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The document evaluates the proposal to legalise the trade of rhino horn in South Africa to combat poaching. While proponents argue that a regulated trade could meet inelastic demand and fund conservation, the author identifies significant risks, including the potential for illegal supply laundering, the risk of reawakening demand in markets like Taiwan and Japan, and the incompatibility of legalisation with demand-reduction strategies. The submission suggests that the CITES ban's failure may be partly due to a legal aberration allowing trade in products of extinct species, which should be addressed.

The report investigates the captive predator breeding industry in South Africa, specifically focusing on lions. It challenges industry claims of economic significance and conservation value, arguing that the industry relies on deceptive marketing to attract volunteer tourists and supplies the 'canned hunting' and lion bone trades. The author contends that the industry lacks scientific grounding, suffers from genetic inbreeding, and may facilitate organised crime through the legal export of lion skeletons to Asia. The paper suggests that the opportunity costs—including damage to South Africa's tourism brand and the loss of potential jobs from ethical ecotourism—outweigh the industry's private returns, recommending a move toward a zero export quota for lion derivatives.

The Community Action Plan (CAP) for Hman Pin village and Hman Pin inn aims to balance biodiversity conservation with local development in the Upper Chindwin Basin of Myanmar. The plan identifies high-priority threats to the 4-acre wetland, including gold mining, logging, and overfishing driven by cultural festivals. To mitigate these pressures, the CAP proposes a three-pronged approach: habitat conservation through the demarcation of zones and local regulations; the promotion of sustainable livelihoods such as groundnut cultivation, pig farming, and fish farming; and a Communication, Education, Participation and Awareness (CEPA) programme. Implementation is led by a Village Working Committee (VWC) with support from the Stockholm Environment Institute and other partners, utilizing a monitoring framework to track water quality, biodiversity, and land-use changes.

Mongolia's NDC3.0 sets an ambitious target to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by up to 52.8% by 2035 compared to a business-as-usual scenario, combining unconditional measures, forest sequestration, and conditional international support. The plan emphasizes a transition from a coal-dependent energy system to renewables and addresses high vulnerability in the livestock and agriculture sectors. Adaptation strategies focus on water security, biodiversity protection, and disaster risk reduction, with a total estimated implementation cost of USD 14.84 billion.

The project focuses on the Akagera Basin in Rwanda, addressing the increasing competition for water, energy, and food resources driven by population growth and economic transformation. By utilizing the Stockholm Environment Institute's WEAP and LEAP modelling tools, the initiative aims to identify sustainable development pathways and avoid sector-based plan incompatibilities. Key goals include producing 25 technical reports and policy briefs, engaging over 2,000 stakeholders, and supporting over 15 Nature Based Community Enterprises (NBCEs) to enhance climate resilience in the districts of Bugesera, Kirehe, Ngororero, and Rutsiro.

The document describes a research framework for Work Package 3 of the CADWAGO project, focusing on 'systemic governance' of water catchments. It proposes viewing water catchments as 'social-biophysical systems' where human social systems and biophysical systems are 'structurally coupled' and co-evolve. The research aims to move away from linear models of knowledge transfer toward models of learning and adaptation, specifically investigating four key areas: history, facilitation, stake-holding, and reflexivity. The project utilizes systems theory and the metaphor of a 'helmsperson' to understand how governance can be adaptive in response to uncertainty and feedback.

The Community Action Plan (CAP) for Tharyarkone village focuses on the conservation of the Naung Sa Pin/Naung Salein wetland, a permanent swamp of approximately 1.1 hectares in the Upper Chindwin Basin. The plan addresses high-level threats including mining, logging, and overfishing by promoting sustainable livelihood alternatives such as groundnut cultivation, pig farming, and fish farming. It outlines a governance structure led by a Village Working Committee (VWC) to implement habitat conservation, boundary demarcation, and a Communication, Education, Participation and Awareness (CEPA) program. The plan includes a monitoring framework to track water quality, biodiversity, and land-use changes to ensure the long-term ecological integrity of the wetland.

The document evaluates Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), identifying successful practices such as agroforestry, mangrove rehabilitation, and circular farming. It highlights significant policy gaps in water resources and disaster risk management (DRM), alongside barriers including poverty, tenure insecurity, and a preference for 'grey' infrastructure. The study emphasizes the need for cross-sectoral coordination, innovative financing like Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), and the integration of local and indigenous knowledge to scale resilience.

The document assesses the Chindwin River Basin in Myanmar, highlighting the impacts of climate change, deforestation, and mining on water quality, biodiversity, and livelihoods. It details the transition of local communities from river-based to groundwater-based water use and argues for an integrated, bottom-up approach to water governance through the Chindwin River Basin Organization (RBO).

The paper identifies a gap in climate adaptation policy, which typically focuses on domestic, territorial impacts. It proposes a framework for 'indirect impacts'—socio-economic or biophysical effects propagating from one region to another via trade, migration, or hydrological links. An analysis of seven Swedish and European forestry documents reveals that while market-driven outlooks consider global contexts, adaptation-specific policies remain strictly focused on local biophysical changes, ignoring the broader international dimensions of climate risk.

The report by Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) examines the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), highlighting a lack of transparency regarding its CA$3.77m in investments and the absence of an ethical investment policy. SGR identifies financial links between CIM and fossil fuel firms Syncrude and Teck Resources, noting that Teck served as a 'Gold sponsor' for CIM's 2021 Convention with a donation of CA$20,000-30,000. While CIM partners with the Mining Association of Canada on the 'Towards Sustainable Mining' standard, SGR argues that CIM's ties to companies not aligned with 1.5C warming limits undermine its stated goal of 'Collaborating towards a sustainable future'.

The report provides a global, map-based analysis of dryland ecosystems, examining their capacity to provide essential goods and services such as food, water, and carbon storage to support human livelihoods.

The document examines the results of a TerraFund-financed project by Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment (SWAGEN) to restore 200 hectares of forest and farmland in Southwestern Uganda. While SWAGEN reported planting 199,649 trees with a 98% survival rate, WRI's AI-powered satellite analysis detected a net increase of 71,122 trees, representing 36% of the projected target. The study identifies challenges in restoration monitoring, including overestimated survival rates, the slow growth of native species, and inaccuracies in geospatial boundary reporting, while concluding that the project successfully increased tree counts across all monitored areas.

The Soares family in Juruti, Brazil, is transitioning from traditional slash-and-burn agriculture to an agroforestry system to diversify income and restore the landscape. Originally focused on cassava production, the family is now integrating native tree species and fruit trees to increase food security and climate resilience. This transition is part of a pilot project involving 22 farmers, designed to provide a sustainable economic alternative to deforestation in the Amazon region.

Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) is presented as a middle ground between waiting for native vegetation to grow and costly tree planting. The strategy aims to reduce implementation costs by 77% and can potentially bring 240 million hectares under restoration worldwide. Implementation involves protecting regenerating plants from fire, fencing off areas, controlling invasive species and insects, and managing cattle. Success requires motivating stakeholders through social and economic benefits and enabling action via rural extension services, sustainable value chains, and political will. The document highlights the restoration of 9.6 million hectares in the Amazon and 794,000 hectares in the Cerrado.

The GFI Guidance Manual establishes a framework for assessing forest governance by evaluating actors, rules, and practices against five principles of good governance: transparency, participation, accountability, coordination, and capacity. It provides a structured approach to designing assessments, collecting mixed-methods data, and analyzing results across six thematic areas: forest tenure, land use, forest management, forest revenues, cross-cutting institutions, and cross-cutting issues.

South Korea successfully increased its forest cover from approximately 3.5 million hectares in the mid-1950s to 6.4 million hectares by 2007, primarily through active restoration. This recovery was driven by strong government leadership, national awareness campaigns, and a series of multi-year Forest Development Plans. While the restoration provided significant ecosystem services valued at over US$92 billion as of 2013, the study notes caveats including a historical reliance on authoritarian labor practices, low species diversity due to a focus on coniferous trees, and a high dependence on imported wood, including illegally sourced timber.

The Restoration Diagnostic is a three-step guide developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) to increase the success rate of forest landscape restoration (FLR). By analyzing 16 historical case studies and peer-reviewed literature, WRI identified a suite of 'key success factors' categorized into three themes: motivation, enabling conditions, and implementation capacity. The diagnostic allows users to define a geographic scope, assess the status of these factors (in place, partly in place, or missing), and develop targeted strategies to close identified gaps. The tool is designed for mid-level managers in government, NGOs, and the private sector and serves as a component of the broader Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM).

Following severe floods in 1998, the Chinese government shifted from building larger levees to a 'soft path' of environmental restoration in the Yangtze River basin. This approach, guided by the '32 Character Policy' and coordinated by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), involved restoring 2,900 square kilometers of floodplains and relocating 2.4 million people to higher ground. These measures increased floodwater retention capacity by 13 billion m3, improved biodiversity, and diversified local livelihoods. The strategy was later incorporated into the 2007 National Climate Change Programme as a 'no regrets' adaptation measure, though challenges remain regarding institutional rivalry and a lingering preference for hard engineering solutions.

The document distinguishes between climate change mitigation, which focuses on avoiding and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent extreme warming, and climate change adaptation, which involves adjusting behaviors and systems to protect people and the environment from existing and future climate impacts. It emphasizes that while mitigation takes decades to affect temperatures, adaptation is required immediately for changes already occurring. Key mitigation strategies include transitioning to renewable energy and stopping deforestation to reach net-zero emissions, while adaptation involves diversifying crops, strengthening infrastructure, and managing natural resources. The text asserts that both approaches are equally important and time-sensitive.