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Carbon Market Watch opposes expanding LULUCF activities within the CDM, citing risks to climate adaptation, a lack of market demand for offsets, and the non-permanent nature of land-based carbon sequestration compared to permanent fossil fuel emissions. The organization suggests that LULUCF activities are better suited for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and REDD+, emphasizing a rights-based approach to food security and land rights.

The document argues that traditional food security monitoring focuses too heavily on outputs and outcomes, which are often difficult to attribute to specific actions. It proposes 'process-based indicators' as proxies to measure the quality of decision-making, institutional capacity, and inclusivity. Using the FIPAT tool in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the authors identify key indicators across six areas: policy vulnerability, system resilience, decision-making transparency, multistakeholder participation, lessons learned, and decentralization. The briefing emphasizes that effective food security policies require inclusive participation of vulnerable groups, empowered local decision-makers, and a shift in institutional culture to view policy review as a dynamic, non-punitive process.

The IISD guide outlines a framework for negotiating agricultural investment contracts, emphasizing the primacy of national legislation over contracts and international treaties. It provides a comprehensive model contract covering land rights, financial obligations, social and environmental commitments, and dispute resolution, while advocating for transparency and community engagement to ensure sustainable rural development.

The IISD Guide to Negotiating Investment Contracts for Farmland and Water is a comprehensive tool designed for governments and communities to manage foreign investments in agricultural land. It emphasizes the primacy of domestic law over investment contracts and international treaties, while providing a model contract to fill gaps where domestic laws are weak. The guide outlines a preparatory phase involving investor screening, community engagement, and impact assessments, and proposes specific contractual provisions covering tenure, financial obligations, social development, and environmental protections. It strongly advocates for transparency, the avoidance of stabilization clauses, and the use of domestic courts for dispute resolution to protect the national interest and ensure long-term project viability.

The Dhaka Roundtable brought together experts to discuss the future of the WTO in the face of evolving global trade patterns, such as the rise of mega-trade blocs and global value chains. Key deliberations focused on the viability of plurilateral negotiations as an alternative to the stalled Doha Round, the search for a permanent solution to public food stockholding, and the necessity of strengthening special and differential treatment (S&DT) for LDCs. Participants emphasized that LDCs face significant barriers to participating in global value chains, with LDCs accounting for only 8% of total value added. The summary also outlines the need to implement the Bali LDC Package, specifically regarding duty-free and quota-free market access and the operationalization of the services waiver, to ensure trade serves as a vehicle for socio-economic development post-2015.

The article examines the drivers of rainwater harvesting technology (RWHT) uptake in semi-arid and sub-humid sub-Saharan Africa, arguing that household-scale analysis must be combined with an understanding of global and regional processes. Through a systematic literature review, the authors identify four key processes of influence: shifting ideologies in food production, agricultural science and technology investment levels, the role of emergent actors in development assistance, and farmer mobility patterns.

The document critiques the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism, asserting that it prioritizes private finance and corporate interests over indigenous rights and genuine climate mitigation. Through case studies in Indonesia, Mozambique, and Peru, it demonstrates how REDD projects can exacerbate land conflicts, threaten food security, and fail to achieve carbon reduction goals. The report concludes that REDD is a 'false solution' that allows industrial polluters in the Global North to continue emitting via carbon offsets. It proposes an alternative based on community-led forest management, the resolution of land tenure issues, and a systemic reduction in the consumption of resources by rich countries.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) critiques the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism, claiming it exacerbates land tenure conflicts, threatens food security, and allows industrial polluters in the Global North to avoid domestic emission cuts. Through case studies in Indonesia, Mozambique, and Peru, the report illustrates failures in carbon accounting, financial instability, and the marginalization of Indigenous peoples. FoEI proposes an alternative model of community forest management, citing Bolivia's proposal to the UNFCCC as a viable path toward climate justice and sustainable forest preservation.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) contends that REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) fails to deliver permanent emissions reductions and often harms Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Through case studies in Indonesia, Mozambique, and Peru, the report illustrates how REDD+ can exacerbate land tenure conflicts, threaten food security, and facilitate continued pollution in industrialised countries via carbon offsets. FoEI proposes replacing these market-based mechanisms with community-led forest management based on traditional knowledge and a global reduction in the demand for forest-derived products.

The paper advocates for the use of strategic foresight and integrated policy analysis to help African governments navigate complex development trade-offs and set realistic targets. It highlights the International Futures (IFs) model as a tool for scenario analysis and evidence-based planning, using it to critique the feasibility of certain Agenda 2063 goals, such as the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030 and the 'silencing the guns' initiative by 2020. The author emphasizes that such foresight is dependent on improving the quality and availability of reliable data across the continent.

The Responsible Alternative Fibers Assessment Methodology (RAFAM) is a risk-screening tool developed by WWF to identify environmental and social impacts of non-wood fiber crops. It employs a two-step process: an initial screening of 24 key issue areas followed by detailed additional guidance for any identified risks. The methodology covers site inventory, ecological integrity, environmental impacts, and social-political considerations, aiming to establish an aspirational benchmark for 'ideal' alternative fiber feedstocks that are renewable, legally sourced, and socially beneficial.

The event highlighted how climate change negatively impacts health through food insecurity, physical inactivity, and air pollution, while arguing that focusing on health co-benefits can overcome political inertia. Key recommendations include transitioning to sustainable diets, redesigning cities for active transportation, and divesting the healthcare sector from fossil fuels.

The document outlines a systems-based approach to measuring food system resilience, moving beyond narrow food availability metrics to include supporting infrastructure and governance. Using the CRiSTAL Food Security tool across 20 communities in Honduras and Nicaragua, the authors identify key resilience drivers such as storage, energy, transport, and water management. It argues that participatory, iterative processes for developing indicators are essential for community buy-in and that these broad indicators should complement existing food security monitoring schemes.

The report examines the vulnerability of small-scale rice farmers in Lao PDR and the Philippines, focusing on two top rice-producing provinces in each country across three ecozones: irrigated lowland, rainfed lowland, and rainfed upland. In Lao PDR, agriculture is the primary livelihood, but production is low, poverty is high, and government risk management measures are limited. The Philippines faces increasing intensity and frequency of typhoons, averaging 20 per year, which threatens its large population and economic development.

Climate change risks, specifically typhoons and intense rain, are causing significant income losses for rice farmers in the Philippines' Pangasinan and Tarlac provinces. Future climate projections indicate shifting rainfall patterns that will further threaten agricultural sustainability, necessitating local government intervention.

The report examines the integration of indigenous flood forecasting with scientific tools in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. It details a project that deployed weather stations, flood gauges, and GIS-based risk maps across twenty villages to enhance local risk analysis and adaptation. Findings indicate that rural communities possess specific indigenous techniques for forecasting floods and are aware of the risks posed by sea level rise.

The Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) developed a simulation game to communicate the complexities of its productive social safety net (PSSN) program to rural farmers. This tool was designed to help farmers understand conditional cash transfers and how PSSN participation manages rising drought risk. Following tests with over fifty farmers, TASAF adopted the game in 2012 as the primary extension tool for a national rollout targeting 13 million Tanzanians living below the poverty line.

The event, organized by TERI in cooperation with the IPCC and CDKN, focused on India's vulnerability to climate change and the need for urgent adaptation and mitigation. Key discussions highlighted the risk of increased monsoon intensity and decreased rainy days, the threat of climate change as a 'threat multiplier' for India's poor rural population, and the potential for low-carbon economic growth. Speakers emphasized the importance of science, technology, and energy efficiency, while noting that the global carbon budget has already been halved.

The document investigates the factors influencing the use of seasonal forecast information (SFI) among farmers in Bundelkhand, India. It identifies that the effective use of SFI depends on a knowledge-action system comprising dissemination, demand, acceptance, understanding, and action capacity. The study finds that dissemination, salience, and action capacity are significantly associated with whether farmers utilize monsoon forecast information, suggesting these areas must be improved to increase usage.

The document reports that mean annual temperatures in Ethiopia have risen by 0.5 to 1.3°C since the 1960s, with a significant decrease in the frequency of cold nights. While national data is limited, trends from 1981-2000 indicate a decline in short rains (February to April) and slight increases in long rains (June to August) and late-year precipitation (October and November), posing risks to rain-fed agriculture and food security. Additionally, flood events are becoming more frequent, with major disruptions noted in 1997 and 2006.