate-exacerbated rainfall and poor urban planning. It compares the maturity of South African cities in integrating EbA into policy against the more response-oriented, 'grey' infrastructure bias in Kenyan cities. Key findings emphasize that collaborative, whole-of-society governance and the integration of green and grey infrastructure are most effective for long-term resilience.

The document outlines a comprehensive framework for CITES Management Authorities to establish and issue Legal Acquisition Findings (LAF). It details the necessary legal preparations, the step-by-step verification process for the chain of custody, and specific documentary requirements for various taxa, including wildlife, plants, and timber. The guide emphasizes a risk-based approach to verification and the importance of transparent, public-facing national guidelines to prevent fraudulent trade.

The report outlines a framework for 'rights-based climate finance,' emphasizing that funding from developed to developing countries must be ambitious in volume, equitable in distribution, and provided as grants to avoid increasing debt. It advocates for the categorical exclusion of 'false solutions' like large-scale hydropower and geoengineering, while demanding robust social and environmental safeguards, including free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) for Indigenous Peoples and independent grievance redress mechanisms to ensure accountability.

The document outlines a comprehensive framework for CITES Management Authorities to verify the legal acquisition of fauna and flora. It details the preparation of national guidelines, the assessment of chain of custody documentation, and the application of risk-based verification techniques to prevent illegal wildlife trade.

The document serves as a technical guide for CITES Management Authorities to implement Legal Acquisition Findings (LAF). It details the process of verifying the 'chain of custody'—the chronological documentation of a specimen from extraction to export—to ensure compliance with national and international laws. The manual outlines steps for preparing national guidelines, evaluating legal frameworks, and applying risk-based assessment methods to determine if a specimen was acquired legally (positive LAF) or illegally (negative LAF). It provides specific documentation requirements for different taxa, including timber, marine species, and captive-bred animals, and emphasizes the importance of transparency and public accessibility of these guidelines to prevent fraud and illegal trade.

The document details how the Bolsonaro administration has systematically weakened Brazil's environmental state through institutional budget cuts, the exclusion of civil society from policy-making bodies like CONAMA, and the use of infra-legal decrees to bypass congressional scrutiny. It argues that these actions are driven by a coalition of agribusiness and mining interests seeking to expand into biomes such as the Amazon, Pantanal, and Cerrado. The authors highlight the fragility of environmental protections that rely on administrative decisions rather than legislative law and call for the establishment of more resilient protective mechanisms to prevent future reactionary attacks.

The report analyzes economic stimulus measures in the Brazilian Legal Amazon during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that 87.2% of the R$ 54 billion in identified funds had a negative impact on natural capital, primarily due to subsidies for large-scale agribusiness. Only 9.7% of funds were directed toward positive impacts, such as family farming and low-carbon agriculture. The document concludes that the federal government missed an opportunity for a 'green recovery,' leading Amazonian state governors to launch the Green Recovery Plan (PRV) to prioritize deforestation control, sustainable production, green technology, and green infrastructure.

The document is a reference list of visual representations of food systems, citing figures from academic journals, international organizations, and institutional reports.